Chapter Text
“There!”
Wild swivels toward where Four indicates, zeroing in on the monster Four had noticed. Their resident smith is a bit too busy with a pair of Moblins to be able to do anything about the newcomer―which is where Wild comes in, drawing back his bowstring and zeroing in on the red-eyed monster simply watching them.
“He’s back?!” Wind cries.
“Behind you!” Legend shouts.
Wind swivels with an impressively vulgar swear, focusing once more on the Bokoblins starting to surround him.
Wild releases his arrow, and the Dark Lizalfos’ eyes widen in terror. It veers to the side, but the arrow still hits home in its tail. Wild nooks another arrow―this one a fire arrow―and releases it in rapid fire. The Dark Lizalfos isn’t on fire long, but it’s long enough to cause some damage.
At least, that’s what Wild hopes.
He leaps from the tree he’d taken shelter at to keep arrows flying, and hurries after the monster, chasing it toward some of the old, nameless ruins that dot his Hyrule.
“Wild― wait !” Twi calls, but Wild is already upon the Dark Lizalfos, cornering it near the ruin nearby.
It looks terrified. Good .
“Nowhere to go now,” Wild tells the monster, stepping forward in even, measured steps, one hand on his slate. He’ll just stasis it, attack it, rinse, and repeat until it’s down for good. He doesn’t know how it came back. Frankly, he doesn’t care. It just needs to die already.
Wild brings out his sword.
The Dark Lizalfos hisses, swinging out a spear that Wild easily sidesteps. It’s frantic now, angry and terrified in equal measure. There’s a sort of sick kind of glee that fills Wild’s chest at the sight of the Dark Lizalfos’ terror. A quick parry has the Dark Lizalfos staggering backwards. The next attack has time slowing down, a blissful moment of pure focus, and Wild’s sword slices through the Dark Lizalfos. It’s blown backwards, into the ruin wall behind it, and doesn’t get up right away.
Wild kicks the Dark Lizalfos’ spear aside and lifts his own sword.
The Dark Lizalfos stares, wide-eyed, and then hisses, swinging out its claws toward Wild. They hit home, digging into the fleshy skin on Wild’s abdomen, and then Wild’s careening backwards onto his butt. Wild lets out a shout, rolling onto his stomach in just enough time to see the coward of a beast high tail it through a portal.
Wild lets out a frustrated shout. He’d almost had it! He’d almost finished it !
Footsteps are quickly following Wild’s path, and the next thing Wild’s aware of is Time forcing a red potion down his throat with a thoroughly unhappy look. None of the others look particularly pleased with Wild.
“I almost had it,” Wild insists.
“Nearly at the expense of your life ,” Time reminds him.
Wild lifts his hands. “The blade wasn’t even cursed!”
No one looks too impressed with Wild, but Time sighs.
“We’ll be talking about this later,” Time warns him, and turns toward where Four and Sky are inspecting the cursed blade. “Well?”
Sky shivers. “There’s definitely something wrong with the blade.”
“It’s almost… decayed,” Four says, eyebrows creasing. “There’s a dark magic attached to it for sure.”
Time hums thoughtfully. Twilight steps over to inspect it too, then shakes his head, evidently not recognizing the magic. A few of the others look at it too, but there’s really nothing to tell about it.
“And it obviously is still making portals,” Warriors adds after glancing at the spear himself. “So that sword isn’t his only tool.”
Sky nods, reluctantly sheathing the cursed blade across his back. Wild figures the Master Sword would protect her chosen more than anyone else in its possession, and the sword flashes a bright, almost agitated blue at its proximity to the cursed blade. Sky puts a hand on the hilt of it in response, and the blue seems just a little less agitated.
Legend looks a moment away from letting Sky borrow his own Master Sword but in the end, doesn’t, and steps toward the portal the monster had left open as it escaped.
“Who wants to bet that there’s a trap on the other side?” he asks.
“Oh definitely,” Four agrees.
“We got enough potions ‘n stuff?” Twilight asks.
“I still have my three red and two green,” Legend reports.
“Two red, no green,” Hyrule says.
“I had to give two red portions to our rancher,” Warriors tells them. “So no red for me, but one green.”
Twilight nods in affirmation, though his shoulders are slumped. “No red or green left on me.”
