Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Link had always suspected that nothing lasts forever. He had met Marin, on accident of course, when he had wandered a little too far into the garbage dump looking for parts. They had gotten close over the course of a few months, he’d always sneak away from his hometown to see her, and soon enough, they were together and happy. It didn’t matter that her village was a secret. It didn’t matter that she had dreams that were just too out there and manifested as her powerful singing among other things. It didn’t even matter that interacting with each other was forbidden.

But nothing good ever lasts, at least not for long enough.

He had wanted to meet up with her again and had been looking for the entrance to the secret village, only to find nothing there. Only an empty space where homes and people once stood. He knew that it was only a matter of time until they would disappear. Despite this, he searched around, anything to tell him where they went or even what had happened.  What was worse, however, was how asking the friends and relatives in his town about the secret village resulted in confusion, rather than the wary acceptance that used to be present.

He was alone…

He awoke with a start, almost falling out of bed to the sound of knocking on the door. He carefully moved towards the door, peering through the cracks in the door to see a man dressed in a full black suit, sunglasses, and a black-tie overtop a white shirt. He felt anxiety pool in his gut, nerves causing him to shake as he opened up the door just a bit, only enough for him to peer out at the man.

“Can I help you, sir?” he asked, forcing his voice not to waver.

“You may. I’m looking for a Link Derry.” 

He froze up, the man was looking for him. The Secret Police were looking for him.

“Who’s asking?” he forced himself to speak, cursing whatever god heard that allowed this to happen. 

“There were anonymous reports sent in about suspicious activity.” the man spoke, peering over his sunglasses at Link, “Activity that could be classified as that of an OTHER.”

His heart was practically beating in his throat, shaking increasing at the assumption that he would be one of them. It scared him.

“I-I am Link, b-but whatever activity was reported w-won’t happen again.” he pleaded with the man, who barely seemed to care.

“You would do well to stick to that promise. This is your first strike.” he spoke, “The next time you’re caught mentioning OTHERS or interacting with them? The Govern won’t go so easy on you.”

Link nodded in understanding, yet fear rooted him to the spot long after the Secret Police left. He collapsed to the floor soon after he had shut the door, just wheezing and struggling to calm his rapid heartbeat. 

His first thought was of how bad the situation was. There was no getting away with whatever actions he had been accused of. There was never a way to control it once you become an OTHER, Marin told him as such. 

He knew what had to be done. So he got up and packed. Only taking essentials: clothes, food, a waterskin, and his trusty dagger that went straight into the hilt hidden in his boot. As he slung his bag over his shoulder, he looked around the single room that made up his home. It would be the last time he stepped foot in it after all. 

With a final look, he walked to the back of the room and opened the window. There was no doubt that his house was being watched now, he had to act fast and stay quiet.

Touching down onto the ground behind his house, he looked around the small alleyway between the houses around him. There was no one else out and about, but he couldn’t trust anyone now. If the Police scared them into keeping quiet about the fate of the village, why wouldn’t they rat him out later on as well? He couldn’t be too careful, not now that his own life was at stake.

He kept to the walls, hiding behind bushes at the slightest noise of voices or footsteps. When he finally made it to the edge of the town, he held in his relief. There was nowhere that would ever be safe for him, especially now that he was like Marin. He continued walking past the gates of the town, stopping only to hide and check if he was being followed. His mind kept running, trying to think of any place that could truly be safe for him. 

He recalled a rumor about a hideout, a place for OTHERS to go and live, one that was supposedly run by someone who was an OTHER and had been around for a long time. But it was just a rumor, and Marin along with the other villagers had said that there was no need for them to leave. 

Marin… 

She had said that all she truly wished was to be able to sing and be free, to fly away from the island in the clouds they were all stranded on. To just be free to do what she wished…  why was he still thinking about her?

‘It’s been months already, don’t dwell on the past. What’s done is done.’ 

With a sigh, he tugged his mind away from the thoughts of Marin, only to run into a person and fall backward onto the ground.

