Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Link was no stranger to sleepless nights and this one was no exception. He tossed and turned himself into the wee hours of the morning when the golden glow of dawn began to pour into the window. Ah, well at least sleepless nights were good for getting to see sunrises. The nausea of an all nighter was almost worth it.

Carefully he picked himself over to the dresser and then down out of the loft, not wanting to wake the other two quite yet. He yanked his trousers on and then stumbled into his tunic by the time he got down to the living space. He was giddy with the idea of being alone out on the beach to greet the new day and he practically bounced out of the front door, barely managing to reel himself back in to drop a note on the table so his grandmother wouldn't worry.

Early morning, he would readily admit, was far from his favourite time of day. But even he couldn't deny the buzzing excitement of waking before the world did, when the air was still crisp and cool from the night and the winds blustered over the cliffs. Speaking of cold. Barely halfway to the bridge Link was already kicking himself for not pulling his nice thick wool tunic, the blue linen he'd chosen was fantastic for the hot days. It was, significantly less than fantastic for early morning chill. He clamped his teeth down to stop them from knocking together and focused on the sound of his footfalls to distract him from the stinging slowly spreading across his cheeks and ears.

All was forgiven when he finally broke through the tree line to appreciate the view. The sunrise over the ocean was always a breathtaking sight, he didn't think he would ever get sick of. It was in this rosy glow that Link managed to miss a strange golden glow until he was nearly to the beach. But, there it was. Washed up on the beach, something was emitting a beautiful golden glow. Identical to a light arrow now that he thought about it. Curiosity thoroughly piqued he pattered over to retrieve the object from the sand, scurrying back before the waves could come make him even colder. He could swear he could just barely see his breath.

When he was firmly back on the grass, he turned the item over in his hands with a poorly concealed squeal of utter glee. It was a conch shell, not a natural one though. This one was made of a fine, glowing, translucent amber with its edges gilded with gold. It was gorgeous and it was all his cause finders keepers loosers weepers. The poor sod that lost such a pretty treasure overboard would surely be kicking themselves soon enough, and that simply wasn't his problem. The glow faded with a soft giggle on the wind and left the shell dormant but still beautiful in his hands. Link cradled it to his chest as he jogged back to his house, interest in the pretty sunrise completely eclipsed by his interest in this strange artifact that had dropped itself right in his lap. Tetra and Aryll were going to be so jealous.

-----------

Link had been making his monthly trip out from his home for groceries when he heard a rumour of a strange magical occurrence in the north, and of course, this had caught his attention immediately. Magic may be rampant, but that just made it stand out all the more when someone thought to point it out. He'd taken the tip and geared himself up and headed out right away.

And that's how he had found himself here. 3 days away from home, an hour south of Rauru Town, staring down the 'magical occurrence'. Had it not been floating in the middle road and emitting an eerily disarming golden glow Link would have assumed he was looking at an ordinary, if extremely pretty piece of polished amber. As it were though, there it floated and setting aside his own curiosity he couldn't well leave it there to continue hassling the good townsfolk. Not that anyone could blame them for their unease when it was an open secret that the golden glow of light magic tended to attract the servants of evil still lingering, looking for a way to revive their king.

His prolonged staring contest had offered no further clues and so with great reluctance he started to edge towards it, his own magic coiling up protectively in his gut. When this too offered no answers he gingerly reached his hand out to poke at it, gasping softly and pulling his hand back when the magic pulled the Triforce into harmony, like a tuning fork with a choir. Well at least he could pick it up without getting any more cursed than he already was. Probably.

And in fact his feeling was right, as he extended his hand again the small gem dropped right into it, still warm to the touch and tingling with strange magic. Now this would be a fun little puzzle to untangle. With a quick scan of the area he bounced off to tell the townsfolk their road should be mostly safe again intent on getting himself home quickly so he could study the strange little gem further. After all, a good magical mystery could never be denied.

-----------

“Hey Link you're gonna wanna see this” Linkle called from the yard. Link, who had very much been enjoying the book he had been reading glared at the door for a minute before heaving himself up off the chair with a withering sigh. This had better be good.

Well. Good wasn't the word he'd use for it. There were two strangely shaped pieces of amber carved with an intricate clover design fitted together nearly perfectly, glowing on the ground, getting pecked at by the very interested cuccos.

“What the fuck is that?” He asked flatly. He already knew all he needed to know though really, which is that magical glowing artifacts that appeared from the ground were usually some kind of bad news.

“Trouble I think.”

“You gonna pick it up?” Link turned to her with an upturned eyebrow.

“I mean, I guess? We cant just let the cuccos eat it now can we?” She was stalling. In fact they both were. After all, most people have the sense of self preservation to not pick up strange glowing artifacts that appear from nowhere. Now of course, most people are not Link and Linkle, twin heros of courage.

Eventually, Linkle managed to edge her way closer to the thing, and promptly made a tactical retreat behind Link when the thing fucking levitated. She did not get paid enough for this. Alas.