“Me neither,” Wind calls out.
Time nods. “I have two of each left.”
“Same,” Four reports.
“One red, no green,” Sky calls out.
Wild sighs, shaking his head. “I have four low-level hearty elixirs, still. But no stamina potions. And one fairy bottle.”
Warriors begins counting. “So that makes… ten red potions. Fourteen if we count Wild’s elixirs.” He makes a face at that and Wild rolls his eyes. It’s not his fault his elixirs are made out of monster parts. “And seven green potions. And one fairy bottle.”
“Give the green potions to Hyrule, Legend, Wind, and Four,” Time decides. “We’ll divide our fourteen healing potions amongst ourselves.”
They trade items, and it’s Wild who ends up left with two of his own elixirs. Legend ends up with the other two, since Wild’s elixirs aren’t quite as effective as red potions and also because no one else would dare drink his elixirs unless they were dying. In the end, it’s Time, Warriors, Sky, and Four who end up only having one red potion each, and it’s Hyrule who ends up getting the most green potions out of the four blessed enough to have them. Wild keeps his fairy bottle on him.
“It’s not ideal,” Time sighs. “But it’s the best we can do. We can’t let the Dark Lizalfos get too far.”
“So we’re onto another Hyrule, then?” Twilight asks.
Time nods. “Yes.”
“Sorry we couldn’t see more of your world, Wild,” Sky tells Wild as their group begins passing through the portal, Time and Legend first, followed by Twilight and Warriors, then Four and Hyrule.
Wind grumbles. “Hopefully this next Hyrule has more water.”
“Hey!” Wild shouts in fake hurt.
They go through the portal laughing.
Unfortunately, they’re not laughing on the other side.
Because it’s pitch black .
“Uh guys?” Wind asks. “Please tell me everyone’s here.”
“Call off?” Warriors calls into the darkness.
“Not so loud!” Legend whisper-snaps. “There’s probably something here.”
“Okay, so Legend’s accounted for,” Warriors says. “Everyone else?”
“Alive,” Time says.
“You’re not inspiring much confidence, Time,” Warriors remarks.
“Well I’m here,” Hyrule butts in.
“I’m here, too,” Four puts in.
“Here,” Sky calls.
“Here,” Wild says.
“Right here,” Twilight says.
“Aye, aye!” Wind shouts, voice reverberating in the dark.
High above them a single red eye opens.
Wild’s stomach drops.
“ Look out !” he shouts.
Swords are drawn in quick fashion, but the sound of metal clanging fills the air as they’re knocked off their feet by a great, big thing jumping toward them. Wild can hear the sound of it salivating at the meal they’ve become, and lets out a shout as the shockwave reaches him, sending him onto his butt alongside his brothers.
“The fuck is that thing?” Legend shouts.
The ground shakes as it rockets toward them with impossible speed for a beast so big. Wild just barely rolls out of the way, the still-healing injuries on his abdomen protesting the motion. He’s just barely on his feet and running before the monster is sucking in a vortex of air, dragging each and every Link toward it.
“No, no, no―” Wild can just faintly hear Four murmuring, just barely clinging to a rock for dear life.
The vortex stops and the thing licks its lips. Wild can just barely see it in the dark, an amalgamation of flesh with a large, ugly warty tongue and single eye. Wild swivels on his heel, lifting his bow and aiming at the monster. Unfortunately, it bounces off its fleshy, warted skin without so much as a scratch as its mouth opens wide just before the arrow lands home in its eye. Its huge horns stick out, spiked every which way and its mouth looks like an endless abyss.
Wild does not want to fall into that abyss.
“We need to aim for its eye,” Warriors calls.
“We need to high tail it out of here ,” Legend snaps.
Wild is on both of their sides. He would very much not like to be monster food today, but there’s no way to escape from a thing that big or that fast when it’s mobile.
“If we can hit its eye, hopefully it’ll be stunned long enough for us to run,” Wild calls, veering toward a pillar in the distance. “Leave the shooting for me, the rest of you keep it distracted!”
He begins running, but of course the monster follows after him. He speeds up, sprinting, and somewhere behind him, lightning is crackling and then the monster is letting out pained cries. Wild hurries up, feeling his chest begin to tighten and his legs begin to ache. Not far now. Not far at all.
