Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Link’s entire body was thrown back from the force of his last weapon breaking, the Lizalfos not giving him any time to recover as it rushed forward, slicing a deep cut into his side. He jerked away, bringing up his shield just in time to avoid getting stabbed in the chest and thrusting forward to throw the Lizalfos off balance. Then he took off up the stairs, ducking under the spear of another and at the sight of the rubble blocked hall, racing towards a third Lizalfos with a bow. Link pulled his own from his back, nocking an arrow and somehow miraculously shooting it into the creature’s eye as his bow shattered in his hands..

He didn’t take any time to gloat, jumping forward to clear the gap in the floor and only just making it, his chest hitting the edge of tile painfully while his hands scrabbled for purchase. A squawking noise above him had Link looking up into the eyes, well, eye, of a very pissed off Lizalfos. Luckily it seemed to have dropped its bow, and Link took the split second opportunity before it slammed a foot down onto his hand to haul himself up onto the ledge and roll past the thing, taking up the dropped bow and swinging it into the Lizalfos with as much strength as he could.

The monster lost it’s balance, crashing down to the floor below and Link took a moment to give a silent cheer, interrupted when an arrow whizzed through the air and buried itself into his shoulder. He staggered, the bow slipping out of his hands as he looked up to see the Lizalfos he’d ran past on the other side of the gap, aiming another arrow at him.

Link ran, darting down the path and into another room, taking a sharp left and hearing the screech of yet another enemy behind him. Shit shit shit . He wanted to cry, adrenaline wearing thin and the pain in his side had gone from a sharp stinging to an all encompassing throb, not to mention the blood soaking his shirt. Running out of ideas he snatched his sheikah slate, selecting the bomb option and tossing it behind him, activating it almost immediately.

A little bit too immediately, given as how he was thrown to the ground, ears ringing from the blast while rocks crumbled down from the ceiling. He couldn’t breathe, it was like he’d forgotten how, his chest convulsing but nothing happening. The rumbling grew louder, Link finally gasping a burning breath into his lungs and throwing himself forward in time to avoid the castle ceiling collapsing, sending a pile of rubble down to block the corridor off.

Aching Link pushed himself up and limped around the hallway corner, nervous about more rubble coming down. He gripped at his soaked side, squeezing tight in an effort to stave off some of the bleeding. Arguably, he probably could have been better prepared before rushing into the abandoned Hyrule castle, raring and ready to go with his rusty swords and wooden bows.

But here he was, bleeding out and weaponless, trying desperately to find an exit to the castle that wasn’t blocked by murderous robots, or angry lizard monsters, or a moat that was impossible to swim across without drowning.

Panting Link ducked into an alcove, leaning heavily against the wall as he desperately tried to come up with a plan. He slunk down to sit on the floor, his hand moving up to the arrow imbedded in his shoulder. Link sucked in sharply, bracing to yank the offending thing out. Don’t pull it out, idiot.

Link startled hard, hand jerking away from the arrow as he looked around, trying to find where the voice had come from. After a solid moment of silence he concluded he must be hallucinating from the blood loss, but he still took the imaginary voice’s advice, leaving the arrow where it was and instead snapping the shaft so it wasn’t sticking out of his shoulder as far.

Next he tore a large strip out of his shirt, fashioning a very loose and makeshift bandage around the slice in his side. A peek into his bag had him staring in despair at the utter lack of provisions, one hylian shroom, a handful of acorns, and a stick. Wait, wait of course he was such an idiot, the sheikah slate could teleport him out of here. And now that he had the time to actually look at it nothing was stopping hi-

It was broken. The explosion and resulting fall must have done it, because the screen was shattered and black and the runes on it were no longer glowing. Link buried his face in his hands, feeling hysterical sobs bubbling up in his chest, ready to be let out. This wasn’t fair, he didn’t even know why he was here, he didn’t remember.

Get up, stop snivelling and move down the hallway. There’s a blocked doorway, find a way to get through it.

Okay, there was no way he was imagining that. The voice did stop his panic from building though. After taking a moment to steel himself Link pushed himself to his feet, taking his shield in one hand and the stick in the other, completely certain that if there were any other monsters he would be screwed. He made his way slowly down the hallway, stopping at the end to see two different doorways, both of which were blocked by some rather fragile looking rocks.

Well which one is it supposed to be…

Of course, it didn’t matter given Link had literally no idea how to get these open. He resisted the urge to just break down again, instead sucking in a deep breath and getting closer, poking at the rocks with his stick. Huffing he pushed on the rocks, leaning weight onto it and pulling at other areas. Okay, not super fragile, with some kind of explosive or big enough force Link could probably get through, not just with his bare hands though.

He picked his way back down the corridor, looking into crevasses and pots for anything useful, letting out a soft ‘aha’ when he pulled three bomb arrows out of the ceramic. Perfect. He hurried back down the hallway, looking between the two doorways and choosing the one on the right. He rifled through his pockets, pulling out a piece of flint and steeling himself, lit the arrow, dropped it at the base of the rocks, and bolted down the hall, diving to the floor as the explosion went off behind him.

The explosion, which freed an irritated looking Lizalfos.

Link could cry if he wasn’t so busy scrambling for his shield, jumping up in time only for the monster to pounce at him and knock him back to the floor. Why were there so many of these things?! It loomed above him, raising its boomerang to attack but Link was faster, swinging up hard with his stick and striking the creature across the face.

The stick broke on impact, the Lizalfos jerking back with a cry and Link bolted up, charging down towards the doorway, desperation clawing at his chest at the realization it was just another alcove. The monster leapt at him and he dodged out of the way. Link had no options, this was a sealed corridor, he had no weapons, and he was going to be killed by a giant lizard with a knife.

Get the lizard to leap at the rocks.

Easy for the magic voice to say, they weren’t the one being attacked. Still Link attempted to do what it said, racing around the creature to place his back to the rubble and standing his ground. He was shaking, badly, the blood loss getting to him and his adrenaline rush gone, and Link wasn’t so sure he could keep this up for much longer.

Which made watching it leap at him, bladed boomerang out and ready to slice Link open, so much more terrifying.

He jerked out of the way at the last second, tucking himself neatly out of the way as the Lizalfos crashed into the rocks, causing the rubble to crash down around them. Link pulled himself away from the wall, tripping over the dazed monster as he took in the room, despair at this also being a dead end.

A dead end with one, gleaming black sword, complete with a ruby affixed to the hilt, sitting in a pedestal in the center.

Link stumbled forward, grabbing the sword by the hilt and with a swift tug pulling it out of the pedestal. The moment the blade was completely free Link's blood ran cold, air catching in his throat and his heart felt like it was going to lunge out of his chest. The sword seemed to give a pulse in response, and Link could swear it glowed orange for a moment.

In his haze Link didn’t notice the monster getting back up until it had knocked him down, slashing the boomerang against his shield as he threw it up to protect himself. His vision was going hazy, the combination of his injuries and whatever had just happened making him light headed and he kicked out at the monster, unbalancing it enough to try and swing at it, only for the monster's tongue to shoot out and knock the sword out of his hand and across the room.

It pulled the shield from his arm, tossing it to the side and raising up its weapon to deal a final blow, stopped by the whish of metal as what looked like a knife was thrown into the creature’s chest, the Lizalfos dying immediately and disappearing in a poof of toxic smelling air.

Dizzily, Link looked up, the room swimming as he took in the figure who must have thrown the knife. Darkness crept into his vision and he heard one last thing before he faded into unconsciousness.

“Hello again, Skychild.”

Chapter Text

When Link came to it was with a throbbing headache. He let out a quiet groan, curling up tighter and mushing his face into a pillow, ignoring the awful taste in his mouth. It felt like his brain was trying to escape his head and for a solid minute Link wanted nothing more than to vomit, only deterred by the fact that the pillow was the softest thing he’d had his face on in weeks.

Wait… hang on.

He shot upward, about to leap from the bed and stopped only by the intense bolt of agony that shot through his entire body. That, and the hand on his shoulder gently pushing Link back against the pillows but keeping him propped up.

“Easy there, you’re going to get injured again.”

Link scowled, turning his head to look at the man next to him and pointedly pulling away from their touch. He gestured around the room, seeing a couple of other people milling about and twisted his face into confusion.

“My name is Lawdon, you were unconscious when you came here, you’re at the Wetlands Stable. Just east of the old Hyrule Castle.”

Ah, that explained the horse smell, and the bed. But Link had no idea how he’d gotten here, last he was aware of he’d been bleeding out in a castle, not to mention the bandages.. Looking back to Lawdon still standing over him he pointed at the bandages on his chest and shoulder.

“Ah right, I only provided the supplies, your traveling companion patched you up and paid for the night, told me to make sure you got some decent breakfast in you before you left,” he moved a hand to his chin and started mumbling just loud enough for Link to hear, “though I’m not entirely sure where he’s gone off to, not to mention he did look a bit odd. Hmm…”

Thank Hylia for over informative stable owners.

Deciding he’d heard enough Link started to push himself up, noting what looked like a new shirt and pair of trousers at the end of the bed, only to be ushered back down.

“Woah there! You’re in no state to be traveling!”

Yeah well Lawdon was about to be in no state to do anything if he kept trying to get Link to lay back down.

Link’s scowl must have perfectly articulated that because they eased off, putting their hands up.

“Alright then, I suppose I can’t make you do anything. Just stay safe you hear? Lots of monsters around lately.”

Yeah, as if Link didn’t know that already. He waited until Lawdon had walked away before he pushed himself back up, ignoring the painful protesting of his injuries as he pulled on the new outfit. Sure it had mysterious origins but Link wasn’t going to turn down free clothing, especially considering the state of his old outfit. While reaching for his pouches however he paused.

The sword was there.

It was encased in a black leather scabbard but the ruby that was affixed to the hilt was unmistakable, polished and gleaming it almost looked alive.

He rubbed at his eyes, shaking his head and proceeding to strap his pouches to his waist and secure the sword and scabbard around his chest with the leather strap. Maybe the stranger who had saved him had brought it with or maybe it was cursed, either way Link needed a weapon, preferably one that wouldn’t shatter the moment he looked at a monster.

Geared up he went outside, squinting in the bright light and peering around, a small smile forming across his face at the sight of the horses. Perfect. It would make traveling much faster.

He strode over to the desk, his smile dropping a bit at the sight of Lawdon being there but he kept walking anyway. Upon reaching the desk he got the man’s attention and pointed at the horses. Lawdon, as per usual it seemed, was quick to catch on.

“Ah yes, you’ll probably be wanting a horse. We don’t sell those ones but what you can do is go out and capture a wild horse, then bring it back here and for a small fee of 20 rupees we’ll get it registered to you and give it a saddle and bridle.” He smiled through the whole spiel, clearly unaware of what he was asking Link. “unfortunately there aren’t many wild horses near this stable but if you do capture one you’ll get the same deal at any nearby stable.”

Scowling Link gestured to his shoulder and side, trying to indicate he couldn’t just catch a horse like this.

“Ah well, sorry, you could probably use a bit more rest before attempting to get a horse.”

Well that was a not so subtle jibe if Link ever heard one. Lawdon’s smile hadn’t lessened but the man was looking a little vindictive, maybe he wasn’t used to his advice being ignored.

He wasn’t a quitter though, if he couldn’t get a horse then Link would just start walking. He could still see Hyrule castle from here, and given how quickly he’d been brought to this stable it couldn’t be that far away on foot. Probably. Maybe.

Whatever, it wasn’t like he had any other ideas.

Link spun on his heel and started off, ignoring the call of “hey wait!” behind him. He was done waiting, and done hearing unwanted advice. For a brief second he could swear he heard an amused chuckle, a quick glance around confirming there was nobody near him and letting out a sigh Link had to wonder if imaginary voices were just a thing now.

-----------------------------------------------

Past Link was an asshole, or an idiot, probably both. Either way he should be banned from making decisions. This should have been an easy walk across Hyrule field, followed by a little sneaking around and a nice glide into the castle, where he would proceed to not get lost or nearly murdered this time, then slay the big bad Calamity and wing it from there.

But no, because Hylia hated him, and had apparently not finished screwing with him just yet. Why else would there turn out to be versions of the guardians with legs, it wasn’t like he’d only narrowly gotten past them last time.

Currently Link was racing through an open field, desperate to try and get to some kind of cover before the Guardian’s lasers got a little bit more accurate. The beeping started again, getting quicker and quicker and Link threw himself to the side just in time to avoid the shot, seeing the light shoot past him and explode where he would have been.

Of all things to die from, he wasn’t expecting giant spider robots with lasers.

Link pushed himself up, about to take off again when the stomping of the Guardian got entirely too loud. Spinning around he found himself tilting his head back to look up at the mass of metal and one bright blue eye. The red target light pointed directly at his chest and he froze, fear and adrenaline clogging up his veins and locking him in place.

The beeping started again and Link squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for a quick yet very painful end, only to snap them back open when he was yanked back against someone’s chest, the sound of shattering glass overpowering the noise of the Guardian.

Then he was somewhere else, fighting back the nausea of suddenly being in an entirely different place and able to see the Guardian he’d just been next to in the distance.

It took Link another moment to process the feeling of having someone pressed up against the entire line of his back, arms wrapped around his waist, and honestly he was having a really hard time not finding that appealing.

“This version of you is even more pathetic than the last, that’s twice now I’ve saved your life.”

At that Link did pull away, because he recognized that voice, had heard it when he was passing out in the castle. The stranger let him out of their arms easily and Link spun around, ignoring the dizziness that almost caused him to keel over as he took in the man, finally understanding Lawdon’s earlier comment about them being odd.

Out of all the people he’d seen so far none had looked like this, pale almost white skin, paired with white hair that hung over part of his face and a little diamond etched into his cheek. Not to mention his clothes, a bright red mantle with a gold diamond pattern on the inside, elbow high white gloves and a belt with a huge glistening ruby affixed to it. The worst part of the outfit though had to be the skin tight white clothing with diamonds cut out of the fabric, showing off more of his skin than Link wanted to see.

All in all it was atrocious and by far the most outlandish thing Link had seen so far, even the yiga he’d encountered didn’t dress this badly.

“At a loss for words? I’m stunning I know, even after all these years I’ve remained at prime physique, no thanks to you.”

And he was a total pompous bastard apparently.

The continued confused silence from Link didn’t seem to sit well with the stranger, if the frown creeping across his face was any indication. Though it was soon replaced with an entirely unsettling grin.

“Oh of course, you wouldn’t remember would you. Then allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ghirahim, though I much prefer to be indulged with my full title, Lord Ghirahim, but I’m not fussy.”

Chapter Text

“I’m not fussy.”

Several moments of confused silence from Link after and the patient yet clearly eager expression on the man’s- Ghirahim’s face had yet to dissipate. Actually it just seemed to be getting worse, as he just tossed his bangs out of his face, then turned away from Link and continued talking.

“Now as much as I do enjoy your awed silence at my presence I do have something to discuss with you Skychild.” the entire time he spoke he stepped further away, seemingly trying to be dramatic but it just made it incredibly difficult to hear him. “So honestly why in the Goddess’ name would you-” mumble mumble “you were never this idiotic before-” mumble mumble “It’s like you want to die before you can face Demise.” mumble mumble mumble.

Link just blinked at them. As far as he could tell Ghirahim didn’t seem to be a threat, not to mention they’d saved him twice now. Which, brought up another question of why they were following him, and why Ghira was in the castle in the first place. Also the teleporting and weird clothes and the fact that he was still monologuing. Link mushed his hands into his face, running them up into his hair and ruffling it. This was a lot to take in.

And it was only made worse by Ghirahim appearing way too close to Link’s face.

“Am I boring you Skychild?”

Link just blinked at them, not sure how to defend himself considering that while he couldn’t hear Ghirahim anyway, he most certainly hadn’t been trying to.

“Uh….”

“Nevermind, you clearly must having something more important to think about, it’s not as though I’m trying to help you or anything.”

He had no idea how to gesture out what he wanted to ask, so far no conversations had needed Link to ask for something complex, either because it wasn’t necessary or the other people he’d met had figured out what he wanted before he asked.

Feeling increasingly put out Link just made an exasperated gesture with his hands before crossing them over his chest, glaring at Ghirahim.

Ghira seemed slightly put off by the glaring, looking a bit confused for a moment before something finally seemed to click.

“Oh of course, we’ve never had an actual conversation before now, silly me.”

Then he lifted a hand and snapped, a small burst of diamonds appearing above Link and dropping some items he scrambled to catch, only investigating what they were after a solid minute of fumbling to keep them from hitting the ground. It looked like a journal, complete with a small stick of charcoal, and upon opening the book he found all the pages were blank.

Perfect to write out something in order to communicate.

Link glanced back up at Ghirahim, unsure what to make of the proud posturing they seemed to be doing.

“No need to thank me.”

And yet despite that the items were… really thoughtful, actually. Which given all five minutes of being forced to experience Ghirahim’s personality wasn’t something Link was expecting.

“Well? Hurry up and ask your question.”

Well, whatever moment was there wasn’t any longer. Flipping to the first page Link balanced the book with one hand and wrote out what he wanted, holding it up to Ghirahim.

Why are you following me? Why do you call me Skychild?

Not the nicest way of wording things but Link’s letters were shaky and uneven, and it took him long enough just to write out those two questions. He knew how to write, it just felt like he was out of practice. Ghirahim at least didn’t seem to mind the abrupt nature of the questions.

“As for your first question..” Ghirahim leaned over Link, making the hero shy back instinctively but Ghira just grabbed the sword and unsheathed it from Link’s back, holding it out. “I’m bound to this sword you carry, it’s a long story I won’t bore you with but for simplicity’s sake, I cannot go very far from this blade at the moment.” He swished it around for a moment before grinning, “It’s stunning though isn’t it, a perfect weapon for someone as splendid as me.”

Link wasn’t oblivious enough to not notice that Ghirahim was avoiding one of his questions, but for the moment he let it be, looking down to write out something else and offering it up again.

You can have it.

He would have thought that offering the sword Ghirahim was apparently attached to would make them happy, but it was quite the opposite given Ghira’s immediate scowl as he quickly slid the sword back into its place on Link’s back.

“Don’t be foolish.”

Confused Link went to respond only to be stopped by Ghirahim putting up a hand.

“Ah ah, my turn. Now then,” Ghirahim took a step back, giving Link a blatant onceover, expression becoming something a bit more judgy, “seeing as how I'm stuck with you for now,” Link wanted to argue they really weren’t, “I’ll help you out with your quest. So to start, you’re going to need to gear up a bit more before we go back to the castle.”

Link glared, not liking how Ghirahim had just invited himself along and for a split second he was tempted to just put down the sword and leave. Doubtless though Ghirahim would just pick it up and follow, he was beginning to get the feeling that they were completely stubborn. A tad bit frustrated he scratched out a message and shoved the book forward.

Then what do you suggest I do.

He was expecting something vague, much like all the instructions he’d received upon waking up, and was very pleasantly surprised with Ghirahim’s answer.

“Why we go see the Goddess servant of course.”

Link’s face twisted in confusion, though he was relieved that Ghirahim actually had a plan. At the look Ghira quickly explained.

“Or rather, her people. That tablet on your hip, the mark it bears is the same as those of the Sheikah. We’ll go to them. You have a map yes?”

Then Link winced, putting the book and charcoal into his pouch so he could lift up the tablet and show Ghirahim the cracked screen, as well as how no amount of prodding could get it to illuminate.

Link wasn’t sure what expression exactly Ghirahim made but it wasn’t good, neither was the ragged noise of frustration as Ghirahim disappeared and reappeared a few feet away in a loud burst of glass noise and diamonds.

“Of course you would break the most important item on your person, you used to be more responsible than this you know. You’d better not damage my sword Link.”

He would be more worried about Ghira knowing his name if people Link was sure he’d never met didn’t already know everything about him.

Ghirahim let out a sigh, starting to mumble to himself again and with a flash of brilliance Link had an idea. He tucked the slate back to his hip, picking up the book and writing out what he wanted, taking a moment to look around and spotting the mountains he was looking for. Before he’d broken the slate there was a spot marked beyond those peaks, the old man had said there was a woman named Impa he should go there to meet. He could only assume Ghirahim meant her.

I know where to go.

Ghira looked skeptical, “Really?”

Impa?

Ghirahim looked shocked for a moment before doing that creepy smile again. “I believe that was the old fool’s name yes. Very well then, lead the way Skychild.”

His face twisted a bit at the nickname that clearly wasn’t going anyway anytime soon. The knowing glint in Ghirahim’s eye suggesting they knew how much it bothered him. Link huffed, put the book into his bag, and started walking off without waiting for them to follow.

“Careful Skychild, your face might stick that way.”

Chapter Text

Stupid. Freaking. Horses.

Link stared up at the sky, sprawled out onto his back on the ground letting out wheezing breaths and trying to ignore the sweat dripping down his back. The dry grass prickling the back of his neck was irritating, but not so much as Ghirahim standing over him with an ‘I told you so’ expression firmly rooted on their face.

It had been a sucky two days since he’d met Ghira. Link would have been happy to walk all the way to the peaks in utter silence but his, companion, had much preferred to fill the air with nonsensical chatter the entire time. And it was only made worse when they got to a river Link had no way of swimming across, followed by three hours of backtracking over bridges until they got to the side they needed to be on.

That, and the first time Ghirahim had disappeared in a flurry of diamonds that got sucked into the sword, Link startled so hard he fell into the river. Ten minutes later, drenched and crouching on the riverbank covered in mud, Ghirahim just laughed and said he couldn’t be bothered to walk around like a peasant. Or help Link out of a river apparently.

Then of course, the clothing argument.

Look, Link was in no way a master of dressing himself. He’d ran around shirtless for a few days on that plateau, then when he finally did bother to clothe himself, it had been in the ratty torn garments he’d found in a chest. Even now he was only wearing what Ghirahim had bought off the stable owner, which turned out to just be a set of generic Hylian clothing.

That said, even Link knew Ghirahim’s outfit was beyond normal, outlandishly unacceptable, and if he was being honest, not appropriate for the public.

Trying to tell this to Ghirahim however had resulted in a one sided argument that lasted the entire walk from the bridges, through the peaks, and across a ratty wooden board bridge until they were just out of view of what looked like another stable, standing in front of a glowing shrine.

Link couldn’t exactly get a word in what with the whole not speaking thing, and when he did write something out Ghira ignored it to rave on and on about how marvelous and beautiful his clothing was and how it accented his features. Whatever that meant.

Link put his foot down when the sun started setting.