“Hey I'm the one with the pretty face, and I need it to stay that way too” He argued, sidestepping behind her and spinning her by the shoulders to face the strange object.

“Oh fuck you we have the same face” She huffed, squaring her shoulders to face the object and regain the dignity she just lost.

It split itself apart and floated over to them “Oh great a boss fight for each of us, yippee” Link huffed and they could swear the things sighed at them with a world weariness that would better suit an old man then an ethereal magical artifact.

It was sun warmed and smooth and promptly stopped glowing as it dropped into their hesitant palms. Well, that was probably an issue.

“We should bring these to Queen Zelda,” Linkle murmured, “I think she'll know what's going on here cause it just doesn't feel good to me.”

“Good idea.”

-----------

Babysitting, Link would argue, was a much more noble job than heroics. Although, in his short life the two had seemed positively hellbent on overlapping themselves. This time, the little one year old Linkle, named in his honour despite how much Link had protested, had wiggled her hands in the dirt and seemingly conjured a small, prism carved of amber stone from thin air the second he turned his back.

“no nO NO,” Link broke out in a cold sweat and immediately entered the most high stakes wrestling match of his life. On this side, little baby Linkle with the speed of falcon swooping, the grip of a bublin and the self preservation of a chu chu. On this side, Link, Hero of Twilight, long suffering baby sitter who needs to mind the sharp edges lest the little one get hurt. 3! 2! 1! Go! She twisted from his grasp, intent on shoving the whole thing, edges be damned into her mouth, but oh! Link has gotten his hand over her mouth to intercept it! She slams it into his hand with force. First blood! Link is on the offence now, using his free hand to, whats this? He's tickling her! It's super effective! She's laughing and, there it goes! The amber is back in the dirt! And he's scooped it up and tucked it safely in his pocket to boot.

Finally free from the stress of wrestling the dangerous item away from the child Link let out such a sigh of relief that he didn't even register the tingle of magic sticking to his fingers as he scooped the girl up to take her off to play somewhere dangerous amber relics didn't appear from thin air. Which should have been the entire village, not that he was bitter.

“Link?” Uli had perked up from her chair to see where the two had made their way back to the yard early, she looked concerned as she strode over to them to pick up the little one out of his arms. “Link darling I don't mean to alarm you but are you aware your pocket is glowing?”

Of all the sentences he'd expected to hear that was certainly not one of them. Quietly, and with not a little discomfort he dug into his pocket and fished out the amber. Of course it was glowing. “Oh dear. Linkle found it in the dirt in the second I blinked I should've known it'd pull something like this. I swear she's got a nose for trouble”

“HA! You're telling me boy you can't go two seconds without her sticking her hands into danger” Uli shook her head disbelievingly, pulling the girl back away from where she was grabbing at the glowing piece of amber. “You know? It's the strangest thing but doesn't that little thing smell like the spring?”

Link hated it when things like this started to make sense. “Yeah. It does. Hm. I think I ought to take it back there then, but something tells me this is gonna be a whole heap of nonsense that unravels when I pull on this thread.”

“Another journey you think? Haven't you done enough already,” Uli shook her head, readjusting the squirming toddler, and pulling a rattle from her own pocket to distract the restless girl.

“I woulda thought but its not like I can go ask anyone else to deal with it, not with strange magic artifacts appearing out of thin air.” He shook his head, already resigned to his fate. He'd already done his job damnit. “Well, at least this time there's warning. I'd better go pack, I'd like to avoid a repeat of roughing it in my tunic in that forest.”

“At least come and stay for dinner before you go off will you? I got some stuff I can send with you just in case you really are gonna be gone for a while.” Uli gave a grim smile, determined to help in whatever way she could even if she wouldn't be there to go along with him. Barely 19 and already running around fighting demons and saving princesses and dealing with concerning magic artifacts.

“Oh Ma'am you don't have to,”

“Nonsense, and I won't hear a word more. I better see you at my table young man, you can't be saving the world on an empty stomach or with empty pouches.” had she had access to her spoon Link was sure it would have been waved threateningly in his face. He huffed a preformative sigh before flashing her a lopsided smile.

“Of course ma'am, I'd love to. I'll be right back to help mind the baby after I get my things packed up.”

“Alright dear, take care,” Uli smiled, glad Link wasted no time hightailing it away so he didn't have to see the worry and grief plastered all over her face as she took Linkle in to start on supper.

-----------

Link had been ignoring it. They ignored the calling pull they felt drawing them into Hyrule field. They ignored the dreams of faceless yet familiar figures laughing around the campfire. They ignored the itching restlessness that was driving them to dig out their plate mail. And now they were standing in the field bringing in a horse ignoring the very frazzled looking man setting a glowing amber relic on their doorstep. They weren't gonna make that mistake again. Instead they sauntered back out to the field, ignoring the grumbling of the poor horse.