He leaps onto the pillar, hands sweating and breath heaving. He’s not sure how high he can climb. He can’t even tell if there’s a decent vantage point for him over here. But he’ll figure out something. He has to .
The monster is racing behind him again, mouth agape into the endless pit of its stomach. Its stomping sounds like a thunderstorm, great and loud and omnipresent. Wild climbs faster, every inch of his body protesting the motion. He reaches ever-upwards, sweaty hands and fingers starting to slip.
Below him, the monster is waiting with its mouth open.
Wild begins falling.
“ Wild !” Twilight shouts.
For a moment, time slows down. And not in the good adrenaline rush of a flurry rush. No, in the terrifying way it does when you’re about to die and you can’t do anything about it. Wild’s heart drops in his chest. For a moment, he’s weightless, life flashing before his eyes―the parts of his past that he does remember, his adventure, his brothers, Zelda ―and the next he’s just falling down toward the monster’s stomach abyss, unable to catch himself or do anything . He can feel the air rushing past his ears and his own heartbeat becomes a ticking clock toward the end.
And then he’s hanging.
He lets out a shout, legs and arm flailing in the air as he just stops falling .
“It’s okay. It’s okay ,” a voice―new but somehow just a little familiar―is saying from above him.
Wild looks up and shouts, struggling more.
It’s a monster, some sort of wizzrobe maybe, dressed in a tall, pointed hat with bandages around its legs and face. There are all sorts of odd markings across its cloak―spider-like designs, dragons, and haunting faces not unlike the ruins in Faron―and two ends of what might be a scarf hang out from beneath the arms of the cloak. A bandaged, mummified hand is holding him. Wild follows the shape of the monster in the dark. Up, up to where its other hand―a haunting technological corpse, a weird amalgamation of orange, blue, green, and yellow―is attached to the roof of the cave, an ethereal green glow surrounding the hand.
“Wild?” Twilight calls.
There’s shouting down below.
The monster roars, somewhere below in the dark where Wild can’t see.
“Don’t hurt them, please!” Wild begs. “I know you’re with that lizard―”
“ Lizard ?” the monster asks. It groans, leaning its head back.
“Who are you talking to?!” Warriors calls from below. “There was a green light and then―fuck! Four, move !”
“―but please―”
“I’m human―” the monster says.
“―don’t hurt them !”
Wild can’t let another brother be hurt. He can’t almost lose one of them again. Or worse, actually lose them.
“Wild― Wild, I’m human !” the monster shouts. “These are clothes . I know you know what they are―you have more than enough of them.”
Wild sucks in a breath, staring at the creature’s face. In the dark, it’s so, so hard to see anything but its monstrous form.
“You don’t look human,” Wild dumbly remarks.
The creature sighs heavily, rolling its neck like it’s done with this conversation. It considers its hand, glued to the ceiling, and then Wild, single blue eye searching the darkness below, muttering under its breath.
Its eyes pause on the Sheikah Slate. “Can you use that thing one-handed?”
“Uh, yeah?” Wild answers.
He’s used it one-handed plenty of times. It’s a pain, but he can do it.
“How fast can you whip Stasis out?” the creature asks.
“Um―”
“I know you don’t like to listen but do it .”
Wild fumbles for his slate, balancing it awkwardly in the crook of his elbow. He finds the rune, and nods up at the creature.
He gets a weird feeling that the creature is grinning. “I hope you like falling,” the creature says.
The green glow around his hand disappears, and then Wild is falling again. Wild shouts, hand tightening around his slate. Beside him, the creature is spreading its arms and legs out to the sides. Reluctantly, Wild follows, and the wind billows around them as they fall hand-in-hand.
The creature’s one blue eye is open wide, enjoying this .
Wild never wants to be on a high place again.
And then suddenly, the creature is pulling out a paraglider and their fall slows to a near-stop as they drift down like feathers. The creature still holds Wild by one hand, the other resting comfortably around the bar of the paraglider.
It’s something Wild’s done a lot himself while using his slate.
His slate! Wild quickly picks it up, resting it in the crook of his elbow again and firing up Stasis. He searches the dark for the creature and there―it turns bright yellow under the glow of the slate.
“Dear Mineru, I hope this works,” the creature murmurs.
Wild turns on Stasis.
