flesh & thorn - froggiecharms (2024)

Chapter 1: daisy chain

Chapter Text

Hylia wasn’t at all like the stories that had been passed down for generations. She was violent and cruel; a Goddess who didn’t care about the subjects who worshiped her. Simply using them as an end to a means. An ocean’s worth of blood had been spilled for her throughout the millenniums. Hylia’s bloodlust was unmatched, and thus the cycle will continue until she decides she’s met her goal.

That power hungry beast, Link thought angrily. She was the reason Demise had emerged, because of her Zelda had been taken captive and almost lost her life. Link had almost died countless times as well, all for Hylia. He had the scars to prove it, long spidery and webbed scars from the lightning strikes, healed gashes in his side from monsters, and a missing pinky finger on his right hand from a too close encounter with a spring trap. He still has nightmares about the fights he’d had all these years later. All for a goddess who doesn’t care about anything but her own motives. What a fool Link had been.

But what’s done is done. There wasn’t a way to take back what he did. Link didn’t regret a single thing when it came to protecting the people of Skyloft, they would always be his priority. He sighed as he flipped himself upside down on the sofa, head touching the floor.

“Link? Are you in here?” Zelda popped her head in through the door of Link’s cottage, startling Link out of his thoughts as he fell to the floor with a thud. “OH! Goddess, Link I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to startle you.” Zelda rushed over to where Link had fallen off the sofa, helping him sit back up.

Link rubbed the spot on his head where it had hit the floor, “So– what’s so important that you injure your best friend?” He was mostly joking but was very curious as to what Zelda wanted.

“Okay, well. It’s a tad odd, fair warning. But promise you won’t freak out too badly, got it?” Zelda sighed and opened the door all the way, stepping into the cottage along with a blond man with a very intense look.

“Hello, Hero of the Skies. My name is also Link but I’ve chosen the name Kokiri for this quest. Hylia is demanding us to take up our duties again. That bitch.” Kokiri cleared his throat. “Anyways, Hylia has chosen 10 heroes from different eras to come to her aid. Our current task is to travel wherever she sends us. She said that the embodiment of the beginning of evil, malice, has reemerged. It’s begun affecting the magic in various eras, sucking the life out of the world itself and replacing it with malice. Malice spreads and suffocates anything it touches, twisting it into dark, evil magic. It turns anything living into its pawns to kill and devour anything that is light.”

Well that’s just great.” Link scoffed, “Of f*cking course Hylia is pulling some more sh*t. I suppose I’ll pick the name Sky since that’s apparently my title. So. What do we do about this whole malice deal?”

Sky wasn’t really pissed at this new guy, clearly he was just as in the clutches of Hylia just like him. It wasn’t Kokiri’s fault he was playing messenger for a f*cked up Goddess. He knew there wasn’t a choice when it came to anything regarding Hylia. Resist and she will force you in the worst ways to do her bidding.

Kokiri pressed his lips together in a firm line, “Well that’s the thing, my Great Deku Tree, the one who voiced Hylia’s wishes told me there isn’t a plan other than just traveling where she places us. Apparently we haven’t earned that information.” That last sentence left a sour taste in Sky’s mouth.

Zelda cleared her throat, reminding them of her presence. “It’s starting to get late, whatever you two decide needs to happen when we aren’t all dead tired, because as a conduit of Hylia I feel a responsibility to help you as best I can. You can take tomorrow to prepare and gather supplies, no one thinks right on little sleep.” She turned to Kokiri, “If you would like you’re more than welcome to stay with my father and I, our house is just up the hill. We don’t have a spare bedroom but the couch is very comfortable and we have plenty of extra pillows and blankets.”

Kokiri nodded curtly, “That’s very kind of you, I think I’ll take you up on that. I’m very tired of sleeping on the ground, anything softer than that would be great.”

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Sky had spent most of the night awake, mulling over every potential horror that could cause Hylia’s most recent demands. The quests Sky assumed the other Links had gone through was cause for concern. Was their experience with Hylia just as bad as his? Did their trauma lay as heavy on their souls as his did? How much was Sky responsible for their suffering? He was the one who the curse began with, just how deep did this go? Goddesses did Sky want to punch Hylia, for all that his successors might have gone through at the hands of the Goddess.

Once the sun began to rise Sky gave up on sleep, trudging into the small kitchen to brew a pot of coffee. Sleep deprivation at the beginning of this new quest is not what Sky needs right now, damn his insomnia.

“Oh Sky!~” Zelda called in a singsong voice, dragging out the end of his new name. She waltzed into the cottage, Kokiri following behind.

“You’re in a good mood I see.” Sky was trying his best to not sound as tired as he was. Thankfully he wasn’t ever grumpy when tired, just very low energy. He suppressed a yawn, “Everything go okay last night? Zelda didn’t talk your ear off did she? She has a tendency to rant for ages to anyone in her path.”

Zelda smacked Sky on the arm playfully, “Kokiri does NOT need to know about my quirks yet! It should be a surprise!!”

“Nah, I basically passed right out once Zelda set up the couch. It was quite comfortable, so thanks.” Kokiri folded his arms against his chest. “So, planning time I guess. The Great Deku Tree gave me an amulet. That’s how I got here, the amulet is basically an extension of Hylia’s power so she’s the one controlling where we go next. The only thing we have the power over is when we change eras. But I’m sure she’ll smite us if we try and stay in one era for longer than needed. It’s just how she is.”

Sky hummed in thought, “Right. Well, I guess we better get going then. I’ll gather my gear and we can get going as soon as possible. I just want this over with.”

Gathering his gear was easy, he always kept a stock of potions and his weapons were well taken care of and ready to go at any moment. He stuffed the small loftwing plush Zelda had made for him deep in his bag for only his eyes. Leaving Zelda alone with the potential for Hylia to possess her without him to calm her down after. Zelda already had such a hard time being the Goddess's conduit. The guilt and shame she felt each time she was completely taken over by Hylia was enough to suffocate and completely immobilize her each time. Sky feared for what Zelda might have to go through without him to comfort and help her. She was single handedly the strongest person he knew and he hoped, begged for Zelda to be okay.

Sky slung his pack over his shoulder and returned to the living room where Zelda and Kokiri were waiting. “Alright, let’s go.” He pulled Zelda into a tight hug, leaning in closer to her ear, whispering, “Please stay safe.”

Zelda nodded, tears filling in her eyes. “Only if you do the same.” She sniffled and pushed Sky out the door before either of them had a chance to burst into tears.

“Right, well let’s get going. Time to find the next Link.” Kokiri stepped outside and pulled out the amulet, giving it a twist. A sliver of light appeared, growing wider until it was wide enough to easily step through. Kokiri sighed heavily and stepped through with Sky following suit.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

The world was spinning as Kokiri and Sky stepped out of the fissure. Sky’s knees wobbled as he tried to regain his footing. Kokiri leaned against a nearby tree, looking very ill. The air was suffocating Sky, it was much more dense than what he was used to. It reminded him of the start of his quest. His head was foggy and he struggled to focus his eyes.

“Holy sh*t,” Sky spluttered. “Was it like this for you too? My body feels like it's being pulled apart from the inside.”

“Yeah, it was hell the first time too. At least I didn’t hurl this go around. Goddesses, this sucks so bad.” Kokiri coughed and straightened his tunic. “I haven’t a f*cking clue how we find this other Link. I guess try and find a town and ask them but this might take ages depending on how big this Link’s Hyrule is. Apparently different Hyrules also have different terrain and even size. I guess it makes sense from what I’ve heard all us Link’s are very different as people. I think I see a path so I guess let’s follow that and hopefully come across a town.” Kokiri shrugged and started walking, not bothering to check if Sky was following behind. Sky had to jog to catch up to Kokiri who was walking at a very brisk pace.

“sh*t sh*t sh*t sh*t! HARE GET OUT OF THE WAY!!” Out from the woods lining the path sprang a very frantic person being tailed by what Sky thought might be a moblin, just slightly different. The moblin lunged and slashed the air in front of them. Another person rolled out of the way as the first person aimed a beam of light at the moblin. It roared in pain as the person presumably called Hare slashed the backs of the moblin’s knees causing it to fall to the ground as the first person dealt the death blow.

Kokiri and Sky could only watch, the encounter happened so fast neither of them had time to draw their swords. Sky cleared his throat, trying to make both of them known to the strangers without getting their heads chopped off. “Is there a chance that one of you goes by the name of Link? We have some things we need to talk to this Hyrule’s Link regarding Hylia.”

Hare whispered something to the other person, both of them nodding before the first stranger began to speak. “Actually both of us are called Link. I’m Wanderer and this is Hare. I showed up in Hare’s Hyrule a few days ago out of nowhere. I have no idea how or why this happened but I’m here now I guess. Hare found me in town where I was trying to figure out where the hell I was. I’m assuming this is Hylia’s doing since you mentioned you needed to talk to this Link about her.” Wanderer rolled his eyes while mentioning Hylia’s name, clearly tired of her sh*t as well.

Hare hesitated before speaking up, “I really don’t want us out here long, the monsters seem to be picking up in numbers as you can see. My home is nearby where we can stay and discuss whatever’s going on. It’s a little small but fitting four people should still be okay.” They jerked their head in the opposite direction Sky and Kokiri had been headed which made Kokiri very glad they’d run into Wanderer and Hare.

Wanderer was shocked that their trek back to Hare’s house was uninhibited by any monsters, which was a first since their arrival in this Hyrule. The monsters were relatively strong but very stupid, it made fighting them a lot easier than the insanely strong and smart monsters of their own Hyrule. The magic in the atmosphere felt different too, like leaves dancing in the wind. It was warm and much more fluid than the magic Wanderer was used to.

Hare’s house was indeed small, it was a somewhat rundown one room house filled with character. Paintings both finished and unfinished covered the walls and were stacked on the floor. Specks of paint littered the floor and the bed was unmade. It was cluttered with art supplies but still clean and welcoming.

The door creaked as Hare closed it behind the heroes. They shuffled in and sat next to Wanderer at the small wooden table. Hare was already a very small person but somehow managed to make themself even smaller, probably as a defense mechanism.

Sky was the one to break the tired silence, “From what Kokiri has told me there are 10 of us in total each from different eras. He has an amulet given to him by his Great Deku Tree that allowed us to be transported here. Based on that I have absolutely no clue how you got here Wanderer. Do you remember what happened before you showed up? My guess is Hylia yanked you to Hare’s era, but why didn’t she just wait for Kokiri to come with the amulet if there’s only one? Not like anything she does makes sense so I suppose it doesn’t really matter.”

Wanderer shrugged, “Yeah I don’t even know how it happened. I was foraging for herbs and I blacked out. When I came to, I was here in Hare’s Hyrule. The only reason I’m with Hare right now is because I mentioned my Zelda to a merchant who asked how I knew her. Hare just happened to overhear and figured something was off seeing as there couldn’t be two vastly different descriptions of a hero named Link. Hare uses they/them and it/its, I use he/him and they/them. I figured that’s an important detail and you two seem safe enough to share that. Anyways, so if there’s 10 of us how do we find the others? Just use the amulet and hope for the best?”

“Yeah basically, the amulet only transports us to an era with one of the heroes we need. We can choose how long we stay in that era within reason.” Kokiri nodded and looked off to the side, his brows furrowed. He went on to explain why Hylia needed to use them, the air was thick and heavy from the mood.

“And I’m guessing there’s no solid plan Hylia’s given us. Just ‘save the world my dear heroes’, what a typical move.” Sky’s words dripped with venom and hatred for Hylia. “I suggest we keep moving while we have daylight, we don’t know how fast this malice is spreading. Pack whatever you two might need, and we’ll leave when you’re ready.”

Kokiri shook his head humorlessly and muttered under his breath. “Goddesses, this is going to be rough.”

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Traveling through the light fissure was incredibly unpleasant, Hare seemed to take it the worst. Having to sit on the ground so it didn’t keel over. It was akin to sea sickness but much worse, draining your energy and magic along with the classic sea sickness symptoms. Wanderer swayed on their feet and their ears rang violently. Around him the others were recovering much faster than poor Hare. It looked ghostly pale just staring at the sand trying to stay composed.

“Hey Hare, doin’ okay buddy?” Wanderer crouched down in front of Hare, giving them enough space between so Hare wouldn’t get anxious.

Hare shook its head, “I feel like sh*t and whatever magic this fissure uses made my joint pain worse.” They rubbed their knees in circular motions, Wanderer guessed that's where most of the pain is.

“You do realize one of my paths is healing magic right? I told you when we first met. Basically what I’m saying is let me ease the pain and the effects of the fissure. It’s not gonna be totally fixed but it will definitely help.” Wanderer spoke softly in a very gentle tone, while he barely knew Hare; it seemed they shared a similar stubbornness to not accept help unless absolutely necessary. This however wasn’t going to fly for Wanderer, only he was allowed to not accept help. Wanderer gently flicked Hare’s forehead, “I’m going to heal you, absolutely no protesting I won’t hear it. Now hold still.”

Hare sighed and nodded, “Alright fine, but I swear it’s not that bad. I’ll manage.”

Wanderer rolled their eyes and placed their hands on both of Hare’s knees, focusing on the joint pain and pushing his magic into the joints. Warmth spread into Hare’s joints and gradually the pain all but left its body. Hare begrudgingly thanked Wanderer, trying to pretend to be pissed but was very grateful for Wanderer’s magic.

Taking a headcount, Wanderer assessed the rest of the group. Everyone was managing to recover but they pushed their magic aura out just far enough to really make sure everyone was alright, all but Kokiri were fine. Kokiri seemed to have an old injury that healed improperly but that wasn’t Wanderer’s place. They were strangers, there was no need for Wanderer to pry into Kokiri’s past.

“Everyone alright?” Sky stood up and brushed the sand off his pants. “Apparently this Link lives on an island? What happened to Hyrule? This doesn’t seem like this is anything like any of ours, but it might make it easier for us to find them. Hopefully anyways.”

Kokiri grunted in agreement, “I guess we get a move on. I hate the beach so let’s get this sh*t over with.” He grabbed his sword and pack and slung them both over his shoulder, not waiting for the others before walking away from the beach towards grassy hills.

Sky groaned and let Hare and Wanderer grab their things before they all jogged to catch up to Kokiri who had found a trail to follow. The trail wound up the hill towards a small village placed near a steep cliff that overlooked the ocean. It was beautiful and reminded Sky a little bit of Skyloft. The vast blue and the small village gave Sky pangs of homesickness despite having only been gone for under two days.

Hare inhaled sharply, its eyes seemed to glaze over. They looked like they’d been transported somewhere far away. Wanderer gave Sky a look of concern as they both stared at Hare. Sky knew this look well; Zelda went into dissociative episodes often when reminded of what Hylia did to her. There was nothing Sky was able to do but wait for it to end. Hylia had broken Zelda and Sky had to help her to build herself back up. He had been terrified Zelda would never be able to recover, but he had faith in Zelda’s strength and she was much, much better years later.

Hare would be the same, together as a newfound group they would help it recover from whatever it was dealing with. Sky would make sure they felt comfortable in this new dynamic, he felt like it was his responsibility. He was the originator of the curse, he bore the burden of making it right again. Regardless of whatever Hylia has planned. Hare’s knees wobbled, causing it to sink to the ground. Sky caught Hare and eased them to the ground, their whole body was shaking from whatever trauma it was reliving.

Kokiri didn’t seem to want anything to do with Hare’s episode, watching from a distance leaning against a tree a fair distance away. “Let me know when the kid’s feeling better. I’m gonna take a walk, get a feel for this Hyrule.”

“I’ll come with, I don’t want Hare to get overwhelmed with the three of us hovering over it.” Sky glanced over at Hare, “You okay keeping an eye on them Wanderer?”

Wanderer nodded and watched Korkiri and Sky walk towards the village. The air was thick and heavy with concern for Hare as they waited for it to come to. Hare pulled its knees up to its chest and hugged them, visibly shaking from whatever it had seen in the flashback but more lucid than before.

“Hey bud, alright there?” Wanderer was sitting across from Hare, gazing at them worriedly. “Sky went to go find Kokiri so it’s just us, I stayed to make sure you’re okay and weren’t left out here alone. We can catch up to them when you’re ready.”

“I– uh yeah, thanks. Let’s get going.” Hare stood, stumbling a little as they got up and began walking towards the path leading to the village. Wanderer followed a step behind Hare just in case it needed support.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

“LINK, I SWEAR TO HYLIA DON’T SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN OR I’LL SMACK YOU HARDER THE NEXT TIME!!!” A middle aged woman smacked a young teen on the head who looked ready to cry but had a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Kokiri looked at Sky as they were walking past, Sky giving him a similar look. Sky nodded and cleared his throat walking closer to the front of the shop where the arguing pair stood.

“Hi, can I assume your name is Link?” Sky cracked a small smile trying to not sound like a complete creep.

The teen wiped his eyes of the threat of tears and eyed Kokiri and Sky suspiciously before nodding, “Yeah but what’s it to you guys? I don’t see how this concerns you at all. Speaking of, I’ve never seen either of you before. This island might not be that small but we don’t get many visitors and I know everyone who does live here. And neither of you are people that I know, so what are you doing here and why do you care what my name is?”

Kokiri gave this Hyrule’s Link a tired look, “I’m also Link, and so is he.” He nodded his head towards Sky. “We were sent by Hylia to find ten heroes from different eras, you as the hero of this Hyrule are the fifth of us. We’ve been using other names so it doesn’t get confusing, that’s Sky and I’m Kokiri. The other two, Hare and Wanderer are still on the beach but will hopefully join soon.”