It was still there when they got back after the man left of course. They gently nudged it into the flower pot by the front stair so they could continue ignoring it. This, predictably, did not work. The glowing got brighter and more insistent, and in fact it began to float menacingly towards them. They slammed the door on it and shook off the prickling unease building up their spine, and they ignored the feeling they wouldn't be ignoring this much longer.

“Link?” Malon called out from the stairs where she had the ledger book tucked under her arm, ah was it inventory time already?

“Malon honey, careful with the strange glowing amber thing on the way out.” they signed meekly, already resigned to the fact that they would be the one to have to deal with the glowing amber thing.

“And what makes you think I want to deal with the 'glowing amber thing' on the way out?” she huffed, features flattening out with barely disguised amusement.

Link sighed dramatically, letting out a drawn out noise of protest before moping their way back out the front door to deal with the thing they'd been so dutifully ignoring. It was still floating there. A perfect orb of glowing amber that they swore they could feel glaring at them.

“Okay fine. What do you want?” they signed and the orb took the opportunity to insinuate itself into their hands.

Of course.

Malon took one look at the strange object and shook her head “wanna try the sealed box?” Link nodded assent before taking the protesting orb away to the sealed box they kept some of their, less savoury artifacts in. They were thrice retired from the heroing nonsense and they had had well and truly had enough of strange magical artifacts waltzing uninvited into their life.

-----------

Now. They had only been out of the room for a couple minutes to make their tea, but they were certain that the strange object currently taking up residence on their book of Calatian customs had not been there before. It was circular, about six inches in diameter, ornately carved from a single chunk of fine translucent amber. Oh and it positively reeked of magic. Right. That was Red's specialty and, unwilling to touch it (just in case), they backed out of the study, resigning the report they had been commissioned to do for after the strange magically appearing artifact had been dealt with.

“Red?” Vio called from the hallway, the other hero was sprawled bonelessly across the couch, one leg up over the back rest, the other curled against his chest, head on the armrest and nose firmly planted in the novel he'd been raving about the other night.

“Huh?” Red looked up, blinking his eyes back into focus, head still fuzzy from the transition between the reading and the looking over to where Vio stood with their arms folded over their torso. “What's up?”

“Do you know about any magical amber mirror-sculptures that appear out of thin air?” they asked, leaning, hip against the door post.

“Uhh, no I don't think so.” Red mused, suddenly very interested in where this might go, cause really who knew if Vio just wanted to share an interesting research discovery or if they were talking about a real object that really just appeared, the latter of course being a much more exciting idea to him.

“Hmm, well. It just decided to make a home on my notes and I don't really want to touch it without a second opinion do you think you could help me out?” Aha! a real object! Vio jerked their head towards the study and Red nodded obligingly, dog-earing his place in his novel and wiggling himself off the couch to follow along into the study.

And, wow, Vio really wasn't joking about it reeking. The honey-sweet scent of light magic fully permeated the air even before they opened the study door. The mirror itself was beautiful, perfectly round without a stem at the bottom to hold, with a flat polished middle framed by intricately carved flowers. Two types of tall flower, a small pretty bush like flower, tulips, morning glories, daisies, and roses it looked like. The carving seemed to extend onto the back. It must have cost a fortune to have made. Red made his way over to gingerly pick it up. It was warm to the touch, and it seemed to call out for his magic the way his Pegasus boots would if he hadn't run in a while. Obligingly, he pushed his magic into it and immediately a great golden portal opened between the pair and the door, thrumming to life with a hum like electricity and drawing a shriek of fright out of the both of them. Vio had to jump back almost on top of the desk to avoid falling headlong into it. Red retracted his magic immediately after glancing over at Vio and the portal went quiet and then dissapeared with a soft pop.

“Well I figured out what it does” Red grinned, heart pounding in his teeth.

Vio levelled him with a flat glare and opened their mouth only to get interrupted by Blue basically diving into the room with a loud shout of “what WAS that?!”

Green was right behind them, almost bowling them over when they stopped abruptly. “Is everyone okay?” he asked, taking in the frazzled looking pair, the strange mirror, and the aftertaste of strong magic with an increasingly deepening scowl.

“We're fine. That thing appeared out of thin air and Red decided to test out in the house,”

“RED” Green and Blue chorused

“Viooo, it was fine. It didn't seem dangerous and I was right so it's fine” Red whined, hiding his blush ineffectively with the mirror.

“I mean yeah I trust your judgment with magical signatures but in the house? What if it was like? A magical rod?” Blue groused, pinching the bridge of their nose, visibly running through a mental list of all the ways it could have gone wrong.

“Why am I getting the sinking feeling this is gonna be adventure number four” Green grumbled, moving over to poke at the mirror a still very bashful Red was holding.

“That, my dear greenbean, would be the great glowing golden portal it opened in our study that tried to swallow me” Vio quipped back, earning a snort from Blue and a long suffering sigh from Green.

“Maybe it won't be an adventure, you don't know guys!” Red shot back, and then immediately cracked when Vio raised an unamused eyebrow in his direction. “Ok ok ok ok. Fine. Yeah, we should probably go pack up. But hey! Look at the bright side, at least it's letting us come to it instead of coming to us this time!”

