Chapter Text
The cold & strong winds were blowing across the Hebra Mountains, carrying snow with them. Despite the harsh weather, Revali, the proud Rito warrior, was practicing his archery at the flight range. His movements were swift and skillful, the arrows hit their targets at record speed -and yet- you could notice a hint of anger and frustration behind each forceful draw of the bow.
He prepared to fire another arrow.
The princess had come to the Rito Village to offer him the role of piloting the divine beast, Vah Medoh. He of course accepted, piloting the divine beast against the calamity was a great honor -and it served as some royal recognition towards his skills. Finally.
He just couldn't get the knight, who follows the princess everywhere, out of his mind. Upon the princess' visit, the knight had fought Revali, and as much as Revali wanted to deny it, he had struggled against the knight. He? The chosen Champion of the Rito had trouble with some pesty knight? And just when Revali thought he got the upper hand -the princess had interrupted them. The whole situation bothered him, but to be honest, he could've gotten over it (or at least tried), but because of his new role as the Rito Champion: he has to be involved with the princess, meaning, he has to see the knight each time. How asinine.
Revali fired the arrow, but it missed its target.
He groaned and rolled his eyes. Link. Even when he's not here, he's messing up everything. Link. The sword that seals the darkness had also chosen him. Why him? What's so great about him? Link. Chosen by destiny, born into greatness, never had to truly work for what he has. Why does it have to be him? Everything about Link got under his skin. From the way he's 'the chosen one', to the way he bested him in battle, to the way he's always so kind to him, despite of everything -and the way his dumb pretty blue eyes seem to shine with passion everytime he fights-
Sharply, Revali pulled a bomb arrow and fired it towards the target, blowing it up.
--
Ever since the sword had chosen Link, people have treated him… differently. He went from being royal knight to, well, the hero of Hyrule overnight. Link was honored by the new title, but he did enjoy the more peaceful life of just being the princess' trusted knight. Though, his new role meant he got to spend more time with the other champions. Link really liked their company. They were his friends. Family, even. Mipha has been his good friend ever since childhood, Daruk took him as a brother almost immediately, Urbosa has deep appreciation and respect for Link, for protecting Zelda, and Revali… he isn't exactly sure. Link likes to think they're friends, even if Revali isn't always that nice to him. Link wants to make sure they're good, that's why Link always makes extra effort being nice to him. Whether it is helping Revali during their missions or just smiling at him when they meet -nothing seems to work. If anything, Revali seems only more resentful towards him each time. Still, Link doesn't give up. Link's latest attempt was today. Zelda informed Link about group of Bokoblins and a Hinox that are causing trouble near the Rito Village. Apparently Revali had already some plans against the monsters -and Link of course was willing to help.
Link was waiting for Revali in front of the Rito Village entrance. He kept his eyes at the village, in hopes of maybe spotting him. Suddenly, Link felt gust of wind above, then behind him. Link turned his head slightly and saw familiar blue feathers from the corner of his eye.
"I still do not understand why do you think I need your help." Revali stood few meters away from Link, his back towards him & wings crossed.
Link now turned around fully, kind smile on his face. "It's good to see you, Revali."
Revali turned his head to have a better look at Link. Why is he like this? He kept his gaze, thinking something clever to say, but then scoffed, "C'mon. We have a job to do." He spread his wings and flew towards the skies. "The monsters should be in this direction!" Revali shouted, as he started making his way towards the mountains.
Link let out a soft laugh and kept his eyes at Revali, smiling fondly. Seeing Revali fly like that -it truly was breathtaking. Suddenly Link's fond expression turned into confusion. What was he thinking? Revali is a Rito, Ritos fly, there's nothing special about it. Though, he's still pretty amazing- Link shook his head. He should get going, they do have a job to do. He started to run after Revali.
--
Link wandered around the chilling wilderness -alone. He had lost Revali. Link knew the Rito champion was arrogant, but you'd think he'd wait for him. They agreed to do this together after all. What if he's already fighting the Hinox? All alone? Revali's confidence was one of his greatest strengths, but it was also one of his weaknesses. Link knew Revali was a skillful fighter and he could handle himself, but he couldn't shake the feeling of 'but what if'. Revali might not consider Link as his friend, but Link sure did -and now he was worried about his friend.
Link was walking along the side of a mountain and he was holding onto the rocky wall to keep himself more balanced. He noticed the wall was about to end and that there was a wider area behind the mountain. Field. As he was about to step into the field, he felt something grabbing him by the shoulders and flung him forcefully backwards. Link closed his eyes as he fell down, back against the ground.
"And what do you think you're doing now?" Link heard familiar, slightly angry, yet whispering, voice above him. He opened his eyes and saw Revali's bright green eyes staring at him. Revali stood top of him, bending over so that his face was close to Link's. He seemed kind of irritated. Link answered him with an awkward smile. He wasn't exactly sure what Revali meant. The only thing he was sure about was that he was relieved about the fact that Revali seemed to be alright.
"Hmph". Revali rolled his eyes and stepped away from Link, allowing Link to sit up.