It works.
They land easily on the ground.
“Wild!” Wind races toward Wild, attaching himself to Wild’s hip. “You’re okay! I seriously thought that thing was going to eat you and then there was this weird green glow and then―”
Wind’s eyes finally find the creature, who has a Sheikah device of his own. Wind’s eyes narrow, and he lifts his sword toward the monster.
“Who are you?”
The creature puts his fingers up in a peace sign. “You already know.”
And then it’s racing off, an abomination of a sword in its hand, and climbing up the back of the monster. It spins, a move Wild’s all too familiar with doing himself, knocking into the soft ore on the monster’s back. Odd rocks are chipped off, flying through the air, a hazard in and of itself.
Stasis ends. The monster lets out an awful roar and the creature is thrown off its back. Wild joins the others, standing around the large monster with his sword out. He can hear the creature that saved him groaning as it gets up, but the monster is already spinning around. Wild can’t see Twilight anywhere in the dark, but judging by the arrows flying toward the large monster, Twilight isn’t that far away at all.
Suddenly, an arrow flies directly into the monster’s eye. The monster lets out a loud roar and falls to the ground, stunned.
“Are we going to run or―” Legend begins, but the creature that saved Wild is already attacking it, black blood sticking to the creature’s odd weapon that seems to be the unholy merger of a sword and a horn.
“It’s black-blooded. We can’t,” Time says.
The creature backs up as the monster wakes up, opening its mouth to suck them all in again.
“Throw a bomb into its mouth. Leave shooting it to me,” the creature says, trading his unholy sword for a thankfully normal bow.
Unfortunately, the normalcy doesn’t last as there’s a quick flash of bright green light and then the creature’s arrow has a Keese eye on the end of it.
“You’ve fought these before?” Time asks as Legend and Wild throw bombs at the monster.
There’s two explosions and the monster lets out another roar, falling onto its stomach, stunned again. The others race in to fight it. The creature remains, and Wild keeps back, waiting for his bomb to recharge. Legend shoulders his bag, racing off to join the others in the fight.
“Oh, plenty of times,” the creature tells Time. “They’re usually not this tough though.”
“That would be the fault of our friend ,” Time grumbles.
“The lizard?” the creature asks, voice deadpan.
The monster stands back up, getting ready to jump.
The creature lets loose his abomination of an arrow. The monster falls again. The others race in again.
Time gives the creature a look.
“Wild told me.” The creature shrugs, nocking another arrow. This one, it puts a flower onto the end. “Watch out!” it warns, and then shoots.
There’s an explosion, and then the creature is once again nocking a Keese eye arrow.
“What is that?” Wild asks.
“Keese eye. Means you don’t miss.” The creature lets loose his arrow and the monster falls over again.
The monster lets out one more unholy scream, and then leaves behind nothing but more and toenails and guts. Black blood is smeared across the ground where it fell, and somehow the dark begins to fade into a soft greenish glow.
The creature puts its bow back on its back and then puts its hands on its hips. “ That’s better.”
Nine sets of eyes turn toward it, swords out.
The creature freezes, blue eye blinking slowly before it raises its hands in surrender. “I come in peace?”
“What are you?” Warriors asks. “Not that we don’t thank you for helping us, but you came out of nowhere.”
“Not really,” the creature admits. “I’ve been down here the past few days clearing up monsters. Something about them is blocking out the light from the lightroots. Not quite sure what it is that’s doing it. Must be magic.”
“Maybe it’s yours ,” Legend accuses.
“I don’t really do the whole magic thing,” the creature admits, tucking its hands into its pockets. “I think getting my arm eaten by Ganondorf was enough for me.”
“Ganon― you’re one of us ?!” Wind cries, immediately lowering his sword to rush over.
A few of the others share glances between one another.
Time puts a hand on Wind’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”
“He did say he was human,” Wild adds. He frowns. “And he knew my name.”
“Link?”
“ Wild .”
There are more accusing stares toward the creature. All except for Sky, who looks more curious than angry, and who steps forward with the Master Sword poised to strike. The creature flinches only slightly when Sky rears back to strike, but―
Sky shouts, dropping the Master Sword.
“It can’t be,” Warriors says. “He’s not human!”