“The hell--”

Link paused mid-rant, looking up to see a boy, long blond hair barely peeking out from a hood and scarf covering his face, though the heavy scarring was very visible even with them on. His clothes were ripped and dirty, but the most surprising thing was the barely visible tail from under the baggy blue pullover he wore.

His face seemed to break into a giddy smile at the sight of Link, and he wasted no time in helping him up and dragging him off into an alleyway.

“You’re one of us, I can tell,” the boy spoke, raspy voice muffled from the scarf as if he didn’t talk often. “I know a place. Just trust me.”

“What? Where are you taking me?”

The boy glanced back at him, eyes crinkled with obvious joy as if this was fun for him. He led the way to an abandoned-looking warehouse, one with the faded logo of The Govern on its doors. The boy walked past them, taking Link with him, going instead to a wall where large metal boxes were stacked. He let go, motioning for Link to stay put for a second. He stood near the boxes for a moment, before pushing them all away from the wall, revealing a small hole in the wall that was just big enough to crawl through. The boy motioned for Link to enter, and with a single thought as to how suspicious this was, he did so, finding himself staring at seven other people.

The boy then nudged Link out of the way, dragging the boxes back into place behind him. He then stood up and moved in front of Link, fully removing his scarf and hood to reveal both his heavily scarred face and the small branch-like horns atop his head.

“Welcome to the Linked OTHERS!” he proclaimed with a broad gesture to the room and a big grin on his face.

Link soon found a small grin working its way onto his face at the display.

‘Maybe this won’t be so bad…’

Chapter Text

"So, this is considered a safe place?" Link asked though the boy from earlier seemed to stiffen as an older boy with tattoos on his face approached him.

"So that's why I couldn't find you this morning," he spoke, a slightly annoyed tone in his voice, "You snuck out again."

"In my defense! I was completely covered and no one saw me!"

The tattooed boy didn't seem to care since he grabbed the blonde kid by the unscarred ear and forced him down.

"No one saw you my ass! You've had all your strikes, they could find you easily!" he started grumbling as he dragged the other over to where he had been sitting.

Link then decided to follow, if only because the kid being dragged by the ear was the only one he knew, however short a time that was.

He observed the rest of the group as he followed, another older man with face tattoos and a scar over one eye watched him as he passed. Another blonde boy, small nub horns on his head, seemed to shield a much younger kid. A brown-haired boy with pointed ears was quietly talking with yet another blonde kid, though they had a dark purple streak in their hair.  His gaze lingered on this last kid, and yet he couldn't understand why he felt as though he needed to talk to them. 

He was startled out of his thoughts by a yelp from the long-haired boy from before, and he hurried over to see him now on the ground with a large wolf pinning him down.

"Delius! Twi! C'mon, I said I was sorry! Get off of me!" he shrieked, though the wolf just seemed to laugh, shaking his head with an amused look.

"It's your own fault, Wild," a voice spoke, and Link looked behind him to see another boy, dirty blonde hair and a faint rainbow in his eyes.

"Oh, a newcomer?" he questioned, and Link nodded. The other boy smiled and held out his hand, "The rest of the group call me Sky. It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Link." 

"What a coincidence, we're all named Link as well." Sky laughed, shaking hands with Link. "We've ended up just taking whatever names our OTHERS have and changing them up. For example, mine is called Caelum, so I'm called Sky."

"So then, the wolf?"

"Yep, that's Twilight, the angry tattoo guy from earlier. His OTHER is called Delius, a Twilight Wolf."

"And yours is?"

Sky's smile got mischievous and he pressed a finger to his own mouth.

"A secret."

Link rolled his eyes. 

"Sure. Whatever. Anyway, what about the rest of the people here? They don't seem to trust me much."

"Well, the other guy with face tattoos is called Time. The blonde guy whose clinging onto the little kid? That's War. The kid's name is Wind." Sky explained, turning to point everyone out to Link. "Lastly, Trav is the brown-haired one, and next to him is Four. The kid getting squashed by Twilight is called Wild."

"Ya know, that name fits him quite well." 

Sky had to stifle a laugh at that, and Link was quite proud of himself.