He was tired, and cold, and hungry, and if he was forced to spend another night sitting around a campfire half awake to keep watch he was going to snap. Especially when there was a perfectly available stable, with perfectly comfortable beds, right there!

Ghirahim’s arguments trailed off when Link unsheathed the sword, then striding towards the river he stretched out his arm, made eye contact, and dangled the blade over the deep water. His other hand held up the book with the words. Change it. Large and readable. The both of them were silent during their standoff, Ghira daring Link to do it and Link thoroughly done with this one, itty bitty request not being listened to.

Granted he was beginning to lose some of his resolve the longer he waited. Looking into Ghirahim’s eyes felt a little bit like staring down a wolf that was about to pounce, and if Link wasn’t so stubborn he’d have already backed down.

The silence lasted longer than he expected, and just as Link was about to do… something, Ghira sighed, letting out a dramatic huff, then snapped his fingers.

In a dazzling display of diamonds Ghirahim’s clothing morphed, the mantle shifting to be more of a cloak, darker in color and covering the majority of Ghira’s upper body, extra cloth draping down from his arms. Link would have called it subtle if not for the embroidered gold diamonds along the edges. Unfortunately not much else about the outfit changed, though Link did have to admit this was much better than the bright red cloth from before.

Satisfied he nodded, sheathed the sword, then strode over to the stable. Of course then they found out there weren’t any available beds anyway.

Asking around the next morning, Link not only had much more pleasing conversations with people who knew exactly what he wanted to say, but Ghirahim seemed to prefer hiding in the sword when they were around other people. After a few well placed silent questions, aided by one quick question written out, Link not only had the location of Kakariko village, but also a suggestion to get a horse.

Which led to now, and Link’s decision to ‘catch’ a horse, despite all the badgering from Ghira about how he was still injured. And yeah sure, Link still had some pretty messy scabs but they weren’t exactly life threatening. Even now that he’d been racing around and trying to clamber onto horses for a few hours his side and shoulder didn’t ache anymore than when he’d started.

“It’s actually amazing you haven’t been kicked in the head yet.”

No what was amazing was how Ghira had managed to startle every horse Link got close to. And even if he wasn’t at fault Link was still going to blame it on him. This was so dumb. It didn’t matter if he ran up to the horse, crept up to the horse, climbed a tree and glided down to the horse. They all ran away before he managed to get on their backs. This last one he’d been so so close to, and it getting away was actually Ghira’s fault. He’d been maybe one more step away from vaulting himself up onto the horse’s back when there’d been a telltale snap that startled the horse, leading to Link being grazed by a kick aimed his way.

Apparently Ghira had an idea, one Link resolutely ignored as he sprawled out into the grass nursing both his aching side and semi wounded pride.

“This would go much more smoothly if you just-”

Link threw up a hand to interrupt, glaring at Ghira. He didn’t want to hear another word right now, given as how they’d been mocking him for at least an hour. Ghirahim looked put out, frowning and dropping his hands to his hips.

“I’m trying to help you, you stubborn brat.”

He laid there for a few more moments before huffing out a dramatic sigh and propping himself up onto his elbows, nodding for Ghirahim to continue. Please, by all means, show me exactly how I should be doing this.

Instead of starting one of his long winded one sided conversations, as Link was beginning to figure was normal, Ghirahim reached down and offered a hand to Link. He just blinked for a moment, then tentatively, accepted the hand. The noise that left Link as he was yanked to his feet was absolutely not a yelp, it was a manly grunt of surprise because Ghirahim was deceptively strong.

If Ghira noticed the noise he mercifully didn’t say anything, releasing Link once he was upright.

“Watch and learn.”

Turning Ghira strode off towards the nearest horse, a pretty black and white stallion that Link had ignored due to the stable boy’s comment of how the multi colored horses weren’t as strong. Ghira raised his hand, snapped, and in a flurry of diamonds four walls sprung up, surrounding the stallion. It reared, panicked but with nowhere to go.

“Well, go hop on.”

Oh sure, Link glared at him, naturally Ghira would only do part of the work. He had that same grin on that he’d had when Link asked about teleporting across the river, and Ghira only said Link could use the exercise.

Making unintelligible grumbling noises beneath his breath, Link walked over, noting how a very small portion of the wall was open so that he could slip through. Reaching it though he hesitated, the horse inside the pen looked all too ready to do… something. Link didn’t like the look it was giving him. Just as he was about to back out Ghira appeared behind him and shoved him, the wall closing up as soon as Link was through.

Link froze. Staring down the horse, he shuffled to the side, the horse mirrored the movement. Then, taking a deep breath, he sprinted forward, avoiding the back legs and grabbing the stallion’s mane, swinging himself up onto its back.

The walls disappeared, giving the horse room to buck without injuring itself while Link clung on for dear life. Distantly he thought he heard Ghirahim shout something about his thighs.

Link was breathing heavily, side hurting something awful by the time the horse calmed down and allowed him to guide it to a stop. He straightened up, patting its neck. There was something familiar about being seated on a horse, and for a moment he felt disoriented by the fur beneath him being black and white, not a light brown. He frowned, ignoring the horses irritated whinny as he stopped petting it, lost in his confusion.

“Ruby.”

What?

Link looked up to see Ghira standing in front of the horse, raising his hand to pet it only to nearly get bitten.

“His name, I’m naming him Ruby.”

That was…

“No.”

Link’s voice was cracked with disuse, and if Ghira was surprised by Link talking he didn’t show it. “Why not?”

Link sputtered, “Beca- it’s male!”

“He’s a horse, he doesn’t care if he has a mare’s name.”

“It’s not even red!”

Ghirahim just smiled. “So?”

Link threw his hands up into the air, startling the horse into rearing and he slipped off, thudding to the ground. At least Ghirahim grabbed the horse’s mane so it didn’t run off.

“I don’t think Ruby likes you.”

They were not naming the horse Ruby.

---------------------------------------------------------------

“There you are, just a tip, if you get separated from Ruby you can whistle and he’ll come running.”

Link sighed, nodding and ignoring the gleeful hum he could hear from the sword. Turning away he looked at… Ruby, I cannot believe I named him that, and without further ado hauled himself up into the saddle and tapped the horse’s side with his heels, spurring him forward.

He hadn’t gotten more than twenty feet before Ruby tossed his head, ignoring Link’s tugging on the reins, and started walking off the path. Link wrestled with them for a moment, managed to get the horse back on the trail, and then not a moment later they did it again.

It was like this until Link got to a bridge, fighting the horse the whole way before finally Ruby just stopped, refusing to walk forward despite Link tapping them with his heels and rein pulling. Huffing he relaxed his grip on the reins, only for Ruby to start backing away from the bridge and turning. Quickly he tightened them again, the horse stopping beneath him.

They stayed in this stalemate for several minutes before Ghirahim reappeared.

“What in the Goddess’ name are you doing?”

Link looked up to glare at him before looking back down at the horse who still refused to move. He heard a rather put out sigh before Ghira reached up and snatched the reins out of his hand, pulling them over the horses’ head so he could grip them right below it’s chin. Ruby snorted, tugging his head for a moment before stilling. Grinning, Ghirahim led them across the bridge, and once on the other side turned to look up at Link.

“Clearly you just have no idea what you’re doing.”

Ruby snorted and headbutted him.

---------------------------------------------------------------

When they got to Kakariko Ghirahim had been quietly grumbling inside his sword for some time, only piping up to tell Link to ignore the weird tree thing standing on the side of the road and to vehemently protest Link just leaving the horse halfway up the path. Frankly Link didn’t see why they were keeping this one, other than Ghira had picked it and for some reason found Link ditching the horse offensive.

Link dismounted Ruby the moment he got inside the village, leaving them in a nearby patch of grass. He turned, noting a woman sitting on the ground and looking like she was in pain and he quickly hurried over.

“Oh don’t mind me, I’ve just twisted my ankle, terribly sorry to have you see me like this.” She stood up, eyes straying to the broken sheikah slate still on Link’s hip. “Oh, do you know what that slate on your hip is for?”

Link nodded.

“Oh you must go see Elder Impa, if you follow this path down you’ll see her house, show the guards that slate and they’ll let you right in.”

Link smiled, waving a thanks to her as he walked down the path.

You didn’t have to say a single word to her.

Much like the first time Ghira spoke inside his head Link startled hard, almost tripping and falling off the path and for a moment he thought he heard a faint snicker. He shrugged. Most people he didn’t need to talk to, which was a blessing since it was only on rare occasions that Link could find words.

Thinking about it, his argument about Ruby was probably the first time he’d spoken since waking up.

You’re very strange Skychild.

Just as the woman had said the guards let him pass immediately upon seeing the sheikah slate, and Link walked uninterrupted to the doors, pushing them both open with a flourish. There, sat in front of him on a pile of pillows, sat a very small old lady.

She looked up at him, and a faint smile crossed her lips.

“So, you’re finally awake.”

Chapter Text

Ghirahim had never expected to wake up again.

When Demise had been defeated, as Ghira’s sword disintegrate into dust he had only a passing thought for what might happen next. Demons didn’t have an afterlife. They were born, they lived their lives, and when they finally died, faded away into nothing.

Which was why awakening trapped in his sword form, unharmed and lost, was so utterly vexing. It wasn’t long after when he’d felt the presence of his master and the natural conclusion was that Demise simply couldn’t find another being perfect enough to wield as a sword, and had revived him. Yet as time drew on and no hand came to grasp the swords pommel, the less weight this idea held.

Ghira couldn’t feel the passage of time in this form, not the way a living being did, his senses did not extend pass being able to feel the presence of other living things.

He could feel the bond between his master and himself fading, Hylia and Demise ever present hundreds of feet above him, unmoving and unchanging. Ghirahim couldn’t puzzle it out, had no idea what could possibly be happening between the two beings, and he grew desperate.

Which was why when a new Hylian presence entered the castle Ghira latched onto them, following their progress, and once they were close enough projecting his thoughts directly to them. It was only when the being stumbled into his chamber that Ghira figured out who it was.

And by then it was far too late to stop the Hero from pulling the sword from the pedestal.

Sword spirits were tricky things. Without a master and a purpose they would slowly rot away, their blades going dull, and the spirit themselves weakening and growing silent. The blade that was their vessel turning into their coffin. Ghirahim didn’t know how long he’d been without Demise, but apparently it was long enough that the mere touch of the Skychild’s hand formed a new fledgling bond immediately.

Once the lizalfos was dead, the child passed out onto the floor, Ghirahim fumed.

How could he have been so neglectful? So ignorant as to not notice his rapidly depleting bond with Demise? And why, why in the Goddess’ name, had Demise never come to wield his sword?

It didn’t make any sense, and as much as Ghirahim would love to drown the hero in his own blood, he couldn’t so much as make a move to scratch them without pure revulsion spreading through his very core.

A sword spirit harming their master was unheard of. It just simply never happened. Sword spirits were beings born of loyalty, and it seemed that despite Ghirahim’s demonic origins, he was not exempt from this. No matter how much he wanted to harm Link, doing so would only make Ghirahim want to rip his entire being apart to rid himself of the wrongness he’d feel.

So instead he’d bandaged the hero up, gotten them someplace safe, and had left them with a new outfit to replace the one torn to dirty tatters.

When he’d shown himself later Ghirahim had braced for recognition, had put on his best performance much like their first meeting and waited for the Skychild to figure it out. It didn’t take a genius to realize Link had no memories of his past incarnation, and Ghirahim had to wonder why Hylia always left her beloved champion so weak and clueless.

It was for this reason he convinced Link not to go to the castle.

That and well, Ghirahim wasn’t foolish enough to underestimate the Skychild again, but he couldn’t help his natural curiosity. And deep down, though he’d never admit it, Ghirahim was afraid of what would happen when he met his master again.

He just, couldn’t imagine why his old master hadn’t come for him. Why would he have been revived if he was simply going to be abandoned in the depths of a Hylian castle, left to rot and dull on his own. It didn’t make sense.

It was while Ghirahim was lost in one of these reveries that the Skychild had fallen into a river, looking for all the world like a drowned remlit when he’d crawled out and it took every speck of Ghirahim’s nobility and pride not to burst into titters at the sight.

The horse he’d picked out was revenge for his demanded outfit change.

When they’d arrived at Kakariko village Ghirahim had been more than ready to slay that blasted servant of the goddess, only to find that no she did not somehow escape the passage of time. He could only assume that Impa was a name passed down through generations of Sheikah.

He only listened idly through the conversation, mostly getting stuck on the fact that Link was in fact, over 100 years old. The name Ganon confused him as well, but he could only assume Demise’ true name was lost with time. A time that was apparently, over 10,000 years.

He felt numb.

Contrary to popular belief Ghirahim did actually feel things beyond bloodlust and anger, at the moment his emotions could probably be summed up best as cold dread.

Ten, thousand years. Ghirahim had been gone, or trapped as a sword, for over ten thousand years. The legend Impa told had to have happened after Demise and Hylia, for the legendary weapon to exist and the princess to be a descendant of Hylia. If he was physically capable this would be giving Ghira a stomachache.

The more information Impa gave them the more confusing and other worldly this seemed. Divine beasts. Calamity. At the very least hearing a little old lady yell at Link for breaking the Sheikah slate was beyond entertaining for him.

Link was rubbing at the back of his neck, clearly not used to being chewed out.

“I suppose since I can’t give you the locations of the divine beasts you’ll have to get that fixed. Someone in Hateno village can help you. Just go back to the stable and head east, you’ll find them on the far edge of the village.”

Link nodded, a feeling of determination radiating off them so strongly it made Ghira’s soul shiver. Even in this time it seemed, the hero was not one to give up.

He turned to leave, stopped again by Impa calling out.

“Oh and Link, one more thing. That sword you carry is no ordinary blade. Do take care with it, I think you’ll find things are not all that they seem with that weapon.”

If Ghirahim had a physical form he’d be glaring daggers at the goddess servant. Take care indeed. Oh if only the woman knew what Ghira was actually capable of.

But Link had nodded, and turned to leave, and for the moment at least Ghirahim didn’t seek to hinder their efforts. The sooner they got this over with, the better. Ghirahim needed answers, and for that he needed Link to get to this Ganon in one piece.

-------------------------------------------------------

Link felt exhausted. By the time he left Impa’s home the sun was beginning to set again and as much as he longed to find a place to sleep and collapse he knew there was too much information swimming around in his head for sleep to actually come.

He knew he’d been asleep for one hundred years, the old Hylian king had told him that much. Link just hadn’t, actually considered the implications of that just yet. He wished he could just remember.

He waved tiredly to the guards as he walked out of the village, snagging an apple off one of the small stone shrines there.

And why had Impa warned him about his sword? He could only assume she meant Ghirahim, her pointed look had been telling enough that she knew, but besides being an utter drama queen with a knack for letting Link get into trouble Ghira hadn’t done anything yet. He shook his head. It was getting late and Link needed to start traveling, he could deal with this later.

When he reached Ruby he offered up the apple he’d grabbed, nearly losing a finger in the act and with the horse significantly distracted he mounted them and spurred Ruby out of the village.

He didn’t make it twenty feet before Ghirahim’s voice rang out as clear as if they were standing right next to him.

“You seem to be taking this news awfully well Skychild.”

At least when Link was sitting on a horse he couldn’t trip over himself in surprise, and hearing Ghira's voice out loud was better than in his head. He shrugged, making a so-so gesture. He wouldn’t say he was taking it well, more shoving half the information away in his brain to be dealt with at a later date.

“You don’t seem worried about her warning.”

Warning?

“About me.” Ghira needed to stop being both clueless and spot on when it came to Link’s communication. It was eerie.

He let out a sigh, patting the side of Ruby’s neck to steer them away from a giant puddle the horse seemed determined to stomp through. Link didn’t see Ghirahim as a threat really. Maybe it was because it had only been a few days, but so far the other had done nothing to harm him. Had saved Link twice, actually.

Ghirahim didn’t press for an answer, something Link was thankful for. Words felt impossible, anything he thought about saying clogging up in his throat and making it harder to breath. The sun had set fully by the time Link saw the stable up ahead and despite the dangers of traveling at night he turned Ruby down the road towards Hateno.

Link couldn’t regret this horse more. With the stalkoblins running around it was dangerous enough, let alone having Ruby try and toss him when the skeletons came close. By the fourth time Ruby bolted in a random direction Link was ready to scream. Or cry. There was just, too much going on right now. Once he got Ruby to stop he just dropped the reins, putting his face in his hands and sucking in a deep breath.

Hero of Hyrule. One hundred years. Divine Beasts. Calamity. Memory loss.

He just needed to press forward, push all this back to deal with one at a time, Link just needed to get to this village and fix the tablet, and then he could sit down for just one second and think. He just needed this stupid horse to listen.

There was a prickling sensation in his eyes and Link could feel wet trails forming down his cheeks. Just before the first dry sob could wrench itself out of his throat there was warmth pressed all along his back, arms coming around Link to pick up the reins from where he’d dropped them.

“You’re hopeless.”

It wasn’t said with any malice but Link scrambled to dry his face, using his sleeves to wipe away most of the tears before he twisted and peered up at Ghira behind him. Their face was unreadable, Ghira not looking down at Link and instead seeming to focus entirely on guiding Ruby back to the road.

Sniffling once, Link turned to face forward again, finding that the warmth of the other man pressed against him wasn’t unpleasant whatsoever. Rubbing at his eyes once more Link let his hands rest in the hair of Ruby’s mane. Okay. He could deal with this.

Link stared at Ghira’s hands, focusing down to one thought and pushing the rest away. He didn’t know Impa, didn’t remember her, she had no ground to stand on while delivering her warnings for Link. Ghira had saved him twice, even though he’d only just met them, and had just now pulled Link back from the edge of a breakdown.

So Link didn’t think much of her warning. He’d figure out for himself what Ghirahim was and wasn’t. And for now Ghirahim was a silent, but entirely welcome presence that Link let himself sink back into.

For better or worse, Link could see himself starting to trust Ghira.

Chapter Text

“You get back m-monster!”

“For the last time! I am not a monster!”

Link groaned as he blinked awake, finding himself laying across Ruby’s back with the saddle horn digging painfully into his chest. It wasn’t hard to spot the source of what woke him up, an angry looking farmer pointing a pitchfork at Ghirahim’s chest, the latter looking for all the world like he just wanted to stab the man.

Holding back a whimper at the stiffness in his entire body Link pushed himself off the horse, landing on slightly unstable legs and after stretching out and hearing a distinct pop from his back he walked over to the pair.

Ghira didn’t seem to notice Link’s approach but the farmer did, his eyes widening and he jabbed the pitchfork in Ghirahim’s direction again. “Quick lad! Behind me!”

It was kind of sweet, in a, weird sort of way. Link shook his head, walking up and stopping next to Ghira, then patting the other on the arm, ignoring the disgruntled noise he let out.

“Oh, you mean he’s with you?” The farmer paused, scratching at his head, “I suppose I can let you in then, Hylians are usually the good sort, just keep an eye on your friend there. Sorry bout that.”

Link smiled, giving a small bow to the man and then grabbed Ruby’s reins, tugging the horse into the village and after a moment Ghirahim hurriedly caught up to him.

“How do you do that? You never say anything.”

Link shrugged. He didn’t usually have to. Actually Ghirahim was the only person Link was having trouble communicating with lately.

As they walked further into the village Link was surprised that Ghirahim chose to stay out of the sword this time, though he looked incredibly uncomfortable. Hood up, shying away from any other people, Ghirahim actually flinched out of the path of a child that was running around. All in all it looked like he’d rather be anywhere else.

Link shook it off. If Ghirahim was having a problem he had no doubt the other could just disappear whenever they wanted. Now then, how to find who Impa was talking about….

Ignoring a sound of protest behind him Link left Ruby in the middle of the town, picking a townsperson at random he walked up and waved.

“Oh, hello there. Can I help you?”

He showed her the Sheikah slate.

“My that’s interesting! It looks like the technology that Purah makes! You can find her lab at the top of that hill.”

Link nodded, giving her a thumbs up and she went back to what she was doing before. He could practically feel the confusion radiating off of Ghirahim.

Walking up the hill took forever. If all the running around he’d been doing hadn’t toned his calves then this certainly would.

“You know Skychild I had no idea you slept so soundly.”

And Ghira was talking again. Fantastic.

“Really it’s impressive. I did keep you comfortable through most of the night so you being well rested is no doubt thanks to me but I would have thought you would wake up the moment that peasant started shouting.”

Technically Link had woken up to the farmer shouting.

“And yet you slept through, even as I got down to explain.” Ghira snapped his fingers, teleporting a little ways along the path instead of continuing to walk. “It’s a dangerous habit you know. Anything could sneak up on you.”

Link stared at them for a moment before sighing. Apparently it was too much to ask for Ghira to pretend that Link falling asleep in their arms didn’t happen. Why was this hill path so long?

“Lucky for you I don’t need sleep and can keep watch, for now.” Ghira teleported again and Link wondered at the range. It was certainly a bit of a ways, Ghira had teleported them pretty far from the guardian.

“Still-”

Link cut them off with a raised hand, making sure he had Ghira’s attention before he gestured to them, then himself, and then snapped his fingers, then gestured further along the path.

“You want me to teleport you?”

Link nodded.

“Walking is good for you Skychild.”

Oh but it’s not good for you?

“Anyway as I was saying.”

Link resisted the urge to drop his head into his hands and groan. Why did every walk where Ghirahim was out of the sword turn into this? He looked back up the hill. Only so many steps to go.

------------------------------------------------

Ghirahim disappeared once they got to the lab, claiming something about Sheikah technology grating on his skin as he disappeared in a flurry of diamonds, leaving Link to go into the lab himself. Once inside he quickly narrowed in on a small girl standing on a stool, leaning over some kind of project on the table.

“Oh hello! If you’re here to talk to the director they’re in the back.”

Link nodded, striding over to the man at the bookshelves and after getting their attention, showed them the slate. “Oh wow that’s a real live sheikah slate! Which means you must be Link!”

His confusion must have shown because the man quickly continued. “Ms. Impa told us about you, she said if a hero ever showed up with the sheikah slate to help him however we could, and that his name would be Link.” huh, interesting. “You should show that to the director.” wait what?

Link turned, the girl on the stool standing up to laugh. “Surprise! I bet you didn’t think I was the director did you!” no he hadn’t. Link walked back over, “My name is Purah, I’m the director here at Hateno lab. I had an accident which is why I look so young.”

Let’s just get this thing fixed and get out of here.

Link couldn’t help but agree, this was a little uncomfortable. “You remember me right Linky? No? Oh well, why don’t you show me that slate?”

