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Chapter Text

The faint sounds of music and smells of home-cooking drifted up from the village to Wild’s house on the outskirts of Hateno Village. The Champion stepped out of his house and tipped his head back for a moment, enjoying the slight bite to the wind on his cheeks as he inhaled a breath of fresh air.

The others were all playing a game of cards at his kitchen table, which, from the sounds of hooting and jeering echoing from inside, was beginning to get a bit rowdy.

The only one missing was Sky.

Wild looked to his left and saw the Chosen Hero sitting on the grassy hill overlooking Hyrule Field. His dark silhouette only just visible against the darkness of the sky.

Curious, he moved towards the Skyloftian, plonking himself down to sit cross-legged on the hill next to him.

‘Those towers are something else.’ Sky greeted without preamble. ‘It’s incredible to think that someone actually built them.’

Wild felt his own eyes drawn towards the glowing blue light of Hateno tower. Really looking at it for the first time in months. The Shiekah Towers really were impressive. Despite being obviously technological in nature, they looked vaguely organic, as if they had risen from the landscape themselves.

Sky sighed wistfully. ‘The view from the top must be incredible.’ He mumbled, giving Wild some insight into his state of mind.

It had been months since they’d been in Skyloft. The older teen, unused to spending so long ‘grounded’, had taken to sitting on rooftops and cliffs overlooking fields, getting as high up as he could.

‘Want to go and see?’ Wild asked impulsively.

Sky looked at him in confusion then turned his eyes back to the towers, considering.

‘I really don’t think I can climb something like that, Wild.’ He admitted. ‘Besides, it must take hours just to walk there from here.’

Wild shook his head. He looked keyed up and a little excited, a combination of expressions that, on the Champion, either spoke of marvelous adventure or absolute disaster, depending on the situation.

‘I can teleport us.’ He said, suddenly breathless. ‘Right to the top.’

He pointed and Sky’s uncertain gaze followed his finger to the tip of the tower, glowing benignly against the darkening backdrop of the night sky, the stars glowing faintly in the sky around it.

Sky shifted where he sat, nervous and excited. Unsure but tempted.

He had never been teleported before, but had seen the affect it had on the others. He was certain that if someone with Warriors’ constitution was left dizzy and a little motion sick, he would be far worse off. He shot a glance at the top of the tower, the cool blue light beckoning him.

He bit his lip, wavering.

To be up so high, to feel the wind and see for miles around…

Wordlessly he steeled his expression and nodded.

It would be worth it.

‘Wait here for a second, I’ll just grab the slate.’ Wild stood and took off, disappearing inside for a few minutes before running back out.

‘Ok.’ He grabbed Sky’s forearm and gave him a contagious smile. ‘Breathe out and hold your breath. You’ll probably be a bit dizzy on the other end, but that makes it easier the first few times.’

Sky nodded, expression grim and determined. Suddenly desperate to be high.

Wild laughed a little at his serious expression. ‘Relax.’ He advised. ‘This is going to be fun.’

Without another word, Wild swiped on his slate and Sky felt himself raise slightly off the ground, exhaling slowly as Wild had advised him. The Skyloftian watched with interest as his surroundings disappeared in streams of blue light.

As soon as the blue enveloped him, he smiled, suddenly knowing he was going to be fine. He had felt a similar sensation when he was flying, his body was used to this.

Sometimes, when he was riding his Loftwing, he would go into a steep dive, the momentary weightlessness making it feel as if he’d left his stomach in the air behind him, only for it to settle heavily once again when he pulled up into a sharp incline, his whole body suddenly weighed-down and slow as he fought against gravity.

The feeling of being teleported was similar but more intense. The same feeling of heaviness settled on his body, making him feel as if he weighed two, three times, what he normally did.

He had a sudden flash of insight into why some of the others struggled so much with the sensation, at the same time realising how much Wild would enjoy riding a Loftwing.

He watched as the world began to piece itself back together, strands of blue that had surrounded them gradually disappearing and leaving him standing somewhere completely different. His ears popped and he grinned stumbling only very, very slightly when his feet touched the ground, hair and clothes already moving in the wind at the top of the tower. He felt Wild’s hand tighten on his arm for a moment before releasing him completely and his smile expanded.

The view was even more amazing than he’d hoped. They were facing the direction of Hateno Village and the first thing Sky saw were the twinkling yellow lights of the houses below. He could see the smoke from their cooking fires drifting up into the sky.

He took a deep, deep breath, savouring how the air even tasted better at this height. How clean he felt.

‘Are you ok?’ Wild asked suddenly, hesitantly, not sure how his friend handled the teleportation.

‘I’m fine, fine.’ Sky breathed slowly, distracted and unable to tear his gaze from the sudden 360 degree view of the largest Hyrule he’d even been in. His tone was completely distracted and Wild snorted in amusement and stepped up to join him, looking out over the view and trying to see it from Sky’s perspective.

While it was true that the Chosen Hero was from Skyloft, his home was above the clouds which meant the times he would have been able to experience a view at this height were limited to when he was flying his Loftwing, the ground rushing past him in a blur of colour. He suspected that this was the first time the young man had been able to stand on a tower so tall and look out over the landscape below him at his own leisure.

‘This is just… Sweet Hylia. Y-your Hyrule.’ Sky began, he trailed off, dumb-struck.

He saw Wild wilt next to him and knew that he had been misunderstood by the young Champion. He shook his head slowly, a little speechless, looking out over the ruins and forests, the monster camps and wide, wide open spaces.

‘Your Hyrule is so… beautiful.’

Wild’s head shot up to look at him in disbelief. He saw that Sky genuinely meant what he had said and allowed himself a small smile.

It was the first time one of the others had said that to him.

They had all been overwhelmed at the sheer scale of Wild’s land, by its violence and the destruction that was visible in the rotting buildings that dotted the landscape after the Calamity. Up until now, they only seemed to see the differences. Compared to their homes, Wild’s was a wasteland. An example of what could go wrong.

The Champion had always seen beyond that, to the beauty, he hadn’t thought the others would ever appreciate it.

Only Legend and Hyrule whose own era’s had been affected by the downfall of the Hero seemed to appreciate what Wild’s land had, rather than what it didn’t. But even they had been overwhelmed by the scale, the amount of distance between settlements and the huge, vast spaces of wilderness in-between.

He watched Sky’s wide, expressive eyes drift around the landscape, from the ruins of Hyrule castle to the peaks of the Hebra mountains in the distance as he drifted slowly around the perimeter of the tower, soaking in the sights like a man dying of thirst.

He knew that Sky meant every word, and it meant more to him than he could even say.

He smiled and pulled his slate, scrolling for the two pieces of pumpkin pie he had managed to store secretly in his slate during their last visit to Kakariko village. He knew pumpkin pie was Sky’s favourite and had waited for a moment the two of them would be alone so his Skyloftian friend could take his time to enjoy it without having to fend off the others.

He handed one plate to Sky who accepted it with a bright smile and a happy gasp.

‘Oooooh!’ Sky grinned, he sat on the edge of the tower, his legs dangling over the void of space beneath them and Wild couldn’t suppress his own smile.

Sky was truly at home here, he doubted very much if any of the others would have joined their friend as he perched nonchalantly on the edge of a very tall drop.

He had a sudden mental image of Time trying to pull the caped hero back towards the centre of the platform and with a sly grin, Wild placed his plate down on the centre console for a moment and put his fork in his mouth, snapping a picture of Sky sitting on the edge just as a huge gust of wind came from below, blowing his hair over his eyes and making his sail cloth flutter.

It was a good picture, he considered, looking at it with a critical eye. It showed just how precarious Sky’s position was, while also showing the Skyloftian’s complete and utter nonchalance.

Too often, Sky was seen as one of the cautious, sensible members of their group. In reality, he just needed the right environment to coax out his own, private brand of chaos.

With a little more caution than his friend, Wild put his plate of pumpkin pie down on the edge and used his hands for balance, sitting carefully and making sure he was in place before reaching for his dessert, the two eating their pie in silence.

‘Oh look.’ Sky said suddenly, pointing with his fork across Hyrule field and towards the mountains.

‘A shooting star, Sun and I used t-‘ he was cut off by Wild’s excited gasp, the Champion’s head swinging to look in the direction of his finger.

Sky watched, bemused when a column of yellow light erupted from the ground and up towards the dark sky.

‘Yes! Sky, c’mon!’

Sky frowned, confused and looked at Wild whose eyes were trained on the column of light, already standing and bouncing on the balls of his feet, his half-eaten plate of pie discarded and apparently already forgotten.

‘Come… on?’ he asked, sure he was missing something obvious.

The sudden grin on Wild’s face was contagious and the Skyloftian found himself, inexplicably grinning back excitement once again worming into his chest.

‘Come on.’ The champion invited with a feral smirk. Rather dramatically, he put his arms out and leaned off the tower, falling with a little laugh into a type of sideways swan dive.

Stunned, Sky leaned over the edge his own pie forgotten. He watched, eyes wide, to see his friend sailing away on his paraglider, apparently heading directly towards the column of light.

The last of his confusion evaporated in an instant and he grinned fiercely with an uncharacteristic baring of teeth.

‘Oh yes.’ Sky breathed. He took a running start and leaped from the tower after Wild, the sail cloth snapping open to catch his fall, the cool air brought stinging tears to his eyes and the wind howled in his ears.

Oh, he had missed this.

He heard Wild’s uncontained cackling laughter floating back to him on the wind and he couldn’t resist giving a shout of his own.

They sailed over the top of a monster camp, and Sky’s feeling of giddiness only grew when he heard the warning trumpet of a horn that told him they’d been spotted.

He chuckled. The unexpected danger of seeing the arrows sail beneath his feet, knowing that the bows the bokoblins below were using would never be powerful enough to reach them, just adding more excitement.

Wild leaned his body weight to the side, obviously aiming for an outcrop of rock and Sky followed suit, the ground coming up to meet them all too quickly. He grinned, flushed and windblown to see Wild fiddling with his slate.

The Champion took a mouthful of a stamina potion that he’d pulled from the device and shoved it at Sky wiping his mouth on the back of his wrist.

‘Drink this!’ He gasped, already running towards the edge of the cliff smiling at his friend over his shoulder, with bright, chaotic eyes and an infections grin.

‘Come on, quick!’

Knowing it was pointless to resist at this point, and caught up in Wild’s mood, Sky threw back the potion and began to run, throwing himself off the cliff after his friend without hesitation.

Again, he snapped open his sail cloth to glide towards the light.

He watched the ground sail by underfoot, slowly, slowly getting closer. But Wild knew which path to take to maximise their time spent in the air and the Skyloftian, following his route, was able to look around, seeing the wild beauty of this enormous Hyrule firsthand, he suddenly felt an enormous rush of gratitude to Hylia for giving him this experience.

Even though this adventure had taken him away from his home, and from Zelda, it had given him the chance to meet his amazing successors and, right now, he wouldn’t trade this for anything.

Another long moment passed and again they landed, slightly harder this time. Wild was already running before he had fully put away his paraglider, breathless with laughter and excitement, Sky following on his heels.

The column of light began to grow bigger as they approached and he felt his cheeks heat up with excitement, breath coming in harsh pants, pushing his burning legs to go faster and faster.

Just when he thought he couldn’t run any more. A flushed and still laughing Wild danced back to him with another stamina potion. This time, Sky downed it without hesitation, now just as eager to get to the … whatever it was… as his friend.

‘Nearly there!’ Wild gasped, skipping forwards with a giddy little laugh. His eyes flicked to the purple/pink glow of the lightening sky.

‘Come on! Time’s nearly up.’

Rather than answer and waste his breath, Sky simply sprinted forwards overtaking the Champion whose laugh turned into a gasp of surprise. Sky gave a breathy laugh of his own, and narrowed his eyes, determined to win this impromptu race towards… something.

But no one could outrun the Champion, not without the aid of the Veteran’s Pegasus boots at least. He was born to this Hyrule, and he knew every nook and cranny. Sky watched in amused dismay as Wild easily outpaced him and ran ahead.

They were so close now.

The air was rushing in and out of his lungs in almost painful gasps. He could hear a high clear, pulsating ringing coming from the golden column. It was getting louder with every step until, in an instant, he blinked and the sound and the column of light were both gone.

He felt a moment of loss and despair at the thought that they had taken too long. That he’d been too slow, but Wild gave a sound of triumph.

Together they ran the final few steps and Sky looked down to see something small and glowing on the grass in front of them.

Wild stepped forwards and scooped it up, holding it out with a grin.

Sky looked up at his friend to see him gasping for air, flushed with their victory. The Chosen Hero looked down at the glowing object.

‘What… is it?’ He gasped between breaths.

Wild, already getting his breath back, smiled. ‘It’s a star fragment.’ He grinned, still gesturing for Sky to take it, which he did, turning the strangely warm object over in his hands. ‘They’re very rare and disappear if you don’t find them before the sun comes up.’ He paused, expression softening. ‘We call them a blessing from Hylia.’

Sky felt a bead of sweat run down his forehead and into his collar as he stared at the spiky object he held.

He closed his eyes and could instantly see why it was named after the Goddess’ blessing. He could smell Zelda’s perfume, feel the brisk breeze of Skyloft on his skin, could taste the tea with the two spoons of sugar the way she always made it for him.

His constant feeling of loneliness at being apart from his Zelda faded slightly.

It was as if the fragment knew exactly what he needed to see in that precise moment in time.

It felt like home.

He clutched it, fingers fitting easily between the dull spines. He squeezed the fragment for a moment before releasing his grip and holding it out reluctantly for Wild to take.

Wild simply smiled and shook his head.

‘That one’s yours. I have another one in my slate. We got it before the sun rose so it should be stable enough for you to get out and hold whenever you want.’

Sky nodded gratefully and gave it another squeeze catching a whisper of Zelda’s citrusy perfume. He exhaled slowly and tucked it into his sash.

The very tips of the sun began to peak out above the mountains and Sky gave a gasp.

‘We’ve been away all night!?’

Wild gave a sheepish smile that showed he was more than aware of how much time had passed, and what awaited them when they returned to their worried friends.

The Champion hummed in thought and his eyes lit up as he thought of something. He looked at Sky slyly out of the corner of his eye.

‘You know…’ He began far too casually to be innocent.

‘It would be faster for us to just teleport back to the tower and glide back to Hateno... We wouldn’t want to keep the others waiting any longer than we have to, right? They must be worried…’

Sky felt his own smile turn razor sharp and Wild chuckled in dark amusement.

He might not be able to beat the Champion in a foot race, but he was going to beat Wild in a paragliding race to the ground.