The teen sighed and crossed his arms against his chest. “Right, of course it’s Hylia. Okay well, I’ll go with Spirit then. So what’s the deal with finding all these heroes?”

The two older heroes dove into the explanation of what was happening with the malice and how they were tasked with finding a way to defeat it, given that Hylia had no further instructions for the band of heroes. Spirit groaned and nodded throughout the explanation, clearly displeased with Hylia’s new quest.

Kokiri glanced over his shoulder, spotting Wanderer and Hare a few paces away, who both waved at Kokiri when they noticed him. He turned back to Sky and Spirit, waving the newcomers over. Wanderer and Hare introduced themselves to Spirit who gave them both a bright smile.

“Well, if we’re going on a quest together I guess I better say goodbye and pack my things. You all can come stay at my grandma’s house where I live until we’re ready to go. It’s okay, she likes meeting new people and I’m sure she wants to know who all I’m traveling with.” Spirit chuckled and lovingly rolled his eyes.

Chapter 2: the cluttered hero

Chapter Text

Spirit rummaged around in a large chest, shouting over his shoulder, “So, if we travel to a new hero we just hope that Hylia throws us a bone by placing us nearby? Great. As if we have all the time in the world if this malice is already consuming and corrupting our worlds.” He grabbed a bag and a sheathed backsword and slammed the chest closed in frustration.

Quiet agreement fell upon the room, the fate of their worlds was placed at their feet. Hylia shifted all the pain and responsibility of every version of Hyrule to a handful of mortals, knowing there was a high likelihood it could break each and every one of them. There was no way out, no exit plan for a hero of Hylia.

The heavy silence was finally broken by Sky, “Well since we don’t have a choice in all of this I suppose we take a day to rest and plan if you and your grandma are okay with that, Spirit. There hasn’t been a chance to actually figure out a plan or at least rest and gather supplies. It’s been a hell of a few days for us and I’m not sure how prepared you are for leaving right away. Regardless, a rest would be good.”

The others nodded, Kokiri had dark under eyes and Sky didn’t want to guess how long it’s been since he had a decent night's rest until in his Hyrule almost two days ago. Sky plopped down on the small sofa next to Hare and sighed heavily.

“Well, I don’t see any reason you all can’t stay here until you’re ready to leave. Any hero is welcome in my home!” An elderly woman walked in from the front door with a basket of bread and produce. “I happened to overhear the conversation and so long as I get to see my Link off I’m more than happy to welcome you in! You can all call me Granny if you’d like. I’m going to get started on some soup, some help would be appreciated.”

Wanderer rose from a chair and waved their hand. “I don’t mind helping, I’m not the best but I can follow directions fairly well.”

“So while they’re doing that I can show the rest of you around the village to gather some supplies. Our village on Outset is pretty small but I love it here, everyone is super nice and I’ll protect them until my dying breath. They’re like a huge family to me.” Spirit motioned for the rest of the group to follow and bounded out the door.

Kokiri shrugged, glancing at Sky who followed Spirit with Hare close behind. The village was indeed small, but the people they passed waved and smiled to Spirit. It was nice to see a hero so connected to the people they protected.

“Hi Link! Nice to see you! Are these your friends?” A shopkeeper from the general store called out from across the street, beckoning them over.

“Oh hi Ukoh! What’s up? Yeah these are the heroes of different eras, Hylia has sent us on another quest and we’re gathering supplies. Figured we’d stock up on travel food from your shop and head over to Fami’s to grab arrows and make sure our weapons are in fighting shape!” Spirit bounced on the balls of his feet, making a wide gesture towards the other heroes.

Ukoh nodded, “Well you definitely came to the right place! I’ll give you all a discount for your heroic actions, I can’t have you saving Hyrule on empty stomachs! It would just be wrong of me.” He went into the shop and came back out carrying several bags of preserved food and basic dry ingredients. “For all this I’ll charge 100 rupees, and no arguing about the price I won’t have that.”

Spirit sighed dramatically, handing the rupees to the shopkeeper. “Thank you so much Ukoh but really, we can pay full price for this. I don’t want you to run out of business.”

“Nonsense! We’ll be just fine, I want you heroes to be at your best and I’ll help in any way I can.” Ukoh shoved the bags into Spirit’s arms and patted him on the shoulders. “Go on now! I wish you the best of luck!”

Spirit mock saluted, giving Ukoh a huge smile as he led the others towards the next shop. He looked over his shoulder as he led them towards a weaponsmith’s shop, “Fami is a really skilled weaponsmith and I love her work. The blades she makes are top tier and I’ve never had anything feel so fluid in my hands.”

A very tall woman walked out, her eyes brightening when she saw Spirit. “Link! Good to see you, what brings you around? You didn’t break Revenge Tide did you?”

“No, no, no! Of course I didn’t, I don’t even think that’s possible for your weapons.” Spirit paled at the thought, aggressively shaking his head.

Kokiri snorted. “Yeah, that’d be pretty impressive if you broke it given how you’ve raved about Fami’s work. Also, Revenge Tide?? That’s a pretty intense name for a weapon for a kid like yourself.”

Spirit glared at Kokiri, turning back to Fami. “Anyways, we need you to check out our weapons and grab some bombs and arrows. Hylia’s pulling us into another quest and we’re stocking up on supplies. We’ll probably leave in a day or so, which is why we’re stocking up now.”

“We’d really appreciate your help. Spirit, uh– your Link has raved about your skills as a weaponsmith. I’d gladly trust you to look at my blade.” Sky unhooked his sword from his back and offered it to Fami who took it and immediately unsheathed it and began examining it.

“This ‘s in excellent condition! I applaud your care! It could use a sharpening but I can see you care ‘bout your weapon. If everyone can give me their weapons I can get them all spruced up and ready to go by tomorrow.” Fami motioned for Hare and Kokiri to hand over their weapons. Once they complied she scurried off to her workshop, yelling from inside. “You’re free to leave and gather anything else you need. I got it from here!”

Sky gave her a thumbs up and waited for Spirit’s cue to leave, leading them back to his house. The wind blew in from the ocean, cool and crisp as they walked up the hill. It was tranquil in its beauty, blissfully untouched nature. The sun had just started to set, painting the sky in pinks and oranges as they approached the house.

The air had turned cooler as the sun set, Hare shivered and scooted closer to the stove once they were inside. Wanderer peeked around the corner from the kitchen, checking up on Hare and the others. Kokiri and Sky were organizing their packs, Spirit was splayed out on a lounge chair across from where Hare was huddled.

“The stew’s ready!” Granny called out from the kitchen, carrying a large pot filled with fragrant vegetable stew. “Everyone take a seat at the table, apologies for it being a tight squeeze but I’m sure you dears don’t mind!” She smiled and began dishing out bowls of the steaming stew.

Hare’s eyes grew as big as saucers, happily devouring the stew. It could sense the others’ eyes on it and scrunched its face in displeasure. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh nothing, just you’re acting like you’ve never eaten before. Like some feral being, calm down there you’ll choke.” Kokiri snarkily remarked between bites.

Sky elbowed Kokiri from where he was sitting next to him. Hare’s ears drooped and they muttered a small sorry before eating much more slowly.

“It’s perfectly fine dearie, I’m glad you enjoy my stew, and Wanderer was very helpful. If only you heroes could stay longer, I’m eager to learn about your quests but I understand the Goddess has other plans. I hope you visit or at least write if you somehow can! I’ll miss my dear Link but he has hero duties to attend to. So I want you all to get lots of rest here and be ready for anything!” Granny patted Spirit’s shoulder, smiling brightly.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

“Time to get this show on the road,” Kokiri yawned and began gathering up his belongings. “If we’re all ready to go I can get the amulet charged and go grab our weapons from Fami.”

Everyone nodded, stuffing the last of their items into their packs. The morning sun was a blessed relief from the cool night temperatures. Hare basked in the sun as they made their way to the weaponsmith to retrieve their tools.

Fami waved them off and Kokiri charged the amulet, creating a fissure in the space in front of the group. Kokiri and Sky took the lead with the others not far behind.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Wanderer was more prepared for the fissure jump this time but it didn’t hit them any less. The fissure drained the magic from him like water being squeezed from a rag, leaving him weak and dizzy. Hare was once more taking the fissure jump the worst out of all of them. Spirit looked queasy but managed to keep himself standing.

This Hyrule was heavily forested, the magic was practically visible it was so dense in the air. Wanderer could feel it humming in their bones, a constant flowing of magic in everything surrounding them. It was still morning in this Hyrule, birds chirping in the trees. A wide trail ended off in the distance, leading to a paved path.

“I’m assuming there’s a town over there where the trail becomes paved. We should head that way once we get our footing back.” Wanderer pointed towards the paved path, still a little dizzy from the fissure.

“Sounds good, don’t have any complaints there. Goddesses I hate this whole fissure jumping, I feel so ill.” Sky pressed his palms into his eyes and rubbed them in circles. He took a wobbly step forward towards Spirit who looked very nauseous. “Are you okay, Spirit? You look pretty rough. Wanderer’s magic path is healing if you’re feeling too ill.”

“Nah, I’m totally fine. ‘S nothing compared to the rough waves on Tetra’s ship.” Spirit choked back a gag and unconvincingly smiled at Sky who shrugged and walked off to check on Kokiri.

Kokiri waved Sky away, his face paler than usual but seemed to be okay otherwise. “I’m fine, let's get going. Wanderer seems to have healed Hare to the point where we can move now.” He threw a glance at Wanderer who nodded while helping Hare stand up.

The walk towards the paved path did lead towards a bustling small town. They walked through the streets to the square, hoping there was someone who looked like they might know this Hyrule’s Link.

“Man, who do we even have to ask to find this Hyrule’s Link? It might be ages before we find another Link. Especially since there’s an entire Hyrule to search.” Spirit groaned, ruffling his hair in frustration. He grabbed an apple from the produce booth they had stopped at and inspected it. “Link this, Link that, why can’t Hylia just gather us herself?”

“Link you say?” A man in purple robes with a bunny hood slid next to Spirit. “I just so happen to know a Link, they’re my partner! Do you need to talk with him?”

Spirit squinted and eyed the bunny hooded stranger, before giving up and dropping the suspicion. “Uh, yeah– we do. Can you bring us to them? There’s some sh*t to do with Hylia we gotta talk about.”

“Oh! Yes, yes I can take you to our house! I was heading back home soon anyway. I just happened to overhear your lamenting. My name is Ravio! Pleased to meet ya’!” Ravio motioned for the heroes to follow and went on their way.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

“Oh my lovely, dearest, beloved partner I’ve returned! And we have some guests!~” Ravio called out in a singsong voice.

From another room came a loud crash and a very long string of swears. “SWEET MOTHERf*ckING GOLDEN GODDESSES RAVIO I TOLD YOU NOT TO BRING CUSTOMERS INTO THE HOUSE!!! YOU TRY TO SELL MY sh*t EVERY TIME YOU DO!!” The voice rang through the house, before there was another loud crash and more swearing. From the room emerged a very disheveled person, who glared strongly at Ravio. “And what the f*ck did I say about your wretched petnames in front of customers?? They don’t f*cking need to know!”

“Oh but my lovely partner, Link, I have guests that are here for you! They said they’re looking for a hero named Link for something, something Hylia.” Ravio was unphased by the outburst from his partner, making a dismissive gesture. “Yes, yes I know! But we have more important things than letting others know just how much I love my dearest, most beloved partner?”

Kokiri stepped forward and tiredly explained the situation yet again, along with introductions. “Basically Hylia needs us yet again and has given us no instruction whatsoever.”

“Right. By the Three, I’m so over this sh*t. I’ll choose Keeper as a name I guess.” Keeper grumbled and began messing with baubles on his waistcoat, clearly disgruntled.

Ravio threw their arms over Keeper’s shoulders, hanging on to it. Keeper sighed, giving in to their partner’s affection and nestled their face in the crook of Ravio’s shoulder.

Spirit scrunched his face up, making a gagging noise to the couple’s display of affection. “Ok, listen we need to figure out a game plan. I don’t really wanna go around different Hyrules just desperately hoping we find a Link quickly. We got lucky so far but what if our luck runs out? If there’s a way to travel to where the Link is maybe we should use that? I’m not sure if that’s even a thing but I really don’t want this malice sh*t to spread. Goddesses why can’t Hylia have already gathered us together beforehand! Why do we have to go play ‘collect all the Links’? We’re wasting time and it’s making me anxious.”

“Not that I disagree but it’s been less than a week. We can’t run ourselves into the ground at the very start of this whole mess.” Sky shook his head, resting his hands on his hips. “I definitely think we should make a game plan but as to finding the rest of the Links I think we just have to hope Hylia throws us a bone and places us decently close to a Link. From my perspective I don’t think there’s any other option.”

Keeper pressed her hands to her mouth in thought, having mostly peeled Ravio off of them after giving him a kiss. “Yeah I agree, with my item path in theory we could create something to detect the Link’s magic but this only works if we know their paths or just magical aura in general. So we’re f*cked in that aspect. How did you all get so lucky to begin with? My experiences with Hylia have all been her f*cking with me, making my quests more difficult for whatever f*cked reason.”

Hare nodded in agreement, gaining the courage to speak up. “I can sense magical auras and determine paths from that but yeah. I need to know what paths the remaining Links have to begin with otherwise we’re gonna find random people.”

“Well, it’s getting late and I want to just eat and head to bed. I can whip up something for everyone. Link, can you grab the spare bedding from wherever you stashed it. I swear, it moves everytime I go look for it. Because SOMEONE is a hoarder and uses the linen closet as more storage for his junk.” Ravio jeered, squinting his eyes accusingly at Keeper.

“HOARDER??” Keeper shrieked, “Alright sure, says the bastard who has more “stock” for their shop than can fit in the room outside we have for it! AND not to mention the chests of unfinished projects just collecting dust in the cellar!” Huffing dramatically, Keeper made an annoyed face at Ravio and disappeared into the rest of the house.

“I love you my most dear treasure!” Ravio blew a kiss and called out to Keeper, seeming to be just out of earshot. Shaking his head and muttering to themself,“Goddesses, I love that fool.”

Wanderer couldn’t help but laugh, they both seemed to be putting on a show, but he didn’t think Keeper and Ravio acted any different behind closed doors. Ravio disappeared into the kitchen, leaving the others standing in shock after witnessing such a display. The rest of the group wasn’t nearly as amused as Wanderer, staring at the spot where Keeper had been.

“Whoa, uh– are they mad at each other?” Spirit gaped, eyes wide with shock, still trying to process what just happened.

Ravio poked their head out of the kitchen. “Mad? What makes you think that?”

“I what– huh??” Spirit spluttered, “How is that not mad?? That makes no sense! You were literally just shouting and calling each other names!”

Shaking his head, Ravio just went back to making dinner. Not even bothering to explain what just happened.

Another clatter and string of swears came from Keeper in a different room. There was more clamoring and shouts before Keeper came back with a stack of blankets in their arms. “Anyways, here’s some blankets, I can push back the furniture to make room for bedding.”

Kokiri looked around the very cluttered living room, raising an eyebrow at the notion of being able to move enough things to make room for five people. Paintings, crates and stacks of books littered the floor. The stacks of books teetered precariously as the group stepped around them like a trap room in a dungeon. The room was warmly lit, several lamps scattered about. It was extremely cluttered but had a very warm and comforting ambience. Crystals, dried herbs and talismans hung from the ceiling, the walls were covered in frames and mirrors.

“Oh! Link, we still have that spare room cleared enough don’t we?” Ravio threw a suspicious glance at Keeper as Ravio walked out of the kitchen with a skillet full of fried rice, mushrooms and meat. “Food’s ready, there’s no way we can all fit at this small table so fend for yourselves. Keeper refuses to move anything like an asshole! If the spare room is still clear enough to use, some of you can sleep there. I’m just glad there’s not the 10 Links yet. Our house is much, much too cluttered and cramped for that many people without shoving most of you in the cellar.”

Hare snickered at that thought. “With any luck we’ll have all 10 of us soon. It’s better for us to group together as soon as we can to deal with the malice.” In a smaller voice, “I really don’t like the idea of that many people but it is what it is when dealing with Hylia.”

The conversation died down as everyone grabbed a bowl, exhaustion and frustration dominated the mood. Relative silence with only small throw away conversation lasted through the night as they got ready for bed.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Sky was up before the sun, yawning from another rough night of sleep. He stepped outside, taking in the cool, crisp predawn air. The birds chirping reminded him so much of Skyloft, of home it almost made him ill from homesickness. A small bird hopped through the grass, looking for bugs. As slowly as possible, he took out the whistle tucked in his pocket. Sky thought for a minute before playing a simple three note melody, pouring his magic into it for the small bird in an effort to befriend it. Animal magic wasn’t one of his paths but he was relatively good at it, mostly when interacting with birds. The bird chirped back, hopping a few paces closer to Sky. Their small friendship interaction was interrupted by Spirit swinging the door open wide.

“Wanderer said they saw you come out here, earlier. Ravio’s making breakfast and we’re getting ready to head out. Keeper said he’s got some items for us once we go over our magic paths with him.”

Sky nodded and followed Spirit back inside. The alone time was nice after being surrounded by other people constantly for a solid week. The others were spread out in the living room eating the slices of ham and eggs Ravio had prepared. Keeper was lounging in Ravio’s lap as Ravio knitted, the two blissfully ignoring Kokiri’s occasional confused glances towards them.