Link held it up and only flinched a little bit with her horrified shriek. “You broke it?!” She snatched the slate out of his hands, staring at it in despair. “My beautiful sheikah slate, broken…” she looked back up at Link, poking his chest. “I’ll fix it but you have to run an errand for me first. You see that furnace outside? I need you to get the blue flame from down the hill and light it.”

Something of Link’s feelings must have shown cause she snickered a bit. “You didn’t think I would fix it for free did you?”

Yes, he did.

“Well hop to it, I can’t fix the slate until you have that flame up here.”

----------------------------------------------

Once Link was outside he strode over to the cliff edge, looking out over the town it was easy to spot the bright blue flame far below. And with no intention of going back down that hill he jumped off the cliff.

Link what in the Goddess’ name are you doing?!

He ignored Ghira’s panicked yelling, free falling for just a moment before he snapped out the glider, wincing at the tug on his injured shoulder but otherwise enjoying the freedom of just gliding down to his location. When he landed Ghira materialized immediately.

“Why are you Hylians so insane?!”

Link grinned at him.

Leaving the sword spirit to his grumbling Link pulled out a torch, walking over to the flame and lighting it, then looking back up the hill. His legs already hurt. Testing his luck he gave Ghira a somewhat pleading look, the other staring at him flatly in return.

“I’m not going anywhere near that flame. You can walk.”

--------------------------------------

Halfway up the hill it started raining, the only reason Link didn’t just sit down and give up being that he’d been lighting the lanterns all the way up the hill and merely had to wait for the storm to end. He probably would have been there for hours had Ghira not snapped his fingers, a gold platform with pulsing diamonds appearing above Link’s head, stopping the rain from hitting him.

“Let’s hurry up then, watching you sit around is dull.”

Huh. Ghira was proving to have a lot of tricks Link didn’t know about.

It did make things easier though, and before long Link was lighting the furnace at the lab, Ghira disappearing the platform once it was lit and just like before, hiding in the sword when Link went inside.

“Perfect! Now I’ll just need some time to fix this, come back at sunset, it should be done by then.” Purah started mumbling to herself, poking at the slate and Link sighed but nodded. What to do until sunset.

I have an idea.

------------------------------------------

Ghirahim’s idea was to drag Link off to the nearby forest, push the sword in his hands, and shove Link at the nearby bokoblins walking around. “Show me how well you can fight Skychild, I’ve yet to see it.”

Link would have done his best to snark something back had he not needed to throw up the crappy shield he still had in order to avoid being hit with the bokoblins bludgeon. Grumbling to himself he thrust the shield forward, throwing the bokoblin off balance and swinging at them with his sword, surprised when it cut straight into the monster and after one more slash the bokoblin was destroyed.

“You look surprised Skychild. My sword is no weak blade you can simply find on the ground, it was crafted centuries ago for only truly powerful beings to wield. Which, I suppose you count as.”

Huh. Ignoring the insult aside, Link had no idea this sword was that powerful. Sure it wasn’t exactly some ordinary metal sword he could just pick up, but Link had found a couple fancy swords in the castle that still broke fairly quickly.

For some reason Link couldn’t picture this sword breaking.

“Heads up.”

Link jerked back into awareness, throwing himself back just in time to avoid a slash from a blue bokoblin with a sword. It swung again, faster than it’s red counterpart and Link threw up his shield, feeling the wood splinter when the bokoblin struck it, but it stayed in one piece for now.

Before it could strike again Link lunged, rolling under its arm and behind it and slashing up the creature’s back, completing it with a spin that sent the monster flying, and then disappearing in a poof of smoke.

Link didn’t…. Know how he knew how to do that. It felt instinctual really. Maybe this was that lost memories thing.

A screech was all that alerted him to something to his left and then Ghira was there, snatching the arrow that had been aimed at Link’s head right out of the air.

It was certainly just the adrenaline that had Link’s chest racing like that. Just the thought that he almost just died. Nothing to do with that weird fluttery feeling he got watching Ghirahim catch an arrow in his hand like that.

“Better than I thought, but still hopeless.”

A floating black dagger appeared in the air above Ghirahim, flying forward and killing the bokoblin.

Link glared and Ghirahim simply smiled, then let out a loud whistle which caught the attention of several more enemies.

“Keep going, I’ll keep you alive.”

----------------------------------------------------

Link whined, sprawled out on the grass aching and tired.

After they’d ran out of bokoblins Ghirahim had switched things up, summoning a smaller version of his own sword and then demanded Link do their very best to attack him. Which led to Ghira kicking Link’s ass over and over and over again.

“I quit.”

Ghirahim snorted in response to those two words from Link, disappearing his own weapons and after a moment sitting down on a rock near Link. He didn’t make it look like sitting down on a rock though, oh no, he somehow managed to make it the most royal and regal looking sitting on a rock Link had ever seen.

“I suppose we can stop for the day.”

Link’s everything hurt, he had several nicks from where Ghira had purposefully got him in a means to show Link just how close to death he was, and while Link did better than he expected, he still ended up losing 9 times out of 10.

“Let’s go see how that child is doing with your tablet.”

He didn’t even want to open his eyes let alone get up.

It seemed Link didn’t have a choice though, so with a very put off sigh he pushed himself up and sheathed his sword, walking back towards the village. Ghira was silent until they got to the village, waiting until everyone went inside for the night, which should have been a warning sign. Ghirahim was never quiet.

“Why don’t you talk?”

Link startled, turning to look at the other and after a moment gestured for them to continue.

Ghira shrugged. “You can speak, and you do, but not often. Why?”

It was strange, how easily words seemed to come in their presence.

“People listen to me more when I’m silent, they hear what they want to when I speak.” he turned away from Ghira, starting back up the hill. “And I think….” Link didn’t really remember but it felt like.. “People expect certain things from me, it’s easier to silently follow that expectation.”

Ghirahim stayed silent and Link felt like he was starting to sink, his throat closing up and not allowing any more words out as he went quiet as well. This was also why he didn’t talk, it seemed like he kept saying the wrong things, the words ‘too honest’ echoed in his head.

“I have many expectations for you Skychild, and so far you’ve met none of them.” Ghira chuckled, “I don’t think it’s a bad thing though. Your voice is more pleasing than I thought it would be.”

Link turned and blinked at the spirit but Ghira wasn’t looking at him, instead speeding up to hurry up the hill. “Come on then, we have a quest to get on with don’t we.”

Chapter Text

“Here you are, all fixed up. I also took the liberty of adding some missing runes.  You now have the camera, the hyrule compendium, and a gallery.”

Link smiled, nodding and taking the slate, though Purah was quick to reach over and tap something on the screen.

“By the way there are several photos in here that were already saved in the gallery, I think you should go talk to Impa about them.” Something in her voice implied there was more, but even Link could see that he wasn’t going to get more information. He was beginning to notice people liked making him run around to do things.

He could feel a prickle of irritation coming from Ghira, Link could only imagine it was because they didn’t like the idea of traveling all the way back to Kakariko, but well… Link had no idea where to start with the divine beasts, so talking to Impa about a bunch of photos was better than wandering aimlessly he supposed.

“Be careful Link, try not to break that slate again.”

Link nodded bashfully and tucked the slate onto his hip, heading outside. It wasn’t quite morning yet, the sun just barely beginning to peek over the hills and illuminate the village.

Oh well, it had taken most the night to get here, so if they left now they could get back to Kakariko by sunset. Without any hesitation Link raced towards the cliff edge, leaping off and snapping his sailcloth open, pleased to note his shoulder and side didn’t hurt nearly as much this time.

I really wish you wouldn’t do that.

The glide down was quick and Link landed neatly next to Ruby, the horse eyeing him as Link pulled an apple out of his bag and offered it to the stallion. Maybe if he bribed the horse enough it would start to behave when it was ridden.

Ruby took the offered apple, and Link took it as a good sign that they didn’t try to bite his fingers this time. Then he pulled himself up onto Ruby’s back, steering the horse towards the village entrance and patting his neck when Ruby didn’t try to resist.

I think you’re beginning to like Ruby.

Link sighed, speeding Ruby up and ignoring Ghira’s comment. He didn’t, like Ruby, he just wanted Ruby to like him so travel would be easier. That was it.

It was harder to ignore Ghirahim’s chuckling

--------------------------------------------

They got to Kakariko sooner than Link would have thought, the journey uneventful other than Ghirahim pointing out the right path to get back and the sun was still well in the sky by the time they arrived. Link left Ruby at the entrance again, slipping the horse another apple and avoiding what he assumed was an affectionate headbutt.

When he went to speak with Impa however the guards stopped him.

“Lady Impa is busy at the moment, you’ll have to come back later.”

Well that was, inconvenient. Link had been hoping to get information on the pictures, ask where to begin with the divine beasts, and then head on his way while there was still daylight. Trying not to let his irritation show he nodded and turned away.

Now what?

Link wasn’t good at waiting, he needed to be doing something or he would just drop with boredom. Which was why without any prompting he headed over to the man looking like he needed help by the goddess shrine.

“Oh hello there fellow traveler, say you look like someone who appreciates fine landscapes.”

Link nodded.

“I knew it! You know there’s a rumour that a fairy fountain is nearby, but I haven’t been able to find it for all my searching. Would you like me to show you?”

Why do people talk to you like this?

Link ignored Ghira, gesturing for the man to lead the way and smiling.

“Well come on then!”

Link followed behind them dutifully, eyeing the shrine as they passed it and for a moment he itched to go inside. He pushed it down though, following after the man until they sat down, panting and huffing.

“I’m not as young as I used to be. The shrine should be up here, say if you find it get a picture of it for me will you?”

Link nodded and the man practically beamed at him.

“Thank you lad.”

He kept going up the path, and not long after it was clear what the man had been talking about. A giant, orange, slightly glowing flower bulb with fairies floating around in the air. He had the strongest urge to catch at least one of the fairies and and quietly as he could he pulled a bottle from his pouch, walking over to one and opening up the bottle and holding it up.

The fairy flitted over, curious and after a moment drifted down inside the bottle, settling and getting comfortable. Link corked the bottle, putting it away.

“Why did you…?

Link hadn’t even noticed that Ghirahim had materialized. In response to the question he just shrugged, he had no idea why he’d done that, it just felt right.

He walked up to the bulb, reaching out to touch it and startling when a voice rang out.

“You there…. Hero...could you give me some rupees? It’s been…. So long since I’ve had any visitors….I’m so weak….if you could give me 100 rupees...It would restore my power…”

This must be the fairy the man was talking about.

Link dug about in his pouch, staring in awe at the silver rupee he found there. He was certain he hadn’t picked that up, and for a moment he thought back to when Lawdon had said his ‘companion’ had paid for the night. In that case where was Ghirahim getting money?

Either way… Link pulled out the rupee, offering it up and yelping slightly when it was snatched out of his hand, pulled back inside the flower bulb. It pulsed, and then with a great cloud of pollen burst open, revealing a small fountain. In a great rush a giant fairy rose out of the water, settling down on the edge.

“It’s been so long! Thank you hero, in return for helping me-” she cut off abruptly, looking at Ghirahim. “A demon! You brought a demon to my fountain!”

Link threw out an arm, quickly standing in front of Ghirahim before she could do anything. He could feel Ghira tensing behind him, though whether he was readying to fight or flee Link couldn’t tell.

“He’s with me.”

His words were steady and Link lifted his head, daring the fairy to do anything. Okay so demon, Link could deal with that, Ghira had already done plenty of weird things but Link attributed that to being a sword spirit. Being a demon didn’t change much.

She glared, then with a huff nodded. “Just this once I’ll let it slide, but don’t try this again hero. If you come back without that demon, I’ll enhance your clothing.”

She shot one final look at Ghira before rising up and disappearing back into her fountain.

“Well that was eventful.”

Ghira still sounded tense, but the fight or flight readiness had left his body. Link shrugged, he was starting to get used to this kind of thing.

“So you don’t, care, then.”

Ghirahim sounded like he was struggling to be casual and Link just turned to blink at him, unsure about what exactly he was talking about.

“With me being a demon, I would assume a pretentious servant of the light like yourself would find that offensive.”

There was a lot going on in that sentence but Link just focused on the important part, giving Ghira a smile and reaching out to pat their arm. He didn’t mind, and frankly he had sort of assumed Ghira wasn’t a Hylian anyway.

“It’s fine.”

Ghira looked unconvinced but didn’t press, “Well, anyway, go get that photo so we can leave.”

Yep, still the same bossy Ghira.

-----------------------------------------

Thankfully Impa wasn’t busy when they went back and they were able to head in directly, or well, Link was, seeing as how Ghira was apparently allergic to talking to people besides Link and angry farmers with pitchforks.

“Back already Link?”

Link nodded, pulling out the tablet and swiping through the options until he got to the gallery, then he held it up to Impa.

“Oh? I recognize those, these are photos Zelda took. If you visit the places in these photos they might help you get your memories back.”

He blinked at her. Get them back? Link hadn’t… really thought about that. He’d just been doing what everyone suggested and had come to the conclusion he just wouldn’t remember.

“Though that might take some time, good luck Link.”

It was clearly a dismissal and she seemed busy so Link nodded in thanks and left.

A small, selfish part of him wanted to drop everything, to abandon the divine beasts and Ganon and hunt down the locations in all of these pictures to find his memories. He crushed that idea quickly however, he didn’t even know where to start with this and from what he could tell, time was short.

Link rubbed at his eyes as he made his way through the village. That didn’t mean he knew where to start though, he had seen one of the divine beasts on his way here, a giant mechanical bird floating through the sky, but that was days of travel from here. Maybe he should head back towards the castle, find one of those towers, it would likely be worth it to travel back through Dueling Peaks in order to get a vantage point.

Resigning himself to more backtracking Link mounted Ruby, glad the horse only struggled for a moment before listening and he urged them into a gallop.

You’re in an awful hurry.

Because Link was irritated. He wanted instructions beyond what he’d been given, he wanted to go attempt to regain his memories, and he was getting a little sick of backtracking. He let Ruby slow down at the bridge, leaning back in the saddle to run a hand through his hair.

“I’m tired.”

Not even in a lack of sleep way, but he was tired of the situation. The only people who didn’t give him the run around were Ghira, and people who couldn’t help him anyway. He sucked in a deep breath then let all the air out in a huff. That wasn’t fair really, Link could only imagine these people didn’t know any more than he did about where to start.

The sun was lower in the sky but Link figured he could make it to the tower he’d seen on the other side of the mountain before it set.

Ghirahim said nothing, either sensing Link wasn’t looking for conversation or having nothing to add, and Link appreciated the silence.

The journey back through dueling peaks took less time than Link thought, probably aided by the horse and before long he was sitting on the opposite side of the river as the tower, fiddling with the cryosis rune in order to make a path across.

The puzzle solving, while simple, helped calm Link down, as did the rather long climb up the tower. He plonked the tablet into the slot in the middle and after it uploaded a nearby map, walked over to the edge to look around.

He could still see the bird a painful distance away, a glance at his map and a look around and he spotted the volcano. Link squinted at it for a moment, then pulled up the telescope option on the slate and looked through it, making a soft ‘aha’ noise when he caught sight of a giant lizard robot stalking the volcano.

Perfect.

He could practically feel Ghira’s apprehension as he leapt off the tower, gliding down to Ruby and landing safely next to the horse.

Stop, doing that.

Link just shook his head and smiled.

--------------------------------

They’d gotten halfway to the volcano when Ghirahim spoke up.

What exactly is your plan to go up to an active volcano.

Ruby raised up onto his back legs and protested at how hard Link tugged the reins for the horse to stop, Ghira leaving the sword to appear in front of them with a disapproving look on his face.

Link hadn’t, necessarily, gotten that far with his planning skills. He’d just figured he would go to the volcano and figure something out from there, but clearly Ghira was not on board with this sort of rushing in.

“You don’t have a plan.”

It wasn’t a question and Link winced slightly, dismounting in order give his best guilty shrug.

If Ghirahim wasn’t too posh to facepalm Link had no doubt that's what they’d be doing right now.

“Well then I suppose we’ll have to figure that out first, luckily for you I know where we can acquire an item that will let you go into the heat unharmed.”

Ghira leaned over Link, getting uncomfortably close as he pulled his sword from the scabbard on Link’s back, then he held it up and after a moment the sword glowed orange, staying hovering in the air when Ghirahim let go of it.

“There, now we can just dowse for the location of this artifact.”

That was… convenient. A little too convenient but, well, who was Link to argue when he had no plan otherwise.

He did want to argue later, the sun starting to set and Ghira had been forcing them to trek through Hyrule field, dodging guardians and bokoblins on horses the whole way as the sword spirit led them closer and closer to the castle.

Link was a bit nervous, the last time he’d been here he hadn’t done quite so well, and he couldn’t help breathing out a sigh of relief that the floating sword didn’t point at the castle directly, but towards a large fountain in the middle of what looked like it used to be a town square.

When they approached it the sword stopped, tilting to point directly at the fountain and Ghirahim let out a pleased hum, taking the sword and sheathing it on Link’s back.

“All that’s left to do now is get inside, which I’ll leave to you.”

Oh of course, because Ghira could never do things all the way could he.

Link peered around as Ghira sat himself on a nearby bit of rubble and fussed with a dagger he conjured, picking at his nails or something.

At the base of the fountain there was the Goddess crest, but if Link looked closer there were several other small worn carvings surrounding it. He ran his fingers over it, gently clearing off the dirt and grime so he could see what they were.

Little carvings of birds, none that he’d ever seen, flying around the crest. Below that there was a figure with a sword, holding it above his head pointed up at the sky. It also looked like there was some other marking behind the sword but it was too faded to make out. Nothing about the carving stood out as useful- wait, yes there.

Something was inscribed below the sword.

‘Here lies the hero of the sky, he who’s blade was filled with divine power’

Link blinked for a moment then turned to Ghira.

“Is this a grave?”

Ghirahim blinked, looking up from what he’d been doing to give a creepy smile. “A crypt, yes.”

Link scowled, not appreciating that they were breaking into a grave to get this item. Not that he could figure out how to get in, it was clearly some form of puzzle but there wasn’t any indication of what to do.

He leaned back from where he was kneeling, taking a few moments to look around the entire fountain but nothing else stood out, it was made entirely of smooth, albeit chipped, stone that was full of wear and tear.

He circled back to the crest, leaning in closer and as he ran his thumb over it he realized that the Goddess marking was made with a different material. So what to do with that information. His sheikah slate did nothing, and no amount of poking or pulling made any change.

So then maybe it was a less straightforward puzzle.

His eyes strayed to the carving of the figure again, and without much better to do Link took a step back, unsheathing Ghira’s sword and mimicking the posture, startling hard when the blade began to glow, pulling his hand down and causing it to stop.

That was… strange.

He did it again, aiming up at the sky with his feet planted and watching as the glow started near the top, traveling down the blade and then once it hit the hilt, the entire blade was lit up with an orange light. He could feel Ghirahim’s eyes on him.

So then, he had a glowing sword, now what?

Experimentally he swung the sword down and jerked back when the orange light left the blade in a slash of magic, moving forward until it dissipated.

Link looked back at the crest.

So maybe, he had to hit it with the glowing magic.

He held the sword above his head again, letting it fill up with the orange glow and then taking a deep breath, swung towards the crest.

The light hit the goddess mark, causing it to make a pinging noise and glow purple, rising up out of the carving. Link couldn’t believe that worked. The crest spun, just floating in the air and a rumbling started, the fountain actually moving back along the ground to reveal a staircase descending down into the darkness.

“Well well, I guess you still have it in you after all.”

Link sheathed his sword, turning to look at Ghira and letting his confusion play across his face. Ghira just shook his head, waving Link off.

“Nothing to worry about, now, let’s go find this item shall we?”

Link rolled his eyes and nodded, turning to face the crypt entrance and with a fortifying breath, stepped down into the darkness, just as the last rays of sunset shone over the fountain. He made it just far enough down the steps that he was inside when the rumbling started up again and with a panicked shout he watched the fountain seal up the entrance behind him, leaving him on the stairs in the dark.

At least Ghira was here.

“Well then, nowhere to go but in.”

Chapter Text

Link hadn’t taken more than three steps down into the darkness when in a blaze of light torches along the wall lit up, illuminating down the staircase and into the gloom beyond.

“Convenient.”

Steeling himself Link set off down the stairs, Ghirahim following dutifully behind. Despite how old this place must have been the wear and tear wasn’t too bad, some of the steps were cracked and a torch unable to light here or there but nowhere near the decay Link would have expected from the shape of the fountain.

It took far longer than he expected to hit the bottom of the stairs, a hall in front of him and further down he could see what looked to be a much brighter room. Link made for it only to stop dead at the sound of something hitting the ground behind him. He spun around, bracing for an enemy only to see Ghirahim kneeling on the floor, panting and looking like he was going to pass out or vomit.

Link rushed forward, dropping down to his knees as well and tentatively putting a hand on Ghira’s shoulder, trying to figure out what could be wrong. Luckily he didn’t have to wait for long, the demon lord choking out an answer.

“I may… have overlooked something... “

Link nearly stumbled onto his face when Ghirahim disappeared in a flurry of orange diamonds, getting sucked into the sword and giving a dull hum.

This place is protected against monsters and demons, I won’t be able to remain my wonderful self outside of the sword here.

He let out a sigh of relief. At least Ghirahim wasn’t injured or dying, and well… Link glanced down the tunnel. He could probably do this without Ghira’s help.

Maybe.

Link pushed himself back up, walking down the hall until it opened up into a chamber. The room was somewhat barren, a few pots in the corner and a strange bird statue that looked covered in moss and grime. There were two doors to either side of him, one with bars covering it and preventing access. The shining attention grabber of the room though was the massive door directly in front of him, circular in shape and covered in carvings and three different glowing gems, a blue, red, and green one, all embedded into different areas of the door. There were also suspicious slots beneath each gem, indicating something needed to go in there.

The pearls represent the Goddesses Din, Nayru, and Farore. Although Link couldn’t see Ghira gesturing he could practically feel it, eyes drawn to each individual marking as Ghira listed them off.

Obviously you’ll need to find keys.

Link was beginning to suspect this was something more than just retrieving an item to make himself fireproof.

Steeling himself Link walked over to the unlocked door, finding he had to lift it from the bottom though it went easily enough after he’d done that. When he stepped forward into the room it slammed shut behind him, but didn’t seem to lock, which Link took as a good sign.

The first thing Link noticed about the room was how dusty it was, small piles of sand in the corners and everything in here looked positively ancient, a sharp contrast to the other room which while old, didn’t look like this.