Chapter Text

‘Hey? Wild…? Is there an ocean in your Hyrule?’

Wild turned to see an uncharacteristically melancholy Wind looking out over the hills and mountains below Hateno village, where they’d just arrived.

The Champion frowned and nodded. ‘Lots actually. There’s a place called Lurelin village I’ve been meaning to take you to, but it’s on the other side of Hyrule, so we haven’t been able to go yet.’

Wind let out a disappointed whoosh of air and plonked his pack down at his feet.

‘Why do you ask?’ Wild asked softly.

Wind shook his head, running a hand through his hair for a moment. ‘No real reason. I just…thought I could smell the ocean for a second.’

‘Oh.’ Wild said, putting his head up and noticing which direction the wind was blowing from. ‘That was probably Kitano Bay. It’s not far from here, it’s not nearly as nice as Lurelin Village, but you can swim there.’

Wind’s head shot up to look at the Champion so fast, Wild actually flinched.

‘There’s an ocean… near here?’ He breathed. ‘Can we go?’

Wild hesitated and looked around at the others.

Everyone was tired, they had been walking for several days over rough terrain and through monster camps to reach Hateno Village and he wasn’t sure they would be interested in anything other than a good meal and a long sleep in a place where no one needed to keep watch.

‘Please.’

The long-haired teen blinked and looked down, finally noticing that Wind seemed to be almost vibrating where he stood. He was very pale, and his eyes were glinting with an unreadable expression.

He frowned, concerned, and Wind averted his eyes with a blush.

‘I… I need to see the ocean, just for a little while. It’s been months.’

Wild nodded slowly, he was used to the constant movement and long distances that were needed to traverse his Hyrule so wasn’t nearly as tired as the others.

‘Put your stuff inside, I’ll tell Time.’

With a grateful grin, Wind hefted his pack and practically sprinted inside.

O o O o O

As soon as everyone had put their belongings inside and had been given a tour of the small house and surrounding property by Wild, he informed the others of Wind’s request to go to the beach.

‘It’s not that I have a problem with it, but how would you get there, Cub?’ Time asked, hands on his hips and looking confused.

‘I know you can only teleport to shrines and other shiekah relics, but unless there’s one of those right on the beach, it’s too dangerous for the two of you to be travelling alone with the black-blooded monsters around.’

Wild shrugged, trying to ignore Wind’s downcast look beside him.

‘I thought we’d take the Master Cycle Zero. It’s fast enough to outpace anything if we get in trouble and it can carry both of us.’

Time paused, puzzled, and the others exchanged uncertain glances.

‘The what?’ Warriors asked curiously.

Wild couldn’t help his grin. ‘My divine beast.’

Wind’s eyes were so wide it looked like they were going to fall out.

Wild saw his expression and laughed, patting the young man on the shoulder.

‘Oh! Haven’t I told you about it?’ He asked casually. ‘You didn't think I was the only Champion without a divine beast, did you? You wouldn’t believe what I had to do to get this thing.’

He pulled the slate from his belt and began to tap on the screen.

‘Stand back.’ He smirked.

Exchanging confused, wary, glances everyone shuffled back a few steps.

Ribbons of blue began to coalesce in the space in front of them, solidifying until it revealed a mechanical horse with wheels.

‘What the fuck.’ Legend breathed.

‘It will only carry the two of us, but I should be able to take you to Kitano Bay for the afternoon?’

Wind’s eyes were huge and he nodded his head wordlessly, obviously thrilled at the recent turn of events.

‘Is it… safe?’ Hyrule asked warily as the others circled the machine, curious.

Wild nodded with a lop-sided grin.

Wind moved closer, eager to get going. ‘How do I get on?’

Wild swung his leg over the Master Cycle in a smooth, well-practiced motion.

‘Get on behind me and hold tight.’

There was a brief scuffle as Wind figured out how to climb on and balanced himself on the seat behind Wild.

‘It’s going to be loud.’ The Champion warned and revved the bike.

Four slammed his hands over his ears, eyes stuck halfway between red and violet.

‘Hold on, Wind.’ The pirate gripped him tighter.

‘See you guys later tonight.’ Wild revved the bike once more, laughing when the back wheel of the bike skidded slightly sideways and Wind gave an excited half-squeal, before taking off down the path almost frighteningly fast, with a spray of dirt, hair flying out behind him and Wind’s excited whoop hanging in the air.

The others watched them roar away in disbelief.

‘I… I want to go next.’ Sky breathed.

O o O o O

Wind hollered over the sound of the engine, unable to contain his excitement.

He threw his head back, eyes stinging with the cold air that was rushing into them, positively cackling in delight. He knew he was gripping his friend far too tightly around the middle as they sped along paths that didn’t entirely exist, the master cycle bouncing and roaring through the fields and over small rocks but was unable to force them to loosen, too focussed on the speed.

Wild grinned at the ruckus Wind was making, at the Pirate’s arms, like steel-bands, wrapped around his stomach and at risk of cutting off his breathing.

It had been a long time since he’d been able to ride the Master Cycle. That he was able to share it with Wind somehow made it all the sweeter.

The sharp, salt-tinged air of Wild’s Hyrule was blowing through Wind’s hair and burning his eyes. He didn’t know how far away the ocean was, but he kept getting slight whiffs of the salt of the ocean on the wind and his chest felt full to bursting with the excitement of travelling to see the water after so long.

He watched the unfamiliar world pass by in a blur of colour and impressions.

A goat looked up in surprise as they passed, Wind saw it open its mouth to give a startled ‘Baa’ but was unable to hear it over the roaring of the divine beast, the small animal bounding away and out of sight.

He had never travelled so fast.

Knowing that they were going somewhere for fun – because they wanted to, rather than towards danger or responsibility made it all the more enjoyable for the young pirate.

He finally unwrapped one of his arms from around Wild’s waist, holding it up and feeling the pressure of the wind press flat against his palm.

He laughed, wondering if this is what flying felt like, and if it was, he could see why Sky loved it so much.

He suddenly, vividly remembered when he had first met Legend.

Although the pink-haired hero was only a couple of years older than Wind himself, the Pirate had been a little awed by the jaded young Veteran.

There just seemed to be so much he had done, had seen and had experienced, in Wind’s mind his own adventures didn’t compare.

But, that was nearly a year ago, and he had done and experienced so much in these strange lands that his friends were from. The ‘him’ from a year ago never would have imagined that he’d be roaring along on an ancient beast from the far future for the sole purpose of going to the beach.

He never would have imagined that somewhere more than a few hour’s walk away from a beach existed.

He looked up, hair blowing over his eyes and watching the dark clouds from Hateno Village fade into fluffy white clouds and blue sky.

His heart leapt when he saw a seagull circling up ahead and placed his arm back around Wild, leaning back and closing his eyes for a moment.

Feeling the power in the bike underneath him, the sure confidence in the relaxed muscles of Wild’s stomach and the wind blowing from the direction of the ocean that was beginning to taste like salt and smell like the ocean.

He made a note to himself to take a pictograph of both Wild and his Master Cycle before they day was done. There was no way Aryll or his Grandma would believe him, or even be able to understand what he was doing right now, if he tried to explain it without evidence.

He grinned and lowered his head, pressing his forehead into Wild’s back for a moment to reassure himself that this was real.

He felt, rather than heard the rumble of Wild’s laugh and grinned. The master cycle was suddenly airborne as they bounced off a small outcrop of rock, the back-wheel skidding slightly sideways before Wild easily corrected it.

Wind threw his head back and gave a shout of excitement, unable to contain it, heart racing.

It had been so long since he’d had so much fun.

Once he was sure both wheels were in contact with the ground, he threw both of his arms out wide with a screeching laugh, the pressure of the wind trying to force them backwards, his tunic fluttering in the wind and his necklace flying behind him.

The sudden lack of contact took Wild by surprise – he twisted his head to the side to check if Wind was ok. His long hair blowing in the gusting wind, his eyes focussed and bright - Wind grinned back at him, cheeks flushed and absolutely beaming, his excitement clear on his face.

Wild’s expression softened before suddenly turning a little wicked and Wind took that as his queue to wrap his arms back around his friend. As soon as he was secure, Wild leaned his weight to the side, taking them off-road, roaring towards a small cluster of trees.

Wind gasped when a bear, an honest to goddess-bear, gave a low roar and lumbered out of their way.

Wild expertly shifted his weight from side to side to avoid the trees, passing by so closely and so quickly that Wind couldn’t help but hold-tight, expression amazed and a little scared.

Wild’s hand flicked out as they passed an apple tree and held it towards the pirate behind him. Wind took the apple being offered to him in astonishment. Amazed that his friend was able to nab the ripe fruit while also navigating his divine beast at high speeds through a thicket of trees and wildlife.

He looked at the apple in his hand in bemusement, realising with a jolt, this was Wild’s world.

This was how the young man had lived before he had met up with the others and how he would continue after their adventure reached its inevitable end.

It suddenly meant so much to him that Wild was willing to do all this for him, to go of all of this effort, just because he wanted to go to the beach. Wind tilted his head back again, trying to stop the happy tears, suddenly burning his eyes, from falling.

This was an experience that was only possible here, in this timeline, with this person.

Wind wrapped his arms around the elder’s waist again, giving a small squeeze of gratitude and Wild laughed, understanding, as he always did, what Wind was trying to say.

The Champion leaned his weight again, bringing them back on to the path and heading straight for the beach.

Almost an hour after they set out, they crested the top of the hill and Wind saw the blue stretch of ocean for the first time with a nostalgic and excited twist of his stomach.

The water was glittering under the bright sun, and he could see seagulls circling in the sky, their high-pitched cries echoing off the water.

It was just like home.

He tightened his grip for a moment around Wild’s waist, giving the older another brief hug of gratitude when the Master Cycle finally pulled to a stop.

Wind delicately swung his leg back off the bike and onto the hard dirt, his whole body felt numb from the vibrations of the machine and he didn't feel entirely steady to be standing still after moving so fast.

He grinned up at Wild whose hair was in complete disarray, cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling, knowing from the genuine amusement on the Champion’s face that his expression was mirroring his friend’s.

He pulled his pictobox, snapping a pictograph of Wild and his divine beast, the elder hero looking wild and dangerous and chaotic standing next to his Master Cycle.

Unable to resist any longer, Wind finally looked out over the beach in front of him.

The sand was slightly more yellow than the pristine white sand back home. The grains were larger and coarser, and he could tell from the dark colour of the water that it would be colder than he was used to. But it was secluded, the water was calm and in Wind’s mind it was absolutely perfect.

‘Is it safe to swim?’ He asked Wild, already edging forwards, but knowing better than to just leap into unfamiliar water in case of dangerous creatures lurking below.

Wild simply nodded and smiled, the Master Cycle already refuelled and back in his slate, and watched Wind give a wordless cry of joy, leaping towards the water shedding pieces of clothing as he went until he was down to his boxers.

He sprinted to the waterline kicking up sand and not even pausing before plunging in. He disappeared for a moment, resurfacing with a great splash, water flying everywhere, laughing helplessly, breathless at the cold.

The Champion made his way more cautiously to the edge of the water and sat, digging his bare feet into the sand and piling clumps of wet sand into a small mound, the beginnings of a sandcastle.

Wild did not particularly enjoy swimming, although he wasn’t sure if that was because of being submerged in the shrine of resurrection for a hundred years, or something that had simply carried over from before.

He would swim when necessary, but had quickly realised it wasn’t something he was very good at. Not compared to the others.

Especially not compared to Wind.

Wild watched the Pirate swim around under the water like a baby zora, flitting to and fro and spraying salt-water, expletives, and breaths of laughter like confetti.

‘Wild! This is the best!’ Wind hooted.

The Champion watched a large, unexpected, wave crashed into him from behind, knocking the young man off his feet and he surfaced again, a moment later, laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

The pirate gave a battle cry that ended in a gurgle and dove back under the waves before the next wave could strike.

Wild laughed and went back to his sandcastle, adding several shells and a few small sticks he had found as decorations.

He heard another muffled yell and a splash and grinned, an idea popping into his head.

He grabbed his slate and pulled a simple wooden shield out in a flurry of blue lights, he then changed into is zora armour and stood, catching Wind’s attention. 

He gripped the edge of his shield and waited until the waves went out, before he began sprinting towards the waterline, as he was about to hit, he threw the shield down on the still slick surface and jumped on top, skidding along the surface of the shallow water for a moment before the tide came back in and knocked him off and into the water.

He sat up, laughing, to see Wind right in front of him, eyes alight with chaotic energy.

‘Give me a fucking shield!’

Wild grinned and handed the pirate the wooden shield he’d just fallen off, pulling a pot-lid from his slate for himself.

‘Longest slide wins.’ he tempted, grin expanding when Wind’s expression turned fierce at the challenge and he ran towards the water.

Wild’s grin turned into a full-blown laugh when Wind misjudged his timing and jumped on the shield too early, digging one end of the wood into the wet sand and launching himself headfirst into the waves with a startled squawk.

The next hour passed quickly and they barely realised that the sun was setting until Wind began to shiver.

Wild pulled him from the water and further up the sand, starting a bonfire with several pieces of driftwood they had found on the beach.

Another few swipes of his slate and Wild had set up a feast of seafood on skewers, coating them in rock salt, honey and spices and leaning them just-so over the fire so they would cook evenly.

Wind went back along the beach and gathered his pieces of dry clothing, putting them back on and sitting by the fire with a tired, contented look on his face.

Wild reached out and handed him one of the skewers which Wind took enthusiastically, taking a bite and eyes sliding closed at the spicy/sweet flavour.

‘This is good!’ He took another bite. ‘Why does food taste so much better when you’re by the ocean?’

Wild laughed and leaned back on one arm, watching the embers from the fire shoot towards the clear sky and the pinpricks of light that were growing brighter in the darkening sky.

He took a bite of his own skewer.

‘… you’re right.’ He mused. ‘I never thought about it before.’

Wind grinned and looked into the fire. Smile fading.

‘Thanks… for today.’ He said, fiddling with his stick. ‘I couldn’t have stood it much longer.’ He admitted. ‘It was Aryll’s birthday last week.’ He finished softly. ‘It’s… the first time I wasn’t there with her.’

Wild frowned, turning his full attention to the younger teen.

‘Why didn’t you say something?’

Wind shrugged one shoulder, eyes contemplative.

‘I don’t really know. We were in the desert in Legend’s Hyrule. There was no way for me to get to the water, so I just…’ he paused, trying to find the words. ‘It seemed less painful to just… keep it to myself?’