Keeper sat up, grabbed a pair of earrings from the side table and put them on. “I’d like to know everyone’s magic paths. I have item magic and it’s helpful to know the paths of the user so I can hand over suitable items.”

“Hare has alchemic and psychic magics, it told me it has a better grasp on the alchemic magic than the psychic. I have green and healing magics, I’m pretty good at both, but I need more practice with more advanced healing spells.” Wanderer said and looked to Keeper, who hummed in acknowledgement.

Kokiri sighed reluctantly. “I have light and elemental, the light spells I do are decently powerful but I don’t know that many. Elemental, I’m much more proficient in. But I really don’t do items other than my sword and shield. Never knew anyone who dealt with magic items.”

“I have death and water but I’m really not well versed in either. Not a lot of free flowing magic in my Hyrule anymore. Not since the war. I can do simple spells with water magic but I’m useless otherwise.” Spirit chuckled nervously, visibly uncomfortable from having to admit that about his magic.

Sky had zoned out, snapping back to reality when Spirit waved a hand in front of his face. “Oh, right. Mine are wind and music, I’m good at both but music comes easier to me.”

“Wonderful, I’m pretty sure I have a gambeson Ravi made with fire magic in mind but it should work well with a few adjustments for you, Kokiri. Let’s see, I know there are cuffs for wind, and another for water that Spirit and Sky can use. I don’t think I have anything on hand for Wanderer or Hare but if either of you have anything already I can enhance it.” Keeper turned to Ravio and began toying with the edge of their long scarf before continuing, “I’ll also take any armor you have and slightly enhance it. Not the strongest I can do but armor isn’t my strong suit. I’ll have to work on those on the road depending on how soon we need to get going. I have general magic enhancement items too, mostly in jewelry form because it’s my favorite.”

Sky sat and pondered before finally answering Keeper’s remark about leaving. “None of us are really sure when to get going from any particular era. I personally haven’t seen any malice but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t also been in the same eras we’ve been in. It must have a place of origin but I’m not sure if that means it hasn’t spread to multiple eras or what. And how fast will it spread? There are so many questions that keep floating around my head, it's exhausting.”

Hare and Kokiri nodded in agreement. No one particularly had ideas on what was happening, the fear of the unknown threatening to consume them at every turn.

“Okay well I guess I’ll start on the items and armor until we do leave. In the meantime, DO NOT touch anything. If my sh*t gets moved you’re all sleeping outside. And I don’t make jokes like that, so watch yourselves.” Keeper waited as the group handed over the items that needed enhancements and immediately went to work, completely ignoring everyone in the room.

Chapter 3: crystalline

Chapter Text

Almost immediately after Keeper and Ravio had left the room Spirit had grabbed a gold headpiece off a stack of books to inspect. The metal burned Spirit’s hand, making him hiss in pain but tried to keep quiet. He quickly drew water using his magic from a basin in the kitchen and applied it to his hand, muttering swears under his breath.

“WHO. f*ckING. TOUCHED. MY. sh*t?” Keeper stormed back into the living room, eyes ablaze with an unnecessary amount of rage for the situation. “OUT. GET OUT. OFF WITH YOU ALL! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN UNTIL I’M DONE WITH YOUR GEAR!”

Ravio leaned against a wall, admiring his partner go off on Spirit. “She told you not to touch anything.” He huffed amusedly.

Spirit’s eyes watered, giving Keeper puppy eyes as he clutched his injured hand. “Ok, well you didn’t mention; one, that you have super skills to detect whenever your sh*t’s being touched and two, that you just keep magical items just laying about. Warn a guy!”

Keeper rolled its eyes. “I shouldn’t have to warn you, I said don’t touch my sh*t! Now get out!! Spirit has ruined it for the group.” She spun on her heel, leaving the room once more.

Spirit stomped off, slamming the front door behind him. Hare shrugged and followed suit, they didn’t want to get yelled at too.

Sky hovered for a moment as they all filed out the door. “Great first impression there. We just started this quest, please don’t make enemies with our comrades already. You should probably apologize, Keeper seemed pretty pissed.”

Shaking his head, Spirit just walked off in the direction of Kakariko. “Yeah, whatever.”

Walking through Kakariko proved to be more entertaining than watching Keeper yell at Spirit. Wanderer was admiring all the different colors of fabric and spices as they all followed Sky through the vendor streets. The smells of spices and grilled food drew Wanderer in next to a booth, grabbing Hare’s arm to come closer. Hare’s eyes grew wide, spotting a skewer with meat and mushrooms.

“Oh! I need to eat that right now.” Hare became bug-eyed, staring at the skewer until they finally decided to buy one. It immediately devoured the entire thing with a feral energy Wanderer was intimidated by. With a mouthful of food, “You NEED to try this Wanderer, it’s so good.”

“Hare, I can barely understand you, chew first talk later. Also, by the Goddesses slow down!” Wanderer snorted before also ordering a skewer. He was equally as delighted by the food as Hare, but less expressive about it.

The others had gone off somewhere else when Wanderer looked around for them. The streets were busy and there was lots to do around town with enough going on to easily lose three people. The crowded streets finally gave way to Kokiri’s booming laugh from farther away. Wanderer dragged Hare by the arm back over to the rest of the group who waved upon spotting the duo.

“So that’s where you two went off to,” Kokiri pointed to Hare who was on their second skewer. “We grabbed something to eat too. Should probably head back and see if Keeper has cooled off and has our items ready.”

Sky nodded. “Let’s go then since everyone’s fed. I don’t like being out and about without our gear.”

Midway to Keeper and Ravio’s house the back of Kokiri’s neck prickled and a chill set into his bones. He quickly scanned their surroundings, nothing seemed amiss but the uneasiness didn’t leave.

Something was very wrong.

The ground shook violently, nearly knocking them off their feet. In front of them the ground quaked even more severely, splitting in half. From the newly created cavity, a gigantic stalfos sprang out. It roared, the sound shattering the quiet atmosphere. The stalfos was covered in crystalline shards of malice that completely covered the monster. Evil, murderous magic pulsed from it. Kokiri couldn’t help but pale, they were unprepared and didn’t know how each other fought. This was the worst case possible.

Hare, Wanderer and Spirit took defensive positions. Drawing their backup weapons and preparing for an attack.

“Who still has weapons?” Sky shouted as he rolled to dodge a boulder thrown at him. “If anyone has a spare I need it! Keeper has my only sword!”

“I have one!” Kokiri tossed a sword at Sky and lunged at the Stalfos and attempted to land a hit but failed, the Stalfos dodged the blow. It roared, slamming both fists against the ground making the earth split between Hare and Spirit. Both just barely managed to jump to the side, narrowly avoiding falling into the cracked ground.

“Watch its fists! I think it's focusing the earth magic into them.” Wanderer ducked as the Stalfos aimed a punch at his head, missing Wanderer’s head but hitting him in the shoulder. He could feel his shoulder dislocate as the Stalfos drew its fist back, the joint popped as they sharply sucked in a breath. “f*cking hell.”

“Fall back Wanderer! Spirit aim for its legs! Maybe if it falls we can get a chance to land some attacks!” Sky swung at the Stalfos’ arm, slicing it clean off with the sword borrowed from Kokiri. The arm writhed, trying to reattach itself to the Stalfos.

Before the arm could move very far Kokiri blasted it with an exploding fire spell, effectively destroying it. Recognizing the impact of the attack, Kokiri yelled to the group. “Knock it over and I’ll blast it with a fire spell!”

Hare and Sky nodded, waiting for Spirit to hit the Stalfos’ knees making it stumble. Hare rummaged in its bag, drawing back for a moment to grab a glass vial of a red liquid. They threw the vial at the Stalfos’ feet, the vial exploded and completely knocked the Stalfos off its feet. It shrieked and sent a rock spike aimed at Sky. The spike heavily grazed Sky’s thigh, who yelped in pain.

Kokiri focused his magic and concentrated it on the Stalfos. The fire crackled as the Stalfos’ bones and crystals burst into small shards. He fell to his knees, that last spell taking more out of him than he should’ve allowed. He felt just barely enough magic in his reserves to narrowly avoid magic exhaustion. It was a dumbass move but there wasn’t another option. Sky and Wanderer were injured and the fight needed to end fast. Kokiri did what needed to be done.

“You’re a dumbass Kokiri, I don’t even have a great ability to sense other people’s magic and I can tell you’re at the brink of magic exhaustion. Don’t f*cking pull a stunt like that again or I’ll kill you myself. We need everyone on the team to not be dead so don’t f*cking push your luck. If I catch you pulling some sh*t like this again I’m making Keeper put you in magic suppressing handcuffs.” Sky’s words had more bite than he was intending but the message seemed to be received well enough, Kokiri looked incredibly guilty.

“Sure, whatever. I just won’t save you all again, no biggie. You and Wanderer got hurt. Spirit, Hare and I weren’t landing enough hits. You want us to just play an endurance game with a Stalfos with far too much power than usual? Whatever.” Kokiri huffed, dusting off Stalfos shards from his tunic and pants. Whatever guilt he had was instantly masked by anger, Sky had never seen someone switch from one emotion to anger so quickly.

“Guys chill, I need someone to help me pop my shoulder back into place so I can heal it. It dislocated too severely for me to use a spell to do it, it’s gotta be done by hand.” Wanderer was so done with the arguing, Kokiri was in the wrong but he did save them all. He pulled a risky move that just happened to pay off.

“I’ve never helped someone else pop a joint back in, just my own. I can try to help though. And I’m pretty sure I still have a painkiller potion in my bag. Let me check before we try and pop it back in, it’s a bitch to have it done with nothing to help the pain.” Hare spoke as it rummaged in its bag. They pulled out a bottle containing a violet liquid. “Here drink this and then we’ll fix your shoulder.”

Wanderer nodded and downed the potion. He braced himself for the pain as he and Hare counted to three before popping the joint back in place. The pain was lessened but Wanderer still quietly grunted from the pain.

“Don’t bother healing my thigh, I’ll be fine for a while. It’s not deep, just pretty big. I’d like to get back to Keeper’s so we can get our good gear back. This was a nightmare I don't want to repeat.” Sky stared at the mound of malice shards, contemplating its existence.

“So this is malice, huh. If it boosts monsters’ magic this vastly I don’t want to know what a naturally more powerful monster is like. This was bad enough.” Spirit motioned to the way to Keeper’s house. “Let’s get going then.”

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Ravio opened the door to the band of heroes in rough condition, covered in dirt and shards of bone. “Sweet Lolia, come inside. What the hell happened??” He ushered them in, looking the heroes up and down in shock. He called to Keeper from the other room. “BABE, we have a situation!”

Keeper groaned and eyed the group. “Right. Okay, well this is fun. Did this have anything to do with this malice magic?”

“We were on our way back and an earth magic Stalfos burst from the ground covered in malice crystals. Wanderer dislocated a shoulder and Sky took a hit to his thigh but the rest of us just have minor cuts and scrapes.” Spirit wiped the dirt and sweat from his cheek and checked himself for any major wounds as he spoke. “Yeah it was goddesses-awful, f*cking glad it’s through with.”

There was a heavy pause, Keeper hummed in contemplation. “I suppose this solves part of the ‘what the f*ck malice is’ and what it does question. Not great in terms of new information, but at least we have something. I know we said to take our time with this whole finding the remaining Links but I want to leave as soon as I’m done. Give me two days and your gear will be ready.”

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Link fell from the sky, the change in surroundings was instantaneous from having just been working at her anvil on a sword. She fell and fell down onto the hard earth. Link’s bones crunched at the impact, the pain sharp and jarring. A booming growl startled Link out of the pain, just enough for his eyes to focus on a pair of moblins stomping towards him.

“sh*t.” Link gritted his teeth and attempted to stand. The moblins were moving faster now, spears aimed at him. Working through the pain, the adrenaline began to set in. Link grabbed her sword from the ground and took a stance. One of the moblins jabbed at Link’s arm, just barely missing as Link stumbled away from the point of the spear.

The second moblin parried Link’s slice at its chest, knocking Link off balance onto her bad leg. Stars formed in his vision as he swiped at the closest moblin. As the sword met moblin flesh, it gurgled when metal met throat and blood gushed from the open wound. The moblin fell, Link pulled the sword from its throat and plunged it into its chest. The remaining moblin charged, thrusting its spear at Link’s shoulder, grazing it. Fueled by adrenaline and fear, Link cut the moblin’s arm off at the joint and knocked the moblin off balance enough for Link to drive the sword into the moblin.

Adrenaline began to wear off as Link grabbed the sword’s hilt with both hands. Her hands felt like jelly, the sword refused to budge. Link’s body just couldn’t take any more exertion, he dropped knees and crumpled into a ball and everything faded to black.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

The Picori had welcomed Link in with open arms after crash landing in a completely different Hyrule and era. He’d known of their myths but that’s what he thought they only were. Despite their size difference, the Picori had helped Link after blacking out post moblin fight. Healing and tending to her wounds for the two days he was unconscious.

Link blinked slowly, the sunlight was blinding and stung his eyes. She tried to sit up, slowly but it was too painful.

“Dear hero! Please do not get up! Your wounds are still healing and we need you to rest. As you can see we’re Minish, or Picori by you Hylians! Our healer, Meltari, gave you some potions to spread up the healing process but please don’t agitate the wounds! My name is Liftari! I’ve been helping take care of you!” Liftari set down the tray they were carrying and handed Link a glass of water.

“Wait, so how am I here? I was out in a field and now I’m a Minish?” Link’s head spun with questions, making her woozy.

Liftari nodded their head, bouncing a little. “Our Master Link found you! They said they recognized the crest on your apron! Are you from another world? Master Link has never seen anyone wear that specific crest. They said it’s a very uncommon one and not many people know of it so you must be a hero!”

“Could you maybe bring Link to talk to me? My name’s also Link.” Link eased himself back down on the bed, trying to wrap his head around the whole situation.

Liftari nodded once more and left to go get their Link. If the Minish’s Link recognized the Triforce then they definitely were Hylia’s chosen hero, just maybe of a different era. Liftari returned shortly with their Link who was much shorter than Liftari. They wore a short green cape and a lighter green tunic with a Triforce on the cape’s clasp.

They waved enthusiastically, “Hi! My name’s Link but I’m sure Liftari’s told you that. Like they said, I found you covered in monster blood with two dead moblins next to your passed out body. Ezlo, the lead wizard, made you a circlet to let you transform into a Minish form. I can explain how to change forms when you’re better enough to walk.”

“So since we’re both Link, I suppose we need to think of a nickname of sorts for each other. Maybe something to do with our quests? I kinda want to name myself Smithy, my last quest was 5 years ago and I’ve taken over my grandfather’s forge since then.” Link tapped a finger to her lips in thought. “Alright! I’ve decided, my name is Smithy! Nice to meet you.”

The Minish’s Link’s eyes lit up at Smithy’s new name, “Oh! In that case my name will be Minish, I want to honor the people I protect.”

In the corner, Liftari giggled and blushed. “We adore you Master Minish! You do so much for us already. Personally I would be so honored if you named yourself after us. I’m sure the other Minish would love it as well.”

Minish smiled and patted Liftari on the shoulder, “I vowed to protect the Minish and I intend to keep that promise. You and your people are very important to me and a vital part of Hyrule. I’m going to go talk with Ezlo about giving you a crash course on the circlet but for now don’t remove it no matter what. Ezlo and I will come back tomorrow, Meltari said you’ll be cleared to walk with aid after another night of rest and healing spells.” They exited the room along with Liftari and left Smithy to contemplate and rest.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Minish bounced through the halls towards the room Smithy was staying in. They liked Smithy and wanted to get to know him better. There was also the question of why Smithy was dropped here, why he was dropped in such a dangerous location? There were a lot of questions that probably had to do with Hylia. MInish shook their head in disgust, was Hylia twisted and cruel enough to do something like that? They knew she wasn’t as kind as the people thought, why else would she send an eleven year old to fight her battles? But Minish couldn’t comprehend just how different Hylia was from the people’s perspective. It worried them.

They knocked on the door and entered, Meltari was rewrapping Smithy’s wounds before allowing her to stand slowly. Smithy was given a pair of arm crutches to keep the weight off his broken leg as much as possible.

“It will be a few weeks before you’re fully healed again, unfortunately. Magic can only heal so much, your body must do the rest. Please use these crutches until then. I understand this isn’t an ideal situation but our Hyrule is at relative peace so you can rest safely here.” Meltari explained while gathering up their medical kit.

“Hi Smithy! Are you feeling well enough to take a walk? I’m gonna bring us to Ezlo so we can explain the circlet!” Minish bounced on the balls of their feet. They loved any excuse to talk to Ezlo, the wizard was often busy but always made time for the hero. \

Smithy adjusted her weight on the crutches and nodded, following Minish out of the room and down a long hallway lined with greenery. The wizard’s study was filled with overflowing bookshelves and a very messy desk near the center of the room. Ezlo looked up from the desk, grinning when they saw Minish accompanied by Smithy.

“So I hear you’ve taken up a new name, Master Minish! It warms my heart to see you’ve dedicated the new name to my people and I. Regardless, we have an interesting situation with Master Smithy here. I don’t pretend to understand the ways of Hylia, but this was most certainly divine intervention. You, Master Smithy, must be here for a reason. We just need to find that reason.”

“Ok but the real reason we’ve come to you is for a tutorial on Smithy’s circlet, you old bird!” Minish affectionately teased Ezlo.