“I hate to break it to you Red but last time we went to it too” Blue deadpanned.

Green poked at the mirror for another moment before pausing “Hey should we go through fused together?”

“Yeah, I'd rather not get separated” Blue mumbled, rubbing at their forehead as if to stave off a headache. Green nodded in agreement, deciding the matter to be settled before running off to pack.

-----------

“Delivery for Link of Kakariko!” The postman calling roused Link out of his coffee. That's strange, he certainly didn't remember ordering anything. Still, in a move he would soon come to regard as foolish he padded over and swung open the door.

Sure enough the postman was stood there with an expensive looking letter and an ornate little box. Huh.

“It's addressed form Lady Farore the Oracle, pretty fancy stuff eh? Now how'd our little blacksmith get the attention of a girl like that I wonder” the postman waggled his eyebrows teasingly and Link certainly did not blush. But he did scowl.

Sensing the shift in demeanour the postman leaned over to whisper conspiratorially “Ohhh i get it i get it, but still you really ought to take this, the depot workers told me your ex is pretty terrifying.”

Ok maybe now he was blushing, but only because the idea of Farore being his ex was really just too much to handle. “She is not my ex” he grumbled, taking the package reluctantly. Why he couldn't so much as look at a girl without the whole town working the rumour mill was beyond him.

“Uh huh uh huh sure thing champ, anyways you have a good day there” the postman chuckled, practically skipping back down the garden path leaving Link standing in his wake with the gift heavy in his hands and a strange feeling he was about to be dealing with some goddess forsaken bullshittery again. And he'd finally got the old peach tree to blossom again. Oh well. Too bad for him. He stalked his way back into the house, dropping the things on the table before getting on with it. He was packing his bag before getting swept away on another quest dammit.

“Liiiiink? Your package is glowing” Ah, Ravio was home.

“Well tell it to stop glowing, I'm only half packed up” he shouted back, pausing for only a moment to listen for any more shouting before nodding to himself and hastily shoving the rest of the equipment he'd picked out into his pack. He thought about it for a moment before also deciding to change into his enchanted armour. Forewarned is forearmed eh?

“Link I think I made it mad it's floating now”

“oh for- HOLD ON” he stumbled out of the store room overtunic still barely over his head, arms full of pack and, yep, it was floating and glowing. Great. Ravio, wisely, was crouched in front of the ware table to escape the inevitable magical shenanigans approaching.

“Hold your damn horses I haven't even read the letter yet” he grumbled, eyebrows shooting into his hairline when it plopped obediently back onto the table. Well wasn't that just sweet. Hackles raised, because seriously it is never that easy, Link began to approach the table.

“This is another quest, isn't it?” Ravio had snuck up beside him, and that certainly didn't send him jumping three feet straight up and into a landing right on his ass, no matter that the purple cretin was giggling like it had.

“I don't know why they won't just leave you alone Mr. Hero” Ravio's tone was sad enough that Link decided to have the grace to not grump at him for nearly giving him a heart attack. He even readily accepted the hand Ravio offered to pick him up.

“Yeah you and me both buddy” Link grumbled, lingering while Ravio straightened out his overtunic with a firm tug.

“At least be safe yeah? Or I'll have to charge you triple” Ravio grumbled, pulling him into a hug.

“Yeah” Link was just too tired to even fight it, he knew they both knew what was coming. He didn't notice how Ravio's face fell as he leaned into the hug. He knew better than to hope for the comfort of familiar, safe, people on a quest for the goddesses by now, so yeah he was willing to unbend his pride a little to get it while he could.

“I've put it off long enough, lets rip out the nail already” he sighed, pushing off Ravio and pointedly ignoring the frown he got and the uncomfortable feeling of guilt and mourning welling up in him like a spring fed from an underground sea.

The box held a necklace, plain at first glance. A simple diamond shaped setting of gorgeous amber with a red cord. It was unassuming which did the very opposite of calming Link's frazzled nerves. He set it back down quickly, not particularly enjoying the magic residue it left on his fingers and snatched up the letter.

Dearest Hero,

I am very excited to finally be writing to you about this. As you know, my sisters have both given you a quest and an item and it is finally my turn to do so as well. I already know that this one will end up being your favourite of course, but you'll have to wait and see that for yourself. In the box I have enclosed my item for you, the Necklace of Secrets. When you have prepared yourself, simply put on the necklace and channel your magic into it as you would with a magical rod, a portal will open for you to step through. I wish you the best of luck and the truest of happiness for your final journey.

With the deepest of love and gratitude,
Farore, Oracle of Secrets :)

Well shit.