“Neither was the Ancient Hero,” the creature remarks with an unperturbed shrug. He chuckles, waving one hand nonchalantly. “But I really am human. This is just an outfit that helps keep the darkness at bay. Not, like, night dark but―ah. You all know what I mean.” Link waves his hand again, poising his hands on either side of his hat, pausing just before pulling it off. “Uh, please don’t scream or yell or whatever?”
No one responds.
The human pulls off his hat.
The first thing they see is his face, scarred on one side, with vibrant blue eyes. Blonde hair falls as his hat is pulled off, and it drops down to his shoulders, shaggy and unkempt. The human—the Link—pulls the bandages away from his mouth with a relieved sigh, leaning his head back and letting the bandages hang limp around his neck.
He shakes his hair out, running his prosthetic through his hair. He tucks his hat underneath his arm, and smiles awkwardly at the group.
Wild wants to faint.
“You—” Wild whispers. “You’re me .”
Link has not seen his brothers in nearly twenty years.
Until today, that is.
He hadn’t been lying when he said he was crawling around the Depths the last few days. For the better part of two days, he’s been down here, clearing out a surprisingly large horde of monsters that had collected below the Mabe Prairie. Lynels, Bokoblins, Moblins, Lizalfos, Boss Bokoblins, Like-Likes―all of them were gathering―and with every monster defeated, light returned little by little to the Depths.
The Frox was the final one needing to go.
Link had heard the Chain’s shouting and, assuming Hoz had sent some soldiers down to deal with things, had rushed over to fight. He’d long since traded his miner’s gear with his depths gear, and he had been thankful for the camouflage when seeing them―his brothers and him as they had been at the beginning of their journey―had sent him for a loop.
Then he saw himself falling and acted.
He doesn’t blame any of their reactions when he removes his hat. Frankly, he wants to stare at them.
He wants to stare at Time, not aged a day. He wants to stare at Wind, pre-growth spurt. He wants to stare at Four, still tiny as when Link last saw them. He wants to stare at Warriors, already tense. He wants to stare at Legend, smaller than Link remembers him being. He wants to stare at Hyrule, younger than Link remembers him being. He wants to stare at Twilight, fierce as a wolf as ever. He wants to stare at Sky, hope still in his eyes. He wants to stare at himself , scars open and raw in a way they haven’t been for a long, long time.
He doesn’t stare, though.
Neither do they.
Twilight begins focusing on Wild the moment he― Link’s younger self ―stops responding. Warriors and Time still have their swords out, and it’s Warrior who speaks over Twilight’s attempts at calming Wild.
“Prove it.”
Link blinks.
“Prove you’re Wild,” Warriors tests.
And frankly, Link wants them to prove it too. He’s learned from the Zelda clones.
He refrains, and instead looks across the Chain. They haven’t changed. They’re so young.
This isn’t right.
Wind is shorter than―
Stop. Focus, Link tells himself, and instead tries to think of the secrets they'd exchanged. The things they might know about each other, the things Link does know about each of them, and the things they probably haven’t shared yet.
His eyes land on Four, whose eyes widen in horror.
Well, Link revealing that secret will at least mean it’ll be painless later on.
“Four can split into four people,” Link answers.
“That’s not―” Warriors begins.
Four splutters. “ But I only told Wild that !”
“Wait, that’s true ?” Wind asks, wide eyes. He doesn’t stop with the wide-eyed stare as he turns his eyes toward Link. “You’re really Wild? But how ?”
“Time shenanigans,” Legend huffs. “What else is new?’
“But this―It’s not… It hasn’t…” Wind vocalizes.
Time nods. “Wind’s right. This is unprecedented,” he says. “We haven’t yet met any alternate versions of ourselves. What could that lizard be thinking?”
Sky bites his lip. “So it was a trap,” he decides.
“But it worked in our favor,” Warriors decides, sheathing his sword. “Well, Wild Number Two―”
There are a few snorts at Link’s expense. He smiles too.
“―I’m guessing you know a way out of here?” Warriors finishes.
Link nods. “Lookout Landing isn’t far,” he tells them. He stores his hat in his Slate. It won’t be of any use with the dark receding. “It’s just a little to the east.”