After a bit of time, Twilight finally let go of Wild, who jumped at the chance for freedom. Twi simply rolled his eyes and stood up, making his way over to Link.

"Sorry about the Cub, over there. He means well."

"It's fine. I guess he figured I was one of you?" Link shrugged, "Funny thing is, I don't have an OTHER yet. I just got my first strike."

"Well, welcome anyway. I hope you don't mind the fact that we're currently living in an empty warehouse."

Link shrugged. If he was honest, this wasn't the worst place he'd seen OTHERS living in. 

"As long as you don't mind me sticking around, I have no complaints. I'd rather stay here than be found by the SP."

Twilight chuckled at that, putting a hand on Link's back and leading him over to where Wild was currently setting up an area for a fire. He dug around in a pack and laid some skewered meat over the fire.

"Give it a few minutes, and we'll eat soon. Sorry that we don't have anything else Trav."

Trav waved him off.

"It's really not a big deal. I can figure something out for myself tomorrow." He said though Link could tell that it was a little forced.

"You don't eat meat?" he questioned, and Trav looked embarrassed at being called out.

"Not in good conscience, anyway. It's really not a big deal."

Link didn't dwell on the fact, and soon everyone else settled in. It was a quiet meal, and soon everyone went off and slept. Though Link couldn't seem to force himself to sleep.

Though it was his own decision to leave, his life had changed so much in a single day. It was the right choice though, he knew this. He would've been taken in and arrested if he had stayed put. It would've just been a matter of time.

As his thoughts drifted, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He glanced over to see Four standing and quietly walking to a corner of the warehouse, far enough into the shadows that he could barely make out when Four became four more people.

Link felt as though he should go over there, though it confused him. He had never had a conversation with Four, much less interacted with them. And yet, he found himself moving to stand, only to be stopped by a hand on his arm.

He looked back to see Time shaking his head, and gesturing for Link to sit back down. Once he had done so, Time sighed.

"Four's... they've been through a lot. Let them work this out on their own," he spoke quietly.

"If I could ask, what happened to them? I don't think I've heard them actually speak at all since I've gotten here."

Time glanced over to the corner that Four had disappeared to, and seemed to come to a decision. He shook his head.

"It isn't really my place to tell you. What I can tell you, is that Four, along with Wild and Trav, were in an SP prison for a long time. Twi and I were the ones to get them out, and even then, they have moments where they need time to be alone and work through whatever happened there."

Link felt as though he had been dunked in ice water. They had been arrested? And they survived? It was rare that he had heard of anyone, OTHER or common criminal, who had gotten out of prison alive. The SP wasn’t known to be forgiving after all.

"You said that you and Twi saved them... How?" Link couldn't help but ask, and Time seemed to get a far-off look in his eyes.

"The short version: Ghost commanded it."

"And the long version?"

Time ran a hand through his hair, and with a sigh, he spoke again.

"Ghost, as you probably know, is the unofficial leader of the OTHERS. They pretty much have their own army at this point. And Twi and I were a part of it, for the longest time. Ghost had wanted us to rescue the newest dragon, that's Wild. By then, I had already wanted to get out of there, and I had talked Twilight into leaving with me. We took that mission, only so that we could disappear from Ghost. We saved Wild, and then Four and Trav, against orders mind you, and then we ran away. The rest of the group came after."

"So Ghost is... bad?" Link questioned, and Time seemed to be unsure.

"I wouldn't say that... misguided maybe. They mean well, but... they don't recognize what they do as dangerous if not terrible to those under their command."

' I see why Marin and her village stayed away... '

The conversation ended there, and soon Four returned, one person, and laid down near Twilight and Wild, curling in on themself. They seemed so much smaller.

"I tell you what kid," Time spoke again, getting Link's attention, "If you can, please try to befriend the rest of the group? You seem like a good person, albeit, you don't have an OTHER of your own yet. It'll come, and when that happens, the rest of us will be counting on you."

Link nodded. And soon Time moved back to his spot, falling asleep. Link was soon to follow, his mind now focused on what Time had said, that they were counting on him. He just hoped that he could figure out why he felt such a need to talk to Four.