-----------

The time had finally come to clear out the storage shed Link had filled during his journey, though Link had sought for just five minutes more away from the task by running off to get them a snack 'to help them focus' he'd said. Zelda would be lying if she said she didn't find it horribly endearing though. A glint of magic caught her eye from one of the piles to the left and she moved to investigate with a grin, many though they were, there were so many interesting things she itched to get her hands on. The glint had come from a strange amber relic, one in a bag of what looked to be hundreds. Honestly, why he'd collected that many eluded her. Still, this particular one stood out and she turned it over in her hands. Unlike the carved stones in the bag this one was jagged and rough and felt like sleep, she pushed away the memories it conjured up as the weight of them tugged her lips down into a frown. Links mouth in a matching frown appeared in her periphery and she turned to face him.

“My love?” he asked, the gentle tone sending butterflies through her stomach and bringing her grin back full force. She offered it to him and he took away the offending relic, both of them gasping gently as it began to glow with the unmistakable gold of her magic. She frowned again, certain she wasn't using her magic, at least, not yet, which had to mean..

“I think this is the beginning of another journey.” Zelda entwined her hands with Link's free one, “you know? I really wish I wasn't always so damned cryptic about these things,”

“Hey now be fair the first time was only because it was like, hundreds of years so that's probably what it is this time. 'Sides, if I know you Zel, you're on the other side of this journey laughing your ass off at us,”

“Yeah? Well future-me can shove it cause it's sure as shit not funny right now.”

Link let out laughter hearty with disagreement “Hey look on the bright side, at least it waited for me to graduate. I would've been so grouchy if Hero Duties made me fail my exit exams”

“I know, apparently.” She deadpanned, taking the relic back to study it more carefully.

“Well, I guess cleaning out was a bust and I should go pack and bring you back home a thousand more treasures to decorate your home, maybe even one good enough to be my dowry” He teased, a big goofy grin easing the nerves, even as she rolled her eyes good naturedly.

“Okay fine fine, but please no bokoblin skulls this time, please” she gave him a playful shove, depositing the strange thing into his pocket. Surely they'd figure out how to use it eventually.

Link's smile dropped “Stay safe ok?”

“Hey now, I passed those exit exams too, you don't have to worry about me too much” Link received the Finger Point of Certain Doom, though the determined smile gracing her face certainly didn't match the serious action.

“I know I know, goodness gracious” he groaned, leaning into her shoulder dramatically before pressing a gentle kiss to her temple and then her cheek, and finally to her mouth before the two burst into dizzy giggles that broke them apart.

“And Link?” she asked, stopping him in his tracks before he could make it out the door, “Take Fi with you. If it's hero stuff she should go too,”

“Of course,” Link schooled his face back into a smile, trying to combat the dread and hope rising in equal measures. He just hoped he would make it through this one on time.

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

“Link, do you feel that?” Flora rolled over to face him from where she'd been laying by the fire. He quirked an eyebrow at her before furrowing his face up in his 'concentration scrunch'. She giggled at the sight, revelling in the comforting sense of normalcy in their camp despite the strange pulse of magic that disturbed them.

“Yeah,” he signed “the lost woods right?”

“Wow, you got a location?? All I got was a vague northward pull.” She pouted, she still had yet to fully understand the unnerving sense of direction her friend had apparently acquired on his journey. “should we teleport there or do you think we should head up from the tower?”

“We should eat dinner, I think it can wait”

“Well, yeah, but after dinner. I don't know it's exciting, it feels exciting doesn't it?” Flora was already acquiescing and pulling out the shiekah slate to get the ingredients out to start the prep work despite how she longed to run into the woods towards the strong magical pull, it felt familiar and new all at once.

“It feels like you. Like you're here and there at once” Link paused to think before nodding and taking his fry pan to set it up for cooking.

“Like me?”

Link smiled fondly, setting the pan down on the coals, “yeah, like you when you use your powers,” his signs were decisive, but his eyes were soft, like they were when he spoke about the other champions. She could bear the bad memories to see that look on his face.

“Do you think it's a trap?”

“Maybe? But I don't think a magical aura can be replicated, at least, I've never felt that happen before.”

“Ugh,” Zelda paused the chopping of the carrots, “magic” she wrinkled her nose like she was talking about a particularly difficult math problem. Link snorted.

“Yeah, magic.” He grabbed at the carrots and she smacked his hand away.

“Hey hey I already called chopping the carrots you get the onions this time you jerk” she gestured at him with the knife jokingly and he had the audacity to throw his head back and cackle.

“Fine fine, pass them over,” he punctuated his statement with grabby hands and Zelda rolled her eyes at him before tossing them at him over the fire. She handed the spare knife and the chopping block though.

The call got stronger and stronger over the course of dinner to which Link simply rolled his eyes and signed “impatient” in the general direction of the woods. Flora could swear she felt the calling magic frown at that and it made her bark out a laugh.

“See? Even the strange magic thingie wants us to hurry up.” she prodded, smile cracking into a grin when Link draped himself dramatically off the back of the log they'd sat on.

“Two of them. Ill never know peace. Also.” he sat up to hold pointed eye contact with Flora for a second, “Strange magic t-h-i-n-g-i-e ??”