Ezlo playfully rolled their eyes, “Yes, yes. Can’t have any fun with you around can I? Alright, I’d like you to follow me to my courtyard. There’s what we call a Minish stump there, those with the ability to do so can use it to transform between Minish and Hylian forms. With your circlet, you’re also able to use the Minish stump like our dear Master Minish. Enough of my rambling! Let’s try this out shall we?”

Smithy was led to a Minish size entryway in a large stump. Minish led the two of them inside.

“Okay! Now, concentrate your magic into the emerald in the center of your circlet. That’s where a spell resides that allows us to transform. Mine is in the Triforce symbol on my cape clasp.” They fiddled with the clasp as they spoke. “Okay, ready? It doesn’t need a ton of magic, if you have to visualize the size it would be like a water bucket. Use that to pour the bucket of magic over the circlet’s emerald.”

Minish grabbed Smithy’s hand, counting to three as they both focused their magic into their emeralds. Smithy felt the transformation take over, wrapping him in a woven blanket of magic. It wasn’t at all painful, the magic felt more akin to being gently stretched and unfolded. Within moments, they were both much larger and standing on top of the stump.

Minish jumped off the stump, dancing their hands in front of them. “Ta-daaa! It feels kinda like getting off a boat for a few minutes after transforming either way but it’s not at all painful like you would imagine changing sizes so drastically would be!”

“Yeah, that wasn’t so bad. And the visual you gave really helped me. It kinda reminded me of how I use my combat magic, visualizing the effect I want my blade to use. Oh, by the way. What are your paths? I use combat and weapon magic, they work nicely together. I'm glad my paths are so nicely connected.” Smithy giggled, adjusting the crutches slightly before getting off the stump.

“Oh! That’s a good point, my paths are earth and runic. I’m much better at my runes than earth magic.” Minish patted a small pouch on their hip that jangled when touched. “My runes are my biggest asset! I love using them.”

Smithy nodded in fascination, “Okay so, what now? We don’t know how I got here or why or if there’s an oncoming danger that needs to be taken care of.” She paused to gesture to herself. “Plus I’m like this. If a fight is going to happen while I’m like this– we’re f*cked. I can’t properly walk without constant aid and there’s no way I can competently fight like this either.”

The duo went silent, Minish knew Smithy was right. If they had to fight, their chances weren’t great. But what choice did they have? Currently they don’t have information regarding anything. Minish found themself getting increasingly frustrated.

To break the growing tension Minish clapped their hands and changed the topic. “Let’s go to my house, my grandfather’s there and might know something. Don’t mention this part to him but he loves to gossip which makes him a great way to get a feel for the current state of Hyrule.” Minish led them down a short, wooded path to a quaint cottage with a forge on the side of the house.

An elderly man looked up from his workstation at the forge, beaming when he saw Minish. “Link, my dear! You’re back sooner than you said you’d be back. Everything okay? And who’s this with you?”

Minish laughed, “Calm down Grandpa! Everything as we’re aware is fine, but that’s what might become an issue later on. Anyways, this is also Link, he’s from a different era of Hyrule. He got injured immediately after coming here but is healing great. But we chose alternate names so it doesn’t get confusing. I’m Minish and he’s Smithy. I think you’ll like her, Smithy took over her grandfather’s forge like I’ll eventually do! ”

“I see.” Minish’s grandfather hummed, processing the information carefully. “Well, Smithy! Make yourself at home, a fellow blacksmith is more than welcome in our home! We can talk about whatever’s happening over some food and a nice mug of tea. Please sit down Smithy, I’ll have no guests of this house on their feet while here. Especially not one who’s injured.”

Minish practically forced Smithy into a cushioned chair before scurrying over to the kitchen and helping their grandfather prepare sandwiches and tea. They set a sandwich and tea on the coffee table in front of Smithy. Waiting for their grandfather to sit down as well, Minish took a bite of their own sandwich.

“Alright kids, tell me what you know. I might’ve heard a thing or two while my Minish was gone.” Minish’s grandfather took a sip of his tea and attentively listened as the duo explained their situation over the past few days. His face contorted in sympathy for Smithy as he explained how he arrived in this Hyrule and how her injuries were sustained.

Minish finished explaining everything and drank the rest of their tea. “So now it’s your turn Grandpa. Have you heard anything out of the ordinary recently? Maybe like an influx of monsters or strange magic?”

Their grandfather nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. “I do think there’s something of import. I was in Hyrule town the other day visiting Mama’s Cafe and someone said there was a group of hero looking people. Said they were looking for someone named Link, I didn’t say anything because I figured you would wanna know beforehand. Don’t think the person I was talking to said anything about knowing a Link either. All of Hyrule is very protective of you for all you’ve done for it and its people. I hope you never forget that Minish. But I think you should go check it out for yourselves tomorrow morning. Until then, rest up and let’s chat!”

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Morning dew still covered the plants as Minish and Smithy set off for Hyrule town, Minish knew there wasn’t strong reasoning to head to town so early but they were anxious about the situation. What did they want with them? Maybe they knew something about Smithy’s being in the wrong Hyrule. Whatever is going to happen with this new group was hopefully going to be a good thing.

“Hey Minish, are you sure you want me to come? I know I’m slowing you down pace wise and I’m sure you’re really anxious about the group of heroes wanting to talk to you.” Smithy paused for a quick break as she talked, making Minish stop abruptly.

“We aren’t close sure, but I’ll feel a lot better knowing at least someone’s got my back when confronting the heroes. We don’t know their intentions and I’d rather not go alone if possible. Besides, I’ve decided you’re my friend and I would never let a friend allow themself to think they’re slowing anyone down. So no, you’re stuck with me.” Minish huffed, Smithy thought better of asking any more questions about the heroes, she didn’t want to make Minish more anxious.

Smithy was glad there wasn’t much farther to go, her arms were beginning to burn from not being accustomed to using crutches. But Minish’s comments about being friends warmed his heart, he was glad to have met Minish even if it meant almost dying after those moblins. Hyrule town was filled with activity, despite the early morning. Merchants marketing their wares and people chatting about their days.

“Let’s head to the cafe, Mama might have an idea about where the heroes are. We should get a pastry while we’re there, the local bakery makes them and they’re heavenly.” Minish guided them into a very busy cafe. They walked up to the counter, a very cheerful woman waved Minish over to her. “Hi Mama! We’ll take two raspberry strudels and I wanted to ask if you know anything about the group of heroes that Grandpa said came into town.”

Mama nodded, “Yes! They’re very nice, were wanting to know things about you. I kept everything nice and vague, didn’t wanna tell them anything you didn’t want them to know.” She gestured to a table in the corner where five people sat.

“Thank you Mama, that’s very kind of you and thank you for thinking of my friend like that. I really appreciate that. Okay Minish, ready?” Smithy looked to Minish, their eyes flicking from each of the heroes’ faces. “Deep breaths Min, I’m here. Let’s see what they want together.” Smithy smiled softly at Minish, guiding Minish over.

One of the heroes looked up from their mug, locking eyes with Minish. The strange hero’s gaze was so intense Minish wanted to squirm, their entire being felt on display for the hero to examine.

“Kokiri!” A hero sitting next to them chided and elbowed Kokiri. “I’m really hoping one of you is named Link. I’m terribly sorry about Kokiri, he’s still grumpy from our travels. I’m Sky and everyone at this table is a Link from a different era. From my left side going around the table we have Keeper, Spirit, Hare, and Wanderer.”

“You’re treating me like a child Sky!” Kokiri spoke harshly, through gritted teeth.

Sky smiled plainly. “Then don’t act like one old man.” He turned his attention back to Smithy and Minish. “Are either of you named Link?”

“I’m Smithy and this is Minish, we’re both Links actually! This is Minish’s Hyrule, we still haven’t figured out how I got here or why I’m here at all. Since you’re all here does that mean there’s something else going on?” Smithy grabbed a spare chair and sat down at the table across from the group. Smithy whispered to Minish, “Minish sit down, you look like you’re going to fall over.”

Minish flushed and sat down, sharply prodding Smithy in the thigh. They were grateful for the gentle reminder to actually breathe and not panic too much. Minish examined each of the heroes’ faces, each one seemed curious and attentive to every small motion they and Smithy made. Minish frowned slightly, this was a lot to take in. It had been just them and the stories in Hyrule Castle’s library of heroes of the past. Now six other heroes sat next to him, both of the past and future.

Keeper went into a long winded rant about everything they knew, from Hylia’s message to Kokiri, to the crystalline Stalfos they had fought and what that meant about the nature of the malice. With all the information laid out, Keeper didn’t like where this was headed. Hylia was giving them no choice but to fight, with the added obstacle of little to no knowledge about the malice.

“This is f*cking rough. We have like no information and there’s still two other Links to find. This is like playing a really f*cked up game of hide and seek with the end prize just being a gamble on whether we all live or the world ends with us in it.” Spirit heaved a sigh and dropped his head into his hands on the table.

“The sailor’s right, as of right now we’re f*cked unless Hylia decides we deserve a hint.” Wanderer shrugged half heartedly, a frown creasing his brow. “I hate to say it but I think we have no choice but to wander, gather information and hope we happen upon the last two Links. Minish, since this is your Hyrule has there been any word of strange acting monsters? Anything magical that’s out of the ordinary?”

Minish let themself think, “No, can’t say I have. The Minish, you might know them as the Picori, let me know of anything odd happening around Hyrule. Glad everything is in relative peace here save for the pair of moblins that Smithy had the misfortune of literally being dropped into their range of attack.”

Smithy cringed and began fiddling with the arm crutches as a distraction from the entire group’s eyes on her, everyone’s faces twisted in knowing sympathy. Simply because Smithy knew the moblin attack had been either a freak coincidence or a cruel act of Hylia’s power, didn’t mean he felt any less embarrassed about being completely floored by two moblins that apparently were at normal strength. Smithy had saved Hyrule twice! And yet almost died to a pair of moblins after falling out of the sky. Pathetic.

“Ah, sh*t. Sorry Smithy I didn’t mean it like that. You did much better than I would’ve, simultaneously fighting two moblins at their full strength is hard even on a good day for me. You fought and killed them on a broken leg and completely disoriented to the point you said you didn’t even use magic! End of the day, you’re alive, they’re not and that’s what matters.” Minish offered an apologetic smile and patted Smithy’s hand that was gripping the hem of his tunic.

“I think it would be a good plan if we split into two groups and looked around for a bit, the fact that you dropped right on top of those moblins, Smithy, makes me really nervous. I think we need to start checking out the area before moving on. Plus, Keeper said the amulet seems to take longer to charge now. Which means until it's ready to go then we’re stuck here regardless.” Sky took a sip from his mug and leaned back in the chair. “Pretend we’re on a nice getaway or something, keep an eye out for anything odd and we’ll group back up tonight at the inn.”

Minish toyed with the idea of his grandfather’s house but it was nowhere near large enough for seven other heroes plus their grandfather. It wouldn’t work, but they could use it to talk in the morning if Minish remembered. For now it was off to play tour guide.

Chapter 4: chuchu jelly

Chapter Text

Kokiri’s eyes rolled so far back in his head he swore he saw the inside of his head. Minish was talking rapidfire as Spirit listened intently. Kokiri wished he didn’t feel as old as he did whenever the younger heroes spoke to him or others around him. It was like they weren't even speaking Hylian anymore, speaking so quickly you could barely keep up if you understood the terms Minish and Spirit used speaking to each other.

Spirit jumped up and smacked Kokiri on the back of the head, “OI!! Pay attention twiggy! Minish is trying to explain their typical monsters and your shrubby ass is in the back of the group zoning out during important things!”

“Explaining what exactly?! All I’ve heard is about the same monsters that are in my Hyrule! There’s no point in listening to something that I already know, what am I going to do with more information on chuchus than anyone will ever need!” Kokiri batted Spirit’s hand away as he jeered, making an ugly face at Spirit.

“Sure thing chu-chu master, tell me one thing Minish said about their chuchus.” Spirit briefly paused, not waiting for an answer and cupped a hand to his ear mockingly. “Oh? What’s that, you haven’t been listening? Huh. What a shame.” He sighed with his entire body as dramatically as possible and smirked at Kokiri.

Smithy couldn’t help but burst into a fit of laughter, clutching his sides. “Oh wise and all knowing chuchu master telling us your chuchu ways!”

“UGH! SHUT THE f*ck UP SPIRIT!! I don’t care about the chuchus, it’s not productive to talk about the weakest monsters in every Hyrule!” Kokiri pulled at his hair as he shouted at Spirit, voice echoing throughout the forest.

“Guys can we not? Sure chuchus are weak but here they travel in groups that the other monsters use as a diversion and a way to find travelers to attack. The chuchus themselves are dumb but the other monsters are pretty intelligent. Sometimes they even use the chuchus as weapons, throwing them like bombs.” Minish said, shrugging nonchalantly.

“That’s both the weirdest and coolest thing I’ve heard all day. Are the monsters strong? Or do they use the chuchus because they aren’t strong? I have like a million questions.” Spirit’s eyes grew huge, reminding Smithy of a cat ready to pounce.

“It kinda depends on the monster? Like the moblins Smithy fought are wicked strong but moblins in general are strong, dumb and don’t have much magic. And our wizzrobes do use chu-chus as weapons because physically they aren't strong but they’re very smart and have lots of magic. You really have to be on high alert while out and about because of that.” Minish raised an eyebrow at Kokiri, watching his reaction to this Hyrule’s monsters.

Kokiri scoffed. “Sure, whatever. It doesn’t sound too different from my Hyrule aside from the intelligence of the monsters. Mine can’t use tools or their surroundings for the most part. Besides, there’s four of us in this group and we probably aren’t going up against a Stalfos again so it’s fine.”

“You’re a f*cking dumbass but okay, can’t expect much with someone with bark for brains. Go climb a tree or something and let the grownups talk.” Spirit exuded sass as he enunciated each word as dramatically as possible.

Smithy burst into another fit of laughter at Kokiri’s expense who looked ready to combust in a blind rage. Minish tried their best to hold in the giggles but eventually caved to the laughter. The laughter died out as Minish quickly dropped into a low crouch and motioned for everyone to shut up and follow suit. They pointed at an outcrop in the field in front of them, a wizzrobe danced around a moblin armed with a bow and a cluster of sparks, the electric monsters buzzing around. The wizzrobe drew the magic out of them. Magic swirled and pulsed around the wizzrobe as it absorbed the sparks’ magic, leaving them a pile of empty husks. The wizzrobe cackled its beady, glowing eyes meeting Minish’s.

Screeching, the wizzrobe poured the electric magic into the moblin which writhed in pain as the magic consumed it. The moblin, now glowing and sparking readied its bow at the heroes.

“OH f*ck, ON THE GROUND!!!” Minish pulled Smithy and Spirit down flat on the ground with them, hoping Kokiri would follow suit. Kokiri was still moping and hadn’t been paying attention since Minish had told the group to shut up and pointed out the wizzrobe.

A crackle of electricity rang through the air, the moblin shot an arrow aimed directly at Kokiri’s chest. With only a split second to move, Kokiri ducked down. The arrow missed his chest but hit him in the shoulder. His sword clattered to the forest floor, jerking in pain from the shock. Kokiri dropped to the ground, completely limp and moaning in pain.

“f*cking hell man! Minish says ‘get down’ and you f*cking get down!” Spirit drew the Phantom Sword and nodded to Minish, both ready to attack. “Smithy, stay with the ancient moron. You don’t need to aggravate your wounds any more.”

Smithy groaned but nodded. “Right, I’ll keep the dumbass in check.”

“I’m literally right here.” Kokiri said weakly, voice hoarse and painful. He made no attempt to move but twisted his face in annoyance and pain.

Minish moved in fast, letting Spirit play as a distraction. Fighting electricity magic monsters was much easier long range but Minish wasn’t given that option. They weren’t skilled enough to risk using a bow in fast paced combat. Minish needed to act fast, the wizzrobe was still charging another spell to give the moblin another burst of electricity to use.

The moblin fired another arrow, this time aimed at Spirit. It wasn’t charged and Spirit was able to dodge it and let loose an arrow of his own. The arrow hit the moblin directly in the eye; it screamed and dropped its bow to clutch at its eye. Spirit aimed and fired an arrow to the moblin’s chest, dark blood pooling around it as its lifeless body fell to the ground.

There was an opening for Minish; distressed gurgling coming from moblin as it died distracted the wizzrobe. With the wizzrobe paused and fully distracted, Minish ran up and cut down the wizzrobe, effectively halving it. Blood from wizzrobe sprayed Minish, sweat mixing with the blood. They looked over to Spirit who let out a small cheer.

“Let’s go! Teamwork for the win!!” Spirit jumped up and down, jogging over to Minish who still stood in front of the wizzrobe, deep in thought. “We didn’t even have to speak to each other and we still killed it. Literally!”

This broke Minish from their train of thought, laughing along with Spirit. “Yeah we did, didn’t we?” They waved to Smithy and Kokiri, giving them a thumbs up. “All clear guys!”

Kokiri had finally gained movement back and groaned. Spirit and Minish helped him up by the arms into a standing position. He was still weak in the knees but was able to stay standing unaided. Spirit whacked him on the back of his head, making Kokiri wobble slightly.

“Learn your lesson yet, tree boy?” Spirit stuck his tongue out and scrunched his face at Kokiri. “You’re more of a child than I am and you’re like a decade older than me! Get a grip, you could’ve been killed or killed us all!”