Wild nodded, that was definitely something he understood.

Sometimes, an event was easier to bear alone. To name it, or even acknowledge it to others, meant having them constantly checking in, meaning well, but constantly reminding him of what he was missing,

‘I’m glad we could finally get you to the beach.’ Wild said quietly. ‘I know I don’t like the water in the same way you do, but I understand. When we’re in the cities or towns and it’s crowded and busy, I need to get into the wild.’ He shrugged, unconsciously copying Wind’s gesture from earlier. ‘It can be suffocating.’

Wind nodded vigorously and Wild used a long stick to pull several blackened crabs from the flames, setting them aside to cool. He looked up at the position of the moon.

‘We should probably be getting back as soon as we’ve finished eating.’ He said. ‘It’s a bit of a ride and we don’t want the others to worry. Besides.’ He added, looking at Wind’s contented and tired face. ‘I think we could both use a full night’s sleep for a change!’

‘Sweet Hylia, sleeping inside sounds amazing.’ Wind gushed, taking another huge bite of his skewer, already reaching for another with his spare hand.

O o O o O

The ride back to Hateno Village was much calmer than the ride to the beach had been.

Wind, unable to see as far in the darkness, and tired from swimming, kept his head either pressed to Wild’s back or tilted up, staring at the stars, watching as once again the clouds thickened and darkened the closer they got to Hateno Village.  

They arrived at Wild’s house well into the evening and Wind stumbled off the bike.

He watched, still awed, as Wild pulled the cycle back into his slate, the whole thing glowing neon before disappearing in shreds of blue light, the Champion hooked his slate back onto his belt and Wind reached forwards, pulling the young man into a grateful hug.

‘Thanks again, Wild.’ He mumbled into his friend’s chest.

The Champion nodded and gave him a brief squeeze in return, smiling and then leading the way to the front door.

They entered to silence and at first Wild thought the rest of the group had all drifted off, but when he turned to the fireplace he could see Four and Legend still up, reading by the fire, the others all fast asleep upstairs or on the side of the room furthest from the light of the fire.

The pair had looked up as they’d entered and Wind made his way cautiously over, careful not to make too much noise.

‘How was it?’ Four asked immediately, his voice barely audible, as the pair settled themselves on the large couch next to the Smithy, Legend in the one-person sofa closest to the fire.

Wind grinned. ‘It was…’ He searched for the perfect word, hands flapping uselessly but blissful expression showing what he wanted to say. He gave up with a content sigh and settled on

‘…fun.’

The others snickered at his obvious understatement and Legend fixed an eye on Wild who tilted his head against the back of the couch with a sigh, eyes slipping closed. A bleary-eyed Wind settling in next to him.

‘Just so you know, the others played rock-paper-scissors for almost an hour after you left trying to decide who gets to ride on your weird-ass horse contraption next.’

Four raised an eyebrow, turning to the Veteran. ‘Oh? ‘The others’? Are you excluding yourself from that? From what I saw you were using every trick you could think of to beat Hyrule in that last game.’

Legend’s face darkened slightly with a blush and he averted his eyes back to his book, mumbling something inaudible and almost certainly unkind.

Four grinned.

‘I didn’t catch that.’ He challenged, eyes blue. ‘Do you want to repeat it?’

Legend picked up a blanket and threw it at Four, in apparent retaliation, hitting him square in the face.

When the smithy looked at him, amused, with a raised eyebrow and blue-violet eyes, Legend simply gestured towards Wind and Wild who were already fast asleep on the sofa next to him, apparently completely unaffected by their battle of wills.

Four’s expression softened, eyes solid red, he shot Legend a knowing smile which had the Veteran’s blush deepening, expression turning sour.

Laughing gently, the smithy unrolled the blanket and leaned over to gently place it over his sleeping friends, settling back with a sigh and reaching again for his book, Legend following suit with a small, barely visible, smile on his own face.

Chapter Text

‘Where did you get these? And if you have access to these, why the fuck do you steal those ancient, half-broken weapons from monsters?’

Wild turned from where he was helping Wind spread out his bed roll on the floor of his house in Hateno Village to see Legend inspecting the weapons displayed on his walls.

As soon as they’d walked in, the Vet had staked his claim by propping his bedroll against a cupboard in the kitchen, right near the fire. It was only mid-morning when they arrived, so the kitchen would be needed before he had a chance to sleep, but Legend couldn’t resist the temptation of a night of warmth while he had the opportunity.

The others, knowing that Legend tended to sleep better when the conditions were favourable, were happy to let him do as he pleased and were now looking around the house trying to find their own spaces.

‘I … they… used to belong to the other Champions.’ Wild managed. ‘I don’t use them, I don’t want them to break.’

Legend blinked, a glimmer of surprised understanding crossing his face before he nodded slowly, eyes raking over his friend.

Choosing not to say anything he strolled over to where Wild had hung a group of three shields.

‘They’re beautifully made.’ He said instead, tone casual and carefully unemotional.

Wild nodded wordlessly, they were the best that the kingdom could provide after all.

He watched Legend crane his neck slightly to look up at Urbosa’s shield and jumped when he gasped, suddenly leaning in so closely his nose almost met the metal.

‘Fuck, Wild... Is this an actual ruby!?’

He nodded bemused.

‘Yeah. We use ore and gems for a lot of things.’

Wide, astonished eyes looked at him and if he wasn’t so thrown by the uncharacteristic enthusiasm on the Veteran’s face, he would have laughed.

‘They’re enormous.’ Legend held up his left hand and pointed at the ring on his middle finger. It had an intricate gold band surrounding a gleaming red stone cut into a, slightly uneven, cabochon shape.

‘This is the largest ruby I’ve ever seen in my Hyrule, which is why I had it made into this fire-protection ring.’ He gestured at the shield on the wall where the rubies were the size of an apple.

‘These gems all have facets cut into them, Wild. They’ve been shaped. That means that they came from stones that were even larger than they are now, each one has to be…’ He looked at them with a critical eye. ‘At least 70 carats.’ He leaned closer to the shield again and laughed in disbelief. ‘And they’re fucking flawless.’

The Champion shrugged, completely unimpressed. ‘Yeah...’

Legend’s expression slipped slightly at Wild’s nonchalance.

‘Y-you mean…’ he swallowed, a slight flush rising in his cheeks, eyes glittering in a way that made Wild nervous. ‘Gems this size are… normal here?’

A nod.

Wild flinched when Legend took a sudden, unexpected, step towards him. The Veteran grabbed the front of the Champion’s blue tunic, Wild could almost see the rupee signs flashing in his friend’s eyes.

‘Show… me…!’ he hissed.

‘Aright, alright.’ Wild muttered, stepping back and batting his hands away. ‘No need to get grabby.’

‘Do you just want to see the gems, or do you want to see where I get them from?’ He asked.

Legend shook his head, obviously thinking quickly. 

'I need to know where they come from. This is the future, right? Maybe I have them in my Hyrule and they’re just not as formed yet. Show me where you get them!’

Wild hesitated. ‘Death Mountain has the best ore deposits, so if you want to go, we need to drink the flameproof elixir – ‘ he was cut off by Legend shaking his arm.

‘Whatever, I don’t fucking care. Dose me up. Let’s get out of here!’

He turned his head to the left to see an amused looking Warriors walking over, arms full of firewood for the stove.

‘Can you let the others know I’m going to take Legend to Death Mountain for a few hours? We should be back by dark.’ He handed Legend an elixir, the Veteran downing the potion and shoving the empty vial back at him before he’d had a chance to pull his own out of the slate.

Warriors nodded. And Legend, still looking feverish, grabbed onto Wild’s arm, ready to go.

‘Goddess, Legend.’ Wild breathed at the Veteran, exasperated, rolling his eyes at Warriors who chuckled in response. ‘Finally, something you’re excited about.’

 O o O o O

‘Sweet mother of Din.’ Legend mumbled when they materialised. The dry, oppressive, heat of the mountain hitting him like a physical blow. He wilted slightly.

‘It’s fucking hot.’

Wild nodded. ‘Yeah, this is only the edge of Death Mountain, it gets even hotter as you get closer to Goron Village and the lava but it’s still an active volcano.’

He looked at the Veteran, who had already gone red, in slight concern.

‘You ok? We can go somewhere else, but the odds of finding rare ore and diamonds are best up here.’

‘Diamonds?!’ Legend’s disbelieving eyes swung to fix on him, halfway through sliding a ring onto his finger, to help him combat the heat.

‘Right. I’m not leaving this...' he waved his hands, trying to come up with the words to describe how he felt. 'Overheated-asshole of a mountain until I find a diamond.’

‘Fair enough.’ Wild laughed, he pulled his slate from his belt and fiddled with it for a moment, pausing and looking up.

‘Can I just say how nice it is to see you so excited about something?’

Legend glared, sweat running down his face and Wild grimaced slightly. Apparently, all of his years of practice had given the Veteran had a truly fearsome glower.

Wild shuffled his feet and turned back to the slate.

‘We’re looking for these.’ He flipped the screen to show the Veteran a picture of an ore deposit. ‘We break these open and there can be anything from rock salt to diamonds inside.’ He plucked a royal claymore from his slate and handed it to Legend who took it, perplexed, weighing the weapon in his hands.

Wild pulled another one for himself. ‘It only takes one hit from one of these to break open an ore deposit.’ He explained.

He pointed to the bottom of a cliff where they could already see the tip of an ore deposit poking out from behind several smaller stones.

‘Let’s start there.’

O o O o O

‘Right.’ Legend looked doubtfully at the shiny, black rock that stood taller than him and hefted the claymore. ‘So, I just need to… smash it?’

He paused shooting a look over his shoulder at Wild who seemed completely immune to the devastating heat surrounding them. ‘And there’s no way of knowing what’s inside?’

‘Yes and no.’ He answered both questions with an easy smile.

‘Huh.’ Legend grinned. Eyes back on his prize. ‘That makes it interesting.’

He grunted and swung the claymore, breaking the deposit with one strong hit. An opal and a piece of rock salt rolled out and he laughed, a high-pitched excited sound, running forwards.

‘Holy fuck, look at the size of it!’ He held the opal, weighing it expertly in his hands. ‘Look at the fire in this, Din’s ghost, it has red and green in it!’ He stared at it for a long moment, mesmerised, and then shoved it in his bag, rubbing his hands together in glee, looking more excited than Wild had ever seen him as his head darted around, looking for another ore deposit.

O o O o O

‘This is the most fun I’ve ever had.’ Legend crowed when he cracked open an ore deposit and an opal and two pieces of sapphire rolled out.

‘Why? Why am I a goddess-damned Hero when I could have been an ore miner all this time?’ He crumbled the next ore deposit revealing a piece of amber and a piece of flint.

‘If it wasn’t so hot, I’d never leave this fucking mountain! Wild! Your Hyrule is amazing!’ He gathered the pieces of ore reverently, popping them into his bag with the others.

He heard the Champion laugh behind him and clambered onto a large rock, heading directly for a group of three ore deposits to his left.

The ground underneath him began to rumble, an Igneo Talus rising from the ground.

Without hesitation, Legend leaped off and out of range, spinning mid-air to blast it with his ice rod, glowering ferociously.

‘Go away! Can’t you see I’m fucking busy?’

The fiery skin of the rock monster faded with a hiss of steam, and it crumpled back to the ground. Stunned.

‘You know.’ Wild began slowly, tapping his chin with a finger and watching the rock creature struggle to get back up with a professional eye. ‘A lot of talus’ have rare ore inside them.’

Legend’s laugh turned fierce and a little abrasive, and the Champion pulled his bow and ice arrows with a good-natured roll of his eyes.

‘I’ll shoot it down and you club it?’ He suggested. ‘Aim for the ore deposit on it’s back.’

Legend gave a nod, eyes never leaving the talus in front of him.

Wild laughed and ran, catching the attention of the talus.

It swept one of its giant fists at him, catching him with small, sharp, shards of hot stone. He ducked under the worst of them and placed his foot on a rock, launching himself into the air.

Time slowed, gelatinised, and Wild smirked.

It had been so long since he’d fought a talus. He loosed his arrow, catching it dead-centre in the weak spot on its back. The flame coating its skin faded again, leaving it looking like a normal rock, it tottered and began to fall forwards.

‘Now!’ Wild yelled, landing hard and nocking another arrow.

Legend sprinted forwards, scrambling up the rock just as it fell to the ground, using the claymore to hack away at the weak spot on its back. A piece of sapphire fell out and he followed it with bright eyes, tracking where it landed.

Wild huffed a laugh at the Veteran’s obvious distraction.

‘Ok! Get down before it flips you!’ He warned, loosing his arrow just as Legend dropped to the rocky ground, the icy arrow again slammed into the ore deposit, another, following close behind, catching it perfectly again.

‘Almost there.’ He laughed. ‘Up you go!’

Legend didn’t even hesitate, leaping up and again hacking away at the talus with ferocity.

It shuddered and Legend looked for a moment like he was going to lose his footing when the rock underneath began to crack.

‘That’s it!’ Wild yelled, ducking behind a small boulder. ‘Get away!’

Legend leaped off the talus, landing and turning his momentum into a forward roll. He skidded behind a rock, slamming his back into the warm stone, just as the talus exploded, leaving several pieces of ore behind.

The Veteran poked his head out from his hiding place, breathing heavily, exhilarated from the short, intense battle before he stumbled to his feet.

Wild, placing his bow back into his slate, was already walking towards him, still slightly out of breath and, alert, neon-blue eyes almost glowing in the sunlight.

‘Yesss.’ Legend whispered, eyes on the battlefield.

There were several pieces of deep red ruby littering the ground as well as a sapphire and several more opals. He jogged forwards and picked one up, looking at it critically.

‘This is absolutely flawless, it must be at least the size of the one in that shield you have.’

‘At least.’ Wild agreed, looking over his friend’s shoulder, he hummed in thought. ‘I really thought that talus would have a diamond in it.’ He bit his lip, looking unsure.

His eyes drifted to the edge of the cliff.

‘Did you bring your hookshot?’ He asked suddenly.

A snort. ‘Of course.’

‘I think I know where we can find your diamond.’

Wild walked towards the edge of the mountain and peered over the edge, nodding in satisfaction. As he’d thought, there were even more ore deposits just below them.

He crouched down and swung himself over the edge, jamming his fingers into tiny holes in the surface of the volcanic rock.

Legend embedded his hookshot in a solid rock at the top of the cliff and then followed Wild down, making sure he had a solid grip and that it was firmly in place before swinging himself over the edge.

