Chapter Text
Lucky and Saffron are spat out into a dark alleyway, knees hitting the cobblestone street. The voice of the goddess fills the air around them, wishing them a cheery “Good luck!” as the portal folds in on itself, disappearing.
“Fucking hell,” Lucky groans, pressing her hands to her temples and scrunching her nose. She stands and leans against the brick wall of whatever building is beside them. “You’d think that wouldn’t hurt, considering the first one didn’t.”
Saffron similarly groans and squats down, placing their head between their knees. Unlike Lucky’s headache, they instead feel like their organs had played a round of hopscotch during the portal. They swallow down the need to gag and slowly shake their head. “I ‘unno…” They slur, attempting to breathe through their dizziness.
Lucky glances down at them, brow knit with concern. “Are you good? You look halfway to throwing up all over my shoes.” She shuffles a half-step back just in case.
“‘M fine.” They shake their head, beginning to stand in an attempt to prove it, when an upbeat, chirpy voice that sounds like it’s only use is for sales pitches causes them to freeze.
“Hello there!” A man wearing a very distinct purple rabbit hood and matching robes waves at them from the alley entrance, “You two look like you could use my world-famous ‘special herb.’ Something to take the edge off of your obviously rough day”
The man steps forward, and through his hood, Saffron and Lucky can sense his scrutinising gaze. Just enough of his face is showing to see the way he grimaces at their current state.
Saffron’s eyes widen, and they immediately straighten up, nausea completely forgotten for a moment. Their stomach does a painful front flip from shock, forcing them to lean against the alley wall to settle it again.
“Holy FUCK!?” They shout, before clamping a hand over their mouth and doubling over, clutching their midsection. Their mind races with a mixture of pain and realisation as to who exactly is standing at the other end of the alley.
Lucky steps in front of Saffron protectively, holding his arm out between them and the man. “Who are you?” He asks pointedly, not bothering to mask his suspicion. “Who walks up to random people in alleyways to sell them- wait, are you trying to sell us weed!?”
The man shrugs, “I’m just a travelling merchant,” He says, ignoring Lucky’s second question and continuing his pitch. He makes a swift motion with his arms, and when he presents his hands now, he holds a cluster of blunts, tied together with twine. “I mean…It does look like your friend right there needs a little something.” He jerks his chin at Saffron.
“Not interested,” Lucky insists firmly, giving him a thumbs-down. They’re struck with realisation as to who he is when he starts moving into the light.
Ravio sighs, “...Well, if I don’t have any business here, I suppose I’ll be on my way.” He turns on his heel, purposely taking his time to actually leave.
“Wait!” Saffron calls out. Shaking themselves out of their shocked trance and standing up straight. They elbow Lucky and step forward, ignoring her mutter of indignation.
“Uh…” They trail off as Ravio turns back around hopefully. They hadn’t thought this far ahead.
“W-we don’t have money, but- I mean-” They curse and clear their throat. “Could you maybe help us?”
“Hm…” Ravio taps a finger on his chin. “That depends… I value my time very highly, you’d have to pay me back with-”
“It’s about Link!” Saffron panickedly interrupts him. The two can’t afford to lose Ravio. If the first Link Hylia wanted them to collect was Legend of all people, they would definitely need Ravio to help them. The veteran would probably slam the door in their faces if they didn’t have the merchant to vouch for them.
“Oh, right! Yeah, show us where he is. We need to talk to him.” Lucky nods, jabbing her pointer finger at Ravio.
“Link?” Ravio tilts his head, “I don’t know anyone named Link? What business do you have with him?”
Lucky rolls her eyes, “If you don’t know him, why would you want to know our business with him?” They retort.
“Curiosity’s sake.” He shoots back, “Two teenagers in a dark alley asking for someone with a bizarre name like Link? Anyone would be curious, wouldn’t you say?”
Lucky scoffs. “Like Ravio isn’t bizarre? Compared to Link, I’d think your parents hated you with a name like that,”
Ravio opens his mouth for another comeback, but Saffron interrupts him again. “Listen, Ravio, we got direct orders from Hylia.” They punctuate their sentence by jabbing a finger to the sky. “We gotta talk to Legen- I mean Link, ASAP.”
The merchant frowns at the insult to his perfectly perfect name, and knits his brows together at the strange claim that these… backalley dwellers are carrying out Hylia’s will.