“Spirit just leave it, he’s too dense to have learned anything about this situation. Thank you and Minish for handling it. I wish I could’ve helped but yeah, thanks a ton.” Smithy pulled herself up and brushed off the dirt from her clothes. “Minish can we head to your grandfather’s? I think we should be done searching around for now. Half of our group is out of commission and you and Spirit deserve a rest.”

Minish nodded, leading the way back towards their grandfather’s. Kokiri stuck to the back of the group, stewing in humiliation of his own making.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Keeper inhaled deeply, pacing around the small living room. “KOKIRI YOU’RE DONE! IF YOU CAN’T KEEP YOUR TEAMMATES SAFE, YOU’RE THE WORST HERO I’VE EVER MET! GET YOUR f*ckING ACT TOGETHER BEFORE SOMEONE GETS KILLED! DO YOU WANT A f*ckING BABYSITTER FOR YOUR CHILDISH ASS?? BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE GETTING!”

“Dude, chill. You’re gonna burst a blood vessel if you keep yelling at Kokiri like this. We get it. He’s dense and brash but got his sh*t wrecked by an electric arrow. Maybe that will keep him in check for at least a few days. I say he gets put with Sky from now on if we ever split up again.” Wanderer drew his hands back from Kokiri’s shoulder, waving one hand flippantly.

Sky’s group had come back and after being filled in on the wizzrobe fight they each had gripes about Kokiri and his actions. Keeper was the most reactive, frothing at the mouth with concern veiled in anger. As heroes it was their job to protect people, Kokiri had shown to Keeper that he was incapable of thinking for himself. He was getting himself and the people around him into dangerous situations. It was inexcusable.

“Okay, listen up. Kokiri, as Keeper oh so eloquently stated you’ll be getting a babysitter. Which apparently just so happens to be me. No more of this insolent bullsh*t. I don’t care what you did or how you did it as a hero before now. You’re working with a team and that includes keeping their safety in mind as well as your own. Apparently you’re incapable of either. We don’t know each other well yet but that doesn’t excuse putting their lives at risk.” Sky narrowed his gaze, staring Kokiri down. He was getting tired of Kokiri already and just hoped that this was a show and Kokiri wasn’t actually this awful of a person.

Kokiri turned his head away from Wanderer and Keeper and scoffed. Keeper was done. Completely over this man-child and the risk he was bringing to the group. The band of heroes had just met but there was no excuse for Kokiri’s behavior.

“Regardless of Kokiri’s stupidity we made it out relatively unscathed, save for Kokiri. Plus we found out some info about the monsters. The wizzrobe didn’t seem to be touched by malice but I’ve never seen such a smart monster. It was using sparks to gain electricity magic, that part’s normal but controlling or ordering the moblin? That’s mind blowing.” Minish stood up and stretched, pressing the palms of their hands into their face.

The room fell silent, if Minish’s already intelligent monsters were becoming smarter all the Hyrules were at risk of this phenomenon. Whether it be the malice directly or indirectly it didn’t matter. Smarter monsters meant more dangerous worlds for everyone across the eras. There was no telling what the other eras were experiencing right now. Minish knew finding the last two heroes was the absolute top priority. With ten of Hylia’s chosen heroes, maybe they had a chance of defeating an evil that spanned across time.

Sky read Minish’s mind, crossing his arms and grabbing everyone’s attention. “Our next move will be finding the remaining heroes, wandering around aimlessly won’t do us any good. We need to find a way to clear out the malice from the source. What or where that source is? No clue, but Hylia clearly isn’t aiding us more than just adding more bodies to figure this out and fight it.”

“Could we ask another Goddess? Hare, you’ve interacted with the Golden Goddesses right? Maybe we could ask them if they know anything. I’ve long since given up trusting Hylia to help us, she’s most definitely ignoring everything we’re doing to try and defeat the malice.” Keeper turned to Hare who had been quietly observing everyone. “They helped me greatly on my quests. Did they help you at all?”

Hare jumped in its seat. “Oh uh yeah. I have and they did. Farore is the most perceptive to the Hero’s Spirit being the Goddess of Courage. I do trust all three but I’ve just interacted with her the most.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Golden Goddesses? I’ve never heard of them before.” Smithy frowned, tilting her head to the side slightly. “I always thought Hylia was the only main Goddess. These Golden Goddesses seem highly important. So why have only you and Keeper heard of them.”

Hare hummed in thought. “I have no idea. But either way, we should go to them as soon as we find the remaining heroes.”

“Speaking of, we should set out tomorrow. The amulet should be charged by now. Goddesses, we need to figure out a way to charge it faster.” Sky grabbed the amulet from his bag, thumbing the engraved metal. “We can take the rest of the day and rest, then head out early.”

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

The morning sun filtered through the trees, warming Hare’s skin. Having woken up earlier than everyone else, they decided to sit outside so they didn’t disturb Wanderer and Keeper who had shared the room at the inn with Hare. Minish’s Hyrule was beautiful and the magic pulsed and danced through everything. They were unaccustomed to the amount of magic but it wasn’t overwhelming. Instead, it wrapped Hare up in a blanket woven from magic.

While the magic here was stronger it did remind Hare of its own Hyrule’s magic. Freely flowing, giving the air a sweet scent. Hare tipped their head back, letting the sensation of magic take over. It was powerful yet not overwhelming.

“Hey Hare, how long have you been up?” Wanderer said while yawning, sitting down next to Hare.

Hare shrugged. “Couple hours probably. Came out here to soak up the magic, it feels so nice here. Reminds me of home.”

“Hm. It’s a lot different from my Hyrule, much for available magic around. It does feel nice, the magic. I can sense it in the plants much more, they seem greener too. I’ve already harvested some herbs used for healing and stashed them for later. They’ll definitely be useful. Anyways, I’m really hoping the monsters here are just a reflection of the amount of magic. If that’s the case then maybe the other Hyrules won’t have nearly as strong of monsters as here.” Wanderer plucked a blade of grass, twirling it between his fingers.

Hare’s ears twitched, they turned around to find Sky walking towards them. Sky gave the two a small wave. “Food’s gonna be on the road. I found out the hard way to not travel through fissures with a full stomach. Everyone else is waking up and getting ready, so I’d say we’re leaving in ten.”

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Moving through fissures had become a lot less miserable once Wanderer and Hare had figured out a potion to combat the nausea. Disorientation was to be expected but the time it took to regain their footings was a lot less.

Keeper stumbled slightly after stepping out of the fissure, the world was spinning but didn’t last long. He pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead and waited for the world to still. There was a very loud buzzing of magic in Keeper’s ears. With a sensitivity to magic, this Hyrule matched Spirit’s in availability but felt greatly more powerful. They pulled out a copper ring from one of their many pockets, slipping it onto their middle finger. The buzzing subsided enough for Keeper to step forward as the group progressed.

Spirit bounced besides Keeper. “Do you think this Hyrule’s Link is gonna have any clue about what’s going on? So far it seems like Kokiri was tasked with finding everyone and explaining the situation. Which is bullsh*t I think, it’s just wasting time I doubt we have.”

“Agreed. We should go back to either Hare’s Hyrule or mine if we can. I’ve been thinking about trying to fiddle with the amulet, see if we can find a way to choose whose Hyrule we go to. I need to talk with Smithy about the logistics but tonight I want to fiddle with it and hopefully not die from doing so. I’m pretty good at f*cking with things that shouldn’t be f*cked with and coming out mostly unharmed.”

“Woah, woah, woah.” Smithy turned around at the mention of her name. “What logistics? I’m down to help but what did you find to think this is possible?”

Loud rustling came above as a twig fell from a tree. A flash of yellow hit Kokiri, electricity coursing through him yet again. He grunted in pain, completely in shock. Spirit jumped in front of Kokiri, drawing his sword and scanned the area for the attacker. A wild eyed person with messy hair jumped down from a large branch. Drawing their bow, they prepared to attack.

Their eyes narrowed, speaking low and threatening. “Who are you all? I heard you speaking about finding Link. What do you want?”

Sky took his hand off the hilt of his sword, slowly raising his hands in the air. “Yes, we’re looking for Link. Do you happen to know anything about Link? Or where can we find them?”

“I am Link. But why do you need me? And you didn’t explain who you all are. Speak or chuchu boy gets shot, I don’t have time for wanna be assassins.” Link drew the bow back farther, aimed directly at Kokiri.

“All of us are also named Link, we can explain what’s happening if you stop aiming an arrow at Kokiri’s heart. We aren’t here to kill you, quite the opposite actually.” Sky waited, hoping Link would comply and not shoot Kokiri who was still recovering from this round of getting hit with electricity.

Link did comply, releasing the tension on the bow and relaxed his posture. He turned his head towards the edge of the forest. “It’s okay Twi, these guys are fine I guess.”

A massive wolf emerged from the forest. Its body emitted a dark purple light, shifting as the glowing intensified and transformed into a Hylian. Twilight groaned and stretched their back. “Hey, I’m Link too. Pup over ‘ere been callin’ me Twilight, I call ‘im Honor. Bu’ like they said, what are y’all doin’ here?”

“Right. This will probably take awhile given the amount of sh*t that’s gone on since I was given this quest by Hylia. Also. WHAT THE f*ck DID YOU THROW AT ME?! That sh*t really hurt! Second time I’ve been f*cking electrocuted in less than 48 hours.” Kokiri was seething and stared Honor down who smirked unapologetically.

Twilight chuckled. “We can head to Tarrey Town. Honor said Zelda’s comin’ to visit. She’s real smart an’ migh’ have some insight ‘bout this.”

“Let’s go then. Also, don’t mind Kokiri. He has a temper and likes to yell.” Sky smiled warmly at Twilight and Honor, causing Twilight to flush bright red. Kokiri scowled, angrily muttering under his breath.

The trek to Tarrey Town was nice, autumnal colored trees lined the path and birds chirped happily. Sky smiled at the sound, whistling a call to the birds who mimicked the sound. They arrived at a quaint house on the edge of town.

Honor jogged towards the house, yelling. “ZELDA! There’s something ever weirder going on now! A bunch of people showed up in deep Akkala saying they’re all called Link too! I think this is something to do with Twilight and how they got here.”

A flash of blonde hair attacked Honor, pulling him into a tight hug. “OH YOU’RE BACK! Hi Link! I was wondering when you were coming back.” She pointed at Twilight. “You must be Twilight, Link explained as much of the situation as possible which is why I'm here. But there’s eight more of you? By the lights, I wish Purah had come with me now! This is so exciting! Please tell me everything!”

Honor ushered everyone inside. “Shoes off and everyone to the living room. I’ll make some tea while you settle then we can get to talking.”

Smithy eased herself on the couch with the help of Minish who sat next to her. The group settled in and waited in silence as the tea brewed. Kokiri had slumped against the wall, still pouting and nursing his pride from getting electrocuted by Honor.

With a tray of steaming mugs of tea, Honor placed the tray on the coffee table and grabbed a mug for themself. He nodded to Sky, as an indicator to begin. As Sky dove into the explanation of Hylia’s gathering of the ten heroes, what they know about malice and its effects on monsters so far. Zelda hummed and nodded along, enthralled by this new information.

“From what I know ‘bout how I got here it was Hylia’s doin’ I jus’ dunno why. Accordin’ to y’all it’s for this quest, wish she was more blatant in what she’s wantin’. Since the ten of us are together now, what next?”

Honor, from where he was perched on the arm of Zelda’s sitting chair hummed in thought. “Okay but before that. Since we’re all called Links, and we’re all connected together by this quest. Does this mean we make up a chain?”

The room went dead silent as Honor and Smithy howled in delighted laughter. Only the two found the joke funny. Zelda lightly pushed Honor’s shoulder and Spirit rolled his eyes, completely unamused.

Smithy pointed at Honor. “Fellow pun master, you’re my new favorite person! Sorry Minish, if you become a pun master then I’ll have two favorite people.” Honor grinned, making a heart with his hands at Smithy.

“Aaaaaanyways–” Zelda threw a side eye at Honor. “I suppose since the ‘Chain’ is together now, something needs to happen regarding the malice. My question is, how does Hylia expect anyone to know what’s going on without her giving literally any guidance? Do you guys have an idea what to do next?”

“I was trying to talk with Smithy about this after Spirit had mentioned the idea. If we can figure out a way to more or less ‘hack’ the amulet and control where we go it might give us more control over where we go. I really don’t know how to control where we go or how we worm it away from Hylia’s overpowering magic. We don’t really know how this amulet works. If we can do at least that then maybe we can hack it.” Keeper motioned to Kokiri for the amulet, who dug it from his bag and tossed it over to them. Holding the amulet up to the light allowed Keeper to see the inscription. It wasn’t in a language she knew, but some of the characters were familiar enough to infer that it was a spell. “Give me some time and I think I can manipulate this inscription, it’s a spell of some sort. If I’m thinking about this right we can make the magic source be from our own reserves and the magic surrounding us.”

“If the spell is woven into the metal maybe I can help? I don’t typically do much work with metal not used in weapons, but I can try. I’m not like completely hopeless at jewelry magic so maybe I can be of use!” Smithy raised his hand excitedly, momentarily forgetting about her broken leg as tried to stand up before getting a death glare from Wanderer.

“Okay, everyone else minus Smithy and maybe Hare if it wants to help can go f*ck off. Go climb a tree or something. I really don’t give a sh*t, just give us some peace to work.” Keeper shooed everyone away and dug out a small workstation from their bag.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Twilight walked alongside Zelda and Honor towards the falls. Evening was falling and fireflies had begun to emerge. After being kicked out of Honor’s house by Keeper the Chain split up and had some downtime.

Honor walked backwards in front of Zelda and Twilight. “Sooo…” He started, eyeing Twilight with a raised eyebrow suspiciously. “What was that whole blushing thing with Sky when we first met these guys? Don’t tell me–”

“NO, NO, NO!” Twilight waved their arms in front of them frantically, his face and ears were bright red again. “Don’ even start, I don’ wanna hear it!”

“Oh? Honor please, please explain to me what this is about! If Twilight has a crush I NEED details.” Zelda giggled as she covered her mouth with her hand.

“Zelda PLEASE, we just met. Both you an’ the Chain. It would be pathetic if I had a crush on some guy I barely know ‘cause we just met.” Twilight groaned, walking faster past Honor towards the roaring falls. He hoped the noise would be enough to make them shut up.

It was not.

“OKAY YOU TOTALLY HAVE A CRUSH!” Honor was giddy. “Who? And you better spill otherwise I’m listing all eight of them one by one and judging your reaction. Pick your torture method my canine friend!”

Twilight groaned over the sound of the rushing water. “If I spill an’ I hear ANYONE else mention this outside of y’all. You’re both dead. I MEAN it! This information doesn’t leave this area. Got it?”

Zelda and Honor nodded excitedly. The more willing Twilight was to kill them over this, the better this secret crush intel was going to be.

“Okay, let’s get this f*ckin’ over with I ‘spose. It’s Sky. I think I have a crush on him. An’ I know, I know. We just met, I don’ know what he’s like. Blah, blah, blah. But do you have f*ckin’ eyes?! He’s so cute! When he smiled at us I felt like I was going to burn into a pile of ash. It was so radiant! He’s just– UGH!” Twilight dragged his hands down his face and covered his mouth while he screamed.

“Oh my GODDESSES, you’re so gay! Not to worry though! I won’t tell anyone but with this new found information, I’ll in fact be bullying you relentlessly about this.” Honor pounded their fist to their chest playfully as a vow of secrecy.

Chapter 5: amalgamation

Chapter Text

Keeper sighed, setting the magnifying glass and pliers down on the table. Removing the magical lock he and Smithy had found on the amulet was proving to be a nightmare. They would have to chip away at it piece by piece. It was extremely powerful and incredibly stubborn, clearly made with divine intent but still Hylian in make. As if Hylia hadn’t felt the need to create it solely from divine energy, because who would be so stupid as to mess with a magical item given to them by Hylia herself. Keeper was more than stupid enough to mess with a divinely magical item and confident enough that she could pull it off. In theory, it could be done. But it might take all the magic in both Keeper’s and Smithy’s reserves. So bit by bit it must be.

Overall the work was draining, too much to do in just a night of work. They took turns, trading off to try and get the amulet done fast.

“I gotta tap out, my magic’s running low. I think a lot of my magic is going towards helping heal my leg, it felt lower to start with.” Smithy leaned back in the chair and stretched. “I can probably continue in the morning. Given our current pace I think we might have to take this project on the road.”

“I’m determined to get this done. I don’t even know if we can leave this Hyrule without finishing modifying the amulet. By this point the magic in it is f*cked up enough it might kill us if we try and leave right now. We need to sit tight and figure this out.” Keeper stuck his tongue out the corner of his mouth in concentration.

“What’s this about?” Hare peeked over Keeper’s shoulder, leaning in slightly.

Keeper jumped. “f*ckING SPIRITS HARE!!!! I’M f*ckING BUSY DON’T SCARE ME LIKE THAT!!”

Hare hopped back and yelped, startled as well. “sh*t sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I overheard you talking about the amulet. I think I can help. I’m pretty good at mixing my magic with others, maybe if we combine either two or three of us it might be powerful enough to break through whatever barriers are holding the main magic in place.”

“In theory that could work. We’d have to be really careful with not draining anyone’s reserves though. But I’m really starting to think this is the fastest way to get this over with.” Smithy shrugged, it was a gamble but they were running out of choices.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

“Hey Honor! We should go sight-seeing, I really wanna see what your Hyrule is like!” Minish bounced around as they dished out breakfast for everyone.