No one could climb like the Champion, they had learned that very quickly, but they could follow him if they had a decent anchor point.

He looked down and gritted his teeth slightly when he saw how far away the ground was.

It always made him nervous to see Wild clinging without any support or ropes to the side of cliff faces, especially ones with no discernible hand holds like this one.

The Veteran was many things, but he understood his own abilities and knew that if he was to try and scale or descend this cliff without the aid of an item, it would not end well.

He felt a rush of affection for the younger man when he realised suddenly the risks Wild was taking. The Champion was climbing sheer cliffs and fighting Igneo Talus’ for no reason other than to cater to Legend’s whim of finding his own ore.

He realised with a jolt that maybe that was why Wild was doing this.

To give the jaded Veteran this experience, which was something completely unique to Wild’s Hyrule.

To give him a chance to do something he wanted to do for a change, instead of something he was obligated to do.

He realised with a slight frown that Wild had already mentioned twice that he was glad to see Legend actually excited about something.

Legend had originally thought the remarks had been Wild’s way of teasing him for his love of jewels but now he recognised that the earnest young man had meant it.

Feeling strangely disarmed, the pink-haired teen cleared his throat, averting his eyes awkwardly.

Wild raised one hand from the hot rock he was holding to point to his left. ‘There!’

Legend leaned back to look and nodded when he saw the edge of the shiny black deposit.

He planted his feet and began to run along the side of the cliff, his right hand holding the hookshot, anchoring him to the top, and left hand out for balance, swinging himself to the small outcrop of rock that Wild had spotted.

He released the hookshot when he was above the stone, dropping down easily and watching, arms crossed and expression scowling to try and hide his nervousness as he watched Wild easily traverse the cliff towards him, somehow finding solid holds where there were none.

He released a relieved breath when the Champion was standing safely next to him, finally turning his attention to the ore deposits.

He frowned, curious and tilted his head to the side.

Where the other deposits they had found so far were mostly black, these looked a little different. He could see the ore embedded in them.

‘Yes!’ Wild grinned. ‘These are rare ore deposits. Some of them have really rare gems inside. Open these ones, I’ll have a look and see if I can see any others nearby.’

Wordlessly, Legend pulled the claymore from his back and looked behind himself to make sure his stance was solid and he wasn’t at danger of falling off the cliff. With one huge swing he slammed the claymore into the rock, feeling it give way.

His eyes lit up when several pieces of ore rolled out.

He bent down to see, a topaz and… a diamond.

Slowly he reached down and picked it up, unable to entirely believe it. He held the huge gem silently for a long moment.

He cleared his throat.

‘Wild…I… found one.’

The Champion had been looking over the edge of the outcrop they were standing on and looked over with an excited gasp at Legend’s uncharacteristically quiet voice.

The gem was glinting in the Veteran’s hands as the setting sun shone through it, creating a rainbow on his face.

‘woah...’ Legend breathed.

Wild patted him on the back with a small laugh, understanding, and Legend blinked coming back to himself with a small blush. He shoved the gem in his pack and pulled his hookshot. He arched an eyebrow at the Champion.

‘Race you to the top?’ He challenged.

Wild huffed. ‘I think we both know who’s going to win, you cheater!'

Legend watched Wild look up, plotting his route before he planted the toe of one foot in a tiny hole, jumping away from their outcrop of rock for a handhold that Legend hadn’t even noticed and leaving the Champion dangling, almost impossibly high by only his three middle fingers of his right hand.

He again felt that familiar, nervous jolt from watching his friend climb and held up his hookshot, aiming and firing it in a couple of smooth moves, letting the item pull him back to safety.

He settled, waiting for Wild, looking at the rock in his hands, still mesmerised by the clarity and size of the gem.

He had always had a soft spot for jewellery, there was something about it that had always fascinated him.

Yes, his rings all had various spells and protections on them, but they could just as easily have been made into a button or a necklace he could tuck under his tunic, out of sight.

But he liked looking at them, he liked seeing how they looked different under different light sources. Sapphires looked best in moonlight, rubies looked best under firelight, and he could already tell, he liked diamonds the best in sunlight.

The thoughts, possibilities of what he could do with this gem were endless.

He smiled, small and genuine.

A few moments later, Wild’s smiling head popped over the top of the cliff and Legend felt himself relax slightly.

‘Now you’ve found your diamond, we should probably be getting back.’ Wild gestured at the almost set sun. ‘Stal creatures pop out of the ground around here when the sun sets.’

Legend hesitated and Wild stopped in the act of reaching for the slate to teleport them away.

‘What’s wrong?’

Legend was staring at the gem, he looked torn. ‘I’ll use this one to upgrade my weapons and armour.’ He admitted. ‘…but, I have this house-mate…Ravio.’

At Wild’s suggestively raised eyebrow the Veteran rolled his eyes. ‘Don’t get any ideas, he’s just a house-mate. He runs his shop out of my house. But...’

Legend paused, rolling the stone around in his hands, eyes distant.

‘It isn’t… the worst thing in the world having him there when I get home.’ He confessed finally, he looked annoyed at admitting he had a friend and Wild hid a smile behind his hand.

‘Ravio would lose his mind over one of these.’ His voice dropped and it sounded like he was speaking to himself. 

Wild laughed and grabbed his slate. A few taps later and five flawless diamonds were sitting in his hands. He shoved them into the astounded Veteran’s arms.

‘Here!’ he laughed. ‘You’ve found your own ore, you know what to look for, but…’ he shrugged one shoulder carelessly. ‘Now you have some spares.’

Legend stood, mouth flapping open and closed, his eyes wide. The fiery, snarky, Veteran speechless.

‘You can’t just give these away!’ He finally protested, glaring and mortally offended that Wild would just hand out such riches.

‘At least… pretend to barter? Go through the motions?’ He ran an exasperated hand down his face and Wild shrugged, smiling softly and seeing right through Legend’s annoyed façade to how touched the Veteran was at his gesture.

‘I have more than I need, I can find them any time if I look hard enough. I want you to have them.’

‘No! I…fuck!’ Legend carefully placed some of the diamonds down and began to rummage through his pack.

After a moment he stood and held out his spare Fire Rod.

‘Here. I’ll trade you, the diamonds for this.’ He held it out for a moment before his eyes flicked up to Wild whose own eyes had gone huge and round and bright.

Far too bright.

The Veteran blanched and pulled it back out of reach just as the scarred teen dove for it.

‘What the fuck am I thinking?’ He looked appalled at himself. ‘I’m enabling you.’ He thrust the fire rod back into his pack and shoved an accusing finger at Wild.

‘See? This is why you can’t give valuable stuff like this away. It makes people crazy.’ He bent to pick up the diamonds he’d placed on the ground, muttering.

‘I can’t believe I almost gave you a goddess-damned Fire Rod. The Rancher and the Old man would murder me.’

He turned to stomp off and hesitated.

‘I’ll tell you what.’ He began. ‘Next time we’re fighting a group of monsters, I’ll let you take one shot with the fire rod. One!’ He held up a finger to demonstrate in case Wild wasn’t as skilled in numeracy as he was in arson.

Wild’s face lit up again. ‘Yes!’ He hissed.

Legend nodded in assent and, deal made, began to carefully stack the diamonds into his pack along with the other precious gems he’d found.

‘Sooo… just to be sure.’ Wild hedged, arms clasped behind his back and rocking backwards and forwards onto his toes, eyes looking up at the darkening sky above and not at his friend.

‘…is your price five diamonds for each shot of the fire rod? Because I do have more.’

Legend’s hungry, conflicted, expression shot up to look at him so fast, Wild couldn’t suppress his laugh.

Chapter Text

Wild was staring intently at his Sheikah slate, brow furrowed and deep in thought.

They had arrived in a relatively peaceful area of the Faron Woods several days ago after being in an uncharacteristically violent area of Legend’s era.

Tired and wrung-out, the group had decided to settle themselves in a small forest clearing, taking the opportunity to repair weapons and clothes, restock food and regroup before heading off.

The Champion lowered his slate, worrying his lip between his teeth for a moment and then looked up, eyes still clouded in thought.

He cleared his throat, unknowingly catching the attention of the others.

‘I need to go and look for koroks. I need their seeds so I can expand my bow inventory. I want to take a Lynel bow with me when we go through the next portal in case we run into something similar to what we faced in Legend’s Hyrule.’

The others looked at Wild in confusion before Twilight and Time exchanged baffled glances.

‘Ok, Cub.’ Twilight began, patiently, well-used to the young-man’s habit of speaking without context. Something that seemed to be a result of spending so much time alone.

‘So, pretending any of what you just said made sense… what do you need from us?’

Wild smiled, eyes clearing, and shot a quick glance at Hyrule whose own eyes lit up visibly in anticipation.

Legend groaned, loudly, and gave a dramatic roll of his eyes, lips twitching suspiciously at the corners.

‘I need Hyrule’s help. He’s the most used to travelling off the trail and koroks tend to hide in the kinds of places where you’d least expect to find them.’

Silence.

Sky covered his mouth with his hand to hide a smile at Wild’s completely transparent excuse to go adventuring with the Traveller.

Four, who’d been looking over the top of the book he’d been reading to watch the conversation raised it higher so no one could see his face, shoulders shaking suspiciously.

Wild bit his lip to hide an embarrassed smile. ‘In my defence, I really do need to find the seeds.’

Warriors put his hands on his hips grinning at Time who sighed.

‘Alright, Cub. But drop your traveller’s medallion right here.’ He pointed at the ground slightly out of their main campground. ‘I expect you both back by dusk.’

The two exchanged grins, nodding vigorously. Hyrule stood quickly, gathering his supplies while Wild dropped the medallion.

‘And boys?’ Time said quietly, catching their attention, twin expressions of excited anticipation swung to him and he couldn’t suppress a small smile at their obvious enthusiasm.

‘Have fun.’

O o O o O

‘Where do you want to look??’ Hyrule grinned as soon as they were out of earshot of camp.

Wild let out a happy little laugh and pulled his slate. ‘I don’t think we need to go very far. I haven’t been in this area for a long time, so I bet there are koroks around here.’ He twiddled with his slate for a moment, pulling out a green mask shaped like a leaf.

‘This mask lets me know when there’s a korok hiding nearby.’ He said. ‘All we have to do is wander around, wait for it to start shaking and then start exploring. I need to find three koroks so I can take their seeds to Hestu and expand my inventory’ He popped it on, and there was instantly a little cooing sound, the mask beginning to shake.

‘Ooooh, there’s one around here somewhere!’ The boys stopped in their tracks, scanning the area.

It was a glorious day, a warm breeze scented with wildflowers and fresh grass rushed through the trees and Hyrule looked up, chest almost bursting with happiness at being allowed to roam.

He watched Wild scale a tree, fast and sure-footed to look from above while he scoured the undergrowth for any stray rocks.

He moved into a sunbeam and turned his face upwards, closing his eyes and feeling the warmth on his skin, breathing deeply through his nose. Something soft brushed his cheek and he opened his eyes, huffing out a gentle laugh when a curious blue and black butterfly fluttered in front of his eyes.

He held up a hand and it fluttered over to investigate for a moment before floating away on the breeze, looking for flowers.

Hyrule watched it go with a fond smile and bright eyes, his attention suddenly shifting to a group of three apple trees standing together on a rocky outcrop above. He pointed, already making his way towards the small cliff they would have to scale.

‘Wild! Up there!’

Wild swung down, without warning, from the tree next to him. His mask still clicking and shaking.

‘I knew you’d be good at this!’ Wild grinned, moving towards the cliff, scoping the rock to find his first handhold. He stuffed his toe into a crack and shifted his weight easily, reaching upwards and to the right for his next grip, the Traveller watching carefully so he could copy his friend’s movements if he needed to.

‘Come on!’

Together, they climbed the small cliff, the mask making rhythmic clicking noises, the small pinwheel spinning. The rock was warm from the morning sun, and gritty, rather than smooth, under their fingers, small amounts of sand coming dislodged as they moved.

Hyrule let out a slight gasp of surprise when he reached up and felt something soft. With a panicked fluttering of wings and startled squawking, a small bird, apparently disturbed by his hand flying quickly away over the top of the small cliff.

Wild laughed as the Traveller jerked his hand back violently, his heart beating faster than normal.

Only a minute after they started, they hefted themselves over the edge into the long grass, laying there for a moment simply taking their time to catch their breath, eyes on the blue sky and the small, fluffy clouds above them.

Finally, Wild rolled to his feet, mask still twitching. ‘I needed this.’ He laughed. ‘We haven’t been exploring in months.’

Hyrule nodded in agreement and moved towards the row of apple trees, clearly in his element. He tapped his chin with one long finger, circling the trees and already working through the puzzle they needed to solve to find the korok.

He pointed upwards into the branches and one, perfect, red apple.

‘You need to shoot all the apples except this one!’ he advised eyes twinkling in satisfaction.

Wild knocked three arrows to his, tracking the trajectories needed with his eye for a moment.

‘Thanks Roolie.’ He breathed absently, mind clearly on the task in front of him.

He pulled back the string for a moment, held and then loosed all three arrows at once on an exhale. The arrows flying straight and each one hitting an apple.

Hyrule whistled, impressed.

He would never get tired of watching Wild shoot. The Traveller was decent with a bow, but he would have struggled to hit one of those apples first go, let alone all three.

There was a pause and then a little flutter of glitter, followed by a small, echoing, voice.

‘Yahaha! You found me!’

Hyrule and Wild hi-fived and Hyrule went to get one of the apples that Wild had shot down, crunching into one and letting his eyes flutter shut for a moment at the tangy, sweet taste.

He still couldn’t believe that you could just eat things that grew in Wild’s Hyrule. He placed the apple he was holding in his mouth so his hands were free, carefully placing the other two into his pack while his friend went to get the korok seed.

‘One down!’ The Champion cheered.

O o O o O

Wild stumbled and growled in frustration, his feet slipping and sliding on the slick, moss covered stone he was standing on.

The magnesis rune was activated but the heavy metal block he was trying to wrestle into place seemed to be controlling him more than he was directing it as he struggled to navigate it.

The puzzle was a tricky one.

Hyrule, had picked a strange, curved fruit off one of the trees, and at Wild’s insistence had taken a bite finding himself shoving the rest of the fruit into his mouth in two large bites, prompting Wild to tease him about being a Yiga in disguise, a joke the traveller didn’t really understand.

What he did understand was that these strange bananas seemed to grow in abundance in the area they were in and he quickly found himself rummaging through the undergrowth looking for the small bushes that grew them so he could find more.

