Chapter Text
In the parlor, Wind pressed close to Time’s side, his eyes wide and peering over the Old Man’s arm at the familiar face that stared at them from the center of the circle.
“So…” an annoyed look swept across the group, a face half-shrouded by pinkish hair. “You found my stuff, then, did you?”
“…Legend?” Warriors spoke up first in a tentative voice, his face paler than the moon. “Is that you?”
“Of course not,” said Legend, sliding down to sit criss-cross in the center of the circle. His eyes were transfixed across the room, past Warriors’ shoulder, against the wall. “I just took the face of the one who supplied the spell.”
“Supplied the spell?” Four spoke up incredulously. “I did that!”
Legend’s (?) eyes flashed to him in amusement. “You butchered,” he said.
“What happened to Legend?” Time demanded in a low voice, familiarity swirling behind his lone eye. “What did you do to him, Ocam?”
“Ocam?” Wind squeaked up at the leader, but Time didn’t fear his attention away. The last time Wind had seen this ‘Ocam’ fellow, he had been an old man with cold eyes and a crooked smile. He didn’t look a thing like Legend,
“I did nothing,” Ocam / Legend said, his corporal form shimmering in the white light fluttering through the window. “You’re just seeing his face. My form— most of it— is in the hands of someone else… as I’m sure you’re aware.” His eyes flashed to Time accusingly.
“Is he okay?” Time demanded.
Ocam nodded. “He will be. He’s… safe for now. I’ll boot him back when I’m done.”
Time’s shoulders relaxed, as if he understood fully. “So, it’s really you this time, then?”
Ocam inclined his head slightly, the borrowed face of Legend flickering like a reflection on water. “Yes,” he said quietly. “It’s me now. I’m sorry the Imp used me… my face as a puppet.”
The room fell into a heavy silence. Wind shifted on his feet, slowly coming out from behind Time. “He overtook you?”
Ocam nodded solemnly. “Thank you for finding my conduit,” his eyes landed on the trinket on the floor where the tail-end of his form vanished. “I can… see things now.”
His gaze drifted slowly around the parlor—over the cracked plaster walls, the dim lantern light, the circle of heroes surrounding him. When his eyes passed over the portraits, something like sorrow flickered across his expression.
“My family lived here,” he continued after a moment. “Long before this place became what it is now.”
Four bobbed his head. “Your family. Your wife, son, and daughter,”
Ocam’s eyes slid over warmly. “That’s right. My family.”
“The… little girl?” Four continued tenatively. “…Omei?”
Ocam nodded, a smile softening Legend’s facial features that he was artificially using. That was creepier than seeing an actual, dead-dude ghost. “Omei.”
A quiet ripple passed through the room, the candles flickering, as if the house had heard.
Warriors folded his arms. “Do you mind explaining to use how this all happened?”
Ocam’s expression darkened. “There is another spirit bound to this place,” he said slowly. “A cruel one. Older than any of you know.”
Time’s voice lowered. “The Imp Poe.”
At the name, the flames shuddered. A shiver shot down Wind’s spine at the name and he cast a nervous look around the room. The door to the basement taunted him, familiar eyes watching.
Ocam gave a thin, humorless smile. His form flickered again, the edges of Legend’s borrowed face distorting. “It came when the house was young,” he said. “Feeding on grief. Feeding on fear.”
Wind swallowed. “And you…?” he prompted quietly.
Ocam’s gaze dropped to the floor. “I was… the first.”
The confession fell into the room like a stone plopping in a well. Cold regret winded its way around Wind’s chest.
“It touched my spirit,” Ocam continued, voice rougher now. “Twisted it. Used me as its door.” He clenched his hands into fists. “At first I thought I was protecting them,” he whispered. “Helping it keep the house safe. But then… it started asking for things.”
Four released a shaky breath, studying the floor.
Ocam exhaled shakily, matching the hanging head posture. He refused to meet anyone’s eye, shame lashing from him like coils. “…Terrible things.” His voice caught. “I tried to fight it, but the more I resisted, the stronger it became. It used my anger. My fear. My guilt. And when my family tried to leave… the house would not let them.”
A pit settled in Wind’s gut, sinking lower and lower when he realized what Ocam meant. The lives in their house had been torn away violently… so much so, it fact, that the lady of the house seemed furious. He remembered looking into those eyes and recognizing a mother. He couldn’t imagine what she’d seen.
“I’m sorry,” Ocam said suddenly, sniffling. Wind had never seen Legend’s face cry before, but somehow, despite sharing the exact same features, it didn’t look like Legend at all. It looked like a sad, old, pitiful man who’s life had been stripped away just as much. “I am sorry for everything that has happened here. Every trap. Every nightmare. Every soul that suffered.”