“Good idea, that means Smithy, Hare and I can get some work done on the amulet. Basically we can’t leave until we get this done. So go train or something, I don’t care just stay out of our way. We won’t need help, just space so after breakfast go away we’ve got it from here.” Keeper said between mouthfuls of eggs and potatoes.

Honor nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah sure! I’d love to show you around, I don’t think Twilight’s seen much other than Deep Akkala which is where we found you guys. Oh! We can head to the Citadel Ruins! Those are really cool, there used to be a handful of Guardians at the ruins but I cleared out the last of them ages ago and they haven’t popped back up since.”

“What’s a guardian?” Wanderer asked, tapping the table with a finger absentmindedly.

“Killer metal spiders that shoot beams of fire at you. If they spot you, you’re f*cked unless you know how to handle them. Otherwise? Run.” Honor wore a neutral expression, unbothered by the horror they had just described. “But don’t worry! They won’t come back.”

Kokiri and Sky exchanged looks of panic and concern. Neither of them wanted to admit how terrifying that image was out loud.

“Okay, go away now. Hare and I can handle dishes while Smithy gets started on the amulet. Shoo, shoo. We got this.” Keeper assured as she pushed everyone out the door.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Honor walked ahead of the others, leading them towards the citadel. The walk was beautiful, the well worn deer trail they followed snaked up the hill. Wanderer ogled at the greenery, continuously falling behind so they could snag some of the edible and medicinal plants. Twilight had to drag them back to the group just for them to fall behind yet again.

“Dude, we’re gonna get lost from the group if you don’t stop picking flowers.” Twilight grabbed Wanderer’s arm and led him back to the group yet again.

“Okay, well you’ll thank me when we need these amazing plants!” Wanderer stuck out their tongue and glared at Twilight who groaned in frustration.

The Chain reached the highest part of the ruins, looking down upon Akkala was breathtaking. Autumn colored trees dotted the landscape, their leaves blowing in the slight breeze. The ruins themselves gave way to macabre and somber emotions, the memories of death were intensely present here. They could only hope the people who died here have found peace in their afterlives.

“Look! You can see Honor’s house from here!” Minish had stepped towards the ledge, pointing towards Tarrey Town and Honor’s house.

Deafening rumbling came from behind them, shaking the ground beneath. Twilight whipped around to the direction of the noise. A massive boulder shuddered, smaller rocks crumbling away from it as it erupted from the ground. Time slowed as the boulder stood, its stature growing rapidly as it came to its full height.

“Ohhhhh f*ckING SPIRITS!” Honor groaned, the realization hitting them. “It’s a Talus! Why the f*ck is it up here?! There’s literally never been a Talus literally anywhere near here ever!” The Talus flung a rock at Spirit’s head as he scrambled to get out of the way.

“WHAT THE f*ck IS THAT?? AND WHY IS IT THROWING ROCKS AT ME?” Spirit screamed and pulled out his sword. “HOW THE f*ck DO WE EVEN FIGHT THIS THING?”

“Were you even listening?? It’s a Talus! Find the weak spot! It’s usually a rock or crystal that juts out from the main body!” Honor grabbed his bow, notching an arrow and running to the side of the Talus to try and find the weak spot.

Twilight followed suit, running on the opposite side from Honor. “I think there’s five of those weak spots you’re talking about!”

From the Talus’ body, small rocks exploded from the outcroppings held together with pulsating malice. Bright blue light emanated from the outcroppings giving way to an even more intense glowing center. The outcroppings began to move independent of the Talus.

“OKAY, WHAT IN THE EVER LOVING f*ck IS GOING ON NOW? f*ckING GUARDIANS?? THOSE SHOULDN’T EVEN EXIST ANYMORE!!!!” Honor shouted, equal parts confusion and fear coursed through his veins. “WATCH OUT FOR THEIR EYES THEY SHOOT LASERS! BOWS AND OTHER LONG RANGE ATTACKS ARE GOING TO BE OUR BEST BET!”

“I’ve got plenty of arrows and I’m a decent shot! Just tell me where to aim. I really don’t think anyone besides us is good enough with a bow to be of any use, sorry guys.” Spirit looked to the rest of the Chain who’d scattered to avoid getting hit.

“Everyone who can’t be of use, fall back. I don’t think any of us need to be in the way of Honor and Spirit.” Sky quickly waved for everyone else to follow him back to the deer trail they’d come from.

Honor affirmatively nodded to Spirit. “Aim for the eye! Bomb arrows work best, aside from ancient arrows, which I only have two of.”

Silently they weaved around laser beams, notching arrow after arrow at the guardian and Talus monstrosity. A volley of explosions landed their mark, only one of the guardians had died.

“WHAT THE HELL?! Why aren’t they dying?” Honor landed another arrow directly in a guardian's eye. “Unless, there’s still a weak point on the Talus.”

“You mean like one of the guardians is hiding the weak point? Or is the guardian the weak point now?” Spirit sprinted away from a laser beam aimed at his chest. He avoided a direct hit but the heat of the beam seared his forearm. He sucked in breath as the pain radiated through his body.

Honor scanned the Talus for any visual differences, between the malice and the guardians, their head spun with the overload of new variables. A guardian head on the back of the Talus glowed the same deep red as the malice surrounding it.

“THE ONE GLOWING RED! AIM FOR THAT ONE!” Honor notched a precious ancient arrow and aimed, just barely meeting its mark. The Talus fell, shuddering as it and the guardians crumbled into nothing. Spirit and Honor dropped to their knees, sweaty and panting from the battle.

“Goddesses, that was f*cking rough, your arm okay?” Honor stood up, going over to examine Spirit’s arm.

Spirit winced at the touch. “Yeah, I’ll have Wanderer take a look at it when we regroup. I’m assuming they booked it back to the house. I’m exhausted, could use a good nap after this. You sure it’s dead?”

“Yeah, the blood moons have stopped so there’s a very slim chance it comes back. And I’m only saying slim chance because if this happened in the first place it might happen again. But I don’t know for sure.” Honor shrugged, collecting guardian parts and arrows that didn’t hit their mark.

“Hey!” Wanderer jogged over from the deer trail with Twilight not far behind. “You two alright? Any injuries?”

“Yeah my arm got fried a bit from a guardian beam.” Spirit showed his arm to Wanderer who held it gently, letting their magic wash over and envelope the burn.

“Oh Goddess, I could hear everythin’ even from halfway to the house! Everyone else should already be there by now. Are you sure you’re both alright? No broken bones or anythin’?” Twilight fretted over Honor, double checking she hadn’t been injured.

Honor lightly swatted Twilight’s hands away. “Dude, I’m fine. Don’t worry, a couple scratches and bruises but otherwise I’m perfectly fine. Just exhausted, didn’t use much magic though so I’ll be fine.”

Twilight pouted but let Honor dust off his pants, still hovering close by. Spirit and Honor both lagged behind as they headed back to Honor’s house. Fatigue had set in as the adrenaline faded.

Honor bumped fists with Spirit. “We so nailed that. I have no idea what that atrocity of a Talus was but we still killed it with minimal injuries between the two of us.”

Spirit nodded weakly and smiled. “Yeah, we f*cking did it. Anyways, I’m f*cking starving and need a nap badly.”

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Twilight shoved Honor out of the kitchen. “No, no, no. You need to rest. Get out an’ stay out! Or I’ll have someone strap you to a chair. I’m sure Kokiri would get a kick out of that.” They swatted Honor with a wooden spoon on his hand just for good measure.

“Fine, fine. I’ll leave, just don’t yell for me when you can’t find anything in my kitchen.” Honor rolled their eyes and made a face at Twilight.

“I can help! My Zelda taught me how to cook a bit so I’m not completely helpless in the kitchen.” Sky got up and grabbed the spoon out of Twilight’s hand and smiled at them.

“Oh– uh. Yeah, yeah– thanks.” The tips of Twilight’s ears burned bright red, stammering as he pulled vegetables and spices out of the pantry. “I– I was thinkin’ we could make pumpkin stew. It’s a big comfort food of mine. Figured we could all use something nice an’ warm after everythin’ today.”

“Yeah! That sounds really nice, plus I know the recipe for pumpkin soup too! You’re missing some of the spices though.” Sky peered over Twilight’s shoulder, pointing out the missing ingredients.

“What? No I’m not, pepper, goron spice, salt an’ cumin. Plus some vegetables an’ a fish of your choice.” Twilight insisted, beginning to chop the onion and carrots.

“Fish?! Why the hell would you put fish in pumpkin soup?” Sky was aghast, never in his life had he heard of anyone putting fish in a soup that isn’t explicitly fish soup.

“Because it’s delicious? Why else? You curl up with a nice bowl of pumpkin stew and the flaky fish meat makes it taste even better!” Twilight raised his voice slightly, appalled at Sky’s insinuation that fish doesn’t belong in pumpkin stew.

“No, absolutely not!” Sky wasn’t about to let this slide, the arguing would continue until Twilight learned the error of their ways.

“Both of you shut up! I can hear you two bickering like an old married couple from the other end of the house.” Wanderer barged into the kitchen, hand on their hip.

Twilight’s face and ears turned bright red, the thought of being compared to being an old married couple with Sky was too much to think about. He was going to burst into flames if this continued.

Sky breezed past Wanderer’s comment, taking the opportunity to scoot Twilight out of the way so he could finish chopping the vegetables and seasoning the broth to his standards. Wanderer snickered at Twilight who had completely frozen and was still staring with a gaping mouth at him.

“Okay! Soup’s almost ready, with absolutely no fish whatsoever!” Sky smiled brightly at Twilight, who was still blushing, pouting in protest.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Smithy stared down at the amulet, his eyes narrowed in thought. “I think if we just keep going at it we can get there. The bond definitely feels weaker than when we started. There must still be something strong holding on to the amulet still. Maybe it’s a type that isn’t affected by our own.”

Oh! You mean like maybe you need some sort of divine magic to counteract the magic of the amulet?” Zelda asked, walking up to the table Smithy and Keeper were huddled next to.

Keeper nodded, resting their head in their hands. “Yeah, we’ve tried combining the magics of Hare, Smithy and I but it doesn’t seem strong enough to break it fully. We’ve made progress but at this rate it might take years for the amulet to be unlocked.”

Zelda tapped her chin in thought. “We can try using my magic in combination with yours? As Hylian royalty I share some of Hylia’s divine magic. I have no reason to believe it’ll work but we can certainly try.”

“Let’s do it then. I want this over with, we haven’t let ourselves get close to magical exhaustion but it’s still draining. Hare took it the worst, not sure it has ever used this much magic in such a short time.” Smithy said, pulling the amulet in front of the small group.

Magic flowed from their hands into the amulet, swirling and dancing around it. The room glowed from the sheer power of their combined magic. The air around them went still, the magic reaching a climax before vanishing into the amulet. It emitted a bright, blinding light that filled the entire room before instantly being extinguished. Silence overcame the room, everyone in exhausted disbelief it had actually worked.

“Well? I guess the only way to see if that actually worked is to try it out. We should try it out tomorrow after everyone’s gathered up gear and other supplies.” Keeper moved to the couch, sinking into the soft cushions.

“I know you’re right but I’ll be sad to see you all go. I’m glad my Link, Honor, has people they can depend on for this quest. He has a tendency to self isolate but please don’t tell him I shared that with you two. He’d probably have my head. They’re incredibly reserved and don’t reach out for help when they need it. What I ask is you keep an eye on him, for my sake and his. Please.” Zelda clasped her hands together, pleading with Keeper and Smithy. The two nodded firmly.

“I’ve already claimed Honor as my partner in crime so don’t even worry about him while I’m around! I’ll be there for her no matter what!” Smithy gave Zelda a thumbs up and a reassuring smile.

“Thank you both. I really appreciate it! Knowing that he’s not alone anymore, it really eases my worries. Honor is my best friend, they’re more than capable of protecting others and fighting but they often forget to do the same for themself.” Zelda said, her eyes watering slightly.

“Don’t worry, we can handle them.” Keeper hesitated slightly before lightly patting Zelda on the shoulder. “Smithy and I can keep Honor from blowing anyone up including himself.”

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Sky collected his gear that had somehow migrated to all parts of Honor’s house. On the move again. Jumping from Hyrule to Hyrule was bound to become draining, both magically and physically. He wasn’t looking forward to moving through the fissures and the sickness that followed. The Chain was gathered in the living room, awaiting instruction.

“Okay, everyone ready? Honor and Twilight, fissure jumps are a bitch but just prepare for the worst and you’ll be golden. It feels like the world is spinning, you might puke but that’s typical. Anyways, let’s get going.” Keeper handed the newly modified amulet to Kokiri. “I don’t know if you’re the only one who can use the amulet but let’s not test that now. We want to go to my Hyrule so visualize that as best as possible.”

Kokiri nodded, twisting the amulet sharply. The fissure of light split the room open, Kokiri stepped in first with the rest of the group not far behind. Light blinded them, the fissure closing them in this new Hyrule. Hot and arid, this was most certainly not Keeper’s Hyrule. The Desert Palace was the only arid place in their Hyrule and this was not it.

“Who’s Hyrule is this? I don’t think this is the right one.” Wanderer looked around, sand covered everything within view. Heat rippled in the air, Wanderer was already melting from the heat.

“It’s mine I think?” Twilight walked in the direction of a large dilapidated structure. “Oh sh*t–”

“Wait– what’s wrong? Did something happen? Why the ‘Oh sh*t’?” Smithy gave a concerned look to Twilight.

“See that in the distance? That’s Arbiter’s Grounds. I had to come here during my quest. f*ckin’ awful monsters here. It’s the only semblance of shelter for a long while. Movin’ at dusk an’ dawn are the safest. It’s extremely hot in the day an’ below freezin’ at night. I didn’ think we would end up here otherwise I would’a had us prepare for the desert. I dunno who else even has a desert at all. Honor you have a Gerudo desert too right? Hopin’ you have some gear or potions for the heat.” Twilight squinted up at the sky. “It’s almost midday so we need somethin’ for the heat an’ fast.”

“Yep, I have a Gerudo desert too. This looks a lot bigger than my Arbiter’s ground. Plus it’s kinda intact, mine’s almost completely gone. Crumbled into nothingness.” Honor nodded, pulling out her slate and tapping on it a few times. “I have a couple of heat resistant potions but not enough for everyone to get their own. We’ll have to ration. I have some gear for heat resistance too, a silk top and a pair of sapphire earrings that have cooling properties.”

Sky wobbled on his feet, already feeling the side effects of the intense heat. He put on a brave front, he couldn’t let the others know just how poorly he dealt with both heat and the fissure jumps. “Who’s the most heat intolerant? They get priority. The rest of us can ration the potions.”

“Wanderer, you and Hare are probably handling this the worst I assume. Poor Hare looks like it's gonna fall over.” Honor handed the top to Hare and the earrings to Wanderer, both of them taking the items graciously. She grabbed the three potions, passing them out. “We should probably only take half each. For the two who don’t get a potion I have some hydromelons to keep you hydrated but I’m really sorry there aren’t enough potions to go around. I can forgo the potion, I’m partially used to the heat by this point.”

“Honor no, absolutely not. Since you and Twilight know the desert better than the rest of us, you two should be the ones to share a potion, I can deal with the heat long enough–” Sky walked towards Twilight and Honor, pointing at them. He lost balance and the world faded away as he passed out and hit the sand.

“Okay, oookay. I guess we have this to deal with. Um– uh. We gotta hurry up then. Yeah, okay. Who can carry Sky? And please no one else pass out from heat we really can’t be doing this.” Twilight’s hands trembled, looping his thumbs on his belt to hide it from the others. Honor side-eyed them with concern. Twilight shook his head, locking eyes with Honor.

“Since you’re the tallest I feel like it’d be easier for you to carry him, Twilight. We need to get a move on so we don’t all succumb to heat exhaustion. Here, come help me with him.” Wanderer slung one of Sky’s arms around their shoulders and heaved him up.

“Right. Yeah. Okay. Let’s go.” Twilight took Sky’s limp body and draped him over their back. He tried to keep his calm, hands still shaking as he held Sky’s legs to steady him. Teetering, as he adjusted to Sky’s added weight, they led the way towards Arbiter’s Grounds. The ground was swimming, step by step Sky became heavier. Twilight slowed his pace, finally stopping as the heat and stress overtook him. No, he must keep going. Sky and the whole Chain depend on him to get to Arbiter’s Grounds. They can’t let the heat win, they’ve done this before without heat resistance. It will be fine.

Twilight couldn’t take it anymore, their muscles weak and aching from the heat and stress couldn’t hold Sky or himself up. He fell forward, face full of sand. He heard Honor shouting for Keeper but couldn’t stay conscious any longer.

“Oh by the Three, not Twilight too!” Keeper heaved a sigh, shoulders dropping in defeat. “Oookay, Honor you take Twilight, I’ll fish out my power bracelets and carry Sky.”

Honor nodded and gave a thumbs up before lifting Twilight’s unconscious body onto their back with unnatural ease. “Chug those potions and put on the gear, let’s get a move on.”

Movement towards Arbiter’s Grounds was far too slow for Kokiri’s liking from the added weight of Twilight and Sky’s unconscious bodies. There wasn’t anything to do but desperately hope no one else succumbed to heat exhaustion.

The heat was excruciating, beating down on them with such force it was suffocating. The Chain trudged along. Hydromelons were passed around, trying to keep everyone hydrated enough to not pass out too.

“Ugh! This is so much worse than the heat on Outset, dry heat is the worst! There’s sand in my boots and I’m so hot and tired! Are we there yet?”