They begin walking, the group letting Link lead the way. He’s not sure how he feels, joining them again when it’s been close to two decades for him, and no time at all for them. He decides to pointedly ignore the back of his head whispering that they’re illusions, and focus on the way ahead. Luckily he’s cleared out all of the monsters already, so it’s a straight shot to Lookout Landing.
“So,” Wind pipes up, unperturbed by the events. He’s probably the only one. “What do we call you? We can’t keep calling you Wild Number Two.”
There are a few murmurs of agreement from those still able to respond.
Aha! Something else to think about. Link hums, tilting his head back as he thinks. “Well, I’ve got a few other titles. Hero of the Kingdom… Hero of Tears… Hero of Dragons, weirdly enough.”
Wind gasps. “Hero of Dragons? That’s so badass!”
Link laughs, and wonders how he got so good at placating kids. “That’s… a bit of a long story, to be honest.”
And one he doesn’t really want to explain. He’d like to not remember the fact that Zelda turned into a dragon, thank you very much.
“Let him choose, boys,” Time tells them.
“Well I still think Dragon would be badass,” Wind huffs.
“Me too,” Hyrule agrees.
“See? Hyrule agrees!” Wind crows.
Link laughs. “I bet,” he admits. “But I think I like Kingdom better.”
“King it is, then,” Sky decides.
Link― King ―nods. Discussion fizzles out after that, the Links talking mostly amongst themselves.
It’s Legend who ends up asking, after some obvious insistence from the others, “So, King, how old are you, exactly?”
King grins. Beside him, Time puts on a knowingly amused look.
“Oh, probably older than the Old Man, you know?” King answers. He turns to Time. “Unless you’d like to prove me wrong?”
“You’ll have to do better than that,” Time huffs.
King frowns. “I’m thirty-five.”
“ Thirty-five ,” Wild whispers somewhere behind him, and Twilight shushes him.
Time hums thoughtfully, but says nothing.
“Really, Old Man, you have nothing to say about that?” Legend asks.
“Yeah, not even at the threat of being bested ?” Warriors asks.
Time bursts out laughing. “Bested at what? Living the longest?”
“Well, yeah.” Warriors shrugs.
Time takes a moment to regain his composure, swiping at the bottom of his eyes as he reigns in his laughter. “Well age is just a number. And that trophy is one I’d gladly share with any of you boys.”
There are a few unhappy grumbles at their foiled plot to unearth the Old Man’s age. Others, however, haven’t given up quite yet.
“Hey, King, did your Time ever tell you how old he was?” Wind asks.
The entire Chain goes quiet.
“No, he never did,” King answers, something melancholy drifting into his voice. “And we never found out.”
“So… you know how this all ends?” Four asks. “You know, this adventure?”
Dear Hylia, he sounds so young .
“I would take anything I know with a grain of salt,” King admits. “Something’s changed.”
“Changed how?” Legend asks.
“Well, for one, I never met myself,” King admits.
King glances back at Wild, who’s still mostly catatonic and being led along by the arm by Twilight. Twilight’s eyes narrow the moment he notices King’s eyes on them, and King averts his gaze.
That’s going to be a nut he’ll have to crack later.
“So he’s changed his plans,” Warriors realized. “Why? What did he find out?”
“Or did he just get mad that Wild almost killed him off?” Hyrule adds.
“Maybe,” Warriors admits, tilting his head thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t count on this as just happenstance, though.”
“It’s not,” King tells them sternly. “Though I haven’t run into any black-blooded monsters other than that Frox, the others have been gathering for days. Monsters don’t gather like that for nothing.”
“We’ll have to carry on as usual then. Provided you want to join us, King,” Time says.
“From my experience, the portals don’t take no for an answer,” King answers.
“That, they don’t,” Time agrees.
King sighs. And here he’d been hoping that it would be a quick kill all the monsters, go home kind of deal.
“As long as we can get to Lookout Landing before Dink decides we need to switch worlds,” King reluctantly agrees. “I don’t want to have my wife worrying.”
There’s a second of stunned silence.
“Wait― wife ?” at least three voices shout.
The rest of the walk is spent theorizing. Why did Dink change plans? Why did he bring King onboard? Who is King’s wife? King smiles at it all, the third one in particular, but he keeps his lips sealed about who his wife is. He’d prefer to say when Wild’s recovered from his existential crisis. No use breaking the kid’s heart on top of it.