It was very large, different ledges lining the walls, the door on the opposite end was covered in what looked to be metal thorns and in the center hanging from the ceiling, a purple stone surrounded by bars. On the ground directly below it was a chest. Figuring it was as good a place to start as any Link made his way over to the chest, opening it to reveal a slingshot, with a small pile of pebbles next to it.

Link would have left it if not for the fact it was most likely here for a reason.

Okay then, where to start. The only thing he could see was a ladder leading up to the first ledge so he made his way over, climbing up and finding a switch that when he stood upon it, it opened up the cage surrounding the purple stone.

Okay, the slingshot made sense.

Link aimed, fired, and then almost stumbled onto his arse when a glowing light emanated from the stone and filled the entire room, changing how it looked entirely. The dust disappeared, the ancient look was gone, and the thorns on the door were replaced with electric bars. A few of the ledges also started to move.

A puzzle, Link was good with puzzles.

There was a ledge that floated over to where he was and Link stepped forward onto it, noting how once he stepped off the switch he could no longer access the purple stone in the center of the room.

The platform the ledge brought him to had a running belt of floor, moving very quickly and going to the right of Link, dropping to the floor below. He booked it across, narrowly making it and then climbing up another ladder onto the next level up.

There was a platform going up and down and he waited, hopping onto it and letting it take him up to the next ledge, letting him reach the highest point in the room. His way was blocked with electric bars but there was a switch and finally getting the idea he stood on it, firing another slingshot round at the purple stone to turn it off again.

The bars disappeared.

Link grinned. Yeah, he could do this.

Surveying the puzzle he figured he finally got the point. There was a switch on a platform surrounded by the metal thorns, electricity when the stone was on, which likely would turn off the electricity on the door out of here, the only problem was getting to it while needing to turn the stone on and off repeatedly.

Firstly, Link stepped past where the electric bars had been, noting the non moving strip of runway that stretched all the way across the room, leading to a platform with another switch. Next to him on this platform there was a pile of boulders and Link grinned, going to summon a bomb with his sheikah slate only to find it simply wouldn’t respond.

Okay then, guess he’d do it the way the puzzle wanted.

He walked down the ramp, noting what looked to be decayed robots with no legs sitting on it and he wasn’t eager to find out what they were. He got to the end, moving over to the switch and stepping on it, activating the stone, and then wincing when the robots he saw came to life as pillars, they didn’t seem to notice him while he stood here, racing past on the moving runway and disappear into the hole beyond the electric barrier, more coming out the other side.

Next to Link on the platform, small flowers, shaped suspiciously like bombs, had appeared.

Great.

Link took in a few deep breaths, picked up on of the flowers, then startled when it immediately started the fuse.

He dropped it, watching it fall to the floor below and counting the time it took the flower to explode, then considering how fast he could run across this runway, if he threw the bomb at the last second.

If he avoided getting whatever nasty these robots had in store, then he could probably do it.

Link scooped another up, then took off, finding it very difficult to run against the flow of the runway and gulping when the robots that passed him started charging up, their eyes glowing eerily similar to the Guardians. He was quick, dodging around them and then when the bomb neared the end of it’s counter he threw it, despairing slightly as it didn’t quite make it and had zero impact on the boulders.

He let out a loud yelp when one of the robots charged up a beam, shooting it at Link and scorching his arm slightly. He stopped trying to run, letting the runway carry him down it and leaping back onto the platform.

Okay, take two.

Or take five, Link was beginning to wonder if there wasn’t just another way to do this but he doubted it. Sixth time the charm and all that. He took a deep breath, then ran again, doing his best to travel in a straight line, tiem it, and throw.

Yes!

And also ow! Link almost got knocked off the runway when he got shot again but the boulders blew up and he couldn’t care about the burn as he worked his way up to where the boulders had been, the robots ignoring him again once he got off the runway.

Underneath the boulder, a different switch, but this one was blue. He stepped on it, noting that the electric bars around the switch for the door disappeared and he gave a soft noise of triumph.

He had to run back to turn off the stone but at least the runway switched off, the robots going back to lifeless lumps. He worked his way back down, taking a calculated risk and then leaping off a ledge, using his paraglider to skip a portion of the puzzle and land on a switch not far from the one for the door, now surrounded by thorns again.

One activated time stone later and Link was almost done.

He just needed to get from here, to the door switch, which since he’d skipped a portion of the puzzle was as simple as gliding down onto the runway that dropped him right next to it. He stepped on the switch, the electricity on the exit door clicked off, and in the center of the room there was a glow before a chest appeared.

Nice.

He glided down, opening the chest to reveal a gorgeous blue and silver shield with the Hylia family crest adorning the front of it. He put it on his back, then made for the exit.

Link stepped through the now opened door, stepping into a much smaller room with a large chest in the center, and another door beyond it. He knelt down by the chest, flicking the latch and pulling the lid open to reveal a blue pearl, with the symbol of Nayru etched into it.

He reached out, hesitant but when he touched the pearl nothing happened and Link was quick to pocket it.

One down, two to go.

Ghirahim had been oddly quiet for the last puzzle but the moment the door closed behind Link in the next room, bars sliding down to cover it, he spoke up.

Draw your blade, there’s an enemy here.

Link didn’t hesitate to do as told, drawing his sword and shield and walking forward into the room. It was mostly barren, round with a few pots lining the edges and another sealed door on the opposite end. The only other thing in the room was a large pile of bones and gold armor in the very center.

The moment Link got close there was a horrible crackling noise and the bones moved, reassembling and rising up with the armor and swords to form a skeleton with four arms, two folded for now. It let out a screech, then rushed, slashing at Link.

That’s a Stalmaster.

Link threw his shield up, deflecting one of the swords and then flinging himself to the side to avoid the second, rolling to his feet and slashing forward, hitting the stalmaster in the ribs.

You need to shatter its ribcage, and slash so that your sword doesn’t hit its.

Yeah, Link figured. He parried forward, doing as Ghira said and hitting the stalmaster’s rib cage as much as possible. He got a few strikes in before it moved and he missed, sword bouncing off of the monster’s and in response it lashed out, catching Link with the end of the sword and cutting a shallow line into his chest.

Link leapt backwards, dancing forward again and slashing. He cringed when the monster let out a shriek and quickly he threw his shield up, deflecting one sword only for the other to come at him from the side. Taking a cue from the stalmaster he threw up his sword in response, blocking it but the force of the blow sent him sprawling.

Get up!

He moved back to his feet in time to avoid a sword slamming into where he had been.

Then he went back into it, getting into a rhythm of dodging and hitting until the monster seemed to get fed up, screeching and unfolding its other two arms, pulling another sword and axe from it’s belt.

It was much harder to hit it like this, and Link got in a few lucky blows before suddenly the skeleton lunged with all four of it’s blades.

Link moved on instinct, backflipping out of the way then rolling to the side, coming up behind the stalmaster and bringing his sword up through it’s ribs, breaking the gold chest piece off.

It spun around, slashing out with it’s swords and Link ducked under them, stabbing his sword forward through the gap in it’s blades to hack off a few ribs, giving a soft victory huff beneath his breath.

Then it screeched, slashing at Link with one sword, then another, then another. Link dodged the first, bounced the second off his shield, but the third got lucky and caught him along the side of his leg, cutting a much deeper gash there.

Stifling a shout he leapt backwards, the stalmaster putting up it’s blades again and stalking forward. Link kept up the pace, getting a feel for how it moved and pushed back the pain. He successfully dodged when it did the move again, slicing off a few more ribs.

Then the skeleton drew in it’s blades and shook for a moment, lashing out with all four at once and Link only narrowly avoided the attack, quite certain he’d just lost a few hairs from the blade that skimmed so close to his neck.

He needed to finish this up, the injury in his leg and chest weren’t too deep, but they were bleeding sluggishly and soaking his clothing, slowing him down.

When he got the opportunity he swung the sword down, destroying the stalmaster’s helmet and he startled at the third eye, pushing that down and stabbing forward, cutting through it’s bones.

A few more hacks, slashes, he dodged the four sword attack better this time, then finally he cut off the last bone, the stalmaster instantly collapsing into a pile, the bones growing black before exploding into dust.

Link panted, his injuries starting to sting as he calmed down and he sheathed his sword and shield. Both doors to the room unsealed and light glowed in the center before a chest appeared.

It seems you’re capable of a fight after all.

Link ignored Ghira’s sassing and after taking a moment to tie a bit of cloth around the gash in his leg, deeming his chest one shallow enough, he stepped towards the chest and opened it, revealing a gorgeous ivory bow with gold details. A sacred bow….

Link was a bit concerned with all the weapons he was getting in this crypt, not entirely certain what would be next.

He shook his head, slinging the bow and a quiver of arrows he found under it onto his back, then left the room.

Similarly to the last one there was a single extravagant chest with a pearl in it, though this one was red and had Din’s marking.

Link pocketed that one as well, then walked into the next room. This one felt much more peaceful, dust motes floating through the air and a light shaft that Link couldn’t begin to imagine where it was coming from illuminating a pedestal in the center of the room. We’re deep underground where is that coming from.

There weren’t any other hints, but Link had barely made it to the pedestal before he felt, rather than heard, Ghirahim hissing in his mind.

That, his voice was practically coated with disgust and Link could see the sneer, is an entrance to the silent realm.

That didn’t really clear anything up for Link.

Ghirahim didn’t seem like he was going to say anything more and Link let out a very audible put out sigh, walking forward the rest of the way to examine the pedestal. It looked pretty simple, Link would insert something, most likely a sword, and then whatever the silent realm was would open.

I suppose I ought to tell you what it’s about then. It’s a test from Hylia, designed for her chosen hero. Once you insert your sword your spirit will be taken to a realm to do a task, while your body remains here.

Seemed straight forward.

However, if your spirit gets destroyed while in the silent realm, you die.

Okay a little less simple. At least Ghirahim didn’t sound apathetic about it, Link would almost think it was worry if Ghira didn’t sound so tense and irritated. He made to open his mouth and ask but beyond the first syllable leaving his lips he stopped. It was too quiet in here, too open, the words would echo and Link couldn’t handle that right now.

Luckily Ghirahim seemed to know what he wanted.

I despise being the blade used to open a realm created by your Goddess.

It sounded like the demon had more to say but clamped down on it, frustration simmering and Link wisely chose not to press, not seeing any other options though. After a few moments of silent Ghirahim snapped at him.

Just open it!

If Link thought Ghira couldn’t be menacing when just a voice he certainly didn’t think that now. He unsheathed the sword, holding it over the pedestal and after taking a deep breath, sunk it down into the ground. Immediately the sword glowed, a soft blue momentarily covering it before Ghira’s natural orange pulsed instead. Around him glowing blue lines lit up, taking the shape of a flower.

Link closed his eyes as it got too bright, then opened them again, losing his grip on the sword and stumbling when he realized he was in an entirely different place, bathed in glowing blue light and utterly silent. It took a few moments for him to realize he was back on the great plateau.

A few things caught his interest, he was standing in what looked to be a glowing flower, a similar smaller flower on the back of his hand and adorned to his belt was an odd looking container, with multiple slots for some kind of small item.

Said item was likely the teardrop shaped thing he could see a few feet from the edge of the flower.

Right beyond that however, was a very large intimidating statue, hands crossed over a sword bigger than Link’s entire body. He gulped, having a good idea of what he needed to do here. Link took in a deep breath, then sprinted.

The moment he left the circle his hand stung, the petals on it, before white, had all turned brown and decayed. The world around him changing to a red tint and worst of all the statue looked up, eyes glowing red as it moved to hold it’s sword aloft.

Link didn’t stop, snatching up the tear and nearly dropping in relief as the world went back to the state it had before, the statue stopping and going back to it’s pose and Link put the teardrop into the container, noting that it fit perfectly. His hand stung, not as badly as before but when Link looked down he could see one of the petals beginning to burn down.

So he was timed, and collecting the tears gave him more time. Great.

He was around where the tower had erupted on the great plateau and Link had no idea where the tears could be, if they were strewn all over the plateau he’d need to be fast. He could see one at least, shining brightly on top of the temple of time.

He could also see several statues dotted around, some shaped differently and mindful of the flower ticking down Link started off.

At first it was easy, he found one at the shrine where the guardians had been, then working his way up the field another where a bokoblin encampment began. Then with a change of pace in the large field he saw two separate ones, but there were multiple floating ghost creatures with lanterns flying around. It didn’t take a genius to realize he shouldn’t be caught by those.

Link snuck through them slowly, taking his time to collect the two tears, each one providing an almost cooling effect on his hand before the burning stinging from his time ticking down started up again.

Upon leaving that he found another in the old man’s hut and upon leaving found a small white berry. He reached out to pick it up, the berry exploding on impact and around him Link saw beams of light going up into the air, coming from the tears.

Oh that was useful.

He took off again, finding another on the tree bridge and after a short climb he snagged another where the shrine had been, making his way across the cold mountain he couldn’t feel.

He almost got caught getting the one at the top of the mountain, severely underestimating the time it would take to get up and the petals burned to the last, the world going orange and he raced forward, grabbing the tear and letting out a shaky breath as he put it into the container.

This was stressful.

It went smoothly beyond that, another at the shrine, a few more dotted around, and he gradually made his way back towards the tower.

He was onto his last tear, able to see it where the shrine surrounded by water had been. The water was still there, sort of, weird and grossly shining with red and silver colorations, like oil. Link took a deep breath, then got a running start and cleared the gap, stumbling and hitting the ground but grinning as he realized he got across.

He picked up the tear, the vessel glowing white and the flower on top of it blooming. The one on his hand went all white too, the burning not coming back and the petals staying bright. The place where he’d come in glowed brightly, indicating he should go back there.

Admittedly Link had relaxed too much, expecting he was done and his jump wasn’t as good as it could have been, resulting in his lower half splashing into the water.

The serenity was broken, the statues coming to life and Link panicked. There were no more tears, he needed to get to the flower.

He took off, racing towards his exit and having to roll out of the way as a statue’s weapon slammed down where he’d been. He yelped, getting back to his feet and running, seeing several more, including some that could fly, coming after him.

Link had to throw himself to the side, duck under them, weave backwards at one point, feeling his heart in his throat.

If your spirit gets destroyed in the spirit realm you die.

Link was so close, only one statue between him and the exit and in a leap of bravery he slid, avoiding being snatched by it’s hands by sliding through it’s legs and into the flower mark. The moment he crossed the boundary the world calmed, the statues returning to their positions, and LInk just lay on the floor for a moment wheezing in air.

He did it.

Once his shaking subsided Link pushed himself up, moving to the center and taking off the vessel, setting it down on the pedestal.

The world glowed brightly  and he squeezed his eyes shut.

Oh good, you lived.

He blinked his eyes open, back in the room he’d been before but something felt… off. He looked down, startled to see that his outfit had changed. Instead of the rough Hylian tunic and trousers from before he was wearing an all green outfit, leather gloves fitted to his wrists and a thin layer of chainmail underneath the green tunic, completed with a hat he could feel on his head.

It’s quite a look on you Skychild.

Link didn’t bother asking, shaking his head and standing up, removing the sword from the pedestal, feeling the sting of his injuries coming back and only now realizing he hadn’t felt them while in the silent realm.

The door across the room had opened and he was relieved. That was three keys, all he had to do now was complete whatever challenge inevitably lay beyond that giant door.

The chest contained a green pearl, Faron’s and for a moment he could swear he heard a whisper calling it Courage. Link put it in his pocket, pushing through the next door and surprised when it led him out into the main chamber he’d entered when he first came in. The rooms must have circled around so Link would emerge here once he was done.

Link stepped forward towards the door, looking at it for a moment before taking out the pearls and inserting them one by one, the last one clicking into place and setting up a rumbling. He stepped back, watching as the door seemed to crack along three lines, each part pulling back into the wall to open the large door, revealing only darkness beyond.

Take caution Skychild, Goddess tests are rarely that easy.

That confirmed it then, this was much more than just a crypt. Oh well, far too late to turn back now.

Link unsheathed his sword, then stepped forward into the darkness, the door rumbling shut behind him.

Chapter Text

The room was plunged into darkness for only a moment, all the torches lining the walls alighting in quick succession and letting Link see where he was. The room itself was rather boring, large and spacious with nothing noticeable beyond the door on the other side, and what sat in the middle of the room.

Link could only describe it as a giant pile of bones curled around one of the timeshift stones he’d encountered earlier, a closer inspection sending shivers down his spine. It resembled the dragons he’d seen flying around Hyrule once, only much smaller and compact, with less legs.

He gulped, adjusting the sword in his hand. Then steeled himself and used the slingshot from earlier to fire a rock at the timeshift stone.

The entire stone lit up, it’s light pulsing out and filling the entire room and the bones were replaced with a magnificent looking gold dragon, blue light pulsing along certain scales on it’s belly and it was wrapped up in gold embroidered robes. The fur on it’s tail and under it’s jaw looked almost like clouds, billowing around it as it rested it’s upper body upon the timestone.

“I must say, it’s been quite some time since I’ve seen your face Link. Come to test your battle prowess then?”

Link stared at the dragon in shock. It knew his name.

“Oh but then,” it leaned in to peer at him and Link jerked the sword up in reaction, getting an amused chuckle from the dragon, “You aren’t the same Link are you. Hmmm, it must have been a long time then.” the dragon scratched it’s belly as it mused and then nodded, as if asserting itself. “Very well then, when I was first left to rest here I was tasked with presenting any Hero that came through with a test. You can put that sword away boy you won’t be needing it.”

Hesitantly Link listened, sheathing the sword and putting his shield onto his back.

“Hmmm, which challenge then.” it’s eyes seemed to trail over Link’s sword for a moment before it clapped it’s hands. “Alright then, let me explain how this works. I will choose from one of the greatest foes you’ve ever faced, then using my powers I will recreate the battle so you may fight them once more.”

Greatest foes… Link hadn’t fought many creatures…

“But keep in mind that if you lose…. Well if you lose this isn’t a game, let’s just say you won’t be going home in one piece.”

A shudder ran over him. This had gone so far beyond the slight grave robbing Ghira had insisted this would be.

“Let’s get started little warrior!”

The room darkened rapidly, or was it Link’s vision?

Despite his inability to see Link didn’t feel physically worse for wear, and after only a moment his vision came back and he was somewhere… entirely different. The room was large, walls adorned with red and gold patterns and spiraling columns that hugged the wall, as well as a giant carving with gear shaped markings and a marking with 3 triangles. It was absurdly warm here, the very air dry and making him uncomfortable and LInk shifted.

A chuckle broke into his gazing of the room and Link spun around, confused to see Ghirahim standing there, facing away and laughing. Then they stood up, turned around, and Link immediately drew his sword. Something was wrong.

Ghirahim looked…. Off. His arms were black up to his shoulders, and spreading down from his eye to his ankle, visible in the gaps of his clothing, was a spider web pattern of black metallic looking stuff.

It was… Link struggled to focus when a searing spike of pain went through his head.

Come close Link, meet me in battle and that thread of fate that binds us, will be soaked crimson with your blood.

He didn’t know what to make of that, the sudden… it had sounded like Ghirahim but…

Link had no time to think about it however, shoving down the strange voice he heard, remembered, having to throw up his shield to knock aside the daggers Ghirahim had conjured and flung at him.

The dragon, right it had said something about conjuring an enemy, so then this Ghirahim wasn’t real, but it was likely it would kill him.

It felt wrong to slash his sword, no not his sword, the blade was different, all white and blue metal with goddess wings on the hilt. Ghirahim didn’t make it easy though, catching the blade between his fingertips and it took all of Link’s strength to wretch the blade free, immediately slashing it out but Ghirahim merely danced out of range.

The next pair of conjured daggers left a cut in his skin where Link had been to slow and he knew he’d have to actually attack.

He hurried forward, avoiding Ghirahim’s outstretched fingers and slashing his blade across their arm, the sword not cutting into them but causing sparks of diamonds to fly up from the sword spirit’s skin. Link could deal with that, could deal with not seeing the damage he caused to the illusion of his companion.

Mimicking something Ghira had taught him Link bounced the next dagger flung at him off his shield, sending it flying back to Ghirahim and cause the same sparks.

He did this again with the next one, and then got a few more lucky strikes in with his sword before Ghirahim moved out of range, licking his lips in a way that sparked a warm feeling in Link’s gut. Not now!

Ghirahim snapped, two black blades appearing out of the air and he took one in each hand, then teleported behind Link. He spun around, Ghirahim now in the center of the room and with another snap Link was surrounded by daggers, bobbing and weaving in the air around him.

He slashed a few, throwing up his shield and ducking down to block the rest of them and straightening up in time to see Ghirahim disappear.

It was the curl of instinct that had Link racing and throwing himself to the side in order to dodge Ghirahim dropping down from the air, embedding their two blades into the ground and Link took his chance, slashing at Ghirahim multiple times before the demon moved out of range.

The daggers were summoned again and Link dispatched of them easily, then approached Ghirahim. The demon held up his swords to block and Link in his haste mistakenly hit one, resulting in a powerful swipe that cut into the shoulder of his shield arm, blood spattering the blade as Link scrambled to get away.

The pain was only matched in intensity by the cold shock of betrayal coursing through Link’s system. Not my Ghira, and illusion, they’re not the same.

And yet when Ghirahim licked his blood off the blade it sent a stabbing curl of want through Link. Had the sword spirit not been trying to kill him, and really that should have been a major mood killer, Link might have had to take a moment to evaluate just how that action made him feel.

He shook his head, trying to get back into the mindset of the fight and when Ghirahim held up their swords again Link struck carefully, managing to get several blows on the sword spirit yet still causing no noticeable damage.

Can I even win?

Ghirahim leapt up into the air again, teleporting and Link was ready to jump to the side this time, getting several blows in again.

The demon leapt back, snapping and summoning several daggers that floated around themselves this time, then directed a row of them to fly at Link.

He hit most of them away with his sword, then directed several from the second batch back at Ghirahim, but he gained several more cuts from the third cluster, one right across his cheekbone.

Link was tired. His stamina wasn’t great, he still had injuries from the stalmaster from earlier, and now he was bleeding heavily from the injury in his shoulder.

And Ghirahim wasn’t giving him a break, lunging back in and Link bounced his blade off their sword, feeling the air move next to his head where he’d thrown himself into a backflip to avoid getting cut again.

He needed to finish this.

When Ghirahim conjured the daggers again Link took a chance and managed to deflect each cluster back at Ghirahim, rolling to the side when Ghirahim aimed a fast swipe at him and then lunging in, striking the demon several more times before they staggered back, dropping one of the swords.