Though he supposes it isn’t that far-fetched. What drew the merchant to this specific alleyway was the strangely familiar energy and aura he felt emanating from it. He was rather surprised to find the source to be two teenagers. They looked completely out of place, and that was what made him decide to advertise his wares. People often broke and bought anything just to get him out of their faces. It was simple.
But now that they mention the goddess, the familiar energy makes sense. It reminded him of the time he witnessed Hylian magic for the first time, when Link and Zelda wished for Lorule’s restoration. Ravio was by no means a professional in Hylian magic, but he could at least recognise its aura and differences from his native magic.
“Okay, fine,” Ravio relents. “But I’m not bringing you to Mr Hero until you can prove what you’re saying is true!” He crosses his arms and looks at the pair expectantly.
Saffron and Lucky glance at each other, Saffron’s expression leaning into panic, and Lucky’s taking on a sense of annoyance.
“Uh…” Saffron starts. “I’m sure Hylia gave something to Lucky. Right, Lucky?” They elbow their friend.
“Why I oughtta-” Lucky grumbles, fumbling in their dress pockets for their phone. “Ahah, here.”
They unlock it and hold it out to show Ravio their camera roll. The most recent few are photos taken with Saffron mixed with a few wildflowers and pond fish.
“See? Hylia gave us these kickass, uh, devices to do– to capture memories!”
‘Oh, this is getting fun,’ Ravio thinks as he squints at the phone, then up to Lucky, and back down to the phone. He sighs and puts his hands on his hips. “How does this prove you’re goddess-blessed?” He raises an eyebrow.
Lucky pulls her phone away, slipping it back in her pocket and narrowing her eyes. “I never said anything about that, did I? Saffy said we were sent by Hylia, not blessed by her.”
Behind his hood, Ravio narrows his eyes as he realises his fumble of words. “Just a phrase, really,” He shrugs, “Show me something more, and I might believe you.”
Saffron looks between Ravio and Lucky as they argue back and forth, almost like they were watching a tennis match.
“Uh,” They butt in. “We can tell you about the Sacred Realm? We were just there!”
“And what makes you think I would know what that is?” Ravio tilts his head.
“Hylia! Hylia told us; she didn’t wanna send us in blind, y’know.” Saffron insists
“Holllly fucking Hylia, I’m about to skin you alive!” Lucky exclaims, tugging on his hair and stomping a foot angrily. “Can you stop with the act? We obviously know a lot.
Ravio tugs his hood down to hide his smirk. "I'm really on your side, I just don’t wanna bring Mr Hero someone who wastes his time. He would get mad at me.”
At this point, Ravio already completely believed the pair. If the magical signatures hanging around them weren't enough to confirm their claims, the taller one’s confidence and the shorter one’s sincerity were more believable than anything they had shown him so far. Working in his line of business, Ravio had come to be a good judge of character. He was doing this for fun, now.
“Just tell me something convincing!” He repeats.
“We just did!? Multiple times!? Fucking hell, he’s ragebaiting at this point, Saffy!” Lucky throws their arms up angrily and looks between Saffron and Ravio.
Saffron grins at Lucky’s conniption; they were right, but it was still funny. “Okay, Ravio,” They shake their head and turn back to the merchant. “What can we say to convince you? We can answer any question you give, but you have to promise not to tell anyone, okay?”
“Hmm,” he adjusts his scarf as he thinks. “Okay then, tell me about myself.”
“You’re annoying as hell, I can tell you that much,” Lucky grumbles, crossing her arms petulantly. “You’re from Lorule, and you set up shop in Link’s house.”
Saffron rolls his eyes at Lucky’s description. Following it up with a much more detailed version of their own: “You were Hilda’s royal advisor, along with Yuga. He, I mean, Yuga manipulated Hilda into attacking Hyrule, so you went to Hyrule to find someone to help, which was Link! And then Link went to fight Yuga in Lorule, and you showed up and convinced Hilda to like… not be evil. Then it was happily ever after, and you live with Link, and you guys are in a… romantic relationship?”
The last part was a question, and they knew it wasn’t canon, but a guy could hope.
“Oh wow,” Ravio mutters to himself. When he asked that question, he was expecting a slander about his prices, not a full description of his and Link’s adventure. It worked either way. “I mean, I can’t say you're wrong. Alrighty then, I believe you.” He nods, preparing himself to smile innocently at Lucky’s reaction.