“Yeah, it's a technical term,” she smirked, shoving the still very much dirty dishes back into the slate, making Link wince exaggeratedly, “come onnnnn put your token down and lets go figure out what it is”

“fine-” Link whined, tossing the token onto a bit of flat earth away from the fire. They should really put it out but he knew Flora like he knew his own hands and he knew she was not going to wait for a single minute longer. His train of thought, of course, was interrupted by the familiar feeling of weightlessness as Flora activated the teleportation rune.

“Mr Hero!! Miss Hero!! Come quick!” A little korok popped out of the bushes as they materialized, much to their surprise, “Its really scary but its really pretty, you gotta come look and tell us if we can play with it.”

And with that the korok grabbed at Flora's tunic and began to pull them along dutifully towards the faint golden glow. Sure enough, right at the edge of the lost woods floated what looked to be a small keystone made of amber, glowing with ethereal light. And, sure enough, clustered around it in a cautious half circle were skull kids and koroks and fairies alike, staring at it with equal measure curiosity and wariness. Link made his way over, and the stone dropped lightly into his upturned hand.

“Link” the not-Flora (Hylia, it supplied) whispered “Take this stone, it will be important on your journey. Your time as hero has not yet come to a close. I am sorry. I cannot give you more. I love you.” The glow faded and Link turned to see Flora looking at him with a recognition and a fondness that faded with it, the magic settling back into Flora's aura where it belonged.

“What was that?”

“It spoke to me,” his words were garbled with his half full hands, “It said there is another journey.”

Link didn't miss the flash of heartbreak that passed Floras eyes before it settled on determination “Then I'll go with you,”

“Can you?”

“You and I both know how stubborn I am, I don't care if I have to crawl into the sacred realm and fight the three golden goddesses myself, I'm going.” The tension was shattered like flimsy glass and Link was sent to his knees laughing at the image of Flora snapping at the ankles of the goddesses, who would no doubt be very amused at her petulance and stubbornness he was certain.

“Hey I'm serious! I've done enough sitting around for all my lifetimes, you're not getting all the glory this time” another wave of laughter overtook him and the forest spirits, who had begun to drift closer, joined in on his mirth. He was too breathless to even fight it when she came to snatch the strange stone out his hand to turn it over as if it were a complex piece of machinery.

Chapter Text

The past week had been blessedly quiet. Beyond sending out a letter to calm the nerves of the poor passing merchant that had brought the strange amber artifact to their front step, life had returned to normal. Of course, Link hadn't been lulled into complacency, but, if the powers that be were willing to let it go then Link was willing to at least partially relax back into the rhythm of life. This sense of knowing better would of course be the reason that they were more annoyed than fearful when the first portal appeared. It had to stand a good foot taller than them, an oval ringed with bands of golden words they could not read, that easily reached up to the ceiling of the main-room.

For a moment all was quiet before the humming grew louder, and a figure stepped out, and the portal fizzled out behind them. Link reached for a jug that was sitting on the sideboard to defend themself before their eyes readjusted to the low indoors light to reveal. A teenager? Standing in the middle of their main room was a bewildered, scrawny looking teenager. Their ears were pinned back as they spun around, looking for threats no doubt. They locked eyes with each other and froze, like walking through a forest and meeting eyes with a deer. Except the forest was their own hall and the deer was a portal wielding teenager with a ratty looking tunic, no hose, and set of clearly well worn travelling equipment.

“Well hello there,” damn it Link that's what you come up with? At least it seemed to break the spell of stillness because the strange teen straightened up like they were greeting a royal guard.

“Uh, very sorry sir, I didn't mean to get dumped out in your hall,” seriously, they were all but saluting.

“Well that's alright, no harm done. It's nice to meet you, I'm Link of Lon Lon ranch, and yourself?” Well, since he seemed nice enough there was really no reason to be rude to the strange portal child.

“Oh. Uh. Hmm. It's also Link. Not Lon Lon though, just Link. Nice to meet you.” Well shit. Although, maybe the scraggly appearance and the travelling kit could've told them that. “I'll be out of your hair then,”

“Now now no need to rush off, I was just making lunch why don't you sit down a bit and we can see how lost that portal's gotten you.”

“Oh goodness, am I even still in Hyrule?”

“Yes, just about an hour south of Castle Town, On the Lon Lon estate” Link nodded, already at the hearth ladling out two bowls of soup trying to ignore the fact that this situation was starting to creep up there with the strangest godessdamned things they ever saw, and they had seen a lot.

“Castle Town? I don't think I've ever been to a castle town. Um. I was just in Rauru Town you wouldn't happen to know the way back there would you?” Link the teen let themself be guided over to the long table and sat down and accepted the nice warm bowl of soup with a polite “Thank you very much”

“Of course.” Link sat themself down and began to digest the information they'd just been told. “Wait. Rauru town? I can't say I've ever heard of it.”