He does tell Time, Warriors, and Legend about the original series of events in the meantime.
Eventually, they make it to the cave leading to Lookout Landing. “Watch for the Like-Likes. The ground’s a little uneven too, but we’re close now.”
He helps them climb into the tunnel, and then leads them toward the shelter. One of Hoz’s men is waiting closer to the shelter, and King nods at him as they pass. The man’s eyes go wide once he sees Link’s entourage of nine, but wisely doesn’t bother to say anything.
Most people know by now that King doesn’t really follow the rules of logic.
Finally, after long last, the shelter is in view. The two of Hoz’s men stationed there nod at King and let him through, their eyes also going wide when they see the others.
“They’re fine,” King assures the men, who reluctantly let the rest of the Chain enter.
Warriors frowns, wrinkling his nose.
King can admit, it isn’t much. The shelter is mostly storage now, filled with crates of spare weapons and food. Some research books and smaller Zonai weapons are scattered about too, but for the most part it hasn’t really changed. Josha is nearby, though, which at least saves King from trying to find Purah.
“Josha!” King shouts.
The Sheikah woman grins, hurrying toward King. “Hi, Linkie―” King inwardly winces at the nickname. He may be older now, but he knows his brothers won’t let him live it down. “―who’re these?”
“Just…old friends,” King answers at length. “It’s a long story. Is the council still in session? I need to talk to Zelda.”
Somewhere behind him, Wind whispers, “Bet that’s his wife.”
King fights the urge to roll his eyes, and focuses his attention on Josha.
“Yeah, Council’s still in session. But Purah’s outside testing lasers,” Josha answers. “Do you need me to get Zelda?”
King sneaks a glance at the sky. “No. The meeting should get out soon. We should be fine.”
“Well, alright,” Josha decides. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
King nods, and he leads the others to the ladder. He waits at the bottom as they climb up, then climbs up the ladder himself.
He relishes for a moment in the fresh air, letting the sun hit his face. He hates traveling around the Depths for too long. It always makes him feel weird. And he always forgets what day it is down there.
He sighs, and focuses on the others. “Well. This is Lookout Landing.”
“I’m so glad we’re above ground,” Warriors sighs. “I was worried for a moment that you all moved underground.”
King laughs. “Whatever made you think that we would, Captain?”
Warriors gives him a long, deadpan stare. King laughs, stepping away from the hole to the shelter. “Well. This is Lookout Landing. It’s not much, but it’s where we run things now.” He nods to the new building facing the castle. It’s a stone building, made from the very same stones as the now-dilapidated Hyrule Castle. “That’s the Council Building there. Next to it is Purah’s Tower and the Zonai Research Lab. C’mon, I’ll show you to the inn.”
The inner walls of Lookout Landing are safe, and rather busy with people lingering around the area the fountain was once at. Some Rito soldiers are firing bows off to the side, and others are patrolling in the air. There’s a Goron selling precious stones, and a Gerudo nearby selling jewelry. A group of travelers is huddled around a table at the tavern next to the inn.
King simply leads the Chain to the inn. It’s not a big building yet, but it’ll do the job for a few nights. King’s own residence here is already too small for just him and his family.
King pays for the Chain to stay―it’s the least he can do for them―before he turns to the Chain. “I’m going to get changed. My place is right over there―” He points to the residence below Purah’s Tower, the new Sheikah Consulate. “―but I think it would be wise to talk to Zelda before we get moving. She’s in a meeting right now, so I’ll bring her here once she’s done. Otherwise, you’re all free to wander around.”
“Of course,” Time says, nodding. Warriors is urging the others into the inn room. “Thank you for your help.”
King smirks. “Well, keep thanking me because I’m not getting out of your hair anytime soon.”
Time shakes his head with a sigh. “How unfortunate.”
King laughs, and watches them go.
Wind waves goodbye with one last, “See you later!” before they disappear into their room.
King sighs heavily, shoulders slumping. He grins at the innkeeper, and then groans.
First thing’s first: clothes.
Wind really, really wants to get moving already.
Not that he’s particularly fond of Wild’s―and thus, King’s―world, but―there’s a new Link! A tenth hero to join them! And he’s a grown-up Wild !