The glare the sword spirit sent him when they looked up at Link not only sent a cold shiver over Link, but also another stabbing bolt of pain his head.

….you are still nothing...Not just a human… a human child….

He couldn’t even see the fake Ghirahim, the world having gone dark once more and when the light came back he was stood in front of the dragon, swaying from his injuries and the two things he knew he’d heard in Ghirahim’s voice, yet hadn’t seen the false Ghirahim actually say.

“Congratulations! You’ve done well hero! For this you may pass into the chamber beyond. If you’re ever feeling up to testing yourself against your enemies again feel free to come back!” the door behind the dragon rumbled and opened.

The fight had left Link shaky and he moved slowly towards the door. His head was pulsing, aching and throbbing and something felt just out of reach. Like a word on the tip of his tongue except he felt like he should know something.

Hesitantly he reached up for a moment, making sure the sword upon his back was Ghira’s and not the white blade from the battle. When his fingers touched the diamond in the hilt he relaxed slightly, letting his thumb run over it for a moment before he stepped into the room beyond.

As if answering an unasked question Ghira spoke.

I’m still here… Link, it’s just very difficult for me to speak to you at the moment…

“Okay.”

That single word was wracked with Link’s relief, his Ghira sounded, felt, nothing like the Ghirahim in the battle. It was fake. Not real.

The room that the dragon had opened up for them was odd. When Ghirahim had said it was a crypt Link had been expecting a body but there didn’t seem to be a coffin here. Instead there was a large triforce engraved into the ground, and lining all the walls were different items, maps, what looked to be a pile of dusty letters.

We need the red earrings…

Link looked around until he found them, carefully reaching out and taking the items and surprised to find that they didn’t really feel like anything special. Shrugging he swapped his out immediately, fitting the red ones into his ears and then taking a moment to look around.

Some of the items looked odd, like something with a small label beneath it that said ‘Wind Bellows’, another just a beetle made of metal and as Link looked around he drew up short when he got to the center of the back wall.

A gold harp, and below it lay a single crimson feather.

Come on then, jump, don’t tell me you can’t feel your bird.

Link held a hand up to his temple. Why did his head hurt so badly? He gasped, the air in his lungs not feeling enough as another image appeared in his mind.

The one chosen by my creator, I have been waiting for you. You will play a role in a great destiny.

Link dropped to his knees, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes, the pain in his head splitting.

A loud, ear piercing roar, then out of the darkness a horrible giant creature, covered in scales and teeth and rising out of the pit…...The Imprisoned…...Demise…. Images flashed through his mind, most too quick to make sense of, some only settling a moment. A large gate, traveling through time, sacred flames, Fi, his blade clashing against onyx skin, held up on platforms made of orange diamonds while thrust his sword into the orange diamond in the center of his enemies chest…… His breath hitched, hands falling to the floor to prevent himself from hitting the ground. Lightning…. dodging through ankle deep water… fighting against that blade and winning...sealing away Demise… Skychild…….Skychild…..

“Skychild! Link!”

Link jerked his head up, eyes flying open to take in Ghira in front of him, holding Link up by his shoulders and, if Link didn’t know better he’d say the sword spirit looked worried, scared. The roaring in his brain had calmed and trembling Link looked Ghira directly in the eyes.

“Don’t call me that. I’m not him.”

Chapter Text

“So what are you going to do now?”

Link looked up from the harp he’d idly been running his fingers over, a small smile lit up his features as Zelda came up and took a seat next to him on the Goddess Statue. He shrugged, looking away from her and out over the Sacred Grounds and forest beyond.

There was so much out there, so much to explore, beyond the trials he’d done and the lands he’d delved through. There was still so much more to experience.

Zelda didn’t push him, letting Link take his time to think.

His fingered played gently over the harp, recalling Fi teaching him how to play the songs and without thinking about it he began to pluck out the tune of Farore’s courage. What to do now… Link knew what he wanted to do, he wanted to explore that vast landscape, wanted to take his bird and sword and journey out to see what the world had to offer.

“You’re going to leave aren’t you.”

It’s not a question, not really. And when Link looks over at Zelda he can see the sadness on her face, even though she’s still smiling at him.

He thinks about what it would be like to stay here. Helping his people set up their lives on the surface, helping them adapt to a new place.

Thinks of sitting around, his fingers itching for a blade all while he grows complacent again, like his time before his journey.

Link nods.

“I thought so, it wouldn’t be like you to stay still, not anymore.”

He gives her a grateful smile. Maybe he would have stayed before, before his journey and his trails, before the tests that made Link into a new person, into the Hero. Zelda is different too, in her own way. She’s still kind, still… Zelda. But she’s different now, she carries a grace and air to her that didn’t exist before.

In their own ways, they’re each different people now.

“You’ll be safe, won’t you? Maybe… maybe you could visit occasionally?”

He nods, taking a hand off the harp to lay it over hers in a reassuring gesture. Of course he’ll visit. She still seems sad, and makes no effort to hide it, but he can see that he has her approval.

They’re both silent now, looking over the landscape as the sun sets, bathing the surface in a beautiful gold glow. He’ll take some time to prepare, say his goodbyes to everyone, he’ll need a new sword as well. There’s excitement thrumming through his body at the thought of a new adventure, what could be out there.

But for now he’ll just enjoy the sunset with Zelda, one final time to just sit with his friend and watch the sun go down.

They’re quiet until the last rays of light leave the sky, Zelda getting to her feet and Link following, after a moment going to offer her the harp. She refuses it though, shaking her head and pushing it back at him.

“Keep it, as a way to remember all of us.”

He smiles, feeling his eyes tear up slightly and after a moment of hesitation he reaches out, pulling Zelda into a hug. He feels her laugh softly against him as she returns it, squeezing Link tightly as though if she squeezes hard enough he’ll stay.

She pulls back, looking Link in the eye and then smiling, looking lighter than she did a moment ago.

“Take care out there Link, don’t push yourself too hard trying to save everyone you find, it’s not the end of the world anymore.”

He nods, knowing that he’s likely to drive himself to exhaustion helping people anyway. It’s just how he is, he can’t see someone who needs help and not do all he can, not anymore.

With a final goodbye Zelda leaves, jumping off the statue and onto her bird, the loftwing carrying her back to Skyloft and their people. Link doesn’t follow, sitting back down at the edge of the platform and pulling the harp into his lap again, letting his fingers dance over the strings. Tomorrow he’ll get ready, set off to find new people to help, new lands to explore. But for now he’ll take this small break.

----------------------------------------------------------

Link wishes he’d taken the harp from the crypt while he’d been there, his memories are disjointed, confusing. Pieces rather than a whole story.

He remembers the harp though, remembers how relaxing it was to idly pluck at the strands, turn them into songs as he calmed down. And right now? Link is not calm, Link is the opposite of calm. Link is a fiery inferno of frustration and simmering anger.

After that moment in the crypt Link had fled, snapped out a sharp “Don’t speak to me!” when Ghirahim attempted to say something. He’d been quick and methodical as he made his way back out, the crypt sealing behind him and he’d flung himself up onto Ruby’s back and ridden the horse as fast as he could until Ruby reared back and refused to go further.

And now he was lying in a field, Ghirahim tucked away in his sword twenty feet away, just waiting.

Well Link could play the waiting game too.

Or so he thought, as the sun moved across the sky and Link slowly got more burnt his frustration was only growing.

Any thought of his memories led him in circles, he didn’t have enough to form a clear picture of who he was before and he still didn’t know who he was now. The only thing Link could piece together was that Ghirahim betrayed him.

There was no reason for the sword spirit to join Link unless it was for some nefarious deed. Every bit of memory he could scrounge up placed Ghirahim firmly as his enemy.

Link growled, pushing himself to his feet and striking up a pace.

The chiming of diamonds sounded but he didn’t look over, instead focusing on the grass beneath his feet and trying to steady his breathing so he didn’t combust.

“You’re very sensitive.”

Link’s eyes shot up to the other, seeing Ghirahim leaning against the tree Link had set his items against, looking for all the world like this situation didn’t bother him at all.

“Really, I thought you were supposed to be Hylia’s chosen one. It’s a wonder you won at all if you can’t go two days without a fit.”

And Link? Link snapped.

“I didn’t ask for any of this!”

Ghirahim looked stunned, opening his mouth to continue but Link wasn’t finished.

“ I didn’t ask for this! And now? Now I find out you’ve been lying to me this whole time! We’re enemies Ghirahim!”

Link stormed closer to the sword spirit, either recklessly brave or foolhardy and too upset to care which it was.

“Just because I forgot about it doesn’t make it any less true so why? Why are you following me around and serving as my sword? Is it just funny to you!? Make the poor hapless Hylian think he can trust you before you stab me in the back!”

“Listen you insolent brat!”

In an angry flurry of diamonds Ghirahim appeared in front of him, menacing and absolutely simmering with rage.

“Do you think that I would spend more than a moment that I had to in your company! Don’t make me laugh Sky-”

Link acts on instinct, a stupid decision really, and lashes out. He swings a fist at Ghirahim, intending to punch him in his stupid face but Ghirahim is faster. He ducks back, grabbing Link by the wrist. Link doesn’t give him the opportunity to do anything else, kicking out his leg and knocking Ghirahim off his feet.

Ghirahim hits the ground like a stone, but his grip on Link’s wrist pulls Link down with him, sending the Hylian tumbling down on top of them.

Ghirahim doesn’t give him time to recover, rolling them so Link is underneath him, trying to pin the writhing hero down.

Link snarled, his free hand coming up and connecting with Ghirahim’s face with a satisfying noise, though pain immediately erupts across his knuckles and fingers.

Right, Ghirahim is made of metal.

If anything he seems even more angry now that Link has actually hit him and he stops trying to make a grab for Link’s other wrist and instead backhands him.

Ghirahim certainly doesn’t pull his punches, slapping Link hard enough that his head turns with it and he’s stunned on the ground for a moment, giving Ghirahim the opportunity to collect his wrists in one hand and with a snap of his fingers, hold a sharpened throwing kunai to Link’s throat.

Link stills, his entire body tensing up as he waits for Ghirahim to finish it. To slice open his throat like he’d been trying to all those years ago.

He tilts his head up the best he can, looking Ghira in the eye and trying to show that he’s not afraid to die, that he’s not so terrified he’s trembling beneath him. The knife presses harder, threatening to break skin and Link swallows back a whimper, waiting for the killing blow.

Instead of slicing open his neck however Ghirahim makes a small, frustrated noise before pulling the knife away.

“I didn’t ask for this either. However fate has tied us together yet again and unlike you I am not afraid to follow my red string.”

You and I are bound by that red string of fate. Destined to fight.

Link went limp beneath him, the fire that had prompted him into fighting Ghira smothered by fear and embarrassment.

“Get off of me.”

Surprisingly Ghirahim did as he asked, releasing Link’s wrist and standing up, the kunai disappearing off to wherever Ghira had gotten it from.

Link doesn’t continue their conversation, instead he heads over to his equipment and puts most of it on, holding Ghirahim’s sword in his hands and looks him directly in the eyes.

“Stay away from me.”

And with that Link dropped the sword to the ground, mounted Ruby and spurred the horse into a gallop, leaving Ghirahim and that blasted sword behind in the field.

Chapter Text

Link isn’t sure if he’s going to scream or cry but it’s a near thing for both.

He’d dismounted Ruby not long after he left Ghirahim, walking to try and burn off his nervous energy but all it was serving to do was make him tired and no less upset.

He’s just so frustrated.

His injuries are stinging, his hand hurts from punching Ghira, his head feels jumbled and there’s a growing ache in his chest and all he wants is to find somewhere to take a nap.

Link doesn’t know what to do.

He can admit that what he did was rash, and somewhere deep down he knows he’s going to have to head back and fetch Ghirahim, if only to make sure the demon couldn’t trick other travelers, but for now he’s going to walk as far as he can.

It just isn’t fair.

It isn’t fair he had this destiny thrust upon him, it isn’t fair that Ghirahim has been lying to him, it isn’t fair that he’s some mythical reincarnated hero who needs to save all of Hyrule. And it isn’t fair that this is the second breakdown Link has had in just a few days.

He doesn’t realized he’s stopped walking until Ruby nudges his nose against his shoulder. Link sniffles, pushing back tears the best he can, turning and reaching out to hug Ruby’s head.

Maybe it’s out of surprise or Ruby isn’t such a bastard after all because all he does is snort before letting Link wrap his arms around his snout and press their foreheads together.

At least the horse hasn’t betrayed him.

Link stays like that until something wet lands on his skin. He looked up just in time to catch a rain drop to the eye, blinking furiously to get rid of it. Lovely.

Quickly he remounted Ruby and pulled his sheikah slate out, checking the map to find a stable not far from where he was. He kicked Ruby into a gallop and raced down the path.

By the time he arrived the rain had gone from a light sprinkle to a harsh downpour, sinking in past his tunic to soak him completely to the bone, and the ache in his chest from earlier had grown into a burning sharp pain. He stopped right next to the stable, Ruby rearing up and he quickly slid off and guided the horse into one of the empty stalls. Link took a moment to pull the saddle and soaking blanket off of the horse, then as soon as he was sure Ruby was settled he slipped back out into the rain.

Link raced over to the door, nearly slipping in the mud and slowing down slightly before he made it to the door, letting out a sigh of relief and then shivering violently.

“Ho there, don’t just stand there and stay wet, come on over lad!”

He looked up to see only a few people in the inn, two hunched over books in the corner, another laying in one of the beds and the third, an older heavyset man, waving him over to a table by the fireplace.

Link made his way over, wincing slightly at the water he dripped across the floor the entire way until he reached the table. Once there he took a moment to take off his gear, then after a brief moment of hesitation he pulled off the soaking tunic too, leaving himself in a damp but not entirely wet undershirt.

He set that on the back of the chair closest to the fireplace before sitting down.

“There you go, now let’s get you something warm to eat.”

Link raised a hand up to try and wave away the offer but the man cut him off.

“I insist lad, you look thin as a rail, learn to accept a meal.”

The man waved over the innkeep, getting them set up with two bowls of some kind of stew and pushing one over to Link. He gave a thankful smile and tugged the bowl close, letting the warm soak into his hands before he started eating.

After a few moments of silence the man spoke up again.

“So then, introductions. My name’s Huck.”

“Link.”

“Nice to meet you Link. So why don’t you go ahead and let an old man know what’s bothering you?”

Link jerked in shock and stared at the man. How did he know?

“Give a geezer some credit kid, I could tell you were upset the moment you walked in.”

Link opened his mouth, then closed it, the grain in the table suddenly becoming the most interesting thing in the room.

“If you don’t want to say anything you don’t have to, I just get the feelin letting some stuff of your chest might help.”

He nodded, then after a moment held up a finger and turned to root in his bags. Thankfully the pouches were waterproof so his book and charcoal stick were perfectly dry. Huck waited patiently while Link wrote something out then pushed the book over.

I found out someone I thought was my friend was lying to me.

Link couldn’t explain why he felt comfortable opening up to Huck. Maybe it was how soft and warm he seemed to be or maybe it was the anonymity, someone who knew nothing about Link welcoming him to release his bottled up problems.

Or maybe it was just because Huck seemed like the type of person who wouldn’t judge you, but would instead offer advice and a nice pat on the shoulder.

“Hmm, must have been lying to you about something awful important to upset you so much.”

Link nodded, pulling the book back and staring down at the pages for a moment before he continued.

He lied about who he was. Why he was traveling with me.

Huck hummed to himself for a moment, rubbing his chin thoughtfully before he spoke.

“Any idea why?”

Yes. Yes Link very much knew why, it was because Ghirahim was a lying scheming manipulative demon lord who was going to kill Link the moment he got whatever it was he wanted.

He didn’t write any of that though, instead starting to tap the charcoal stick on the book as he thought of what he could possibly write out to explain the situation without giving too much away. Huck luckily, seemed to sense this and continued.

“You know lad, sometimes when people are lying about who they are, it’s to protect themselves. Maybe he lied cause he knew you’d react like this.”

He scoffed, of course Ghirahim knew Link would react like this! The very second he got his memories back Ghirahim had to have known it would come down to Link being his enemy again.

But then... Ghirahim couldn’t have planned for Link to get his memories back. The trip to the crypt was for the fireshield earrings, and even if Ghira had underlying motives, there was no way he would be stupid enough to plan for Link to get angry at him... But... maybe he just hadn’t expected Link would leave him?

Link glared at the table, his tapping speeding up before he quickly wrote down ‘If he was protecting himself it was just to manipulate me, all he cares about is using me.’ and shoved it over.

Huck read over the passage then nodded. “What for?”

To get across Hyrule, he needs me to take him somewhere I think. Can’t get there on his own.

It was all that made sense, Ghirahim couldn’t leave the sword, he’d said as much himself, and that meant he had to use Link to get back to Demise and try to destroy Hylia all over again.

“You didn’t ask him?”

Link shrugged. He hadn’t felt the need to ask at first, he’d been afraid and lonely and Ghirahim had saved his life and he assumed the spirit just wanted to help him. He didn’t think anything of the fact that Ghira couldn’t travel on his own. And now he knew better, knew Ghira had just been stringing him along for laughs, for the satisfaction of Link’s surprise when he stabbed him in the back.

Link didn’t answer.

“I think, you should go speak to him about it. Cause I may not know the whole situation but it seems like you’re more angry he didn’t tell you than about what his intentions were.”

That... that wasn’t true.... was it? It wasn’t like Ghira could have just told him that he was Link’s ancient enemy from over ten thousand years ago...So then... Link supposed what he was really angry about was that he didn’t know what Ghirahim wanted, other than to do something evil.

“Do you know where he is?”

Yes. Link had left Ghirahim alone in a field, to get soaking wet in the rain and even if Ghira did leave he had no map to know where to go. He nodded.

“Then how about in the morning, when the storm is over you go find him and talk to him?”

That might be too long. Ghira might leave before Link got the chance to find out what his motivations were, he might be long gone already.

Link bolted up from the table, putting his book back into his pouch and getting his tunic and gear back on.

“Now hold up lad, you aren’t going now are you?” but Huck didn’t sound surprised or like he wanted to stop Link, rather he sounded almost proud. It was some very backhanded manipulation but it worked and Link couldn’t even be upset with how earnest the man seemed.

He nodded and then hurried back out into the storm.

The sun had set by now making it almost impossible to see and Ruby was not happy to be roused from the stables and saddled back up but Link managed to get the stallion on the road and back the way he came.

The closer Link got to where he’d left Ghira the less painful his chest got, until it had simmered down to a barely noticeable ache. Add that to the list of questions he needed to ask.

He could honestly say he was surprised when he arrived at the field and saw Ghirahim, looking completely pissed, sat under a diamond shield to keep the rain off of him. The ache was entirely gone now and Link slowed Ruby to a trot, dismounting and leading the horse under one of the few trees before heading across the field to Ghirahim.

He had some questions that needed answering.

————————————————

Ghirahim was seething.

That stupid boy, accursed Skychild ruining his plans!

He should never have brought the boy to the crypt in the first place. He’d just been so eager for something familiar, something tangible and real when the rest of this world threw him so off kilter.

Ghira would never admit his weakness, but he could admit he’d made a mistake in allowing the boy so close to reminders of his past self.

He’d just never actually expected Link to remember.

Ghira glared at his own blade, left sitting in the dirt where the Skychild had dropped it. His own vessel gleamed at him in mockery.

Sword spirits couldn’t actually pick their own blades up. Ghirahim was a slight exception, but only in certain circumstances. Even then it was only due to Demise’s sheer overwhelming power over the lands that let Ghirahim travel so far from him.

Link didn’t quite have that same presence.

Ghirahim growled low in his throat and struck up a pace.

Damn that child, damn him for leaving him alone, damn him for abandoning Ghirahim.

His chest ached, no his core ached, his very being unhappy with the distance growing between him and his temporary master.

He just didn’t get it.

Ghirahim was a master of cunning and manipulation, he could talk kings into circles and rose through the ranks of demonkind mostly out of sheer wit. The entire reason Demise had chosen him was because he stood out against the rest of the short minded monsters.

So how had he fucked this up so badly.

Even with the Skychild’s memories Ghirahim should have been able to turn the situation around. Instead he’d floundered, the Skychild had refused to back down, and he was abandoned in this field, having underestimated the boy once again.

Ghira huffed, rubbing his chest idly before turning and sitting down on a nearby rock.

It was fine, he could work this in his favor. Link had to come back, their bond would keep the child from getting too far regardless of how stubborn he was. Ghirahim just had to fake an apology, spin some lie about how he’d changed, and then play nice until he could get back to Demise and then slaughter Link.

Yet as raindrops starting landing around him he couldn’t help but think that Link would find a way to push through and actually leave. He summoned a quick shield of diamonds above himself to keep the rain away, watching as the sky darkened and lightning flashed, the water starting to come down in sheets.

Ghirahim wasn’t worried. He couldn’t be worried, he was a Demon Lord, sword to the great Demise. He didn’t get worried. There was no way Link could sever their bond by himself.

He made a choking noise as the aching turned into a sharp burning sensation, vision blurring slightly before he got it under control.

The Skychild better be feeling the same pain. Ghirahim didn’t know completely for certain that a sword spirit’s master also felt the separation, he’d never had that issue before, but it was a natural conclusion. Ghira pushed down the small voice that spoke his doubts, whispered that if Link couldn’t feel it the boy would go until it killed Ghira.

The sun set entirely and Ghirahim resisted the urge to strike up a pace.

Link would come back, he had to. And if he didn’t Ghirahim would just find some other poor traveler to bond to. Provided he could sever the one between him and Link.

The last time he’d severed a bond had been with his own death. What would it take to do it again?

Ghira growled to himself, pressing his hands into his face and swiping his fingers through his hair before he sat back to watch the rain land on his shield.

He shouldn’t be worrying about this. It was inconsequential. Either Link came back or he didn’t, and Ghirahim shouldn’t be working himself up over it. He was a Demon Lord, he didn’t feel fear.

He did feel relief though, getting swamped with it when his pain died down and he could sense Link getting closer, coming back. He pushed the feeling down. He shouldn’t be happy that the over reactive child was coming to get him.

He could make out the outline of Link in the dark, watched as the hero got the horse set up and then strode across the field to him.

Ghirahim didn’t speak, merely watching as Link stopped a few paces away from him, staring the child in the eye and waiting.

Link broke first.

“I need answers. I need the truth, Ghirahim.”

How curious, asking a demon for the truth.

“Ask away Skychild.”