It was only after he’d managed to stuff his pack full of fruit that he’d found the large, metal, cube half covered in long grass and moss.

He’d called Wild, who was close-by, filling the slate with Hearty durians and zapshrooms, and the Champion had laughed in delight when he approached and the mask had started clicking.

‘You’re a natural, Roolie! That’s two you’ve found!’ He praised, with such genuine sincerity that Hyrule felt his ears heat up slightly.

Still smiling, Wild had activated his magnesis rune to do a quick scan of the area, the smile fading slightly when it showed that the rest of the metal puzzle was on the other side of a fast-flowing river, slightly above their heads.

Wild’s shoulders had slumped slightly and he’d groaned.

‘This one’s going to be tough.’ He mumbled.

Hyrule, squinted up at the blocks, and could see from where he was standing that the angle was just slightly off, making it difficult to both use the rune, and see the puzzle at the same time. To complicate matters, the cube had to be slotted into the middle of the puzzle, surrounded by blocks which meant the Champion had to angle the magnesis perfectly or else the corners of the box would catch, stop it from slipping into place.

But, Hyrule wasn’t expecting this korok puzzle to be quite so… entertaining.

He watched Wild struggle fruitlessly for several minutes, his feet slipping and sliding, the normally sure-footed, athletic, Champion swearing under his breath and swinging the metal cube around chaotically, the metal alternating between skimming on the surface of the water and smacking into the rocks of the bank as he struggled to control it.

Twice Wild moved out of range of the rune and had to reactivate it, and once he dropped the block far too high and had to scurry backwards with a startled yelp when the heavy metal cube rolled, clanging, towards him.

With a soft chuckle and obviously having the time of his life, Hyrule sat himself cross-legged on the soft grass. He put his chin on his hand, elbow on his knee, watching with bright, amused eyes. After another minute of watching Wild's futile attempts, he grabbed a banana from his pack and began to munch on it.

‘Wow. You really need to practice with that rune.’ The Traveller teased lightly.

‘It’s…so… hard!’ Wild protested, huffing an embarrassed laugh through gritted teeth.

With an exhale that sounded partially like a sigh and partially like a battle-cry, he twisted the slate, finally slotting the cube into the hole and carefully wiggled the rune backwards and forwards until the piece eventually slid into place with a puff of lights and a clicking sound.

Wild’s arms fell and he groaned. ‘Thank the goddess.’ He muttered reverently under his breath.

‘Yahaha! You found me!’

Wild reached up with a gentle smile and chuckled lightly when the tiny creature carefully deposited the seed in his hand and then danced away again.

‘That’s two.’ Hyrule grinned, reaching out for a hi-five. He brushed the back of his pants off with his hands and stood.

He watched, eyes still bright and amused as Wild rubbed the backs of his arms with his hands, his muscles obviously sore after struggling with the block for so long.

‘Would you be annoyed if I told you how fun that was to watch?’

Wild snorted. ‘Yes.’

Hyrule blinked when the wind suddenly picked up, blowing his hair over his eyes, he reached up to push it back with his hand, looking up at the sky, confused while Wild let out a delighted gasp.

‘Yes!’

He reached forward blindly, eyes directed upwards, looking for something, and grabbed Hyrule by the wrist.

The wind picked up another notch and Hyrule looked around confused.

‘What’s going on?’ He asked.

‘Come on! The view is best from the bridge!’ Wild gasped. He ripped the korok mask off, shoving it into his slate and grinned over his shoulder.

‘We can find the last korok later, you need to see this!’

‘See what?’

Wild stopped, looking at him, positively beaming. Without knowing why, Hyrule smiled back.

‘Farosh...!’ The Champion breathed, almost reverently.

Hyrule stopped dead in his tracks. ‘Wait… Farosh li-like the picture on your slate?’

Wild nodded and turned, jogging quickly towards the bridge, knowing that Hyrule would follow.

The Traveller could feel the electricity in the air, the birds, the insects, everything had quietened and stilled. He felt his heart rate quicken, anticipation filling every fibre of his being and making him shake slightly.

They pressed past the last barrier of trees to a lake and Hyrule felt all of the breath leave his body.

There he was.

...Farosh.

He was winding through the air, graceful and elegant. His huge form somehow staying airborne despite his enormous size and Hyrule couldn’t help but take a moment to appreciate the amount of magic it would take for something of that size to move through the air so effortlessly.

The wind, swirled around them and Hyrule felt overwhelmed tears fill his eyes as the dragon drifted closer and closer, its legs treading through the air and its sinuous body twisting as if caught in a current, the wind continuing to pick up until a gale was blowing. His hair blew into his eyes, the wind stinging slightly as it hit his exposed skin.

He had to remind himself, several times, that he was looking at a dragon. A real, live, dragon… Farosh was ethereal, unearthly, and beautiful.

The dragon’s form, unable to entirely contain the power within, sending balls of lighting flying in different directions as it flew.

Without warning, Farosh changed direction, heading directly for the bridge they were standing on, and Hyrule barely felt it when Wild gently placed something heavy over his head. There was a moment when the item blocked his vision, and he moved an impatient hand up to remove it, but as soon as it settled, he found his vision wasn’t hindered.

He flinched when a small ball of lightning hit him on the arm, the electricity being sucked into the headpiece he was wearing and leaving only a slight numb, tingling sensation on his skin.

He breathed in through his nose, the dragon was so close now, he felt that if he jumped, he could touch its belly.

This close, he could see it was glowing from inside, as if magic saturated every cell of its body.

Another lightning ball hit him, in the chest this time, but again, left only a slight tingling. He scratched absently at the itchy skin, attention focussed on the dragon above him.

Farosh angled his body upwards and then into a steep dive, Hyrule watching, utterly bewildered as it entered a portal on the surface of the lake, the whole dragon disappearing in a matter of moments.

He stood, completely silent and listened as the sounds of the birds and insects gradually returned.

He turned to look at Wild, knowing his mouth was open in astonishment and was surprised to see the Champion wearing a large golden helmet with six green gems embedded in the front of it, mouth, the only part of his friend’s face he could see, smiling in understanding.

Suddenly remembering that something had been placed over his own head, he reached a hand up and pulled the item he was wearing off so he could look at it, revealing a strange, fish shaped hat made out of a dark, slippery, material.

He handed it back, watching Wild return both helmets to his slate and then place the Korok mask back on.

‘So…’ The Champion prompted with a grin. ‘What did you think?’

Hyrule simply stared at him for a beat, speechless, and then pulled him into a tight, half hug.

‘Your Hyrule.’ Hyrule began thickly, still overwhelmed. ‘Is amazing.’

Wild rubbed his head fondly, smoothing down his unruly hair. ‘Let’s go and find this last Korok, then I’m making your favourite for dinner!’

‘Oooh! You’re making stew?’

Wild stopped in his tracks, face the picture of confusion. ‘I… thought your favourite was sneaky rice balls?’

Hyrule’s expression fell slightly and he backtracked awkwardly.

‘Oh! Well, I mean, those are really good.’

The Champion huffed a laugh and slung his arm around the Traveller.

‘I’m joking, Roolie. Of course I’m making stew.’

They finished crossing the bridge to the other side of the cliffs when the pinwheel on the Korok mask began to spin and the mask began to click and shake.

‘Ok…’ Wild mumbled, rubbing his hand together, already looking around. ‘Let’s see if we can find it!’

O o O o O

‘Come on. Where is it?’ Hyrule muttered, frustrated.

They had been walking around at the bottom of a cliff close to a large, empty field for hours with no luck.

They’d used their swords to chop any particularly long pieces of grass or strange bushes they’d seen and Wild had even gone so far as to set fire to a suspicious pile of leaves.

They’d wandered in and out of the mask’s range so many times that they were beginning to find the knocking of the chimes when it activated, irritating.

‘Ah!’ Wild gasped suddenly and pointed at a section of rocks that looked a little different from the surrounding cliffs. A moment later a remote bomb materialised in his hands and he threw it forwards, detonating the explosive to reveal a small opening.

They waited for the falling rocks to settle before edging cautiously forwards.

Inside the small opening were three prayer dishes, two already had hearty durians sitting on them and Wild huffed, torn between amusement and annoyance.

He pulled a durian from his slate and dropped it on the dish, holding out his hand before the korok had even fully appeared.

‘Yahaha! You found me!’

‘I know! It took forever!’ Wild assured the tiny creature, the two friends rolling their eyes when it laughed in triumph.

Turning from the little spirit they hi-fived.

‘And that’s three!’ Hyrule threw both of his hands into the air in victory. ‘I was starting to think we wouldn’t make it!’ he admitted.

Wild looked up at the sky to track the sun.

‘Come on, it’s getting dark. Let’s start heading back to camp. If we’re late, Time will never let us hear the end of it and I want to avoid teleporting back if we can.’

Hyrule nodded, going green at the thought.

O o O o O

Meters from camp, the cheery conversation between the two was interrupted when the pinwheel on Wild’s mask began to spin again, the mask rocking backwards and forwards rhythmically.

They paused, torn.

‘…One more won’t hurt... right?’ Hyrule asked hesitantly, feet already beginning to drift away to start his search.

‘Absolutely not.’ Wild agreed. ‘We’re practically back at camp, if we yelled they’d hear us, so this already counts as us being back.’

Eyes lighting up in solidarity, they split up and moved towards the trees, looking for any trace of the tiny spirit.

After almost an hour of checking likely hiding places, sweeping through underbrush and climbing trees. With the sun disappearing behind the horizon, they realised that the korok didn’t appear to be hiding in the small forest around their camp.

They looked at each other in disbelief, simultaneously coming to the same conclusion.

‘No way…’

Laughing helplessly, the two ran into camp, Wild’s shaking and whirring mask catching the attention of the others.

‘Oh no.’ Wild said gleefully when their eyes both fell on the same thing.

Hyrule wheezed.

They looked at each other, Wild’s face hidden behind the mask, and Hyrule’s arms loosely held around his stomach, both knowing if the korok was where they thought it was, they wouldn’t be able to hold it together.

‘Hey, Wars!’ Wild began nonchalantly, completely ignoring the spinning pinwheel and shaking mask covering his face that had the others staring at him.

‘Can you stand up for a second?’

Bemused, the Captain stood and planted his hands on his hips, looking at them in amused confusion.

The others distracted by the sudden appearance of their friends leaned forward curiously.

With a grunt, Wild reached forwards and hefted the rock his friend had been sitting on over his head.

‘Yahaha! You found me!’

‘What the fuck?’

‘Sweet Hylia!’

‘Warriors!’

‘How long were you sitting on that??’

‘I didn’t know it was there!’

‘Has that been under there the whole time?’

‘Holy shit, Captain!’

Hyrule fell to the ground, arms around his stomach and howling with laughter at the complete astonishment of the others as Wild went to collect the seed. The Champion, helpless with his own laughter, reduced to crawling the last few steps.

The Traveller held out his hand, and Wild, seed in tow stumbled over, mask now off and tears streaming down his face, reached down to hi-five him.

‘Th-that’s four!’ Hyrule managed weakly.

Chapter Text

One of the first things Wild noticed about Four was that he didn’t feel the heat in the same way the others did.

He didn’t know if it was a result of the Calamity, but the fluctuations of temperature he was used to in his own Hyrule was apparently unique.

The others were used to a comfortable, stable temperature with the exception of the extreme heat of the mountains, and frigid cold of the snowfields. Even then, they were able to equip items to help them deal with the fluctuations. Because of this, they weren’t really prepared to handle the seasonal changes in Wild’s Hyrule.

But where the others would begin to complain or struggle if the temperature raised too high, Four would continue on serenely, apparently unaffected.

Eventually, a red-faced and sweating Legend had cornered him as he was sitting on a stone, the group stopping briefly so Wild could pass chilly elixirs to the more heat-affected members of the group,

‘How do you always stay so cool? The Vet griped, watching the shorter teen pull off his headband and use it to simply tie his hair back into a short ponytail, gathering his unruly blonde bob off his neck.

‘Do you have a secret item you use?’

Four shrugged, looking around at the miserable faces of the others with bemused curiosity. ‘I think I’m just used to it, I’ve spent most of my life in a forge.’ He pointed out.

Legend had simply made a frustrated noise and a disgusted face and had drifted away, shoulders slumped from the relentless heat sapping the energy out of his body.

Four watched him go, mystified, and had shared a slight grin with Wild who, well-used to the extreme weather of the land he was born into, shrugged in answer.

It was for this reason, when Wild had to go to Goron Village in Death Mountain to top up his Goron spice store for when they moved away from his era, he had invited the Smithy. With his eyes flashing purple, Four had agreed almost instantly, claiming he’d never been to an active volcano before.

Excited as always at the prospect of showing one of the others a new part of his Hyrule, Wild had immediately reached into his slate to grab two flameproof elixirs.

‘It will still be really, really hot even through the potion.’ He warned, making the Smithy pause. ‘But if you want to leave at any point, we can.’

Wild hesitated. ‘We’re also going to have to teleport there. It will take days to walk up to the village otherwise.’

Four faltered, the tips of his fingers brushing against the cool glass of the vial.

He hadn’t told the others why, but it was well-known that he handled teleporting the worst out of all of them. It made his colours blur together in, the slight difference in perception and way of thinking made him impossibly dizzy for several minutes as his colours resolidified and separated out from each other, of the two times he had teleported, once he had even passed out completely.

It was dangerous for him to be so vulnerable when he didn’t know what he was heading into, but in this case he knew Wild would be there and they would be in a safe place.

Vio’s intellectual curiosity, already close to the surface, won and he nodded. Determined not to let the unique opportunity he was being offered pass.

‘Alright.’ Wild said softly. ‘Drink this.’

He handed one of the fireproof elixirs to Four, downing the other one himself.

‘I have plenty more.’ He said as Four drained his own vial. ‘But, if it feels like it’s wearing off just let me know.’

Four nodded, swallowing with difficulty, suddenly nervous.

He felt a chill run down his spine as the potion began to overcompensate for the relatively comfortable temperature of the forest they were in.

He shivered.

‘Ok, let’s go.’ Wild smiled.

The Smithy reached forwards and put his hand on Wild’s arm as the other began swiping on the slate.

‘Have fun you crazy bastards.’ Legend mumbled with a lethargic wave from where he was propped, nearly boneless, against the side of a tree, clearly half-asleep. ‘At least we know Wild won’t be able to cause any damage because everything will already be on fire.’

Four snorted out a surprised laugh and then watched in dismay as the blue lights began to overtake his vision. He felt his feet lift off from the ground and the colours begin to merge together in a strange cacophony of sounds, none of which he could make out.