He wonders if they’ll meet any other alternate versions of themselves. This is the most (good) exciting thing that’s happened since they initially met.
“So, according to King, after Twilight was injured, his Chain went to Skyloft,” Time says, and Wind tries to focus. The others are all listening intently. Only Time, Wars, and Legend got to hear King’s story. Wind had been too focused trying to figure out who Wild will end up marrying.
Speaking of Wild, he seems to have come back to himself a little, though he’s sitting underneath Twilight’s wolf pelt right now so Wind can’t say he’s still all there yet. Wind can’t imagine how weird it is for him to meet his future self. How terrifying it is to know that his adventure isn’t over yet.
Wind isn’t entirely sure if he’d want to meet himself either if he was going to learn he had to fight Ganondorf and lose his arm. But still, he doesn’t think he’d be that opposed to it either. He’d love to have the assurance that he and Tetra make it to land.
“But that didn’t happen for us. We started on the road and ran into the lizalfos,” Four says. “Which, King called him Dink.”
Warriors snorts. “Fitting name.”
“More fitting than Shadow,” Four considers with a shrug.
“Really? I think Shadow works too,” Sky remarks.
The death glare Sky gets is enough to have Sky agreeing with Four instead.
Wind’s not quite sure what’s up with Four and shadows, but then again Wind hadn’t quite gotten the relationship Twi had with wolves if he loved goats so much. And, well, Twi’s Wolfie. It’ll come to light eventually. Wind just hopes it’s not some horrible secret of Four’s.
Four doesn’t seem like he’d have horrible secrets.
Then again, Four apparently splits into four people.
Doesn’t that hurt?
Wind shakes his head and focuses on the conversation at hand. Dink, changes in the timeline (again), and King.
“Regardless, we can be sure that King’s just as in the dark as we are,” Time says, reigning the conversation back in. “However, I don’t think we can discount everything he’s saying.”
“Such as…?” Four asks.
“Dink’s purpose,” Time answers. “He wants to destroy the Hero’s Spirit.”
Well. That’s not good. The inn room, which is already quiet, grows even quieter.
“So he wants to kill us?” Wild asks, his voice smaller than usual.
“He wants to kill our spirit ,” Warriors answers. “He wants to make sure another hero isn’t born.”
“But if we die, won’t it just move on to the next hero anyways?” Twilight asks.
Wind frowns. “But what if we die in the wrong place? Like, say we end up in the past of my world. My world didn’t have a Triforce ‘til I put it back together. Would the Triforce any of you carry just stay there, then? Wouldn’t that just change things?”
“Yes,” Time affirms. “I was able to bring the Triforce from Wind’s timeline to Twilight’s, so it’s likely that it would stay in place should one of us die in a time that isn’t our own.”
“Something like that might just alter our existence,” Warriors murmurs. “Or prevent it in the first place.”
Wind shudders at the thought.
“So we die, we screw up the timeline,” Twilight says. “Some of us could be born differently―or could never be born.” Twi’s gaze not-so-subtly turns to Time. “Now, we’re in Wild’s future. What if Wild dies here ?”
Wild tenses.
“This world wouldn’t be able to exist,” Warriors murmurs. “We’d… fuck .”
We’d all die.
Sky, the first of them. The one whose spirit started it all. He wouldn’t even be able to start it all .
And when the first domino falls, the rest do too.
“He tried,” Wild whispers. “That monster. If King wasn’t there I’d be… we’d all be…” A choked sob escapes Wild’s throat. “I’m sorry.”
Twilight inches closer to him, tucking Wild against his side. “Hey, you didn’t die. It’s okay.”
“But I almost did,” Wild says.
“You were trying to defeat that monster,” Twi insists.
“But I―”
“It was a trap,” Hyrule assures Wild, seated on Wild’s other side. “And we had to get rid of that monster.”
“But we’re lucky that it worked in our favor this time,” Warriors says sternly. “It might not next time. From here on out, we have to be more cautious. Understood?”
Legend glowers at Warriors, but agrees with him alongside the others nonetheless.
“If that’s settled,” Time begins after a lengthy moment of silence. “Then we have some other matters to attend to. Wild, if I could talk to you? As for the others, we need supplies .”
Wind falls back onto the bed with a groan.
They’re going to be drinking Wild’s gross elixirs for weeks!