"The Bokoblins and the Hinox are just around that corner", Revali explained, looking away from Link. "I was flying above them, trying to think of a plan." He turned to look at Link and pointed at him. "Until you almost ruined everything. What? You were just gonna march in without any kind of plan?"
Link looked at him in silence for few seconds, then just shrugged & smiled innocently. Isn't that what he usually does? Revali closed his eyes and sighed heavily. Link is absolutely unbelievable in the worst ways possible. He opened his eyes to look at Link again. And in the best, unfortunately. Revali walked past Link, hitting him on the head with his wing.
"Get up, 'hero'. Let's get those monsters out of here, shall we?"
--
Snow started to fall from the skies. Link and Revali were watching the group of monsters from higher ground. There were 10 Silver Bokoblins, that were gathered around a campfire. Preparing some sort of meat, it seemed. Then there was the Black Hinox, who was sleeping not that far away from the Bokoblins.
"So, any great ideas?" Revali asked, turning his head towards Link. Link placed his hand on his chin, apparently thinking of something. Then he got it. He took his Sheikah Slate out of his pocket and formed a bright blue bomb on his hand. Link looked at the bomb, then turned his eyes onto Revali, smirking playfully, looking for a response.
"A bomb? Wha- Link, no ." Revali shook his head. "An explosion here would cause-" Revali's eyes widened. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all . Link tilted his head, keeping his smirk. Is Revali smiling?
The Bokoblins were eating their food. Suddenly behind them, up in the mountain, they heard a loud noise and the monsters lifted their heads to its direction. Even the Hinox opened its eye a little. They waited. Then they started to hear a mild rumbling sound, that only grew stronger by the second. The Hinox now opened its eye properly and tried to see where the noise was coming from -only to see an avalanche of snow and rocks coming their way from the mountain. The Bokoblins started to scream and run away. The Hinox tried desperately to get up. As it finally got up, it glanced in the avalanche's direction, only to get swept away by the snow and rocks. The Hinox and most of the Bokoblins got buried under the snow, while some Bokoblins got flung over a cliff that was behind them.
There was complete silence. Upon seeing there was no monsters in sight, Revali appeared flying from the frost mist and landed on the snow. Link soon followed him with his paraglider. Revali followed Link as he landed next to him. Link's landing seemed little clumsy, he almost fell over once he landed on the ground. Is this really the chosen Hero of Hyrule? Goddess help us . Still, Revali couldn't help it -he also found Link's clumsiness kind of… endearing.
Once regaining his posture, Link met Revali's eyes. Link didn't see the same cold & harsh stare Revali usually gave him. Could he be… happy with Link? Revali had agreed to his plan and they did it. Link couldn't help the smile that was growing on his face. Perhaps the Rito Champion was finally warming up to him? The sudden realization of how much he actually yearned for the Rito's approval took Link by surprise.
They stared each other in silence for few seconds. Seconds that felt like they lasted longer than they should've. Link suddenly felt butterflies in his stomach and how his heart started to race. This feeling he felt with Revali… could it be-
Revali broke Link's train of thought with a cough, all the silence and staring was getting too uncomfortable. He took few steps forward, away from Link.
"That plan of yours. It was truly simplistic, I could've done this easily by myself. Then again, it was also full of all sorts of risks -no wonder I didn't think of it", Revali sounded annoyed. He turned around to face Link, and Link once again saw the cold stare he had gotten used to. Link's smile faded and he lowered his gaze away from Revali. He almost replied with 'well, you agreed to it', but he didn't want to aggravate Revali more, so he kept his silence. Revali studied Link's disappointed expression. Why does Link have this effect on him? There's something about him -many things actually- that make him want to hate him, but once he expresses that, he… Curses, seeing Link unhappy too was terrible.
"But" , he sighed, "I guess we did end up victorious… thanks to you", Revali's voice had more softer tone to it. And he had to admit to himself; it was quite… fun. Link quickly looked back up, looking more cheerful.
"Hmph." Revali turned his back at Link once again and closed his eyes. "Don't let it go to your head". He didn't want the hylian to see his own soften expression. What is this? Could it- no .
Suddenly the ground beneath them started to shake, Link and Revali were both trembling along with it. Then from the snow, with huge force, huge black fist appeared between the two warriors. Link fell back from the impact and hit his head on a rock when hitting the ground, and Revali quickly flew up. The Hinox was still alive and now rising from the snow.
"It's never this easy, I should've known", Revali murmured to himself. He started to circle around the monster, who had now gotten fully up. It shook the remaining snow from its body and let out a mighty roar.
"Tsk". Revali backed away from the Hinox as it roared. Link was still laying on the ground, slightly unconscious, but snapped out of it upon hearing the roar. He needed to move and fast. Link tried standing up as fast as he could, but the headache made his movements slower. The Hinox set its eye on Link and started approaching him. Link couldn't run away, the Hinox was already pretty close anyway. He took out his sword, preparing himself for what was coming.
What is he doing!? Revali thought and by instinct shouted out desperately: "Link!"