“Oh. Hmm. What about Death mountain? Rauru town is a few days north of it.” Link the teen, ah hmm perhaps they should come up with nicknames, they asked, before continuing to tuck into their portion of soup. They seemed to really enjoy it and Link let themself a little self satisfied smile that their cooking had improved enough that not only was it edible but also nice. Right. Death Mountain, they knew where that was.
“Death mountain is about two days northwest of us, but you'll probably want to go out by road from castle town up to Calatia. We run milk deliveries out to castle town every morning so if you want to stay the night I can take you up there and point you the right way?” Wait, didn't they say they were from Hyrule?

Either way, the pair had no chance to question the geographical discrepancy when another portal hummed to life. The teen shot up off the bench and had their sword out quick as a bolt. Link got up calmly however, and forced themself to come to terms with the fact that this was probably going to continue happening for at least the rest of the day.

“I wonder who'll come through this time. I hope they're as friendly as you at least.” Link nudged the high strung teen who, at least had the awareness to sheepishly drop their sword point. But they kept it out, which, all things considered, was probably a good idea.

“Hello?” The portal dropped to reveal another teen, a little older, nicer tunic, but still without hose. Was that the style in this un-Hyrule the adventurer Link came from?

“Hello there. I'm Link, and this is uh, also Link. Nice to meet you” The scraggly teen spoke up, surprising Link, themself, and the older teen who spun around to face them. Wow, that was a lot jewelry. Was he some kind of nobility? Scraggly Link certainly seemed to be getting the same idea in the look they shared.

“Link of Kakariko, how nice to meet you.” Ah, well he certainly had the temperament of a noble, not that Link had met any other Links, least of all a noble one 'of Kakariko'. Oh this was an awkward silence.

“There's soup on the hearth if you'd like to join us for lunch. I'm starting to get the feeling this will be an all day sort of affair.” Link excused themself to get out a bowl and hand it to the rather startled looking nobleman.

“You seem rather nonplussed about this, I was expecting to have to play damage control what with the oracle teleporting me directly into your house and all. Sorry about that, by the way, the destination wasn't my choice.” The nobleman accepted the bowl, rather graciously all things considered.

“Well, our friend over there came out of a portal made of the same magic earlier. And to be frank with you, I knew something was afoot a little while ago when someone showed up with a glowing amber relic for me. Whatever it is can wait for me to eat my lunch and get my pack ready at least though” Link grumbled, sitting themself back down to finish their soup.

“You got one too?” Scraggly Link pulled a small smooth amber stone from his pocket “It's how I opened the portal. I'm guessing it was the same for you?” they asked, addressing the nobleman who looked very much like he had just seen a ghost.

“Yes.” he pulled out an amber necklace from under his tunic. It was rather plain compared to the rest of his jewelry but it seemed to be an exact match for the amber scraggly was holding. “I'm guessing yours matches ours then?” ah. The soup was going to get cold.

“Yes, but I put it in a sealed box because I wanted nothing to do with it. Although. That is perhaps why the portals are opening in my house. Two adventures was enough for me but clearly the goddesses think otherwise and if I'm not going to it, then it's going to come to me.” They intoned, going back to their soup. Malon was not going to like this.

“Two?” the nobleman scrunched up his nose in displeasure, “I wish I had your resolve about locking up magical artifacts, maybe this wouldn't be number seven for me then.” Seven? The kid couldn't be more than 20 when on Farore's green earth had he had time for six adventures?

“Wait! You're the Hero of Legend aren't you!” Scraggly sat up in their seat and nobleman scrunched his nose up at the title.

“I don't know about all that but I am the Hero yes,”

“So I didn't just teleport then, if you're here, I think I time travelled too. I know I heard legends of Hyrule laying south of death mountain long ago but I didn't think it was true but if you're here then that must be it!” Scraggly nodded as if they had finally found a missing piece of a puzzle and the nobleman's face fell even if he hid it quickly behind a mask of grim acceptance. Link scrunched up their own nose at the thought, they'd had quite enough of time travel thank you.

“Of course. Why wouldn't it be time travel? Nothing can ever be simple with journeys now can it.” The nobleman pinched the bridge of his nose as if to stave off a headache.

“You've done it before as well?”

“Yes, during my time in Labrynna, and wait 'as well' what do you mean 'as well'?”

“I mean I had to do it on my first journey. All three of us have been titled Heroes haven't we.” Link was feeling their own headache come on, they knew better than to get their hopes up they would finally be left alone to their family.

“Oh well that's just a real kick in the teeth isn't it. Is that what this is? A team journey? Whatever this is is not going to be very pretty if the goddesses saw fit to actually give us each other's aid this time.” Link looked over and saw Scraggly was agreeing with him, and well, they had to say it was a sound, if very blunt way to put it. Of course the resigned silence that overtook them couldn't last, but at least they managed to finish their soup. Finally.

“So thats what it looks like from the other side. Fascinating. Although, I wonder why it says 'open gate true'?” that was. Scraggly?

Scraggly could read that? Nobleman seemed to think the same thing cause he blurted it out. “Hey you can read that?”