“Spirit it’s been an hour, Arbiter’s Grounds seems pretty far away still. At least it feels slightly less hot. The sun will hopefully be less intense soon, hopefully anyways.” Smithy sighed heavily. “At least you don’t have to figure out how to use crutches on f*cking sand.”

“Shut upppp! It’s too hot to argue. I just want to get this over with.” Kokiri groaned, dragged his hands over his face.

Spirit glared at Kokiri, not making an effort to continue the conversation. Keeper shook its head at them. There wasn’t the time or energy for arguing about things out of their control. Thankfully the power bracelets made carrying Sky less of an effort than normal. It didn’t stop the eventual fatigue from carrying a very tall full grown person. Regardless, he trekked on and they'd make it to Arbiter’s Grounds eventually.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Drenched in sweat, the Chain finally dropped their gear and stood under a crumbling ceiling in the ruins. The sweet, yet small relief of the shade was very much welcomed. Honor eased Twilight off her back, leaning them against a wall. They sat next to Twilight, resting their head on Twilight’s shoulder and closed their eyes.

“Do you think Twilight and Sky are okay? They really ate sh*t almost immediately. Hey Wanderer? Could you check on them? I don’t really know a lot about deserts but passing out in a desert is probably not a good thing.” Minish pressed their hand against Sky’s forehead as they spoke. “I don’t think Sky’s ever been in hot temperatures like this, poor guy.”

Sky’s eyes fluttered open at the touch, he blinked slowly before scanning the new surroundings. He groaned, rubbing his temples. “So. I guess we somehow made it? Spirits, I feel horrid now. Did everyone make it here okay?”

Wanderer crouched down next to Sky, reaching out with their magic to double check Sky was okay. Dehydration was the biggest issue for Sky at the moment, Wanderer could feel another underlying issue but couldn’t place what it was. It wasn’t important for now, they would definitely ask Sky about it once the group got out of the desert.

He turned to Twilight and Honor, both out cold. At least Honor was just sleeping. Wanderer had a feeling there was more to Twilight’s passing out than just heat exhaustion. It wasn’t his place to say anything, but that wouldn’t stop him from speculating to himself. He smirked at Twilight, still crumpled against Honor. They would just have to wait for Twilight to come to again and hope they could wait out the amulet’s charging time without too much excitement.

Chapter 6: bite

Chapter Text

Kokiri sat on the staircase, tucking his legs into his chest. The fissure jump had drained him a lot more than last time. Whatever Keeper and the others did to the amulet must’ve changed the way the amulet works on the user. His body was heavy and his head pounded from the little magic he had left. There wasn’t a threat of magical exhaustion, but it did feel awful. It didn’t help that his stomach twisted itself in knots from hunger. Using magic always made him ravenous. Kokiri dug through his bag and found a small loaf of bread, immediately devoured it. The bread helped clear his head but he was still starving.

“You good there?” Sky plopped down next to Kokiri, handing him a bowl of rice and meat. “Honor and Twilight woke up and made some food for the group. I’ll get Keeper to come over and see what the deal with the effects of the amulet is. It definitely seems like you’re more affected than the past few times.”

Nodding, Kokiri accepted the bowl. Sky watched him as he quickly ate the entire thing, not pausing between bites. “Thanks. Whatever they did to the amulet really f*cked with my magic levels. Feel like sh*t but the food helped. I’ll ask Smithy and Keeper what exactly they did, maybe there’s something they can do to fix the amount of magic this f*cking thing takes.”

There was an exhausted silence that fell upon the Chain, sunset was nearing and becoming blessedly cooler. Hiking in the sand was much harder than on solid ground, especially with crutches. Smithy laid on the cool stone tile floor, her face pressed against it. Hare sat at his side, fiddling with the hem of their shirt absentmindedly.

“From what I know the amulet draws from the magic of the user AND the surrounding party members. So in theory there’s no reason why another person can’t use the amulet. Meaning we could travel through fissures more often than we thought. If someone else uses it besides just you there’s less of a chance any one of us gets magically depleted.” Keeper stood with Sky and Kokiri as he explained.

“The metal was made to be a conduit of the amulet’s magic itself, which is a derivative of Hylia’s own magic. We altered the metal to be a conduit for anyone’s magic that’s strong enough. So basically any of us.” Smithy butted into the conversation, nodding along with Keeper.

“So to dumb it down, I don’t have to be the only one to use this thing?” Kokiri sighed, very much relieved it wasn’t all on him.

“Would whoever’s holding the amulet and being the main source of power be the one whose Hyrule they go to?” Sky asked.

“Yes and no. I think we can but we’re not there yet. I don’t know what we need to change specifically, but I think it’s possible. I guess we could test it. I still think the charging time will differ.” Keeper was certain something was missing from the equation, what that was however was a mystery. “I can try handling the amulet when it’s charged back up again. Hopefully then we can actually get to my Hyrule.”

Sky glanced at the rest of the group, everyone else was about ready to fall asleep at any moment. Hare and Minish were piled on top of each other, trapping Smithy underneath. They snored peacefully as Smithy rolled his eyes at Sky, motioning to Hare and Minish.

“I mean at least they’re sleeping?” Sky offered, grabbing a blanket from his bag, draping it over the pile of heroes.

Smithy shook his head. “Yeah I suppose, you should try and get some rest too. I’m sure tomorrow won’t bring us good things.”

“We’ll see if that can happen. Bad insomnia. Anyways, see you in the morning.” Sky fished out his bedroll and settled in for the night. He could already tell it was going to be a long one.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Hare woke up in a cold sweat, blood curdling screeching came from the center of the ruins. It shook Minish and Smithy awake. “Guys, something’s not right.” Hare clutched their ears, running to grab their short sword.

The screaming continued, shrill and deep, startling everyone awake. It reverberated in their skulls, the effects were dizzying and extremely painful. The scream clawed at their very beings, tearing their souls and bodies apart. Kokiri stumbled to his feet, vomiting to the side from the intensity of the sound ripping him in two. His ears rang, the scream still echoing in his head. Kokiri was ready to rip out his hair strand by strand as the screaming persisted. He managed to right himself, grabbing his sword and pushing through the noise and looked to the others for guidance.

“Why does that sound like the Queen Gibdo? How is it here and alive? I killed that thing years ago. Everyone on their feet! Whatever, doesn’t matter how the f*ck its here. We gotta kill this f*cker! Again!” Honor grabbed his bow and spear, making a run for the ruin’s center not bothering to wait for the others to follow.

“Honor, WAIT! Goddess damn it! You’re gonna get yourself killed!” Twilight shouted, pouring magic into their tattoo to transform and sprinting after Honor. The rest followed suit, quickly grabbing their gear and running towards the sound.

Honor skidded to a halt, the somehow resurrected Queen Gibdo roared once more facing him head on. The sound drilled into the Chain’s heads, their movements slow and painstaking. Smaller gibdos lurched towards them, mimicking the screeches of the Queen. The cacophony of grating, blood curdling screams made movement near impossible. The gibdos continued their march, unnervingly fast. Panic set in as the group struggled to move. Minish struggled to keep their breathing steady, watching the monsters come closer and closer unable to move or fight.

Mere seconds before a gibdo reached Wanderer, still frozen in place, Hare leaped in from the side. Slicing one of its arms off, Hare kicked the gibdo in the chest away from Wanderer before going after it. With the extra time Wanderer was able to force his body to move, cutting down another gibdo.

The Queen Gibdo shrilled, using its clawed appendages to rip and tear at its own flesh. It morphed into smaller disfigured monsters. Barely recognizable as gibdos, they contorted and moved unnaturally towards the group. Sky ripped himself free of the paralyzing gibdo cries, impaling one gibdo and slicing through another. The Queen Gibdo continued to shred its flesh into more mutant gibdos. Everyone stared in horror as it ripped itself to shreds leaving nothing but dozens of the mutants. They charged at the Chain, gurgling a cry not nearly as powerful as the Queen Gibdo.

Hacking and slashing their way through the monsters, they overwhelmed Honor, four coming at him at once. Killing one and stabbing another, the other two lunged at Honor, managing to bite his forearm. It dug in deep Honor grunted in pain. She kicked it away, the gibdo’s magic seeping into her body. The wound turned black and putrid, spreading slowly as blood dripped from it.

“WANDERER! HONOR’S HURT!!” Minish cut down a gibdo, taking a moment to glance over at Honor who’d managed to kill the surrounding gibdos.

Honor clutched at his injured arm. “It’s fine! I’ll get over it! Focus on the fight!” Their arm wobbled, the magically blackened flesh weakening his grip. He couldn’t fight it, the gibdo magic slowly was eating away at his own as blood streamed from the bite wound.

“FALL THE f*ck BACK HONOR! I can sense these guys have death magic, but it’s different from mine. It’s more corrosive and evil!” Spirit ran in front of Honor, blocking another gibdo from swiping at Honor. “Kokiri cover for me! I need to look at the wound!”

“Got it!” Kokiri nodded, parrying a blow and slashing the attacking gibdo’s chest in half with a fire charged attack.

Spirit grabbed Honor’s infected arm, pushing his magic out towards the wound. The death magic was wrong and twisted, so different from Spirit’s own. It pulsed outward, slowly eating away at Honor’s magic reserves and using their magic to further eat away at Honor. Spirit shuddered, he’d never felt anything like it.

Twilight lunged at a gibdo, tearing it to shreds while guarding Wanderer as they jogged over to Spirit and Honor. “Let me look at it. Maybe combining our magic will do something? Either way we have to act fast. Honor’s arm is gonna make her bleed out or become completely corrupted.”

“Wow, feel– like sh*t.” Honor moaned, the cacophony of battle still raging around them made the ringing in her ears more intense. His body was raging against him, gibdo magic mixing with his own in the most excruciating way. Each fiber of magic was torn apart and replaced slowly and painfully. Honor slumped to the ground, unable to carry her own weight.

Wanderer caught him as he fell, fading in and out of consciousness. “Easy there. Spirit, we need to do it now.” Spirit nodded along with Wanderer. The two intertwined their magics, focusing in on the gibdo magic and pulling it away from Honor’s. Spirit called upon the dead, asking for their help in aiding Wanderer’s healing magic.

Blood continued to drip onto the sand covered stone mixing into a crimson paste. The gibdo’s magic had quickly woven itself into Honor’s own magic, they had to be fast and precise to keep Honor alive and whole. Spirit pushed out the gibdo magic as Wanderer mended and weaved the skin back together. His reserves would have to naturally replenish, there wasn’t anything they could do for the depletion.

The fight slowed to a halt, piles of dead gibdos littered the ruins. Twilight transformed back, running over to Honor. “What the hell happened? Are they gonna be okay?”

Wanderer shrugged. “Stay alive? Yes. What the effects of this are gonna be? I’m really not sure. Spirit, can you sense any residual death magic in them? It feels fine on my end but I’m not familiar with death magic to begin with.”

“Yeah, I don’t feel anything bad left over. He’s definitely gonna feel it when he’s awake. But speaking of the gibdos, we need to burn them as soon as possible. The death magic they have isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen. When bad sh*t happens to someone at death we burn their body to separate the bad magic from their soul. We should do the same with the gibdos, not because monsters necessarily have souls, but because the bad magic needs to be removed before it has a chance to revive them or something bad.” Spirit helped Wanderer bandage Honor’s arm. It was a deep bite which without a doubt would leave a nasty scar.

“Alright, fire magic and firestarter time. Kokiri, you and I will take up most of it. My fire magic’s a little rusty but I have a couple items to help us. Twilight, catch!” Keeper tossed a large coin at Twilight. “Pour your magic into it then throw, it’ll catch fire to anything flammable upon contact.”

The trio got to work clearing out the crumpled gibdos, burning everything in sight. Abject horror and disgust, glazing over their eyes. Burning bodies lit up Arbiter’s Grounds in the early morning light. The Chain tiredly gathered their things, fatigue setting in.

“Let’s get the f*ck out of here. Kokiri, is the amulet ready?” Sky turned to Kokiri who nodded in response and handed it over to Keeper.

“Hopefully this actually works and we can get to my Hyrule. No offense Twilight, but your Hyrule is awful.” Keeper took the amulet, giving it a twist.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Birds chirped happily, rolling green hills were a warm welcome as they stepped out of the fissure. Sky wheezed and doubled over, trying to hide how hard the fissure jump had messed with him. Instantly going from barren desert filled with horrors the Chain didn’t want to ever experience again, to a much more idyllic Hyrule was more than jarring.

“Oh! Hey, that's my house over there.” Keeper’s face lit up, leaving everyone behind to speed walk towards the house that quickly turned into a jog. “Ravi! I’m back!!”

Ravio’s head peeked over the stone fence, their face also brightened when seeing Keeper. “LINK!” He dropped his gardening tools, sprinting towards Keeper. They picked the hero up, spinning Keeper around. After stopping he pulled Keeper into a deep kiss, fully ignoring the rest of the heroes groaning in the background. “Oh Goddesses! I’m so glad you’re back, I stopped keeping track of how long you’ve been gone. Zelda and Hilda have been running me up the wall with all the things they need from me. Did something happen? Is everyone okay–?”

Keeper pulled Ravio into another kiss, silencing him. “Shhh not now my dearest. There’s a lot that went down, we can talk about it later. For now, I think we all need a rest.”

Ravio nodded, taking Keeper by the hand and motioned for the group to follow into the house. Pushing stacks of books and the furniture against the walls which Keeper grumbled about as the group filed into the cramped living room once again. Sinking into the cushions, everyone finally had the ability to breathe. Safe within the walls of Keeper and Ravio’s home.

Sheerow sped into the room, squawking happily and nesting in Keeper’s hair. Keeper groaned dramatically, petting the bird. “Hi Sheerow, missed me that much? Did you keep Ravio from getting into any trouble?” Sheerow chirped in reply, nesting deeper in Keeper’s hair.

Ravio chuckled, plopping himself on Keeper’s lap and rested his head in the crook of Keeper’s shoulder. “Sheerow did a terrible job actually, he and Zelda were more so enablers than anything. Hilda was not happy.”

“By the Three, you’re lucky I’m so madly in love with you.” Keeper rested their head on Ravio’s, playing with his hands.

“Ohhhh my Goddess! You two are absolutely disgusting, spare us from your affection please I’m begging here!” Spirit groaned into a pillow, pressing his face into it.

If you don’t like us being mushy after not seeing each other for four months you’re more than free to explore our Hyrule. Same goes for the rest of you, everyone in this room looks like they’ve seen more sh*t in the past few days than I ever will. Take a break and let me be gay in peace.” Ravio smiled sweetly at Spirit before pulling Keeper in for another kiss. He waved his hand dismissively at the rest of the group.

“If you f*ck off now maybe I’ll be nice and bake something.” Wearing a very smug look on her face, Keeper thumbed the edges of Ravio’s scarf as they talked. “We can discuss what to do next after at least an afternoon of rest. After Twilight’s Hyrule I think we deserve that.”

Sky shrugged. “It’s fine, we can go. I’m sure there’s something we can do in Kakariko.”

There was a tired silence among the group before Honor broke it, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “If it’s fine, can I just pass out in a room or something? That Gibdo bite really took it out of me and I do not feel like I have the energy to walk around.”

“Of course, of course! We can set up a space in the attic or the spare room, I’ve tried to keep both somewhat clear over the months.” Ravio reluctantly pried themself out of Keeper’s arms and motioned for Honor to follow.

“It’s fine if anyone else stays since we’ve had a long day but just know Ravio and I aren’t going to apologize for being mushy and gross. Stay at your own risk.” Keeper rummaged through a nearby chest, grabbing a stack of bedding.

“Smithy, you and I should stay. I want to look at your leg again and Honor will probably need their arm to be looked at again later.” Wanderer was digging through his bag, searching for medical supplies. He pulled out a bundle of cloth wraps and some antiseptics.

Smithy brightened at the mention of her leg with the potential of it being healed enough to remove the cast. “Does this mean I can finally walk like usual? Goddesses that’ll be so nice, my arms still aren’t used to the crutches yet and it f*cking hurts.”

“I’m still forcing you to use just one for a week, I won’t allow you to put full pressure on your leg immediately after the cast. I just need you to play it safe for now.” Wanderer motioned for Smithy to sit down in front of him, setting up the medkit. They worked quickly, removing the cast with skilled ease.

Sky leaned against the door frame. “Okay, well whoever wants to come let’s go. I want to see what else the market has this time. We were too focused on weapons that we didn’t really have a chance to do much. Even if we can only relax for the afternoon we should take it.”

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

The Kakariko markets were packed, people buzzing from vendor to vendor. Spirit immediately wandered off to the center of the market, Kokiri not far behind. “SPIRIT! Get back here!!”

Minish rolled their eyes. “Guess that means we’re splitting up again. I wanna check out those food vendors Hare and Wanderer were at last time. C’mon Hare!” Minish dragged Hare by the arm and ran off into the crowd.

“Well. I guess it’s just you and me, let’s go explore!” Sky grabbed Twilight by the wrist, pulling them along.

Twilight flushed, looking away from Sky as they weaved through the crowds. “W-wait! Where are we even goin’?”

Sky looked back at him. “Dunno! Maybe we should do some shopping!” He led them to a vendor selling fruit and fresh juice. “I’ve never seen this many types of fruit, Skyloft can’t really grow a lot of different types because of how high up we are. Wow, some of this I’ve never even heard of. We need to try them. What’s your favorite fruit?”