Link’s face twisted, anger shining in his eyes before he took a deep breath. What admirable restraint.

“You didn’t leave?”

Ghirahim resisted the urge to roll his eyes, of all the questions the child was pointing out the obvious.

“Congratulations, your observational skills are unmatched.”

Link’s glare could shoot daggers if he had half the powers Ghira did.

“Oh very well,” it wasn’t as though he thought he could get away with keeping all his cards close to his chest anyway, Link would never lower his guard if Ghirahim didn’t start giving him real information. “As marvelous a specimen of a sword spirit I am, the one thing I can’t do is pick up my own sword. If it were that easy your Goddess would have sent Fi to drop the blade in your lap.”

“And the pain?”

“Our bond, which before you ask I would sever if I could, however it seems our strings of fate have tied us together yet again.”

Link made to speak but Ghirahim quickly spoke over him.

“However, just because I can’t break it doesn’t mean it can’t be broken at all.” he stood up and closed the distance between himself and Link.

It was a shame he was such a pest, Link was almost pretty with water dripping off his eyelashes.

“Here’s the deal Skychild, you want to get to get to Hyrule castle to free your precious Hylia, I want to get there to return to my master. It’s simple logic really. You take me with you, and I’ll help you until our final battle. No tricks.”

Link was trembling slightly, whether it was due to the proximity or the cold Ghira didn’t know, but the hero pushed past it to stand up on his toes in an attempt to get in Ghira’s face.

“If you’re lying to me...”

“Demon’s honor, I swear to your Goddess herself I’ll keep you alive and well on your quest.”

“I will drop you into the volcano if you break that promise.”

Finally, some resolve. “Understood.”

Link stared at him for a few more seconds before nodding, holding out his hand to Ghirahim for the demon to shake. Ghira finally gave in to the temptation to roll his eyes before reaching out to take the hero’s hand.

The moment he had a good grip he yanked Link in close, his fingers tightening to the point of pain. “Don’t try anything either. I’m a demon of my word, make sure you’re a hero of yours.” Link hissed through his teeth, trying to pull away but once he found he couldn’t he looked up and nodded. Good.

Ghirahim released the boy and after a brief stare down Link turned and picked up his sword, strapping the hilt back on and settling it on his back. As soon as it was in place Ghirahim went back inside the blade. No sense sitting out in the rain when the unnerved hero could do it himself.

Now he just needed to make sure this tentative truce lasted til they got to the castle.

Chapter Text

Link had stopped off at the inn at the base of the mountain, getting a few hours rest before the sun came up and the rain had stopped. He left Ruby there after having been promised his horse would be taken care of.

The sword spirit hadn’t actually said anything since they’d come to their agreement. The entire morning passing in quiet bliss. Occasionally Link thought he could hear him humming, or rather chiming quietly to himself, but otherwise there hadn’t been any noise.

It was almost a bit concerning.

But Link had other problems at mind, mainly the lava he could see and he was starting to doubt the integrity of the two little red earrings. Sure they’d served past him well but that was thousands of years ago, who knew if the magic still held up. The air was getting dry and choking, prickling against Link’s skin and cuts and just being overall irritating.

The moment the air started feeling like it was going to cook him was when he started running into enemies.

They weren’t too difficult, a few lizalfos but the brief training Ghirahim had given him back in Hateno actually did help and Link was able to take care of them with little difficulty.

Despite feeling like he should be on fire there wasn’t actually any damage, his skin wasn’t even pink, he was just overly warm. Everything was going pretty well.

Until there was a squishing noise and his leg was encased in searing pain.

Link cried out, kicking at the red chu-chu that had enveloped his leg until it flew off and landed with a plop. He quickly sword and slashed through the squishy creature’s core. The slime pulled itself in and right as Link realized something wasn’t right it exploded, sending burning goo landing on his arms and torso.

He dropped his sword, swiping at the goo the best he could and singing his fingers, but he managed to get it wiped off before it lit his clothing on fire or burned him too badly.

It seemed while the earrings would protect him against the temperature, they did not protect him against anything else.

He sucked air in through his teeth, shaking out the burn in his fingers as he picked the sword back up and started forward again. He encountered two more of those chu-chus, careful to leap backwards after he’d struck a killing blow so he didn’t end up covered again.

Things were going fine, until they very much weren’t.

Link was thrown to the earth when the ground jolted, landing hard on his side while the volcano rumbled so loud his ears ached. He pushed himself up just in time to see the massive shower of lava and rock coming soaring down towards him.

Not good.

Link took off running, racing up the hill towards a rocky overhang and throwing himself out of the way when the rocks came down too close, throwing bits of lava and molten crag everywhere. Link was so close, so close when one came crashing down directly in front of him, the explosion throwing him back and knocking the air out of him.

He looked up to see one coming directly for him, one he definitely could not dodge.

Ghirahim appeared, grabbing Link and teleporting them safely below the rocky overhang. The crashing sound of diamonds set off a fight or flight in Link and he instinctively took a swing at Ghira. Luckily the demon didn’t let it connect and instead ducked back to avoid the hit.

“Will you quit behaving like a savage! I’m trying to help you!”

Link snarled at him, baring his teeth like an animal but Ghira only looked mildly unimpressed before he returned to the sword. Obnoxious prick.

He waited until the eruption was done before he continued up the hill, not much else getting in the way and after not long he could see the entrance to the city. Thank Hylia.

Before he could get up there however an echoing roar sounded out over the volcano, sending chills down Link’s spine.

All of Link’s problems from the past few days felt obsolete the moment he actually saw the Divine Beast. It was huge, stomping along the volcano with feet covered in flame, pink eyes trained down and Link could almost swear it was looking right at him. The beast tilted it’s head back and let out another piercing roar, echoing and terrible, rattling Link down to his core.

How was he supposed to fight that? It was huge, even if Link could traverse past the lava where would he even begin?

Link’s momentous task hadn’t felt so impossible as it did now.

The beast stared a moment longer before it continued to trudge around the volcano. Link watched until it disappeared around the other side. His hands were shaking.

He forced his attention back to the city entrance. One step at a time.

As he approached a... thing, posted by the entrance waved to him.

“Hey little dude!”

Link just blinked at it. A rock was talking to him. A rock with legs and arms and a face, just waved at him and said hello. He had the vaguest sensation this had happened before.

“What’s with the big eyes? Never seen a goron before?”

Link shook his head. No he would definitely remember that.

“Ah, you’re a long way for a Hylian who’s never seen a goron, at least you have fireproof elixirs figured out.”

Fireproof elixirs. Alright, that sounded straight forward enough. Link didn’t decide to question that.

“Well go ahead then, oh and if you didn’t know you can swing by the hot springs to get those burns taken care of,” he gestured up the path to the right, “it’s up there, just go up whenever you’d like.”

Link nodded, giving a thankful smile before heading into the city.

The heat wasn’t any better here but the burning breeze was stopped by the walls of the city. He wasn’t entirely sure what he needed to do now but Link supposed finding whoever looked most important was a good bet.

It didn’t take him long to see what he assumed was an elderly goron and he quickly headed over.

The goron was mumbling to himself, letting out a curse of “That blasted Rudania!” Link scuffled the ground slightly and the goron looked up noticing him.

“You see Rudania up there stompin around on the mountain, rumor has it that it used to protect this village from harm, but that was then, and this is now-”

The Goron, Bludo he revealed his name to be, went on and on for a few minutes, cursing the beast and muttering about someone named Yunobo, some random goron kid who went missing, and talking about how when his back wasn’t hurting he was mighty enough to drive Rudania off on his own.

Link couldn’t help but tune out, tired and the constant mumbling and self proclaiming was easy to stop listening to. It reminded him of Groose....

He was jarred out of focusing on that memory when Bludo said “Yeah that kid’s the descendant of the great Daruk, it’s the reason he can use Daruk’s protection.”

“Daruk?”

Bludo seemed startled, as though he hadn’t considered Link would speak before he looked completely disbelieving. “You’re telling me you don’t know who Daruk is? His statue is right up there on that hill.” Bludo pointed and Link turned, staring until the cliffside he’d thought was just a hill seemed to morph into a goron right before his eyes.

A very... familiar goron.

He was standing on top of Vah Rudania, Daruk with him as they stomped throughout the volcano mountains. He was loud, excited, talking about how tasty rocks were. The goron practically sent him flying with a hearty slap to the back and then congratulated him on becoming the princesses’ appointed knight. The calming chat was interrupted when the mountain started rumbling, a large boulder flying down towards them but Daruk held up his hands, an orange glowing shield forming around them that the rocks exploded off of.

Link jarred back to the present, blinking and rubbing at his eyes.

“You hylians sure are odd.”

He excused himself, hurrying away and trying to shove the memory down. He’d had enough of unwanted memories lately, he didn’t need more.

Link found the mines easy enough, walking up to a nearby goron and waving to get his attention.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Link scowled, sucking in a breath and gesturing towards the city, then back towards the mines. However no comprehension dawned and unfortunately Link realized there was no way he could pull his notebook out here without it immediately catching fire.

His words were stubbornly stuck in his throat, the goron steadily looking more impatient.

“Is that so? And yet, here we are.”

Link startled slightly at the presence of Ghirahim directly behind him, though his reaction was nothing compared to the goron in front of you.

“Y-you just appeared out of nowhere! You some kind of monster?!”

“No.”

Ghirahim sounded impatient, clearly fed up with the goron already.

“L-look, monster or not you can’t be here, this is a delicate mining operation.”

“Really? And I suppose all those monsters crawling over it are meant to be there.”

The goron huffed and crossed his arms, clearly not pleased with the accusation.

“You still can’t be here.”

“Look you urchin-”

Link threw a hand up in front of Ghirahim’s face to get the demon’s attention, fixing a harsh scowl on him. The last thing he needed was Ghirahim insulting and upsetting the natives.

Ghira sighed, then continued. “We were sent here by your boss, so you’ll find we can in fact be here.”

“Boss sent you? Well in that case, I guess you could head out there. Just don’t blame me when those monsters get you.”

Link had heard enough, striding away from the goron with Ghirahim following not too far behind. The sword spirit didn’t seem affected by the heat in the slightest, stopping to peer at a canon while Link assessed how hard getting across all this lava was going to be.

He certainly wasn’t going to ask Ghirahim for help.

“Hey! That’s the Boss’ canon, you cant use that!”

Link turned to see Ghirahim glare at the goron and he walked over, brushing past Ghira to take a look at the canon. It seemed easy enough, he could probably use the bombs from his sheikah slate to activate it, and the lever was probably to turn it.

There were a lot of monsters on the way to the mine, and the canon was already so conveniently lined up with some lizalfos on a tower.

“Get down from there!”

Link pulled the slate out, summoning the round bomb and dropping it into the canon, then while looking the goron dead in the eyes he activated it.

The canon was deadly efficient at blowing up the entire tower of monsters.

“Uhmm, actually, nevermind you can use it.”

That’s what he thought.

Link turned to see Ghirahim grinning at him.

“My that certainly is entertaining, you should intimidate poor locals more often.”

Instead of giving the demon any satisfaction Link pushed past him and pulled out his paraglider, jumping and gliding over to the area he’d just cleared.

He repeated this throughout the mine, clearing areas with the cannons and gliding over to them, until finally he’d reached the end and blasted away the rock trapping someone inside the building.

Yunobo, as it turned out, was an easily scared chatterbox who while normally Link would probably have endeared himself, at the moment he just wanted to get this conversation over with. It did not help that when Yunobo thought they were monsters Ghirahim had snarled and threatened the poor goron.

When the goron left Link sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He needed to calm down, he was being short with all these people and while he’d like to just blame it on Ghira he had to admit it was more a culmination of the last few days. His fight with Ghira yesterday had diffused some of the tension but he was still bottling most of it up.

Ghira, wisely, chose to say nothing.

Link made his way up to Bludo, ready to see if all the bragging from earlier had really meant something. He was admittedly a little excited to see what the plan for driving off the divine beast was.

“Ah, little traveler! Yunobo told me all about how you helped him, here I have something for you.”

He turned to the side and picked up three deep red potions, offering them to Link. “Red Potions, you might not need them if you’re good enough but they’ll fix you up from non-deadly injuries.”

Link smiled and accepted the potions, wishing he’d had some of these earlier.

As Bludo was pulling back however the goron grimaced, “Oh man, those pain relievers didn’t do much for me. Could you go let Yunobo know I won’t be able to help him today? He’s up by the bridge.”

Link nodded, mildly disappointed, and headed up the path.

He found Yunobo being attacked by black moblins and quickly ran in, drawing his sword and disposing of the first one before it even noticed him, however as he was going for the second the monster got a lucky strike and sliced a deep cut in his arm. Link ducked away from a second blow and quickly thrust his sword into the beast, disposing of it.

“Wow that was amazing! You saved me again!”

Yunobo had straightened up out of the protective ball he’d in and walked over, clearly excited though his face dropped slightly when he saw Link’s injury.

“Oh man, that doesn’t look good.”

Link waved him off, then pointed to Vah Rudania.

“Oh yeah, I guess that is a bit more important.... say is boss is coming?”

He shook his head.

“Oh man, I should go see what’s keeping him. You should get your arm fixed up though, the hot springs not far from here are great at healing injuries. They’re just up that hill.”

Before Link could even attempt to tell Yunobo that Bludo’s pain relievers hadn’t worked the goron had rolled off. He looked around for somewhere to sit to wait for the goron to get back but hearing Ghirahim leave the sword had him turning to look at the spirit.

Before Link could react Ghirahim grabbed him and teleported them, the shatter not causing such a harsh reaction as earlier but Link still stumbled away from Ghira and drew his sword, bracing for attack.

“Put that thing away, you just embarrass yourself acting like a skittish foal.”

Link scowled at him but after a brief moment sheathed the sword.

“Come along then Skychild.”

The next time Ghira called him that he was going to kick his ass, truce or not.

Ghirahim led him down the path that the goron had pointed out earlier, and it was only as Link passed a sign that stated ‘Hot Springs’ that he realized where Ghirahim was taking him. He wanted to argue, say that they didn’t have time, but Link doubted Ghira would listen.

When they rounded the corner Link took in the springs, despite the warm air the water still looked inviting and Link stepped closer to take a better look, standing up on a rock next to the water assessing how deep it was when something brushed his back and he slipped.

He hit the water with a loud splash, the temperature and abrupt lack of air shocking him and by the time he had it in mind to get his head above the water there were hands on his shoulders.

He panicked, opening his eyes to see Ghirahim above him. His blood ran cold. Ghirahim was going to drown him. Oh he was an idiot, letting Ghirahim get the drop on him. Link kicked out, clawing at the hands holding his arms, trying to get purchase on the rock beneath him. Panic drove the breath from his lungs and just as he was starting to go fuzzy a hand got purchase on his tunic and yanked him above the surface.

“Stop struggling!”

Link gasped, spitting out the water that had gotten into his mouth and then tried to take a swipe at Ghirahim, stopped when he grabbed Link’s wrist and pulled him up, pressing him into the side of a partially submerged rock.

“Stop! For The Goddess’ sake you’re going to drown yourself!”

Link struck out with his foot again but winced when he instead kicked it into the rocks at the bottom of the water, much closer than he’d initially expected. He stopped fighting, terror leaving and embarrassment setting in when he realized the water only really went up to his waist.

“Are you done?”

Link glared, chest heaving as he got his breath back.

“Are you done drowning me?”

Ghirahim glared back, before his expression twisted and the fingers on Link’s wrist dug in painfully.

“If you think I need to stoop to drowning a child you’re sorely mistaken. If I wanted to, or was able to kill you, you would be dead already, and not by being drowned in a hot springs.”

Ghirahim held on for a moment longer before letting go, easing away from Link and not releasing him entirely until Link had found his footing.

“You pushed me in.”

”You slipped, I tried to catch you.”

Link didn’t have it in him to argue right now, standing up and stepping out of the water, mildly disgusted with how his clothes stuck to his skin. He pulled his gear off, setting it out of the water’s reach and then began to pull his tunic over his head before he paused.

Ghirahim was watching him, staring unabashed as Link undressed and he blushed to the tips of his ears.

Ghira, the bastard, clearly noticed, an overly aggressive grin splitting his face.

“Oh don’t mind me hero, shame doesn’t become you.”

Link let go of his tunic then pointed to the sword.

“Fine, keep your modesty.”

Still Ghirahim listened, disappearing into the sword.

Link waited a few more moments to make sure Ghira was truly going to stay in his sword before he took off his tunic, grimacing at the soggy bandages wrapping his torso and taking those off as well. His arrow wound from the castle was healing well, though his most recent cuts from the hero’s crypt were still red and angry looking.

Link sunk down into the water, finding an area shallow enough for him to sit and after a few minutes he noticed a mild tingling sensation on his injuries. It wasn’t unpleasant per se, and while Link didn’t see any difference at first the longer he watched the less angry his cuts looked, slowly shrinking until after about fifteen minutes of sitting in the water there was no sign of his injuries other than pink scars.

That was incredible.

Sure he was wearing magic earrings and Ghirahim was literally a living sword, but Link hadn’t realized something like a hot spring could do this. There must be something in the water.

Link sat for a while longer before the heat of the water started making him dizzy.

He lifted himself out of the water and wrangled his soaking wet tunic back on. The mountain air would dry him off quickly enough anyway. Still despite the invasion of privacy Link couldn’t help but feel more relaxed, his body no longer in pain and he felt rejuvenated.

Now, to go take down that divine beast.

—————————-

Link practically danced back over to Yunobo, more than ready to get on with bashing this giant lizard. As soon as he found out how the gorons intended to do that.

“Hey goro! You’re back! You look much better.”

Link smiled and nodded, then gestured up at Vah Rudania.

“Oh yeah, Boss isn’t feeling great still so there’s no way we can drive away Rudania today, without Boss to activate the canons.... wait a minute, it just occurred to me that you can use the canons.”

The goron looked excited now.

“That’s great then! Let’s drive away that blasted Rudania! You just need to fire me out of the canons at the divine beast, oh and we’ll need to get the bridge down too.”

He wanted Link to what now.

Clearly his apprehension showed on his face cause Yunobo just laughed and waved a hand, “don’t worry about it goro, I’m a descendant from Daruk, I’ve got his protection so I’ll be fine.”

Yunobo quickly jumped into the canon and Link felt a rush of dread. He was going to fire a goron out of a canon.

“Well come on then hero, you heard him, he’ll be fine.”

Fuzzy moment of appreciating Ghirahim was gone. Link scowled before stepping up to the canon, setting his own bomb inside and striking the lever, then when it was just right he fired.

The bridge slammed down and Yunobo landed next to them completely unharmed.

“See! Now let’s go kick Rudania’s butt!”

Link smiled to himself, starting across the bridge with Yunobo close behind. However the moment they got to the other side the divine beast straightened up, seeming to notice them immediately and vents opened on it’s back, releasing a swarm of flying robots that set up along the path.

“Those are the sentries, we don’t want to alert them or Rudania will cause another eruption and send meteors down to everyone!”

Link hummed and nodded, squinting at the path.

“How about some sort of signal so you can help me get past the sentries?”

He nodded, letting out a low whistle.

“yeah like that!”

They got a quick start stop whistle system going, Ghirahim watching all the while but not saying anything. The first few sentries they got past were easy, either requiring timing or for Link to go up the cliff and push a rock down onto one. When they got to the first canon Link was hesitant again but seeing Yunobo go flying at the divine beast and causing it to roar, heading further up the volcano, was very satisfying.

They got through most of the rest before something went wrong.

Yunobo had been shuffling nervously in place while they were hiding when his foot slipped, sending the goron sprawling down the path and directly into the light of one of the sentries.

Before so much as a beep escaped it however a black dagger flew through the air and straight into the center of the machine.

Link turned to glare at Ghirahim. He could have done that this whole time??

Clearly Ghirahim understood the expression cause he just plastered a semi innocent smile on his face. “You looked like you were having fun, far be it for me to interrupt your stealthy mountain climbing.”

Luckily there weren’t any more sentries but Link still huffed, leading Yunobo to the last canon and with one last blast Rudania screeched and fled into the caldera.

“Woah, that was great! What do we do now!”

Link was just about to indicate that Yunobo should leave when Ghirahim spoke up.

“go back to your city and let them know the beast is dealt with.”

Yunobo gave a salute and nodded, wished them luck, and rolled back down the mountain.

Without the extra presence of another person Link felt a weight lift from his shoulders, what he wanted to say no longer sticking painfully in his throat.

“I thought you’d ask him to help.”

Ghirahim just laughed then shook his head. “I couldn’t wait for that talking rock to leave us.” his expression turned disdainful. “I don’t know how you’re so nice to all these pointless creatures.”

So much for thinking Ghirahim was nice.

Link shook his head, muttering a soft “whatever” under his breath and then held his hand out to Ghirahim.

“Take us to the top.”

Ghira watched him expectantly, irritation portrayed only by the slight curl of his lips, before Link sighed and amended his request.

“Please, take us to the top.”

“That’s better, some manners will do you wonderfully.”

Ghirahim took his hand, teleporting them both and Link could swear the spirit had made the journey louder on purpose. Standing at the top of the volcano the view was breathtaking, even more so than the towers and Link took a moment to just stand and gawk at the rest of Hyrule.

It was beautiful, and vast, and this journey was going to take weeks if he had to walk all over it.

He was broken out of his reverie when the volcano shook slightly. He turned and looked down into the caldera, heat wafting up even stronger than before and while he knew the earrings were keeping him safe it was still uncomfortable.

“So then, decided on whether or not you’re throwing me into the volcano?”

Link looked incredulously at Ghirahim.

“I’m just saying. You’ve been a bit tetchy.”

Well yes he was tetchy! He was being forced to work with his enemy who, while he was being mercifully quiet lately, that silent streak was seemingly coming to an end.

“Never mind then. Let’s go down and deal with this thing shall we?”

Link sighed, pulling out his paraglider and once Ghirahim had disappeared into the sword, jumped off the edge and glided down into the volcano.

Chapter Text

As Link touched down on the platform there was a brief moment when he almost expected the beast to start moving again. It felt unreal that such a machine would simply let Link aboard but no attempt came to shake him off and he settled.

There was a terminal and next to it a door, yet before he could take a single step he was interrupted with a loud chiming.

It seems, much like with the Hero’s Crypt I’ll not be much help to you here, there are forces much stronger than I preventing my interference. You will have to do this alone.

Of course he would.

Link used his slate to activate the terminal and then startled hard when he heard a booming voice call out.

“At last! You made it little guy! I’ve been waiting a hundred years for this.”