He sighed, vision overtaken with black.

Sweet goddess he loathed teleporting.

O o O o O

Moments later they arrived at the Shae Mo’sah Shrine and Four instantly slumped, the dizziness overwhelming him and he blacked out.

Wild caught him around the chest before he could hit the ground, concerned but not terribly surprised, and twisted to look at the Smithy’s face checking to see if he was ok. He was unsurprised to see blonde hair spilling over dull, half-closed, eyes and sighed in resignation.

He had now teleported with Four three times, and two of those, the young Smithy had passed out.

He didn’t know why Four had so much difficulty with the transition but the Champion was content to simply help as much as he could and keep his friend safe while he pulled himself together.

As he suspected, after a few long moments, Four began to stir.

His small hand came up to rest on Wild’s forearm, using it to heave himself back up to stand on his own feet.

‘…nggh?’ He breathed, disoriented and dizzy, his other hand to his forehead.

He tottered for a moment, clearly still very unsteady, before Wild saw the moment he managed to snap back into the present.

‘You ok?’ He asked softly, his arm still wrapped around the smaller teen in case he needed the support.

‘Yeah...’

Wild frowned. For a moment, it had sounded like Four was speaking with more than one tone. The smithy cleared his throat and shook his head before trying again.

‘Yeah.’ He said, sounding far more normal.

‘Urgh, I hate that.’ Curious eyes began to look around at where they had landed and his mouth dropped open in shock.

‘Woah…’ He breathed. ‘Wild… this is…’ he trailed off and stepped forwards several steps to peer off the edge.  

The magma pond that the village had been built around bathed the whole area in an unearthly light, black blobs of rock floated along in the burnt orange river of molten rock, the sound of the slow-moving lava falls that surrounded them was almost deafening.

‘This is unlike anywhere I’ve ever been before.’ Four whispered, mesmerised.

Wild grinned. ‘It’s also the hottest place in my Hyrule, are you ok?’

Four laughed. ‘Yeah, I’m boiling, but it’s fine.’

He reached up and undid his headband, looping it around his wrist for a moment before gathering his hair up off his neck into the short ponytail he wore when he was working in the forge.

He laughed helplessly, hands falling back to his side when he was done.

‘Well…that didn’t help at all.’ He looked around at the lava surrounding them, the air literally shimmering with heat.

‘Honestly… I don’t know why I thought it would…’

Wild laughed and pushed him towards the path. ‘Come on, let’s get this spice and then we can look around.’

O o O o O

As Wild disappeared into the grocery shop to buy the Goron spice, Four stood outside, looking out over the village with a smile.

Several of the Goron villagers were rolling along the pathways carved into the stone of the mountain, the ground shaking as they passed, just going about their business. The air itself seemed to be on fire, with little fragments of volcanic ash floating around him like snowflakes. He laughed when a group of Goron children stopped to wave at him, apparently as fascinated by the tiny Hylian in their village as he was of them.

The sudden, sharp, ringing of metal on metal caught his attention. He wandered to his left towards the sound, and noticed a large goron hammering away at an outdoor forge. The residual heat from death mountain keeping the temperature consistent enough for tempering metal.

The large Goron noticed him watching and waved him over.

‘Hello, Young Hylian. It is unusual to see your kind here.’ He rumbled.

He kept hitting the metal as he spoke and Four, noticing the point he was at in the tempering process, reached for the heavy metal tongs that would be needed for the next stage, so the obviously elderly Goron wouldn’t need to bend over.

When the Goron smith put down the tool he was using, Four handed him the tongs with a kind smile.

The Goron looked surprised and nodded in approval. ‘You are a blacksmith?’

Four nodded and Wild wandered over smiling, spice already stored safely in his slate.

‘Your style is different to what I’ve learned.’ Four mused. ‘It’s very interesting, I hope you don’t’ mind me watching?’ He grabbed the next tool needed and handed it over.

‘It is… appreciated.’ The Goron rumbled. ‘I am in need of a soak in the hot spring if I am honest. The minerals always help after a day in the forge, and I am not as young as I once was.’

Four tilted his head curiously. ‘Hot spring? Is that one of the outdoor baths I’ve heard people talk about?’

‘Wait…’ Wild interrupted suddenly, voice horrified. ‘Four…does that mean… have you never been to a hot-spring!?’

Four shook his head, eyes on the anvil where the weapon the elderly goron was making was slowly taking shape. ‘My Hyrule doesn’t have them.’ He looked up at Wild with a shrug.

In answer, Wild looked up at the Goron and grabbed Four by the wrist.

‘Sorry Rohan, but we have to go. We might not be … in the area for long… I can’t bring him here and not take him to a hot spring!’

The Goron laughed, the sound like gravel rolling around in a tin can and lumbered towards his tools.

‘No, you cannot young Champion.’ He agreed.

He turned his attention to Four.

‘There are several techniques that we Gorons have perfected which Hylians do not use.’ He rumbled.

He slowly turned, reaching for the iron hammer leaning up against the wall behind him and held it out to Four who took it with wide eyes.

‘If you study this, it will tell you what you need to know about Goron forging.’

‘Th-thank you.’ Four mumbled reverently. He placed it carefully in his pack and removed one of his handmade shields, passing it to the surprised Rohan.

‘I made this shield… it has a special inlay technique I don’t think the Goron know of...’ He trailed off, unsure.

Rohan looked down at it with a critical eye which widened, impressed.

‘Indeed… this is very impressive.’ He cast another, appraising, look over Four. ‘Thank you, young Blacksmith.’

Four nodded, blushing slightly, and looked up at Wild who was looking at him with his eyes crinkled in a smile and a proud gleam in his eyes, Wild’s hand tightened for a second around his wrist and he tugged on it slightly both of their smiles growing.

‘Come on.’ He turned in the other direction, tugging Four along for a few steps until he knew the smaller hero would follow him away from the forge.

They began heading away from Goron Village and further into the Eldin Mountains.

‘So, where exactly are we going?’ Four asked, confused.

Wild smiled and pointed across a long metal bridge that was connecting two sections of land. ‘The Goron Hot Springs are on the other side.’ He said, his voice tight with excitement. ‘I’m taking you there.’

Four looked up at him, uncertain, as they walked through the short rock tunnel to the bridge.

‘In the middle of a lava field?’ He asked, just as they left the tunnel. A new wave of dry, hot air hitting him hard and he blinked, steps faltering for a moment.

‘Isn’t it a bit ho-…’ His eyes widened and he trailed off, completely losing his train of thought, when he looked around himself, standing in the middle of the long, metal bridge. ‘…woah…’

The small Smithy moved towards the edge of the bridge, putting careful hands on the almost too hot metal and leaning out slightly.

It was beautiful, he could still hear the music from Goron Village playing, if he tilted his head to the left and leaned just so he could still see the edges of the houses.

The incandescent light of the lava was almost too bright here and he squinted. The stepped levels of lava falls roaring in the distance went all the way to the top of the mountain where the Divine Beast vah Rudania sat, a protector, overlooking the region.

Wild smiled and let him take it all in for a moment before gently grabbing Four by the wrist and pulling him forwards.

‘…woah...’ he said again, eyes lingering on the scene as his body was pulled forwards.

Wild laughed, obviously pleased with his reaction. ‘Wait until you try the hot springs!’

Four, nodded bemused.

After a moment, Wild released his wrist and reached for his slate, removing two more flameproof elixirs and handing one to his friend. Four, distracted as he was, only just noticing that the potion seemed to be wearing off.

He smiled sheepishly at Wild and downed the tonic, handing the bottle back and wiping his mouth on the back of his wrist, feeling the heat recede.

He looked up ahead towards the edge of the bridge and frowned, confused.

‘What is that?’ he asked, pointing to a lump of metal sitting on a metal track.

The Champion’s face lit up and he grinned, already running forwards. ‘Oh! You’ll love this!’

He climbed into the metal contraption, wild grin overtaking his face. Four, cautiously but curiously followed him up, regretting the decision when the Champion materialised a round bomb in his hands.

‘Gah!’ Four spluttered, startled, but Wild put a hand on his shoulder before he could leap back out.

‘Watch this!’ He rolled the remote bomb into the little cage at the far end of the contraption.

‘This is a mine cart, not sure who uses them besides me, but…’ he paused and grinned, a shiver of excited anticipation running down Four’s spine. ‘…hold on.’

Four lunged for the metal of the front of the cart, grabbing hold just as Wild detonated the bomb with a laugh of glee, the Smithy totally unprepared when the mine cart bust forward, rushing at incredible speeds along its metal track.

He felt his hair blow back from his face, dry, hot air hitting his face, the sudden, unexpected, movement filling his body with adrenaline and wrenching a surprised laugh from his throat.

He opened his eyes to see the overheated world sliding past them at incredible speeds. When they began to slow down, Wild threw another bomb into the cage and detonated it, speeding up their ride again.

This time Four was ready and leaned forwards, already laughing, this time in disbelief that he was enjoying this so much.

The cart finally slowed to a stop, at the end of the track, and he allowed himself to simply stand there for a moment, taking it in. He turned his head and stared at Wild with impossibly large eyes, speechless.

The Champion laughed at his expression and jumped from the mine-cart, hair a disgrace and looking very pleased with himself.

‘Fun?’ He grinned.

Four nodded rapidly, his short ponytail jumping at the movement and Wild smiled back.

‘Good! And now…’ He gestured around himself with a grand flourish. ‘The hot springs!’

Four leaned past his friend to look for himself. The smell of sulphur was muted here, a little more diluted than it was in the other areas they’d visited.

There were also several pools of shallow, clear looking water.  

They stopped at the edge of a pool and Wild immediately began to take off his boots and Champion’s tunic, obviously expecting Four to do the same.

The shorter hero, however, walked closer to the water and looked warily down.

‘Wild… isn’t this water boiling?’ He asked, watching the bubbles rise lazily to the top. ‘I know we’ve taken the flameproof elixir, but still. I don’t think I want to sit in boiling water...’

Wild shook his head, already down to his boxers and was tying his long hair into a bun.

‘No, it’s not boiling. The bubbles come from below the surface, they bring minerals to the water that are good for your skin.’

He took a step in and gave a low sigh of contentment, wading in further until he was sitting on a rock.

‘Come on, you’ll love it. You make any excuse to take a warm bath when we can get one.’

Four tilted his head, considering, Wild looked perfectly content and he really did love hot baths.

Cautiously, he reached down and swished his hand through the water.

It did feel pleasant enough. He began to remove his own tunic and boots.

‘If I’m boiled alive in a Goron Hot-spring, I’m going to be very annoyed at you.’ He muttered, only half-joking, making Wild snort.

When he was down to his boxers, he took one cautious step, then another, wading in until he was at waist height where he finally sat down on the rock next to Wild.

‘…oh…’ He breathed, eyes slipping closed.

The water felt like silk, the dissolved minerals made the water feel softer somehow, the bubbles hitting just the right places in his tight muscles and the water a perfect temperature.

He felt his shoulders relax and he leaned back, back resting against the rough basalt of the volcanic rock behind him.

‘Good?’ Even with his eyes closed, he could hear the grin in Wild’s voice.

‘Mmmhmm…’ he agreed.

He opened his eyes sluggishly and felt like he was in a dream.

He could see the smoke and lava billowing from the tip of Death Mountain in the distance, the smell of sulfur from the volcano hanging dense in the air, the roaring lava falls bright orange with chunks of floating, almost molten rock drifting past him.

He swished his hand languidly, feeling the dissolved minerals in the water, eyes slipping half-closed again.

He had learned to appreciate hot baths as an apprentice.

Sinking into the warm water when his muscles were stiff and sore, and knowing he was done for the day had always been his favourite way of winding down.

It was a luxury he’d never stopped appreciating and even now, the others knew if the inn they were staying at had a bath, Four would inevitably disappear for an hour or two after dinner.

‘Wild… your Hyrule is… amazing.’ He managed.

Wild made a sound of pleased agreement.

Sinking lower in the water himself.

‘No one really comes here except the Gorons.’ Wild said softly. ‘It’s too hot. Which makes it a good place to just relax.’

He grinned and turned to face Four properly unable to suppress an amused snort at the image his friend presented.

Already, there were high spots of colour appearing on the Smithy’s cheeks from being in contact with the warm water. The normally intense stare of the young man was muted, dulled, his irises larger and his expression, unfocussed, bordering on dreamy.

He was still moving his arms lazily, seeming to enjoy the soft feeling of the water on his skin.

Apparently, he was lost in his own head the way he sometimes was.

‘Nice?’ Wild laughed, glad Rohan had mentioned the hot springs so he could bring Four here to relax.

It took Four a moment to respond but he blinked sleepily and hummed in agreement.

A Goron walked past on his way towards one of the other pools, nodding a greeting to Wild who waved in response.

‘I think I like hot springs.’ Four added vaguely, attention drifting again. ‘Rohan was right, a bath like this after a day in the forge would be…’ he trailed off and sank deeper into the water with a happy sigh.

‘Oh, watch this!’ Wild said suddenly, obviously remembering something and catching Four’s attention before it could drift again.

The Champion pulled out his slate and then grabbed several eggs, dropping them into the water. A few seconds later, they floated to the surface, their outside layer slightly browner than before.

He scooped one out and offered it to Four, who took it, confused eyes drifting between the egg in his hand and his friend’s expectant face.

‘It’s cooked!’ Wild grinned, beginning to shell his own.

‘The Gorons say that for every hot spring egg you eat, you add seven years to your life.’ He took a bite, which encouraged Four to begin peeling his own, carefully setting the shell in a small pile next to the spring.

Four took a bite of his hot spring egg and hummed in pleased surprise that the yolk in the middle was still runny.

‘Mmm!’ He exclaimed happily, mouth too full to speak.

His eyes drifted out across the lava field, up the lava fields and to the top of Death Mountain to the enormous, unbelievable, divine beast Vah Rudania at the top.

Wild handed the Smithy another hot spring egg and they clinked them together laughing.

Chapter Text

‘Where exactly are you going?’

Wild froze with a guilty wince at Time’s rumble, one hand on the rough wood of the door, and a boot already over the threshold, obviously about to slink out of their inn at Kakariko village. He’d thought the others were all too occupied to notice his escape, but it seemed the Old Man had been watching.

Of course he had.

Wild turned around slowly, trying to look innocent, latching the door with a quiet click behind him.

‘Nowhere?’ He tried lamely.

Time simply stared, his arms crossed over his chest and a wry eyebrow raised. The Champion gave up all pretenses with a sigh.