“Oh– yeah, yeah sure. Um, probably cherries? I’ve never really thought about it before to be honest. I haven’t really had a lot of fruit either, not like I had time on my quest either.” Twilight shrugged and was still being tugged around by Sky, his hand firmly wrapped around their wrist.

Sky brightened. “Okay, so we gotta get those and maybe some juice? I really want juice. We should share it just in case I don’t like it.”

“Uh– okay.” Twilight barely made out the words, blushing profusely and suddenly feeling very lightheaded. His hands were clammy, breathing became much more effort than before.

“Goddesses! Are you alright? We haven’t really had time to eat since before Arbiter’s Grounds. Do you need something to eat? Here, let’s get some juice for you. The sugar might help.” Sky face dropped immediately in concern, quickly buying a bottle of juice and placed it in Twilight’s shaking hands. He cupped Twilight’s hands in his own until they stopped trembling and took a sip of the juice.

“Sorry– thanks. I can’t remember the last time I ate so that was probably it.” Twilight giggled nervously, very much dancing around the full truth. “The juice is definitely helpin’, let’s keep goin’ now?”

Sky nodded enthusiastically, he grabbed Twilight’s wrist once more and dragged them towards another vendor. He stopped abruptly, eyes going wide at a vendor selling charms and beaded talismans. Sky let go Twilight’s wrist only to pick up small charms in the shapes of a wolf and a blue bird.

“Look, it’s us! I’m the bird and you’re the wolf! I’ll buy them for us, I want you to have the bird and I'll get the wolf because we’re friends. Plus they’re just really cute.” Sky handed the vendor the rupees and gave the bird charm to Twilight. He attached the wolf charm to his own bag, grinning at Twilight.

“O-oh thanks, it’s really cute! Um, are you sure you want me to have it? It’s really nice of you.” Twilight stumbled over their words, enamored by Sky’s kindness. Their face and ears hot from the intense blushing. He looped the charm on his belt, melting when he saw Sky’s huge smile.

“Of course I want you to have it! I really want to get to know you better, I think we’ll be great friends!” Sky grabbed Twilight’s wrist once more and pulled him off to continue their shopping adventure.

Chapter 7: golden three

Chapter Text

Ravio sighed heavily, at peace knowing their partner was safe. Keeper was here and alive, that’s all Ravio could ask for. Having to stay at home, never knowing what was happening to the Keeper was enough to make Ravio sick from worry. She was strong, wicked intelligent and wildly talented; that didn’t stop Ravio from worrying because of Keeper’s self sacrificing nature. Resting their head in Ravio’s lap he napped peacefully, snoring lightly. Ravio braided their hair as Keeper slept. The silence wrapped around them like a thick blanket, warm and comforting.

He wished Hylia would leave them alone, Keeper’s three quests had done a number on him. Seven years and counting of quest after quest, each one draining Keeper and giving him more trauma to not process properly. Stubborn bastard, Keeper refused to talk through the pain he’d gone through. It would have to be brought up eventually, but Ravio would wait until Keeper was ready. Ravio would be here no matter what.

It didn’t matter for now. Keeper was here, Link was here. Keeper sighed in their sleep, scootching back closer to Ravio. Closeness was something Ravio had missed so much, the causal touches in passing, soft kisses and hugs, falling asleep and waking up next to Keeper. They missed the quiet evenings spent by the fireplace with Ravio working on a project and Keeper making a new jewelry piece. Ravio had spent the past four months busying themself to not think about how badly he missed his Link.

Oh Goddesses how it hadn’t worked.

Keeper yawned and blinked sleepily, gazing up at Ravio with loving eyes. “By the Three, I missed this. I missed you, I missed you so f*cking much.”

“I missed you just as much, if not more. If we made this a competition I’d win hands down.” Ravio flashed her a devilish grin and giggled as Keeper sat up and silenced him with a kiss.

They broke away breathlessly, pressing their foreheads together. Existing in the same world, breathing the same air at least for now was a sorely missed comfort. One neither of them wanted to go without again. It was inevitable, the hero’s duty was never done according to Hylia. It wasn’t fair. Ravio wanted to be selfish, to never share Keeper with the world again. They both knew it wouldn’t be possible. Keeper was too self-sacrificing, too kind, too protective, too himself to allow the world to not have a protector. And if that meant serving as that protector then that is what Keeper would do. Ravio tried to understand but couldn’t fully, maybe that was the cowardly past in him still rearing its selfish head. There wasn’t anything either of them could do about the hero situation. Keeper would go help save the world and Ravio would stay here, waiting, biding time for them to return home.

“Hey Keeper, I really didn’t wanna interrupt your time with Ravio but I need you back here with me. Honor’s arm is giving me some trouble figuring out how to treat it properly and it would help to have some additional magic.” Wanderer sighed, disheveled and tired from the use of magic. The past day and a half clearly having taken a toll on the healer.

Keeper groaned softly and untangled themself from Ravio. “Nah, it’s fine if you need my help, you need my help. Spirit said Honor’s arm was tainted with the gibdo’s death magic, is there still residual magic?”

“Not that I can find but something isn’t right. My healing isn’t really making a dent and I’m more than a little concerned it will spread. It hasn’t so far but I really don’t want to get blindsided by something that could’ve been prevented.” Wanderer shook his head, walking back into the spare room where Honor was.

Honor sat on the spare bed, their arm still radiating pain. Although the bleeding had finally stopped, they looked miserable. Keeper approached and examined Honor’s wound, humming to itself in contemplation. “It seems like it’ll be fine to me, but take that with a grain of salt since I’m not well versed in healing–”

Honor cut Keeper off. “You did good Wanderer, don’t stress yourself too much about me. I’m just lucky you and Spirit were there and caught the magic before it spread too far. I even get to keep my arm! Pretty good by my standards.” He lifted his prosthetic arm slightly, the Sheikah technology giving off a very subtle blue glow.

Wanderer huffed in amusem*nt. “Yeah okay, I’ll give myself that. But I’m still really concerned about it. This is sh*t no one’s seen before, not even those of us who have those monsters in their Hyrules. I wanna play it as safe as possible, if that means pushing myself a little harder than usual, f*ck it. I’ve never gotten to the point of exhaustion and that’s not changing, just figure it’s better to keep everyone in order first.”

Keeper rolled its eyes. “Whatever, we can keep watch on your arm but it should be fine. I’ll beef up Wanderer’s healing with my own and hopefully that’ll give your body enough of a kickstart to purge the rest of whatever’s left of the gibdo sh*t.”

There was nothing left to do than wait for Honor’s body to heal itself, Wanderer knew this, but it didn’t stop him from hyperfocusing on anything that could possibly go wrong. He did what he could, the rest was up to Honor’s own body and magic.

With a hefty sigh Honor fell backwards onto the bed. “I’m gonna take a nap and wait for the others to get back.”

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

“Lovey, please stop pacing, it’s gonna be okay!” Ravio grabbed Keeper’s hands, causing him to stop pacing across the bedroom. “I know you’re worried about what’s going on but please get some rest. You can’t go kick evil’s ass again if you’re sleep deprived, and in a weakened state. At the very least come cuddle with me so I don’t die from lack of partner time. I missed you so f*cking much and I demand physical affection.”

Keeper huffed, allowing Ravio to drag them back to bed and pull Keeper as close to him as physically possible. The weight and warmth of Ravio’s arms was enough to calm Keeper’s mind just slightly. Thoughts and hypotheticals still swirled in their head, rest wasn’t going to come easy. Tracing the creases on Ravio’s hands, she listened to Ravio’s breathing slow as he drifted off to sleep leaving Keeper alone to contemplate.

He wanted to just enjoy being with Ravio so desperately, but apparently his brain had other plans. To churn with anxiety and contemplate every small thing that could go wrong in this new quest. If this world was at risk, Ravio was at risk and Keeper would never allow either to suffer while he was still alive and breathing.

Ravio stirred slightly, nestling into Keeper further with a soft smile on their face. Nothing felt more natural to Keeper than being with Ravio, and if keeping this little life with him meant destroying some more bad guys and saving the world again, so be it. Anything for Ravio.

Night came and went before Keeper was able to even think about sleep, by then it was too late. The Chain needed to see the Golden Goddesses, that much was certain, but what they needed to discuss was unclear.

An arm snaked around Keeper’s waist, startling them out of their thoughts. “You didn’t sleep at all did you?” Ravio’s voice was warm and still raspy from sleep.

Keeper flipped over to face Ravio, kissing him on the forehead. “Nope, not at all. It’s fine, not like today was going to be incredibly important or potentially decide the fate of this quest. Not at aaaaall.”

“Oh, honeybee, I’m sorry. I suppose no sense in staying in bed? As much as I want to cuddle you all day I don’t think we can leave the others alone in the house. Not with someone’s hoard of magical items laying about.” Ravio’s mouth quirked upwards with the taunt.

Keeper groaned. “Do NOT mention anything to Spirit, I don’t want a repeat of last time. f*cking dumbass. I don’t want him blowing himself or the house up.” With a quick kiss to Ravio’s cheek Keeper heaved herself out of bed and stretched, joints popping loudly. He grunted in pain. “By the Three that hurt, I f*cking hate this. Why does my body hate me?”

They both changed quickly, making their way downstairs to the kitchen praying nothing had happened during the night. Half the group was still sound asleep, the sun was barely peeking above the horizon.

Wanderer was sitting at the table, book in hand. “Hey, I wanted some tea but was waiting for you guys to come down. Couldn’t sleep? I have some really great herbs that work as a sleep aid when brewed into tea.” They got up from their seat, rummaging in his bag and held up a small sachet of dried herbs. “This is my go to fix for severe insomnia, it really knocks you out so be careful.”

Ravio moved to grab the sachet that Wanderer held out, dancing out of range of Keeper’s swipe at his waist. “No, no, no Mr. Hero! I will be accepting this wonderful gift your friend has given us–” Ravio yelped as Keeper spun him around, in a mock dance.

“Absolutely not! We both know you’ll never let me stay up ever again with my beloved excuse of ‘I can’t sleep’ ever again! It’s not like you’re gonna drug me but, Lolia do you nag me about getting enough sleep!” Keeper laced their hands in Ravio’s, kissing his knuckles. “My dearly beloved partner who I know wants to take care of me. Please let me stay up!”

“Oh my Goddesses you two are disgusting, maybe Spirit was right. Listen, I’m just gonna set the herbs down and go put the kettle on. You two just uh-” Wanderer sighed, dragging his palms over his face. “Keep your foreplay to yourselves. Dear Goddesses.”

The couple shared a confused look, nothing seemed sexy about their interactions. Typical day in their household at the very least. Ravio shook their head, going to grab the kettle for Wanderer. Keeper shook his head, rummaging in the pantry for things to make for breakfast.

“LINK, absolutely not! Don’t you dare even think about cooking, we both know you’re sh*t at it and will only make inedible food for the entire group. Put the flour down! Or at least come bring it to me, go f*ck off and mope because I told you off.” Ravio shook a finger at Keeper, eyes narrowed in a full on glare.

Unphased, Keeper grumbled and handed over the flour container to Ravio and stomped off to the living room. Wanderer stood absolutely dumbfounded by the couple, who’d both continued on like nothing had happened.

“Goddesses save me- I could hear y’all from the other room. Shut up! Half of us are still asleep, it’s too early for this sh*t.” Twilight grumbled, stretching with a groan. They rubbed their eyes, glaring at Keeper as it entered the living room.

“f*ck off Keeper– f*cking spirits you two are SO loud.” Kokiri was up and angry, his hair tangled and messy from sleep. His eyes narrowed, relaxing only at the scent of coffee. “You’re lucky I can be placated with coffee.”

The room was beginning to fill with morning light, the Chain waking to the complaints of Twilight and Kokiri. Silent exhaustion still draped over them. The warm smell of coffee was a welcome distraction to the previous day’s events as well as Keeper and Ravio’s bizarre displays of affection.

“I can help with food, I’d like to think I’m decent at cookin’. Jus’ tell me what to do Ravio.” Twilight offered, pouring a cup of coffee for themself.

Ravio nodded. “Sure thing! Would love the help, I haven’t made this much food before.”

Twilight and Ravio gathered ingredients from the pantry, piling them in the kitchen. Making food for 11 people was going to be a task. Keeper trudged back to the kitchen, sitting down at the table staring at Ravio with lovestruck eyes.

“Keeper, you said we need to speak with the Golden Three. What is it you think they might be able to aid us in? Hylia doesn’t seem eager to help us so why would they?” Kokiri asked, finger combing through his messy hair with a mug of coffee in his other hand.

“The uh– Golden Three are different from Hylia. They’re the ones who created the world. Din, Farore, and Nayru. Hylia was just the one tasked to look over it, she had no part in our world’s creation.” Hare explained. “In my experience they’re much kinder to Hylians than Hylia’s ever been to me.”

“Ohh, I have heard of them before. I’ve just never heard their names. It’s said that the Goddesses saved my Hyrule by sending a flood after telling us to flee to the mountaintops. They’re the ones who helped me gain enough strength to defeat Ganondorf.” Spirit was sitting at the table across from Keeper, head in his hands. He’d never really considered that the Goddesses who’d helped him on his quest had names. They were really nice to him, aiding and guiding him.

“The Golden Three are generally very morally neutral, them getting involved in things is like an extreme last resort. I’d imagine the fact that they helped you in your quest was because there was failing among Hylians and probably even Hylia herself. If that bitch smites me for saying that I don’t regret it.” Keeper huffed, her hatred for Hylia ran deep. Especially now that there were more heroes that confirmed her theory that the goddess was incompetent and cruel.

Sky nodded thoughtfully. If Hylia had failed in stopping Demise and continued to fail in stopping it completely, what would make her succeed now? What would make them succeed? As far as everyone including himself knew he was the first to deal with Demise. Everything after was his failing. An insurmountable amount of deaths rest on his shoulders for not permanently defeating Demise. It weighed heavy on Sky, just knowing how many people had suffered because of him. Because he wasn’t a good enough hero.

Lighthearted chatter danced around Sky as he sat there, the thoughts in his head dizzyingly fast. Hyrule survived and will continue to survive, he had to trust in the heroes that came after him. The blame didn’t rest solely with him. His heart clenched in his chest, breath quickening as he sat there in his guilt.

“Sky? Hey, Sky! Ravio asked if you were gonna eat with us. You’ve just been staring off into space frowning.” Kokiri flicked Sky’s forehead, staring down at him.

“Ow! Hey!” Sky rubbed his forehead, giving Kokiri a hard glare. “It’s nothing.”

Kokiri rolled his eyes, it was obviously something but they weren’t close enough for him to feel comfortable prying. There’d been plenty in the past week to be worried about to elicit a reaction like Sky’s.

“We’re leaving after breakfast so eat up.” Keeper said, setting a stack of pancakes in front of Sky as he sat down.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

Deep within the Lost Woods existed a leyline Keeper had found during his second adventure. Magic thrummed within the forest, older and stronger than what laid outside. Deeply intertwined into the life forces in the forest. The Golden Three didn’t fully exist in this realm, instead dwelling in a limbo between all moments of time. Keeper walked up to a pristine cerulean pond, dropping in a silver chain.

The ground rumbled, water sloshing and cascading over the edge of the pond. Magic shifted and tugged at the surrounding atmosphere as a woman materialized in the center of the water. Green fabric weightlessly floated around her. Her face crowned in visible magic, she smiled pleasantly.

“Link! It’s so good to see you. As with those whom I’ve communed with before despite not having been in a physical form. For those who don’t know of me, I am Farore, Goddess of Courage.” Farore’s voice was silken, rising above the forest and dancing around the Chain.

Keeper stepped forward, dipping into a respectful bow. “Lady Farore, I’m not sure how close of tabs you’ve been keeping on me or anyone us for that matter but we request your help.”

Farore patted Keeper’s head, motioning for her to stand up. “My dear, there’s no need for such formalities, seeing as you’re the same person who cursed me out on our first meeting.” She giggled as Keeper’s face flushed scarlet. “My sisters and I have indeed seen your struggles. Our hearts ache for you and we will help as best we can. The malice has afflicted all points in time. We don’t know how the malice has resurfaced or how to stop it in its entirety. It clings to any magic the malice can, twisting and corrupting it completely.”

“So if you don’t know what we need to do or how we can stop this, what can you help us with? No offense Lady Farore.” Spirit piped up, daring to question the Goddess who smiled at him apologetically.

“Despite having created this universe our knowledge is not boundless, all things have their limits and ours unfortunately are these. What I can do is bless you with gifts we have hidden deep within the worlds. Fire, water and wind; these are physical manifestations of us and through these elements we will bless our heroes. A staff, bow and shield are tucked away for times such as these. Unfortunately throughout the thousands of years I’ve lost track of where we’ve placed the items. Within the worlds you’ll find wandering spirits guarding our gifts. I can only say where they once resided due to their wandering natures. The fiery mountain peaks of a world fueled by blood, the watery depths of a world born anew, and deep within an ancient forest of a world enshrouded by shadows.” Farore’s voice saddened, her eyes narrowing in thought. “I wish I could be less cryptic but that’s all I know I’m afraid.”

Silence fell upon them, Farore gave them a sympathetic look casting her gaze on Wanderer who shrunk under it. Despite her Hylian form, Farore’s powerful aura was still immense.

“If that’s all you have for us we better get going. Thank you for what you did have to give us Lady Farore.” Sky bowed his head slightly, a hand over his heart.

Farore tittered, waving the heroes off. “I wish you all the best of luck! Please don’t hesitate to call for me again.” The Goddess disappeared into a burst of shimmering magic particles leaving the Chain alone in the forest once more.