“You’re… just the doorway,” Wind concluded in a sad voice, heart twisting. “It just… used you to get power and energy… to become whole again.”
Four inhaled shakily. “And that’s why Omei’s hiding and Zall vanished.”
The temperature in the room dropped.
A sharp chill swept through the parlor.
Wind’s eyes looked toward the doorway first, widening at the form standing there sheepishly, two braids down her shoulders.
“Omei,” Ocam breathed, a tearful laugh bursting from him. He collapsed to his knees, gazing at her, but the little girl lingered in the doorway. He hand was positioned oddly in the air, like she had ahold of something. She opened her mouth to say more, but the moment shattered.
A shriek tore through the air and Wind startled back as a form shot out from the basement, knocking him and Time apart. The protective barrier of the séance vanished and Legend’s form flickered. He fell to the ground, leaving behind the old man.
The shadows near the ceiling twisted violently as the Imp Poe burst into view—its jagged lantern-face blazing with furious light. It lunged straight for the child.
“NO!” Ocam bellowed.
Wind scrambled to his feet, Four and Warriors shooting to try and intercept.
They wouldn’t make it.
He was going to get her!
The girl shrieked, then—!
WHOOSH!
A flash of blue light erupted and Hyrule’s form stepped in front of the girl, one hand lifted threatening, glowing. He dove forward and grabbed the Imp Poe, sending them both tumbling.
It screeched and wailed.
“Go!” Time commanded, drawing his sword. “Now! Go!”
Steel flashed. Time’s sword cut through the air in a brilliant arc. Wind lunged from the side while Four split apart, blades striking from multiple angles.
The Imp Poe shrieked as the attacks tore through its smoky form.
It working get away this time!
But it didn’t vanish. Instead, it twisted violently, reforming with a roar of fury. It lunged at Wind, tearing into his arm, and Wind shouted back furiously, driving his sword in until it released.
He staggered back as blood trickled down, but adrenaline forced him forward. Memories flashed before his eyes. His friends. Sheili. Wild and Sky.
Dammit, he’d almost killed them!
The Imp Poe whirled away from the group of heroes, arms outstretched for Omei, but it froze suddenly. Mouth still outstretched, it hovered in the air, eyes wide, breaths unmatched.
Ocam rose slowly from the floor, shaking, nothing more than a floating cloud above Legend’s flickering form, unmoving. “No,” he said quietly, hand outstretched. “You and I are connected.”
The spirit lunged for him, but this time Ocam didn’t retreat.
Light burst from his form as he reached straight into the Poe’s center. The creature shrieked—its face cracking like glass. It crumbled to the ground, thrashing and writhing. The two glowed the same hue of dark purple as death raced at them on horses.
“DADDY!” Omei screeched, but Hyrule stopped her from approaching.
“I’m sorry,” Ocam whispered. “For everything.”
The light flared brighter as the Imp Poe collapsed, crawling back towards the basement. Time moved forward, making himself the barricade, glaring down at the thing with hatred in his eyes.
A shockwave of pale light rippled through the house.
The walls trembled.
The air grew warm.
And slowly, Ocam’s form began to fade. His eyes were teary, but a smile stretched his lips. He laughed, and Wind followed his gaze to the forms now hovering there.
Sheili burst into laughter when she saw her daughter, rushing to scoop her up, and planting a fat kiss against her cheek. The other boy tucked close, remarkably similar to Wild in almost every way… long, blonde hair, kind blue eyes, and a lanky frame.
Ocam’s expression softened in a way none of them had seen before. All the tension left his shoulders, and he sank beside the dying Imp Poe. All the guilt faded at the sight. All the weight. All the sorrow.
“I’m glad you’re safe,” he said. His form had nearly vanished now, light peeling from his shoulders like mist.
Omei slipped from her mother’s arms and ran toward him. “Daddy!”
Ocam vanished as the light took him entirely, firm scattering into the air. The Imp Poe vanished in a cloud of purple smoke.
Sheili stepped forward, gathering Omei and Zall into her arms as the three of them began to glow now, too.
Their spirits lifted slowly toward the ceiling.
Peaceful.
Free.
Wind watched with wide eyes as they drifted upward like lanterns in the night.
And then, just like that, they vanished.
Then, Hyrule and Legend’s forms were blasted through the walls and back toward where their bodies slept peacefully.
Upstairs, tucked away in their sleeping rolls, the two woke up safe and sound.
it was over.