‘I was just going to head up to the hills for a bit of fresh air.’ He muttered looking guilty. ‘That’s all.’

Surprised, Time looked him over for a moment, his other eyebrow raising to join the first.

It was approaching late-afternoon and they had been busy restocking in the village all day, it would make sense for the wild young man to be feeling a little claustrophobic after spending all day in what was, in his Hyrule at least, a bustling metropolis. 

‘Do you mind if I come along?’ Time asked quietly. ‘I’d like a chance to see more of your Hyrule.’

Wild visibly perked up. ‘Really? Of course! Come on!’ He turned and pushed open the door.

‘Hang on, Cub.’ Time said drily. ‘I’ll just let someone know we’re going.’

Wild nodded, sheepish, and watched the older man disappear into the side room where Legend and Warriors were talking quietly, sharing a drink by the fire in the inn's communal parlour.

When he reappeared, moments later, he was already pulling on his heavy plate armour. He caught Wild’s rather baffled look and smiled slightly.

‘It’s better to be prepared, Cub, your Hyrule can be unpredictable.’

Wild ducked his head and dodged out of the front door, holding it open for his friend to follow him.

Time let his gaze linger on the small mountains that surrounded the small village, still buckling his gauntlets. ‘Lead the way.’

O o O o O

The silence, as it usually was with Time, was comfortable.

Yet, Wild still found himself shooting several glances at him as they made their way through the hills, nervous, without really knowing why. The older man tended to keep his thoughts to himself and his expressions inscrutable leaving the others to guess what he was thinking. But the archer wasn't entirely sure how he felt about the eldest feeling the need to wear a full set of plate armour for a casual walk in the wilderness.

The Champion knew the dangers of his Hyrule better than anyone, but he'd be lying if he didn’t admit to himself that Time’s apparent impression of his land didn’t sting slightly.

Wild loved his Hyrule, despite its flaws, and found himself wishing the eldest hero would allow him to shoulder some of the responsibility. After all, he had traversed the entire kingdom again and again, he knew that some areas were completely safe and he would never lead his friends into danger.

Almost an hour passed with barely a word passing between them as they walked higher into the hills. By now Kakariko was completely hidden in the valley far below, making the heroes feel like they were the only two Hylians left in the kingdom.

Wild tilted his face up to the breeze, letting it brush through the strands of his hair and gave out a long sigh of satisfaction letting his eyes flutter closed for a moment, feeling the tense muscles in his shoulder unwind.

After the staring, curious, eyes and bustle of the village, he had needed this.

‘Are you hungry?’ He asked suddenly.

A light dusting of pink appeared high on Time’s cheekbones and the long-haired teen smiled. ‘…maybe a little.’ Time admitted. ‘We’ve been walking for some time.’

Wild looked around them critically for a moment before leading the way towards a large tree at the top of a hill, which he knew had a view of the grassy plains around them. 

‘Come on. I’ve got some skewers in my slate.’

Looking rather pleased with the sudden turn of events, Time followed Wild to the top of the hill. With a long, slow exhale, he allowed himself to sink down to sit next to the Champion and accept the meat and mushroom skewer he was being offered with a grateful smile.

The long grass below was dancing in the warm breeze and several small dragonflies were darting around the fields, looking for smaller insects and bugs to eat.

Time sighed his own eyes drifting shut for a moment before he bit into his skewer with relish.

Wild grinned.

Somehow knowing that the Old man had needed this as much as he had made him feel better about trying to sneak away.

‘You know.’ Wild began absently, a critical eye on the grassy hills below them. ‘This would be a great spot for shield surfing. Not too many rocks, no monsters, no sudden drops.’ He chewed on a grilled mushroom thoughtfully.

Curious, Time followed his gaze.

It was a wide-open field, there were several clumps of trees dotted here and there, but not much else. He gave a low hum of agreement acknowledging the Champion's observation.

‘And…’ Wild said an idea obviously just occurring to him. There was the vaguest hint of a challenge colouring his words. ‘You still haven’t actually tried shield surfing…’

Time stopped chewing and turned to look at the young man who was grinning at him.

‘No one’s around...’ The Champion tempted after a while.

Still Time said nothing.

Wild’s grin grew.

A long, tense beat of silence passed and Wild was beginning to think he had pushed the other too far with his teasing.

‘…give me a shield.’

Wild cheered and reached for his slate. He pulled out a Radiant shield for himself and a Royal Guard’s shield for Time who looked as if he was already regretting his impulsive decision.

Wild, excited at the prospect of sharing one of his favourite hobbies with one of his favourite people, led Time towards the hill.

The elder looked down cautiously and swallowed, the hill seemed much steeper from this angle.

He had seen all the boys try shield surfing at one point or another since Wild had joined the group but had never personally joined in.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, on the contrary, Time’s upbringing in the Kokiri forest meant that no matter how old he became physically, he would always have a childlike streak that he couldn’t suppress. It was, according to Malon, one of his most endearing qualities.

But he had a responsibilities and a reputation to uphold.

Since he had met the group of young men and had become their unofficial leader, he tried to never show weakness. No matter what he himself was feeling, whether he was in pain from an injury, or exhaustion was tugging at him and demanding that he rest, he was always the epitome of a competent warrior and leader.

Frivolous activities, like shield surfing, just didn’t fit into the image he was trying to maintain. If he let that image slip, even for a moment and something happened to shatter the others’ confidence in him, he wasn’t sure he would be able to claw it back again.

At the back of his mind was always the thought that every decision he made could have serious, lasting consequences. The screams of the redeads that had dotted Castle Town when he first exited the Temple of Time seven years into the future still haunted his nightmares.

He'd learned to always be battle ready, to don his armour despite how it chafed at his skin, to never let the discomfort show, and to always stand with his spine straight and his shoulders back, acting the part as much as embodying it.

They lived dangerous lives, if he was to falter he might put the whole group in danger.

But... in Wild’s expansive Hyrule, with only the Champion next to him and only the untouched wilderness in front of him, without even the outline of a distant building or a horse and cart to remind him of what was at stake, what he should do wasn’t as clear as what he wanted to do.

Could a decision as simple as trying shield surfing really be so far-reaching as to put others in danger? Or was it simply that his mind was trying to trap him into the same pattern of catastrophic thinking he had fallen into so deeply after his last adventure.

The same dark, compulsive, thoughts that had left his mind roiling in turmoil and Malon desperately worried as for months after returning from Termina, unwelcome thoughts had plagued him, forcing him to change his daily routines into a series of tasks that he felt he could control.

The thoughts had compelled him into repeated, unnecessary, handwashing that had left the skin of his hands red and raw; had driven him to stumble downstairs four, even five, times a night to check that the stove was off and the front door was locked; had even pushed him to hold his breath when walking past the village graveyard as his constantly churning mind tried to manage risks he wasn't entirely sure existed.

Did he really dare to let the image of perfection slip, even just for a moment for a moment? 

‘Time…Y-you don’t have to if you don’t want to.’ Wild said softly.

Time blinked, realising he had been glaring at the shield in his hands as he thought.

He shook his head, forcing his expression to soften. ‘How do I get on?’

Wild looked at him with a searching expression for a moment, vibrant blue eyes apparently seeing through the façade and witnessing more than the Hero of Time was entirely comfortable with.

Wordlessly, Time averted his gaze and looked down the grassy hill, feeling strangely vulnerable after his decision to allow himself even this much freedom.

The Champion nodded slowly, his eyes now surprisingly serious considering what they were doing.

‘Just put the back edge of the shield on the grass and hold it there with your foot. When you’re ready to go, put your other foot on the front half of the shield and lean forwards. Keep your weight over your knees.’

With a deep breath, Time did as instructed.

He leaned forwards, felt the shield tilt and bent his knees.

A jolt of adrenaline ran through him when the shield began to slide, taking him past the point of no return.

He knew he would be able to do this, he could picture the perfect stance in his mind, he had studied Wild and the others as they slid down numerous hills, had seen himself what worked and what didn’t.

He took a deep breath, the wind blowing through his hair.

Almost straight away, he leaned forwards too far and the front edge of the shield bit into the grass, sending him tumbling. His armour clanked awkwardly, and he rolled several times before finally coming to a stop, caught in a wide tuft of long grass.

He lay there for a moment in disbelief, looking up at the darkening sky above him. He heard Wild’s gasp and then footsteps running towards him.

He had… failed?

‘Time!’ The Champion skidded to a stop next to him, stumbling slightly when his boot caught in the tall grass. ‘Are you ok?’

Looking at the concern on Wild’s face the older hero took a second to really think about that question.

Was he?

He wasn’t injured, the kingdom was still standing, no one was in danger, and from a look in Wild’s eyes, the Champion didn’t think any less of him after seeing him tumble down a hill.

A flash of surprise washed through his whole body and he felt a moment of clarity, some of the tension that he always carried in his shoulders faded a little.

He had failed, despite his confidence.

And he was still ok.

They were all still ok.

Maybe he really had been falling back into the old patterns of thought after all, putting pressure on himself that didn’t need to be there.

‘I’m fine, Cub.’ He smiled, already feeling better. He hauled himself to his feet and looked around. ‘Where did my shield go?’

Wild pointed to the left and Time saw the edge of the shield sticking out from a clump of grass. He trudged over to retrieve it, the armour around his chest made bending awkward as he struggled to tug the metal from the grass.

They began to walk back up towards the tree at the top.

‘I don’t think this helps.’ Time said unexpectedly. Wild watched, wide-eyed when he reached up to begin unbuckling his chest plate, placing his armour in a neat pile under the tree and leaving him standing in his tunic and undershirt.

‘Alrght...’ Time said with deep, fortifying, breath. ‘Show me how this is really done.’

Wild nodded, his own expression clearing when he looked Time over and saw that he looked lighter.

O o O o O

Almost an hour later, Time had gotten the hang of it.

The Old Man was laughing from deep within his chest, sliding down the hill on the Royal Guard’s shield like he’d been doing it all his life.

He shifted his weight slightly to one side, taking a different path down the hill. He took a sudden, shallow breath, tensing his core and legs and twisted as Wild had shown him, doing a full spin as he slid.

His laugh turned into a slight gasp when he didn’t quite complete his revolution and landed off balance. The front edge of his shield caught in a hole that was hidden by overgrown grass and he launched into the air, with a strangled cry of alarm, sending several panicked crickets bounding away in surprise. He landed surprisingly softly, rolling further down the hill to keep his momentum until he was stopped by long, strong, blades of fragrant grass.

He sat up still laughing heartily, grass stains on the front of his tunic from the numerous tumbles he'd taken over the last hour as Wild slid to a stop next to him, beaming and holding out a hand to help him up.

‘You almost made it that time!’ He said, clearly pleased. ‘Just a little more and you’ll have it! I can’t believe how fast you’re getting the hang of this, not even Wind picked it up this fast and he’s used to standing on boats!’

Time smiled warmly back, his dimples, rarely seen visible in his cheeks, making him seem much younger than normal.

He took the shield that Wild was holding out to him and together they began to trudge back up the hill.

O o O o O

With a laugh, Time rolled onto the soft grass, laying with his arms out and looking up at the clouds rolling past in the darkening sky. His body was heavy, and his thoughts were still and quiet for the first time in a long time.

He grinned when he realised that he was tired, not from stress or fighting, but from an afternoon of playing.

Wild stumbled over and flopped down next to him with a content sigh, pulling him from his musing.

‘Next time everyone's shield surfing. We should convince the others you’ve never done it before. I want to see Wind’s face when he sees you slide down the hill like you’ve been doing it your whole life.’ He laughed.

Time’s lips twitched up at the thought. He wished suddenly he hadn’t concentrated all of his efforts on learning to spin, and had instead asked Wild to teach him how to slide backwards, just so he could watch their horrified, impressed, faces as he disappeared down the next mountain side, maybe adding in a jaunty salute for good measure.

He wondered if he could tease out one of the Veteran's rare, open-jawed, stares. 

He chuckled and stretched his arms over his head languidly, giving a small shiver of delight at the feel of the soft wind blowing through the rough, woven, cotton of his tunics. The breeze was another rare luxury, one he normally denied himself, hampered by the armour he wore.

He didn’t remember the last time he had felt so safe and calm outside of Lon Lon Ranch.

‘I was feeling a little claustrophobic, Cub.’ His eye swept over the vast plains surrounding them, the long grass rustling gently. ‘Your Hyrule is amazing.’

Wild nodded, sitting up and allowing his soft, fond eyes to traverse the fields of his home.

He stood abruptly as if suddenly remembering something and held out a hand to the elder hero. ‘Come on.’

Time shook his head, regretful. ‘I don’t think I can do any more shield surfing today, Cub.’ He admitted.

Wild shook his head. ‘I want to show you something else, it’s dusk, they come out about now.’

Intrigued, Time accepted the Champion’s hand, allowing him to pull him to his feet and followed him through the long grass to the small thicket of trees they had been trying to avoid shield surfing into all afternoon.

The elder let his eye drift over the small, enclosed space. In the fading light, fat, bell-like flowers were beginning to glow at the base of several trees and at the edge of a small pond. He could hear the chittering, scurrying sound of squirrels in the trees and the gentle whisper of the wind through the long grass. Time felt like he had just entered a tiny oasis, an enchanted world that only the Champion knew about and was choosing to share with him.

Wild sat and began to pull off his boots and roll up the cuffs of his trousers while Time watched, unsure. Finally, with a satisfied sigh, Wild lowered his feet into the crystal clear water of the pond, wiggling his toes.

‘Come on.’ He tempted with a mischievous grin. ‘I know for a fact your feet feel like they’re on fire after all that shield surfing.’

Time tilted his head, conceding the point and copied the younger man.

He removed his boots and lined them carefully next to the Champion's, rolling up his cuffs and lowering his feet into the cool water. He sighed, the water was just on the cold side of tepid and was very soothing on his aching feet.

They sat like that for a long moment, the last of the sunlight gradually fading as the bioluminescent glowing of the flowers seemed to intensify.

‘Ah!’ Wild gasped quietly. ‘Here they come!’

Curious, Time followed his gaze to see small, yellow, blinking light flash into existence, quickly followed by another.

‘Fireflies?’ Time whispered, eye wide in wonder.

More and more of the tiny creatures began to glow, hovering silently as they sipped at the cool water of the small pond and let themselves dangle from the leaves and branches of the nearby trees.

Their yellow lights contrasted beautifully with the luminous blue of the plants at the base of the dark trees, reflecting on the pond and making the entire clearing glow with a mysterious beauty that made Time feel that magic must be nearby.