As Ravio expects, Lucky’s eye twitches, and its nails dig into its arms.
“Great,” It grits out, resisting the urge to lunge at Ravio in all his dickishness and punch him in the nose. “Take us to Link, then.”
“Oh, well of course!” He holds his hands up and wiggles his fingers. “Let’s get going then!”
He turns on his heel and begins walking out of the alley.
Lucky approaches the front door of Link’s house–but only because Saffron pushed it forward and refused to approach first–and knocks thrice. It pulls back when it hears shuffling from inside. Though, strangely, the other two don’t give any indication of hearing the same.
The door swings open to reveal a certain red-clad hero glaring at the three of them. He scans Lucky’s and Saffron’s faces before settling on Ravio’s.
“Okay, what the fuck, Ravio?” He demands, nose scrunching up.
“Hi, Mr Hero!!” Ravio waves innocently, then steps to the side and holds his arms out, presenting Saffron and Lucky. “I promise this is something important.”
“Link,” Lucky greets, putting on an awkward smile. “Sorry for the intrusion, but we really need to talk to you. Can we have a moment of yours?”
Link narrows his eyes, smelling Hylia’s potent magic all over the pair, almost embedded in their very souls. “Great. Just amazing,” he deadpans. “Ravio, I need to talk to you. Get inside.”
Ravio winked at the pair before following Link inside the house, the latter keeping an eye on them until the door shut, leaving Lucky and Saffron alone on the porch.
“Lucky I’m actually about to explode,” Saffron speaks up, voice shaking slightly.
Lucky turns around, concerned for a moment before it registers that Saffron is speaking hyperbole. “Are you good? Nerves or something?”
“Or something… We just met Ravio and Legend, those are like, my favourite people ever. I think it’s actually hitting me that we’re genuinely going on this quest. Holy shit.”
“Ooh, yikes,” Lucky sucks in a breath, tugging at her collar cartoonishly. “Yeah… I’ve been trying not to think too hard about that. We’ll be fine, though, I think. I mean, Hylia blessed us, and we’re collecting the Chain, so…”
Saffron nods along to Lucky’s reassurances. “I think I wanna learn to fight. Like, fuck knows what those blessings really are, and I feel like it would be practical to know how, yeah?”
Lucky nods, ears twitching at the sound of conversation inside the house. There’s a lot of damning of Hylia and angry interrogating of Ravio from Link’s part. Ravio sounds cheerful despite the fact, and even regales Link with the tale of his encounter with Saffron and Lucky like it’s something to laugh about.
She glances back at Saffron for their reaction, but is only met with confusion.
“What?” They ask, once they realise Lucky looked like they were waiting for an answer. “Did you say something?”
“Nah, I was wondering if you could hear them too? They’re being pretty loud in there.” Lucky jabs his thumb behind him at the door.
Saffron tilts their head in confusion, “Really? Wait, we should be eavesdropping!” They tiptoe over to the door and put their ear to the little opening on the side.
—“And they told me straight, exactly everything that had happened on that adventure. I was shocked, really, but I couldn’t show it, y'know, for the bit.”
Link makes a sound of frustration and rubs the heels of his hands into his eyes. “So two randoms you picked up out of an alleyway know my life story? That’s concerning, don’t you think?!” He snarks, voice taking on a slightly panicked tone.
“Well, yeah, but that’s why I brought them here.” Ravio reasons, “Would you rather they be out and about, or here where we have more control over the situation?”
“Din’s tits, Ravio,” Link heaves a sigh and braces himself on the kitchen counter. “I’m not going on another quest for that desperate,”
Thump
“Useless,”
Thump
“Bitchass,”
Thump
“Shit excuse for divinity.” He bangs his fist on the counter with every curse.
A moment of silence passes, then Ravio speaks up, quieter. “I don’t want you to go either, but I mean…” He scratches his nose, trying to think of anything else that might be the case. “How do you know it’s a quest?”
“I can smell Her all over them. Why in Hyrule would She send people after me if not for another quest, Ravio? Think!” Link sighs in exasperation, stomping a foot and beginning to pace. “Golden Three, she couldn’t come do it Herself?”
“Maybe we should let them in. Let them actually explain what’s happening. We can kick them out again if you wanna.” He tilts his head to the back door.
Link groans and throws his hat to the side as he buries a hand in his hair. “Fucking shit, let them in.”