It was... it sounded like his memory of Daruk.

“Now there will be time to get emotional later, for now you need to get through this divine beast and kick out all of Ganon’s malice. You’ll need to activate four terminals throughout Vah Rudania to take control of it. Good luck Link.”

Shockingly he felt himself tearing up, wiping at his eyes in surprise. He didn’t, feel any strong emotions towards this ghost of a person, but he was reacting. It didn’t make sense, he barely remembered this Goron. Hell he knew Ghirahim better.

You’ll grow of old age before you fight Demise at this rate Skychild, get a move on.

Speaking of. Link growled quietly at the nickname and figured Ghirahim hadn’t heard the voice. He tucked the slate onto his hip and went inside.

Link stepped down into the bowels of the beast, the door sliding shut behind him and sealing him in darkness. The only light was two blue flames at the base of the ramp and beyond that, menacing glowing in the otherwise pitch black room.

He walked further down into the room, startling when one of the glowing lights moved and looked at him.

He drew his bow immediately, nocking an arrow and with deadly precision he shot the eye direct and center, the malice bursting apart and dropping something with geometric orange lines.

Carefully Link made his way over, spotting another eye up on the wall and firing at that one as well. He reached the item, a chest, and eagerly opened it, pulling out a torch.

He definitely needed that.

Link moved back over to the blue flames, lighting up the torch and started to move around the edge of the room. It wasn’t overly large, the wall facing the rest of the lizard more of a grate keeping Link from heading further, complete with a barred entryway. There was a torch pedestal next to the door that he lit but nothing happened.

Link turned further, finding two side doors to the room, the on one the left open and in the dark he could make out what looked like a glowing orb held up on the wall. He moved closer, holding up the torch to see the orb trapped in a cage, and directly below it another torch stand.

He lit it, and with the clicking of gears part of the grate dropped and the orb began to roll away along a tube on the ceiling.

He chased after it, following as it moved across the room and into the opposite small room. This one was sealed off with a barred over door and the track the ball was rolling on disappeared inside. Okay, how to get in.

Link moved closer to the door and using his torch tried to see how to get through but nothing was popping out. He moved back to the other small room, poking around but not seeing anything of interest until he exited and light flickered off something to his right.

He moved closer and upon inspection found a hole in a closed door, though he couldn’t see what was through it.

He had an idea though.

Link pulled out his bow, lighting an arrow with the torch and firing it through the hole.

Success.

The arrow lit a brazier and Link could hear the barred over doors opening, the one in front of him staying sealed. He crossed the room, opening the now unlocked door and stepping inside.

It was just as dark in this room, the only lights coming from a terminal like the one outside and the ball in the grate at the top of the room. Link pulled out his sheikah slate, activating the terminal and while he could hear something changing out in the main room, the ball did not move.

However the movement outside was promising.

He looked around a moment longer, unable to find anything else he could do in the room and headed back out into the central area. The door to the rest of the beast was still sealed but after a quick run around the edge of the room the door with the hole in it was open.

Link stepped into the new room, this section a fair bit brighter due to the massive jets of flame that appeared to be blocking another section off. Even with his Fireshield earrings there was no way he was getting through that just by jumping through. And Ghirahim was in no state to help.

He poked around and found a metal box held up on the ceiling, only noticing it due to the metal reflecting the gleam of the firelight.

He shot a lit arrow up, the ivy holding the box burning away and he quickly threw himself to the side to avoid the box that came crashing down.

Using the magnesis rune he got the box set up on top of the geysers and after assessing the height took a running start, kicking off the wall next to it to attempt to reach the top of the box. His chest slammed into the top edge but he managed to get a grip and haul himself on top of the heating metal, wheezing from the harsh impact he crawled along the box and dropped down on the other side.

He took a moment to catch his breath then straightened up, noting the terminal in the room and using his slate to activate it.

The geysers of fire stopped. Without the added light it was harder to inspect the rest of the room but he found nothing of note and headed back out into the main area.

Poking his head back into the smaller room on the right he didn’t see the ball anymore and grinned to himself. This was pretty straight forward. The gate to the next large section was also opened so Link moved through and then froze.

Through the darkness he was able to make out red glowing lines, moving around as though attached to something. Quietly Link re-lit his torch on the brazier next to the door and then threw it out in the center of the room.

The blue flames illuminated something terrifying.

Two very dark creatures, long and lanky and almost humanoid, with shields on their faces and black tendrils dangling down to the floor. The red lines ran across their torso, pulsing and shifting as the creatures moved closer to the torch to inspect it.

Very quietly he breathed, “Ghira, what is that?” Fi often had information on enemies stored away, he imagined Ghirahim did as well.

I... don’t know.

Great, apparently not.

Link shivered and drew his bow, lighting the arrow and before the torch could burn out fired an arrow directly into the side of one of the monsters.

It let out a terrible shriek, the two shield heads turning to face him then barrel towards him, leaving the torch light and casting their bodies in darkness. Link didn’t really fancy his chances.

He bolted to the side as the two monsters came charging towards him, the only thing illuminating their bodies were the red lines and Link holstered his bow to pull out his sword, stumbling slightly on a bit of uneven ground which allowed one of the monsters to catch up.

He swung out towards it, his sword bouncing off it’s shield face and then ducked back as it took a swing. He rolled to the side, only just avoiding the second as it crashed towards him.

A swipe he couldn’t see coming sent him flying and he scrambled to get back onto his feet, lurching towards the torch and it’s shallow pool of light.

He reached it just in time, spinning to see one of the monsters lunging for him and he ducked away, noting the other moving in the darkness around the circle of light and he circled around the torch, keeping them both in front of him.

The monster made to swipe at him again and he thrust forward with his own shield, knocking it off balance as he took a few slashes at it’s chest, jumping to it’s side to avoid another futile hit and thrust his sword home, deep into the creature’s chest.

It let out a horrible gurgle, black ooze spraying from the wound as Link pulled his blade free and the body dropped to the floor with a sickening thud.

Link was about to turn and grab the torch when the other monster let out a horrible bone chilling screech that cut straight to his core. Link’s arms froze up, muscles tensing and for a moment all he could focus on was that noise, unable to so much as flinch.

Then as abruptly as it started the noise stopped.

And then, like something out of a terrible dream, the monster he had just slain pushed itself back up, chest knitting back together and showing no sign of injury.

Move!

Ghirahim’s voice ringing through his head shook him back to his senses just in time for him to throw himself out of the way of the second beast, charging towards him and catching Link by the shoulder, knocking him over. The first monster was on him immediately, claws scratching through his pants and cutting deep gashes into his left leg.

Unable to stop a cry of pain Link quickly slammed the butt of his sword into the monster’s face, knocking it away as he scrambled to his feet, dropping his shield to pick up the torch so he could wield it and his sword.

He backed away from the two monsters, shifting around in the dark and his mind raced over what he could do to fight them.

If he killed one the other would just resurrect it, and who knows how long they could keep going. With his luck it would be longer than Link could hold out.

He had an idea, insane, but if he didn’t die it just might work.

Link lunged towards the creature on the left, determined to get the upper hand and he slashed at it with the torch, sparks flying as he burned it and he ducked down, spinning to cut the second monster as it moved in, carving a gash into it’s shoulder as it clawed at him.

He dropped the torch, pulling an arrow out of his quiver and lighting it in one fast movement, then before the first monster could recover he thrust the arrow underneath the shield and up into it’s throat. The second monster slammed into him from behind, knocking Link down to the ground while the first gurgled it’s death cries and before this monster could revive it’s friend Link twisted beneath it, then thrust his sword up into it’s chest.

In anger the beast raked claws down Link’s side, digging in through the tunic and Link could feel the blood bubbling up around it’s wicked talons. The body landed on top of him and after a brief terrified moment that he might not have killed it, both the monster’s bodies exploded into black particles that disappeared.

Link lay on the ground panting, hearing a door open somewhere off to the side.

To add insult to injury his torch chose that moment to burn out, leaving him encased in darkness.

He knew he needed to move, to stop the bleeding before he died on this floor. Groaning he pushed himself up and searched blindly through his pouches, knowing he had a red potion somewhere. He pulled out two different bottles, not knowing which was which and he shakily pushed himself to his feet.

The room was spinning, the claw wounds were deep and he stumbled over to the brazier, making out which potion was the red one and he uncorked it, downing the whole bottle and then dropped to his knees to wait for it to work.

It was a sickening sensation, feeling his skin knit back together but the pain was soon gone and Link could breathe without his side lighting up like fire.

Time to continue on.

He stumbled back around the room in the dark, feeling until he found his torch and then shuffling some more until he bumped into his dropped shield. However as he was turning back he caught sight of a glowing chest that hadn’t been there before.

He knelt down and opened it, pulling out something curved and smooth. He moved back to the brazier and held it up. A beautiful boomerang with a metal handle that almost looked like it was made of feathers. Interesting. Hoping he didn’t lose it on his first go he gave an experimental throw and nearly didn’t catch it out of surprise when a huge gust of wind spiraled moving along with the boomerang.

Well then. He was sure that would come in handy.

He re-lit the torch and then moved along the right side wall, finding the door he’d unlocked when he killed those monsters.

He stepped inside, braced in case there was an enemy in here as well but he didn’t see anything menacing. He could see the ball at the top of the room, and upon not finding anything else on his level he cautiously threw the torch up into the air, illuminating a small turbine.

Now the boomerang made sense.

Link took careful aim and then threw it, the gust of wind making the turbine spin rapidly and Link crowed with triumph as the gate holding the ball opened and it continued along it’s track.

He headed back out and quickly crossed the room, finding the final side door unlocked and he moved his way in.

This one was brighter, illuminated by a third terminal and he quickly activated it, noting that this room had three of the turbines. It took him a moment to figure it out but he managed to arc the throw so it activated all three at once.

He hurried back out, the final gated door open and he watched as the ball dropped down into a small holder, the sides having bars so there was no way Link could just knock it out of there with an arrow. Well now what.

He could see the round slot for the ball just below it but the walls in here were much too smooth to climb and Link didn’t have anything he could grab it with. He pulled out his bow just in case, trying to position himself so the arrow would strike the underside of the ball and send it flying but it didn’t work.

Hmmm.

He poked through all his items, pulling out the boomerang and with a shrug gave it an experimental throw.

To his shock the whirlwind carried the ball right out of the holder, dropping it on the floor as the boomerang returned to his hand.

He grinned, walking over and picking up the ball then dropping it in the slot.

Link heard a clicking and a hatch in the ceiling opened, the light blinding after so long in the dark and he had to clench his eyes shut for a minute. He opened them slowly, the light not going too far but illuminated enough that he could see the space was smaller than it had felt in the dark.

There was also a ladder leading up to the top.

Link braced himself, climbing up and out onto the top of Vah Rudania. He’d forgotten how brutally warm the air was out here, the interior of the lizard had been nice and cool in comparison. There wasn’t much on the top of the lizard save for a massive terminal that almost looked like the Great Fairy’s flower bud.

He had the crawling sensation that as soon as he got close to that he was going to be attacked.

He didn’t see any other options though and moved towards the terminal, pressing his sheikah slate to it only to jerk back as a rush of malice rose up from the terminal, swirling into the air and then diving down into the lava.

There was a brief moment of silence and then something huge burst out of the magma, sending burning globs flying and Link ducked behind the terminal to avoid it before straightening up and getting full view of what had just appeared.

A giant armored centipede towered in the lava, it’s outer plates infused with Guardian robotics, a mass of malice eyes centered on it’s head, a dozen staring directly at Link. And below the plates, writhing, was a shadowy mass not unlike the monsters Link had fought inside Vah Rudania, tendril like appendages that reflected no light dangling down around it’s head.

It slammed it’s front two arms down on the platform of the divine beast, large scythe like appendages that dug into the metal and left gouges.

“Ghirahim..... What..”


I’ve never seen this before, believe me when I say not knowing is uncomfortably strange for me.

Great, another mystery monster.

The creature reared back it’s head and let out a horrendous shriek that echoed through the volcano. And then, louder than the din, an unfamiliar voice boomed within Link’s skull.

Behold, Twilit Arthropod Gohma

Gohma lunged and massive mandibles made up of the same energy as the Guardian swords snapped closed in the space Link had been before he backflipped over them.

He lunged towards the nearest piece of the monster he could, aiming for one of the pincers stuck in the hull of Vah Rudania but his sword just bounced off the hard outer shell. Alright, he sheathed his sword and quickly pulled his bow, running to the side to avoid a swing from one of the pincers. New tactic.

When Gohma slammed a pincer down at him again he moved nimbly out of the way, the claw getting stuck and quickly he took the opportunity to fire an arrow into the creature’s many eyes.

It shrieked, body rearing back and sending splashes of magma flying on top of the divine beast, Link narrowly dodged away from the spray.

Gohma surged forward again, slamming it’s arms either side of Link and lunging with it’s mandibles again, giving Link a moment to assess the damage he’d done as he jumped backwards, hissing when one of the mandibles clipped the front of his chest.

It looked like he’d easily destroyed one of the malice eyes and he nocked another arrow, firing it directly into another eye before the beast could pull back.

He was readying to fire another when one of the arms slammed into his body, lucky not tearing through his skin but simply bludgeoning him to the floor. Link struggled to breathe for a second, a sharp pain in his chest and he realized he must have just broken a rib.

He pushed himself out of the way just in time to avoid being stabbed through the middle by the pincer coming back.

Link stumbled back to his feet, bracing and waiting for Gohma to move in again and as soon as the monster took a swipe at him he ducked under the arm and rapidly fired two more arrows at it’s cluster of eyes.

It shrieked again, louder than before and with a small burst of malice the calamity eyes disappeared from it’s head, leaving only one central eye partially hidden under it’s shell.

He fired, but Gohma closed it’s eye and the arrow bounced off harmlessly.

Shit.

Alright, new idea.

Link threw his bow onto his back and pulled out the sheikah slate, running as he used it and doing his best not to trip over anything while he selected the bombs and lobbed it at Gohma.

The bomb fell short, dropping into the lava and destroying. Wracking his mind for ideas Link had an epiphiany.

One that was cut short when Gohma reared back, opened it’s mouth and built a beam of energy in it’s throat that shot out at Link, not unlike the lasers the Guardians shot.

He threw himself out of the way of the initial beam but the resulting explosion caught him and sent him flying, slamming into the base of the terminal. Then a second beam came flying his way and Link clenched his eyes shut, knowing he couldn’t move out of the way of this one.

There was a horrible, horrible burning over his body before it was just as quickly soothed, and Link started when he realized the fairy he’d caught back in Kakariko village was healing his wounds, soothing the burns and repairing his ribs and cuts.

He leapt to his feet once the fairy finished, waving to him and disappearing and he summoned a bomb, dropping it then pulling out his new boomerang.

He had to finish this fight before Gohma could land another would be killing blow.

He timed it carefully and then threw the boomerang, the gust of wind carrying the bomb with it straight up to Gohma’s head and Link set off the explosion once it was close enough.

Success!

Gohma splashed back in the magma, the explosion having caused several cracks in it’s shell and Link caught the boomerang with ease.

He set up another bomb and as Gohma straightened back up in the magma, lunging towards where Link stood he danced out of the way, throwing the boomerang and setting off another bomb by the already weakened shell.

However as the boomerang was coming back he stumbled, Gohma having slammed it’s arms down on the divine beast and Link didn’t catch the weapon in time, the boomerang flying and landing further on the beast.

A high pitched whirring of energy gathering let Link know what the monster was doing and he bolted, dropping a bomb and lunging for his dropped boomerang.

Time slowed down, Link’s entire world narrowing to the weapon as it met his fingers, he twisted, throwing the boomerang and just as Gohma was about to fire it’s beam the bomb was carried up to it’s head and Link set off the trigger.

The laser cut off as Gohma’s shell shattered, the guardian armor falling away and leaving a writhing black mass, red lines just like the beasts he’d fought inside Vah Rudania cutting through it’s segments, and now, very much exposed, a beady eye stared directly at Link.

He drew his bow and fired, the arrow flying true and directly into the center of Gohma’s eye, piercing through deep and the only thing that showed of the arrow was the fletching.

Link waited, bracing but Gohma only twisted, shrieking, it’s body darkening further and crackling and then with finality, bursting into a cloud of particles and malice.

He breathed a sigh of relief, picking up his boomerang from where it had been dropped and putting away his weapons. He worked his way over to the terminal and activated it.

Good job little guy!

He turned, and standing there like a ghost was Daruk.

I knew you could do it! Good news, now that we’ve got control back of Vah Rudania we can get started on our century long beat-down plan for Ganon. I’m gonna take this down the mountain for a better shot, once you’ve made your way into Hyrule we’ll light that monster up!

Daruk punched his fist into the palm of his other hand and Link couldn’t resist a slight smile. He barely knew this goron, didn’t really remember, but he could see how they would have been friends.

I want to give you something. It’s a special power of mine I call Daruk’s protection. It’s not good to me now that I’m a spirit but it might be useful to you.

Daruk summoned an orb of light and thrust it at Link, the orb melding into his chest and disappearing.

Good luck little guy!

Daruk’s spirit disappeared.

Well that was interesting.

Ah yes, Ghirahim. The moment gone now Link turned to leave the beast but started when a voice rang out, the same voice that he’d heard introducing Gohma.

“You are stronger than anticipated, but it is of no consequence.”

Link spun around, sword raised to see a strange figure standing atop the central terminal. They were... odd. A metal helmet that almost resembled some kind of ancient sea creature, robes that were black with glowing green lines that draped down loosely around their arms. With a metal half chest piece and a red banner hanging down over his front.

“Though you couldn’t have honestly thought you’d get further than this.”

An enemy then.

Link lifted his sword and shield, tired but ready for another fight.

“You have guts to dare raise your sword against me.” the figure pulled his arms up to his chest, a red ball of energy forming and before Link could brace himself with his newfound power or even think to dodge, the ball shot forward and hit him directly.

He was thrown to the ground, his entire body convulsing in pain and consciousness fading fast.

“A pity I will end your life here, you were a more formidable opponent before.”

Chapter Text

Ghirahim had been struggling as Link completed the divine beast, not due to well, divinity, but due to the overwhelming presence of his Master’s magic. He had thought he would have felt rejuvenated when surrounded by the power but it felt... wrong. Slimy and corrupted, weighing down over Ghirahim until he could only hide in his sword to escape it.

When Link finally slew the mutated beast the weight had lessened, and while Ghirahim had initially thought the remaining tendril of his master’s power was just residual malice, he was proven wrong when the stranger, reeking of Demise’s power appeared.

And then it attacked Link.

Ghirahim moved entirely on instinct as he manifested his body, a diamond wall surging up to stop the second ball of energy headed for Link’s unconscious body.

The shield did nothing, the energy surging through it as though it were air and the ball slammed into his chest and raged through him, driving Ghirahim to his knees and leaving him choking in surprise.

“Bow down before me whelp, and I may yet let you live.”

Ghirahim snarled.

“You dare insult me?!” He forced himself back up to his feet, snapping his fingers to summon knives that flew towards the figure, only to be thrown aside by invisible power. “Your chances against someone as powerful as myself are slim, don’t fool yourself”

“Your power is pathetic, only as strong as the hand that wields you,” it waved an arm at Link’s body, “and that hand is frail and broken.”

Ghirahim longed to throw himself at the being but while he wanted Link dead eventually, he did not want it to be at the hands of some second rate magic user. He could not leave the boy undefended. “Who do you think you are?!”

“I am Zant. King of Twilight and sword to Demise.”

Ghirahim’s nonexistent blood turned to ice. It couldn’t, that couldn’t be true. Yet as he looked, truly looked at the other he could see it. A blade, not too unlike Ghirahim’s own, coursing with Demise’s dark power.

“Impossible, I am the one true weapon of the King of Darkness, I-”


”And you failed. You shattered. You were replaced.”

Replaced. That was preposterous! He was Demise’s loyal blade, the only demon chosen for such an honor, he had only returned to being because Demise had recognized Ghirahim to be the only weapon worth wielding.

Right?

“I have had enough of explaining to inferior blades, you are lucky I do not have more time, or I would break you once again into dust.” Zant raised up an arm and in the sky a swirling black and red portal formed.

Ghirahim lunged.

He did not make it far, the all encompassing power from before surging over his form and pulling him up, into the portal along with Link.

It felt horrible. His entire being felt like it was torn apart, pulled and pressed and it was like when his blade had broken all over again. Then as abruptly as it started, it stopped. Ghirahim dropped out of the portal, landing none too softly in some very deep snow, a soft thud announcing Link’s own landing.

The portal closed above them, and left them alone in a blizzard.

Chapter Text

He’s positively furious. Outraged! Sick with anger!

Ghirahim was trying to pace, trying being the key word as the snow was very deep and he was a very heavy sword spirit. He’d sunken in up to his waist but plowed through until he’d made a path to walk along.

This was all that Skychild’s fault. Ghirahim should have been more than powerful enough to crush that little butter knife posing as Demise’s sword. But no, Link’s own weakness affected Ghirahim more than he’d like to admit. This ‘Zant’ may have been a poser but he was correct when he’d said Ghirahim’s power was linked to his master’s.

He growled low in his throat and ran a hand through his hair, tugging at it sharply.

That stupid weak Skychild. If Link was half the hero he’d once been this would never have happened. Pathetic.

He’s cut off from his thoughts when he turns and Link’s unconscious body catches his eye.

The boy was already half buried in snow, unmoving. Ghirahim can’t tell if he’s breathing.

He cursed underneath his breath and teleported over, pulling Link up from the snow and holding a hand in front of his face, relieved to feel a puff of breath against his palm. For all he’s upset with the hero, Ghirahim does still need him alive, especially now with this other sword spirit threatening Ghirahim’s plans.

After a brief moment of consideration he pulls his mantle over his head, carefully wrapping Link up in it and then picking the child up, tucking Link close to his chest and then peering about in the blizzard.

Link will die if Ghirahim doesn’t get him somewhere protected, he may not know much about the limits of Hylians but he’s certain too long in this blizzard and Link is going to freeze to death.

Of course it doesn’t help that Ghirahim can’t see anything, only the white static of snow and the bleak grey tones indicating any depth to the landscape whatsoever. He stills for a moment, unsure what his plan of action should be when Link gives a particularly violent shiver and unconsciously curls in closer to Ghirahim’s meager warmth.

He sets off walking, trudging through deep snow and making slow progress. For every minute he doesn’t find something other than more of this snowy field there’s dread growing in his chest. The only change was Link’s shivers growing weaker and weaker until finally the boy stopped trembling in Ghirahim’s arms altogether.