‘Sunset fireflies.’ Wild softly agreed. He held out his hand towards a glimmering light, holding it up to his face when the small creature landed on the tip of his middle finger, the intermittent flashing lit up his vibrant blue eyes making them look green.

‘They’re beautiful.’ Time breathed.

Wild slowly reached for the elder’s wrist, pulling it towards himself and gently passed the firefly that had landed on him onto Time’s outstretched finger.

Time swallowed the sudden lump of emotion in his throat and held the firefly up to his eye, curious to see what it looked like up close and heard Wild chuckle softly.

Several more, attracted by the one he was holding, began to float silently around him, and the eldest knew that his expression was awed, but he didn’t care. He looked up to see Wild was staring out across the pond watching the flashing light-show with a look of utter contentment on his face. 

Unable to entirely help himself, Time quietly shook off the firefly on his hand and pulled Wild into a gentle hug, noticing that the young man tensed for a moment in surprise before relaxing completely.

‘You are just as amazing as your Hyrule.’ Time announced sincerely. ‘I’m very lucky to have met you.’

Wild looked at him wide-eyed, again somehow piercing the surface to see beyond to the emotion underneath. Wordlessly he leaned in, wrapping his arms tightly around the elder.

O o O o O

‘Come on, Cub.’ Time sighed finally, a hint of regret colouring his tone. ‘We should probably start making our way back to the others.’

Tired and satisfied after their fun afternoon they crested the hill to find several small fireflies drifting over the carefully stacked pieces of his armour.

‘You… might want to put that back on.’ Wild said with a soft snort. ‘If we’re going to keep the shield-surfing a secret from the others.’

Time raised a confused eyebrow and Wild simply looked pointedly at his under tunic.

‘Oh.’ Time muttered in realisation. He had forgotten about the grass stains. He brushed at the green smudges with his hands, giving a deep rumbling chuckle and shrugged when they didn’t move at all. ‘You might have a point, Cub.’ He agreed with an easy laugh, reaching for the first piece of his plate.

O o O o O

The walk back was uneventful, and they strolled from the darkness back into the warm, yellow, glow that was Kakariko at night as if entering another world. The sound of music and laughing drifted through the streets from open windows and doorways a direct contrast to the sounds of insects and nature they had just left.

Wild led the way to the inn but was stopped at the door when Time placed a steady hand on his shoulder. The elder smiled fondly when questioning, but clear, ice-blue eyes swung up to look at him.

‘Thank you, Wild.’ He said softly. ‘That was… fun. I think I needed that... even more than I realised.’

Wild smiled back and then fixed the elder hero with a firm look that made him stop and blink in surprise.

‘If things get too heavy. Anytime you need to get away, no matter what era we’re in, just come and let me know.’

Time nodded, his eye slightly wider than normal but not entirely surprised. It seemed that the perceptive young man had indeed managed to see some of his inner turmoil.

‘I appreciate that Cub. And…’ he paused shoulders relaxing. ‘I’ll definitely keep it in mind.’

O o O o O

‘You’re back!’ Warriors greeted with a grin when they pushed into the living room at the inn and joined the others by the fire.

Wind pressed a couple of warm mugs into their hands. ‘Here! The inn master made cider! It’s not quite as good as yours.’ He muttered under his breath to Wild in case the innkeeper was nearby. ‘He added a bit too much sugar and not enough spice, but it’s warm and still really good!’

The two newcomers sat down on the two empty cushions next to Sky, sighing tiredly.

‘Where did you two disappear to all afternoon?’ Legend asked curiously, sharp eyes surveying them over the steaming rim of his mug.

Time and Wild exchanged a quick glance.

‘We just went for … a walk.’ Time managed smoothly.

Wild nodded his agreement firmly, his mug to his mouth so he wouldn’t have to speak.

A comfortable silence fell as the group continued to stare into the fire, sipping at their drinks.

‘Oh, Time! There’s a piece of grass…!’ Sky began with a smile, he shifted his cider mug to one hand, the other reaching up to pull the blade free of the elder’s shaggy blonde hair.

Wild snorted into his cider, and then tried to cover the soft sound by blowing, unnecessarily loudly, across the top of the beverage.

Legend, Four and Warriors were all looking at them curiously, eyes sharp.

Time cleared his throat and took a deliberate sip of his own drink. ‘...thanks.’

Chapter Text

Sky dug his fingertips into the sandy stone and squeezed his eyes closed with a giddy laugh.

A blast of pure ice tried to tear him from the sheer cliff face he clung to two body-lengths below Wild. He felt the pull of gravity against him and shifted closer to the stone as his adrenaline spiked, trying to press as much of his body against the rock face as he could to avoid the sudden wind.

Tiny pebbles and sprinkles of dust dislodged by his hands fell down on him and he breathed them in, coughing slightly and then laughed again, unable to help the sound from bubbling out.

He heard Wild give a laugh of his own, the sound thin and fragmented as the gust of wind tore it apart and carried it away.

He couldn’t believe he had let Wild talk him into this.

He couldn’t believe he had waited so long to try it.

He couldn’t believe how much he LOVED it.

The wind died down, and the Skyloftian leaned back slightly so he could see his next move. Biting his lip in concentration, he wedged his foot hard into another crack, the mistreated leather of his boot creaked in protest and his toes ached from the pressure as they were forced together inside his shoe. But he barely even felt the discomfort and simply straightened his leg with a huff of exertion, using the momentum to reach as high as he could for the next hold. He gripped on tightly, sending another sandy shower of loose stone down onto his head.

His forearms were already tiring and his hands were losing their strength, his fingers going numb.

‘Wild, wait!’ He called up to his friend with a breathless laugh.

The Champion looked down in apparent surprise and his eyes crinkled fondly at the expression on Sky’s face.

‘Oh!’ The Champion, now only a body length above him, looked around their immediate surroundings and then changed direction, heading easily towards a small overhang that was jutting from the cliff.

With enviable strength Wild jumped the last move, landing lightly on his feet. He gripped the wall in front of him and immediately shuffled sideways to make room on the small ledge for Sky as the older teen followed more slowly.

The Skyloftian’s stamina was fading fast and he looked down past his boots to where the world dropped away to a very, very long fall to the earth below. They had been climbing for hours, Wild enthusiastically introducing the Skyloftian to something that he called ‘free-solo’ and a passing Legend, apparently already familiar with the sport, had called ‘fucking crazy’. 

Sky had only known two things about Wild’s planned excursion, the first was that the Champion had apparently already tried over the last month to introduce everyone else in the group to his hobby. And the second was that he, after seeing the birds circling overhead and the wind whipping through the clouds, was extremely interested in trying. 

They had quickly learned that while Sky’s strength was excellent, his climbing stamina was not as good as Wild’s. To progress, they had decided that when Sky felt his arms tiring, he would call out, Wild would scope out a rest area and the Skyloftian would allow himself a small sip of stamina potion so they could keep going.

Sky had found the experience liberating, and was relishing the icy cold wind blowing through his locks, the way the air tasted fresh and pure at this altitude and the sheer adrenaline of being so high off the ground.  

With difficulty, he followed the Champion towards the small overhang, flashing a thumbs up when his upper body was draped loosely over the small rock and he was, in his mind, secured.

Wild reached over the sheer drop to hand his friend the acid-green bottle of stamina potion and watched as Sky took a sip, flexing his fingers a few times as he felt the strength return to his hands and the overused muscles in his forearms relax. 

‘I nearly fell off that time!’ Sky panted in apparently amused delight, as if discussing the weather and not the sheer thousand foot drop that awaited if his stamina ran out before Wild could find a suitable resting spot.

Without being able to explain why, the Skyloftian burst into high-pitched laughter, his hair and cape whipping behind him in a sudden gust of ice, small flecks of snow brushing against his cheeks. 

Wild threw back his head and laughed along, his cheeks flushed pink and his eyes bright with his own excitement.

‘I don’t know why I never realised that of everyone of course you would be the one who appreciated this…’ He mused half to himself as Sky clambered onto the rock and took another sip of potion. 

Sky took a moment to observe Wild, the Champion’s hair was wound up into corkscrews from the freezing wind, a smear of dirt had found its way onto his left cheekbone and a wide grin of pure, chaotic, joy was stretched from ear to ear. Captured by the moment and sharing his friend’s excitement he found himself grinning widely back.

He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and handed the empty bottle back to Wild, leaning back to look up at the mountain top that still loomed over them while the Champion placed the glass bottle back in his slate. 

A bird let out an eerie, echoing cry as it circled the peak far above them. 

‘Come on, Wild!’ Sky bounced on his toes slightly, keyed up and excited in a way the Champion had only rarely seen him. ‘I need to see what the view is like from the top!’ 

Wild looked up, plotting their next path and found several places on the cliff face that would be perfect resting places for the Skyloftian.

He was amazed at Sky’s natural climbing ability. His friend had a low centre of gravity and knew how to position his body from his sword fighting lessons. He balanced his weight evenly over his toes, pushing with his legs and keeping his arms straight as much as possible to conserve his energy. 

Wild felt a brief but sharp stab of admiration when Sky casually gripped onto the wall in front of them with one hand and then leaned out over the void below, staring straight down at the ground below to gauge how far they’d come. 

The Champion vividly remembered the first time he had climbed this peak. He’d had stamina similar to Sky’s at the time and although he had enjoyed the climb, he’d anxiously aimed directly for the resting spots, taking longer to recuperate and key himself up for the next section than was strictly necessary. 

It was clear that Sky had absolutely no fear of heights, and was treating their precarious perch of rock as if it was solid ground. 

Wild pointed up, watching as Sky followed his finger with his eyes.

‘We’ll aim for that next.’ 

Sky grinned, completely at ease and Wild felt a stab of fondness for his unassuming friend. This was the first time he had managed to convince someone to come with him, and sharing the experience was as much fun as he’d hoped.

‘Hup!’ The long-haired teen cried softly, jumping and latching onto the wall. He edged out and away from the outcrop towards the next and instantly felt gravity pulling on his body reminding him of the danger. 

He glanced down to look for his next foothold and peered into the sheer drop below. A jolt of adrenaline fueled fear lanced up his spine and he scrunched his nose, biting his lip to hold back a wild laugh. 

What they were doing was undoubtedly crazy. He knew that. But that was why it was fun.

Wild snorted slightly when he recalled Four’s reaction several weeks before. Apparently, the Smithy was quite fond of climbing, and had initially been more than happy to come along and join Wild. 

The short young man had been standing at the bottom of the cliff, picking his route and making mental notes about which hand would be best in which position and the footwork that might get him to the top most easily. Everything had changed when Wild had simply walked past him and begun to climb the wall with nothing more than his boots and a bag of loosely crushed chalk. 

Baffled, Four had hesitated, watching for a moment, sure that Wild was only testing the rock. 

The involuntary squeak of horrified surprise when he realised Wild’s definition of climbing did not match his own had Wild looking back down innocently even as the Smithy stared up at him with wide-eyes. 

‘Nope.’ 

Without another word, the Smithy had thrown the heavy rope he’d brought back over his shoulder. He spared Wild one more glance, his expression curiously blank, and then had walked away slowly, leaving the confused Champion dangling by his fingertips two body-lengths up.

But Sky. Sky was different. 

Although the Skyloftian didn’t often show it, he was cut from the same cloth as Wild and had been delighted when Wild had casually, but hopefully, suggested they try to reach the peak of the mountain.

The two had snuck out of camp early in the morning when the air was clear, fresh and slightly damp and the sun was only just beginning to peek out from behind the hills, creating patterns of orange and pink along the speckled clouds overhead. 

Wild brought himself back to the present when Sky let out a sharp gasp of surprise. 

The Champion glanced down watching as Sky’s fingers slipped from the coarse stone and he began to tip backwards. He swung his hand at the stone but the tips of his fingers only  brushed the rock uselessly.

‘WILD!’ He screeched far louder than the Champion had ever heard the soft-spoken young man. His feet came free from the wall and he began to fall in earnest.

‘Oh no!’ Wild shouted back gleefully.

Sky looked up as he fell, catching a glimpse of the Champion’s grinning face and mock salute and felt a jolt of annoyed amusement as gravity fully caught him.

He swung his body around to face the ground far, far below. He could see a tiny but growing black dot in the ground beneath him and knew immediately that it was his own shadow. Divots and sprigs of tree that he had spent hours painstakingly climbing past, rushed past him in a blur. The freezing wind blew his hair back from his forehead.

He let out a loud whoop, the air howled in his ears but he refused to close his eyes despite the stinging wind that pulled tears from them. He flung his arms out wide to embrace the wind, the loose material of his clothes whipping and cracking as he fell, another laughing holler of excited adrenaline wrenching from his throat.

Finally, after an eternity, when all he could see was his own shadow getting closer and closer to the ground, he pulled his sailcloth, letting the thick material snap open and support his weight. The howling wind in his ears abruptly stopped leaving the world feeling unnaturally quiet as his descent rapidly slowed. All he could hear was his own harsh panting as his pulse thundered in his throat. 

He aimed for an empty spot of soil and landed gracefully, folding his sailcloth away as soon as his boots touched the ground and immediately craning his neck up to look for Wild. 

The Champion had jumped as soon as he’d seen the Skyloftian land, and the echoing cry of his sudden screech rebounded off the cliff faces.

Sky plonked himself down on the ground, still breathing heavily and leaned back to watch as Wild snapped open the paraglider, taking a wide, scenic arc before landing next to his friend. 

Wild flopped down next to him, his legs sprawled out and closed his eyes for a moment as a blast of cold air gusted around them, pulling his long blonde hair into even tighter corkscrews. 

After a moment he opened one eye, and turned to observe his friend. 

‘Well?’ he prompted. 

Serious blue eyes and a troubled brow turned towards him and Wild felt his own expression fall at the uncharacteristically fierce expression, maybe Sky hadn’t enjoyed himself as much as he had thought. 

‘Wild, if you ever go climbing without inviting me again, I will never forgive you.’ 

The Champion snorted and hauled himself to his feet, pulling the taller man up with him. 

‘Noted.’ Wild laughed. ‘Come on. Let’s get back to the others before Twilight comes searching for us. I’ve got to get started on breakfast.’ He looked up at the position of the sun and made a surprised sound. He grinned wryly and shrugged one shoulder. ‘Actually, it’s closer to lunch now, Twilight is going to be so mad.’ He laughed, completely unrepentant and led the way from the cliff.

Sky took a deep, satisfied breath, following behind him with a grin. 

He couldn’t wait until he could convince the Champion to go again. He still wanted to see the view from the top of that mountain.