He stopped and knelt, putting his hand in front of Link’s mouth and feeling a jolt of panic when he couldn’t feel the boy’s breath. He cursed and leaned in, putting his ear up to Link’s chest and sagging with relief when he heard a faint heartbeat. Still alive. For now.

Ghirahim doesn’t know what to do though.

He’s never had to focus on keeping someone alive before and this is a less than ideal circumstance to realize that, at least for tactical reasons, he did in fact care that Link was dying and he could do nothing about it.

It’s infuriating.

For lack of anything else to do Ghirahim continues walking, though he can’t help from muttering, “What a terrible Goddess you make, letting your chosen hero freeze to death.” he’s not sure if Hylia is watching, but at the very least it makes him feel better.

It’s then that a ball of flame appears not far in front of him, more behind it in an obvious trail.

“You always have to have the last word don’t you Your Grace.”

He’s not foolish enough to turn down help, even Light given as it is, and he’s quick to follow the path. The fire leads him to the base of a cliff, further along and then all but one disappear’s, hovering in front of part of the cliff face.

He gets closer, and it’s only when he’s right in front of it does he see the large crack in the wall, big enough for him to fit through and Ghira can feel the warm air coming out from it. He carefully adjusted Link in his arms and slipped inside, away from the howling winds and snow.

The tunnel is narrow and dark, though Ghirahim is fully capable of navigating in pitch black areas and when the tunnel finally opens out it’s to a mostly empty room. The only thing notable aside from plain cave walls is the large mural of a fire symbol on the back wall.

It’s not particularly warm in here, but it’s warmer than outside and after a brief moment to make sure there’s nothing hostile lurking about he focuses on Link.

Ghirahim doesn’t know how to bring someone back from hypothermia, but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t try. Firstly he needs to get the Skychild warm again.

There’s nothing in the cavern to burn and for a brief moment he’s stricken with panic before he remembers Link’s sheikah slate and it’s ability to hold items.

He quickly pulls it off the boys belt and taps the screen.

“Unauthorized use detected.”

“Excuse you?”

He attempts to press one of the buttons but only gets the message again. Stupid Sheikah technology. Running with an idea he takes Link’s hands, cold so cold, and presses the boy’s finger against the screen, feeling triumphant when it works.

It’s short effort to arrange all the flammable items he can find, the small amount of wood, some wheat, and some various herbs Link must have collected early on his journey and they’re dried and brittle. He also finds that Link stored the torch he’d gotten from the Divine beast and sets it aside, just in case.

He feels better once the fire is going, and Ghira arranges Link around it, as close as he can get without burning the boy.

And now he waits.

The sword spirit doesn’t know if he should be doing anything specific, sitting behind Link to block any cold coming from the rest of the cave and after a moment he started idly rubbing at Link’s chest.

Ghirahim is encouraged when Link’s shivers start back up. Shivering is good, he knows this much. Shivering means Link’s body is going to try to live.

With nothing else to do but wait and see if Link will wake up he pulls forth a knife and begins flipping it about with his free hand. Ghirahim has never been good at waiting, oh he can be patient in his planning and meticulous to detail, but just sitting to see what will happen has never been something he’s good at.

But he doesn’t feel safe leaving Link to journey outside for civilization and there’s nothing else worth doing so he sits.

Without meaning to Ghirahim starts to drift, his knife hand stilling and his eyes slip shut. Sword spirits can’t sleep, but they can enter a meditative state meant to pass time when they weren’t in use. Ghirahim often used it to go over his plans without outside stimulus.

For him, at least, it’s like floating in an empty void. He doesn’t sleep, so he doesn’t dream, beyond what he himself pictures in the space.

So what Ghirahim is not expecting when he slips into this void is for a massive fire dragon to be present.

It’s not so much that the creature can do this, Demise communicated with Ghirahim plenty via this meditative space, but that a creature of light managed to slip past Ghirahim’s mental defenses in order to be waiting for him here is beyond alarming.

“Do not fear spirit of the sword. I do not come with the intent to harm.”

Ghirahim isn’t afraid of any dragon. Back in the day he’d been the one to overrun their lands with monsters and the dragons had done nothing.

“What do you want?”

Because all servants of the goddess want things, and Ghirahim hasn’t the vaguest idea of what this dragon could want with him.

“I Dinraal, am here to give you a blessing. And a warning.”

“I don’t want your blessing.” Ghirahim snarled.

The dragon’s expression did not change, instead it reared back so it’s head was above Ghirahim and it could glower down on him.

“Your blessing, for helping our Chosen Hero.” The dragon’s claw raised and it scratched at it’s neck, tearing out a single scale which it offered to Ghirahim.

Ghirahim bristled and bared his teeth “I am not helping him! You stupid beast! I am loyal to my master!”

He didn’t reach for the offered scale, promptly folding his arms across his chest and the dragon let out a rumbling sigh then dropped the scale, the rare material disappearing into the void around them. Ghira allowed himself a haughty huff.

Dinraal didn’t react, instead the dragon lifts it’s front claws and did a complicated gesture. Within the beast’s talons small threads of color begin weaving through the air, threads of fate.

As Ghirahim watched the threads shimmered through the air and connected themselves to his chest. One bright red, and one, frail and frayed, a dark purple black.

He’s seen his own threads before. He knows the crimson thread is his connection with the Skychild, the black his connection with Demise. But the thread should not be so thin and worn, looking as though it was about to snap.

“Your warning. You will have a choice o sword spirit. Your old master, who hast forgotten and abandoned you. Or our Chosen Hero of light.”

“He has not abandoned me!”

Dinraal looked back at Ghirahim impassively and he was suddenly struck with doubt, worming deep inside his chest and burrowing in. Demise hadn’t left him... had he?

“Choose wisely Lord Ghirahim. You have a greater role to play.”

Ghirahim opens his mouth to argue but he’s pushed from his own mind abruptly, falling back into his body with a cold snap, eyes opening to the dim cave and to Link in front of him.

And as if mocking him, in his lap lay Dinraal’s scale.

“Stupid beast.”

—————————————————————-

When Link woke up he wished he hadn’t. His whole body hurt, a solid agonizing pulsing combined with numbness in his fingers and face. He whined low in his throat, forcing his eyes open and squinting at the fire he was in front of.

His face still stung, which was stupid.

It took him a moment to realize there was someone behind him and he panicked once he had, trying to twist around and unwrap himself from the cloth he was caught up in. A hand came down on his shoulder and held him firmly in place.

“Calm down Skychild, you’re safe.”

Oh. Ghirahim.

Link let himself relax, tension dropping out of his frame as he took in where he was. Some dimly lit cave, and it was freezing, which made no sense as he’d been in a volcano the last time he was conscious.

“Where are we?”

His voice was scratchy and dry and it took all of his willpower not to start coughing.

“A cave.”

Link squirmed around enough to give Ghirahim a dirty look. Yes thank you Ghira, very fine observation skills there. Clearly Ghirahim got the whole message as he gave a put out sigh.

“Well as much as it pains me to admit I don’t know. After you were knocked unconscious I graciously saved your life, of course I was so busy stopping you from dying that I was unable to keep that loathsome spirit from transporting us. We landed in a blizzard. So I carried you to here.”

Ghirahim carried him? So then.. He peered down at himself, not sure what to think as he realized the fabric he was wrapped in was Ghirahim’s mantle. It was kind of sweet, in a weird way, given that Ghira hated him.

“Thank you.”

His thanks seemed to startle the sword spirit but Ghirahim recovered quickly, waving a hand in dismissal.

“It’s not like I could just let you freeze to death, I still need you after all.”

Right.

Speaking of freezing. It wasn't exactly warm here. It hadn’t been great when he’d woken up and it was worse now that Link had moved and let all of the warm air escape. He doesn’t bother to continue arguing with Ghirahim, instead turning to curl towards the fire again and shivering violently.

He expects mocking, especially now that he’s not in danger of dying, but instead there’s a contemplative hum from behind him, then some shifting and then suddenly Ghirahim is pressed along his back.

Link made a startled noise and attempted to pull away but Ghirahim’s arms worked their way around him and trapped him.

“Hush, you won’t receive mercy from me often so be silent when I offer it.”

He blinks, ceasing his struggles and allowing Ghirahim to rearrange him slightly, adjusting the mantle until Ghirahim could get it over himself as well and then the only thing separating Link from the sword spirit is his tunic.

Ghira gets them settled again, arranged in a way that Link is able to rest his head on Ghirahim’s arm and he can feel puffs of breath against the back of his neck.

The sword spirit isn’t overly warm, but Link is flushed with embarrassment and can barely feel the cold as is. He’s not ever.. been. This close to someone before. It’s horribly intimate and Link lies still and rigid, not sure if he enjoys the contact or if the overwhelming presence of his enemy at his back is ruining it.

“Link.”

That catches his attention. Ghira rarely uses his name. He hums in response.

“Relax, I’m not going to harm you.”

Then Ghirahim is somehow pulling him even closer, wrapped around Link like an octopus and finally his meager heat is beginning to change the frigid air around Link to a more toasty and comfortable level.

Link sighed and let the tension drop out of his body, sinking into the embrace and he could swear he heard a quiet ‘that’s it’ from behind him.

He doesn’t understand Ghirahim. He went from raging threats and curses and putting knives to Link’s throat, to cuddling up to Link in order to keep him warm.

He didn’t know what to make of it. But Link is tired, and still in pain, and finally warm enough that drowsiness is taking over. So he places his trust in the fact that Ghirahim needs him and let’s his eyes slip shut.

Chapter Text

When Link wakes up he’s extremely comfortable, warm and pressed against something cozy and soft. He doesn’t open his eyes, instead trying to wiggle closer to the warm soft thing and feeling a puff of air on the top of his head.

“Link.”

He made a grumbling noise in his throat, pushing his face against his comfy pillow and giving a protesting whine when it began to move away.

An overly humorous voice sounded very close to his head. “Get up Skychild.”

No, he didn’t want to and..... wait, only one person called him Skychild.

Link’s eyes shot open and mortification ran through him as he realized his position. Sometime in the night he turned to be facing Ghirahim and had practically wrapped himself around the sword spirit, his head resting on Ghira’s chest and arms tucked around the spirit’s waist to hold himself closer.

Link practically threw himself back, scrambling to untangle himself from Ghirahim and blushing to the tops of his ears at the chuckles Ghira was giving.

He finally managed to get up and put some distance between himself and Ghira, who currently was wearing a massive grin on his face.

“good morning Skychild.”

Link glared, doubtless not even being remotely intimidating still wrapped up in Ghirahim’s mantle with a bedhead so bad he could feel it.

The cave was much lighter than it had been before, but it was still dim and the fire that had been burning was reduced to embers.

“The blizzard is still going, we’ll have to wait here a while longer.”

He walked over to the entrance and peered out, shivering from the cold air and he noted that he couldn’t even see all the way out the crack in the wall, it just faded into the white blizzard that was still going strong.

Link retreated back into the cave and started poking around the edges, hearing a sigh from behind him and he glanced back to see Ghirahim messing with the fire, trying to coax the embers into something but they had no fuel to add. Link pulled out his sheikah slate to check but paused when the glow from the screen illuminated the wall behind him.

There was a massive, somewhat faded fire symbol painted onto suspiciously flat rock.

Link squinted at the wall and after a brief moment took out his sheikah slate to fish around in his items, taking out a fire arrow he’d gotten from the volcano and comparing it to the wall. The symbols matched exactly.

It’s probably risky but Link hadn’t gotten this far by just ignoring potential puzzles.

He pulled out his bow and nocked the fire arrow, pointing it at the wall and firing. Over the blast he could hear Ghirahim shouting in alarm and he grinned. As the flames died down the symbol on the wall glowed bright red before there was a rumbling sound and the wall dropped down, revealing a tunnel behind it.

“If you’re going to destroy the cave at least let me know first.”

Link just smiled over his shoulder at the sword spirit and sheathed his bow as he looked down the passage.

It didn’t feel foreboding like a dungeon typically did, or even like his crypt had felt, rather the only sensation Link was getting from the tunnel was the warm air pushing out of it. At the very least it was better than staying out here where the cave was only going to get colder.

He started off down the path, hearing a snap and then Ghirahim appeared behind him, walking after Link. About halfway down the heat was enough that Link stopped to wrestle out of Ghirahim’s mantle and handed it back to the spirit, Ghira staring for a second before he took the cloth and made it disappear in a cloud of diamonds.

Alright then.

The tunnel continued going down into the dark and Link had to stop at one point, not able to see further and not willing to just walk forward in the dark.

“You humans and your pathetic eyesight.”

He felt Ghirahim brushed past him and before Link could do anything the spirit grabbed him by his arm and started tugging him along. Link tensed slightly before relaxing again.

It wasn’t Ghirahim’s style to attack Link in a pitch dark tunnel anyway, though he wouldn’t put it past him to shove Link off a small drop or something.

Link was blindly pulled along, the only noise he could really hear was Ghirahim’s rather loud footsteps until finally the tunnel started to light up again and Link was able to make out Ghira’s outline. Finally the tunnel opened out into a dimly lit room.

It was large and circular, the floor in here flat and aside from a few torches placed on the walls the only other thing in the room was a familiar bird statue on the far wall. Upon getting closer Link noted there was a pedestal in front of it and an inscription.

‘Proof of Strength’

“Well this isn’t exactly what I was hoping for.”

Link jumped slightly as Ghirahim leaned over his shoulder to peer at the inscription as well, then down at the pedestal that Link now realized was likely for his sword.

“Given your current state it would be best if you didn’t touch that. I understand your need to meddle with everything you find Skychild but for once just sit.”

He frowned but sighed when he realized Ghirahim was right. Link was still injured, and they had no supplies available if this proof of strength turned out to be something he couldn’t handle.

Link sighed and nodded, moving to sit down against one of the walls, watching Ghirahim poke around the room. It was just as Ghirahim was touching the bird statue that there was more rumbling and then a stone slab door Link hadn’t noticed upon entering slammed shut. Trapping them in the room.

“So about not touching that?”

Ghirahim glared at Link and the hero shrugged, pushing himself up and moving over to the sealed doorway. It was rather firmly closed and Link was certain there was no chance of him being able to open it. Guess they only had one option.

“I’m getting rather sick of your goddess’ puzzles”

Ghirahim couldn’t look more annoyed and Link walked over to him, giving the sword a sympathetic pat on the shoulder that caused Ghirahim’s face to scrunch up in disgruntled rage.

“Don’t patronize me.”

Link just smiled before he turned towards the pedestal, pulling out his sword and after a deep breath to prepare himself he pushed the sword down into the pedestal.

“I hope you know what you’re doing Skychild.”

Link turned and shrugged, startling when the torches on the wall changed color and began casting red flickering light across the chamber. He tried to pull the sword back out of the pedestal but it was firmly stuck.

Oops.

The tunnel they’d come in opened back up but before Link could get excited very heavy, metallic footsteps began to echo down into the room. Ghirahim tensed, summoning his sword and after a brief glance at Link he summoned a second and handed it to the hero.

The blade wasn’t as hefty as Ghirahim’s sword but it would do. He pulled out his shield and readied himself.

The stomping grew louder and then a large black suit of knight armor appeared in the doorway, a large broad sword in one hand a sturdy looking shield in the other. A second knight, this one more red than black followed it into the room. Link gulped. He was far under prepared for this sort of fight.

The knights stood still a moment, the tunnel sealing up behind it as they stepped fully into the room. Then much faster than Link thought the heavy armor could move the black one lunged, sword poised and ready to slam down on Link before the hero threw himself out of the way, rolling to the side and thrusting with the rapier only for it to bounce off the creature’s armor.

It turned with far more speed than Link expected and arced the sword towards him, catching Link’s hastily thrown up shield and sending him flying to the ground and knocking the air out of him, his already bruised and cracked ribs lighting up with pain. The knight advanced, raising its sword again and was interrupted as Ghirahim surged behind it, sword expertly cutting between it’s armor and into the creature’s back.

The knight stumbled then turned, swiping at Ghira and missing as the sword spirit danced back. Only for the red knight to catch Ghira in the side with it’s sword, sending sparks flying as Ghira was pushed back.

Link finally drew in air, pushing himself off the floor and past his pain as he straightened up and attempted to repeat what Ghirahim did, slashing at the black knight’s back and he must have cut something as a large piece of the creature’s armor fell away, revealing chain link and something that almost looked like scaled flesh.

“Move!”

Link jumped to the side just in time, a sword slamming down onto the floor where he’d stood. Ghirahim lunged, cutting free a piece of the red one’s armor and then throwing up his now black arms to block the slice aimed his way, the force of the blow moving Ghirahim back a few paces.

This wasn’t good.

Link moved again, attempting to aim for the gap in the black knight’s helm and chest piece but the knight twisted and his sword bounced. He tried to move back, the great sword swung towards him and it was only Ghirahim striking at the back of the creature that changed the sword’s course from cutting Link in half to leaving a shallow cut across his chest.

“Skychild get back!”

Link withdrew the best he could, the room only so large and Ghirahim snapped, several daggers appearing and slicing through the air towards the two knights, most bouncing off but a few reaching their mark and with an extremely loud clattering the black one’s external armor fell away, leaving only the helm and chain link.

The creatures had yet to make any noise beyond the scraping of their armor and it chilled Link. The knight reared it’s broad sword back and sent it flying towards Link, the hero only barely managing to throw himself out of the way as the blade embedded itself into the wall behind him.

The knight then dropped it’s shield and pulled a smaller, lighter sword from it’s belt and advanced on Link. Behind it the red one went for Ghirahim and Link could no longer keep an eye on the sword spirit as he had to throw his shield up to block a blow from the much faster chain link clad enemy.

He had to change tactics, instead of the lunge and draw back technique Link had been using before he had to actively slash and dodge to avoid being hit. His breath was coming quick, fatigue catching up and his already bad condition upon entering the fight was slowing him down.

He wasn’t fast enough to avoid one blow, the sword cutting deep into Link’s shield shoulder and he couldn’t stop a pained scream, teeth gritting as he thrust his own sword up and cut past the chain link into whatever lay below. The creature stumbled and Link twisted the blade, pushing and then pulling back to roll behind it and slash across it’s back.

The knight turned fast and Link threw up his shield, the force of the blow sending agonizing pain into his injured shoulder and knocking him to the ground.

He looked up at the knight, watching it raise it’s sword and trying to move out of the way when Ghirahim entered his shield of vision, plunging the rapier into the knight’s back and exiting through it’s chest. The knight dropped it’s sword, falling to the side as Ghirahim pulled his sword out.

Behind Ghirahim the red knight, now only clad in chain link attempted to rush the spirit but Ghirahim snapped and teleported, appearing behind the red knight and cutting a large slash in it’s back, the knight turned, it’s sword blocked by Ghirahim’s arm and the spirit snapped a final time, his daggers flying and embedding deep into the knight.

It dropped it’s sword, collapsing to the ground and both knights burst into explosions of strange black puffs of smoke.

Link panted in relief and let himself relax, rolling onto his back and trying to gather the strength to get up. Ghirahim’s somewhat worried face appeared in his field of vision and the spirit’s hands hovered over the wound in Link’s shoulder.

“Are you alright Skychild?”

And there it was again, Ghirahim’s weird far too sincere concern. Link waved him off, pushing himself up with his good hand and gasping at the sharp pain in his ribs. Ghirahim moved forward quickly, steadily Link and helping him to his feet, then he got rid of the sword and put Link’s shield onto his back.

“Let’s hope this was worth it."

Link hoped so as well. The cut in his shoulder wasn’t too deep, the bleeding already slowly and before Ghirahim could even suggest bandaging it Link walked over to the pedestal and pulled his sword out, the blade sliding easily this time and once it was free the bird statue rumbled then slid to the side, revealing a brighter lit passage behind it.

He walked down the tunnel, this one much shorter than the other and it quickly opened up into a large room with a fairy fountain in the center of it. Link breathed a sigh of relief.

The room wasn’t overly remarkable, behind the fairy fountain was a large statue of a dragon, taking up most the far wall and below it’s mouth was an unlit cistern. There was nothing else in the room but Link headed straight for the fairies, holding out a hand to one and the little creature immediately began to flit around him, healing his injuries and closing up all his wounds.

Once it was done Link felt rejuvenated and far better than he had since waking up.

Ghirahim walked forward, the fairies moving to avoid the spirit and after a brief pause he snapped and pulled something from wherever he stored all his stuff. Link stepped forward to look at what it was and was surprised to see it resembled a scale.

“Don’t ask.”

Ghirahim was glaring rather hard so Link just put his hands up in surrender and watched as Ghirahim tossed the scale into the pond.

Nothing happened for a brief second before the spot he’d thrown the scale lit up and Link heard a voice in his head.

A blessing for you, Chosen Hero of the Goddess. So you may travel through the cold.

The glowing died down and then floating above the water was a crimson feather. Before Link could go pick it up however Ghirahim tensed up next to him and the cistern behind the pond lit with a very familiar red flame.

Whatever Ghirahim could hear clearly wasn’t good, the sword spirit’s face twisting into a snarl and he turned and stalked back out of the chamber and up the tunnels.

Weird.

Link waded into the water and picked up the feather, startled to feel warmth coming off of it. He carefully put it into one of his pouches and then turned and followed Ghirahim up the tunnel.

He found the spirit back in the main room, peering out into the blizzard and grumbling to himself quietly. He looked up when Link entered the room and whatever angry hissy fit he was in faded slightly.

“Looks like we’re still stuck here for now.”

Link shook his head, opening the pouch and holding out the feather for Ghirahim to see. The spirit walked over and took it, looking it over and then handing it back.

“Very well then, let’s go.”

Link tucked the feather behind his ear, feeling warmth spread over him, and headed towards the entrance and having to scramble to catch the thing as a gust of air blew it free. He went to put it back in his pouch when Ghirahim plucked it from his hands and pushed on Link’s shoulder.

“Turn around.”

Confused Link did as he said, jumping as Ghirahim’s hands pulled his green cap off and began to run through Link’s hair, the sensation sending shocks down his spine and stunning Link into practically melting into Ghira’s hands.

“what?”

“shush.”

Link did as told, not sure what was going on as Ghirahim tugged and then snapped his fingers, only realizing as Ghirahim tied the braid into place what he had done.

He carefully reached up and felt the feather braided into his hair and carefully tied with a piece of string Ghira must have summoned.

Link’s face felt hot and he mumbled a quiet thanks.

“What would you do without me. Let’s go Skychild.”

Still somewhat stunned Link followed Ghirahim outside with no protest.