He wouldn't get his answer however because the portal dissapeared to reveal a child who could be no more than 12. The other two looked as pale as they felt.

“Hello, I'm Link, Hero of Winds. Sorry about my portal crashing me into your house, I uh, had no idea it would do that.” That was, as nobleman would put it, a real kick in the teeth.

“Hello, I'm Link, Hero of Hyrule, and this is Link Hero of Legend and this is also Link hero of .... um...” Scraggly started, trailing off when they seemed to realize they hadn't asked their title.

“Time” Link finished, and almost winced when the kid's eyes went wide as saucers at the name.

“You're the Hero of Time?? Um it's really nice to meet you? I grew up hearing stories about you but I've never heard of three heros. Did I time travel?” Great. Well, this one was wearing some strange hose like coverings at least and not bare legged like the other two. Little victories Link, Little victories.

“Yeah, the only one who hasn't seemed to time travel is um, Time I suppose.” Nobleman stated simply.

“Wait are we gonna go by our titles? I don't wanna be 'wind' that's what you call a fart,” the kid whined, making scraggly, rather, Hyrule wheeze out a laugh. Time, Link supposed, managed to keep a straight face, even if they really, really wanted to laugh with along. “Hey it's rude to laugh when you get a cool actual person name.” Hyrule seemed to tamp down their laughter at the admonishment but they were clearly still amused by the outburst.

“Well we can't all be Link, and if there's any more of us coming and they're also named Link then we really can't all be named Link. Besides, if we go by titles since we all seem to have them, maybe someone else will have an even funnier name than Wind.” Legend shot Wind a conspiratorial smile, which seemed to calm the kid down enough to come sit down on the bench with a huff.

“We're going to be here a while, and I am going to get my armor together and my bag packed, you boys don't burn down the house or I'll have my wife set the cuccos on you.” All three of them straightened up at the threat and nodded seriously, and, satisfied they wouldn't be coming back down them to destruction, Time moved off to march themself up the stairs to the bedroom and do exactly that.

-----------

Wait had he just got volunteered for babysitting duty? Sneaky bastard.

“Oh! Did you get an amber artifact too?” Hyrule asked, clearly trying to dodge out of the tense silence that had descended, and held out his stone for Wind to inspect.

“Yeah I did actually, I found it on the beach,” He pulled out of a childishly decorated purple bag the single prettiest shell Legend had ever set his two eyes upon. Hyrule's eyes went wide at the sight of it as well. Translucent amber edged in gold, it had to be the prettiest conch shell that had ever been created.

“Wow, putting us all to shame kid,” Legend pulled his own, rather disappointing in retrospect, necklace out for him to inspect. The kid nodded studiously.

“It's pretty,” he'd tell the kid not to be modest, but his tone was completely sincere. Instead he shrugged and stuffed the necklace back down his tunic. Of course, this was the prime opportunity for the goddesses to make another portal to appear.

“Oh! HEY TIME WE GOTTA 'NOTHER ONE!” Wind shouted, which caused whatever poor sod was behind the portal to crash into something and the portal dissapeared to reveal a startled looking soldier and, a lady in green with her crossbow loaded and pointed directly at Wind's face. Quick reflexes. Luckily, when she saw she was aiming at a kid her eyebrows shot up and she fired the bolt into the floor instead. Good, Legend really didn't want to be taking crossbow bolts for a kid he'd just met a few minutes ago.

“Pardon us, you startled us with your yelling.” She spoke, going to pick the bolt out of the floor with a wince.

“WHO'S SHOOTING IN MY HOUSE, KNOCK IT OFF DOWN THERE,” Time bellowed from the top of the stairs causing everyone in earshot to startle and stare up at him, he came tumbling down with his boots on and his pack hanging open and the intruders both went still.

“Sprite?” Linkle looked up from where she was digging her bolt out of the mat with a mixture of awe and sorrow in her voice, eyes catching on the mans strange tattoo and missing eye.

“Linkle?” Oh was he going to start crying? Did they know each other? Ah. They did know each other, because Linkle dropped her crossbow and practically flung herself into his arms, and it didn't take him off guard. He did say he'd time travelled before. Huh. The other bench sitters were taking in the scene with about as much confusion as he was so it must be just those three that knew each other.

“You grew up on us,” and that was the soldier. Legend didn't really sign up for watching someones clearly long coming tearful reunion so he turned back to his, now rather disappointingly cold soup.

“Guys, this is my adopted brother Link and my adopted sister Linkle the Heroes of the War Across the Ages, I met them on my third journey,” wait, third? “These are Link the Hero of Hyrule, Link the Hero of Winds, and Link the Hero of Legend.”

“Nice to meet you,” the twins chorused before levelling each other with a flat glare.

“Ma'am, boot boy,” Legend nodded to each of them a challenging smirk given to the soldier, earning a round of shocked laughter from his unwilling companions.

“Rat” the soldier smiled back, fury and an uncomfortably knowing sparkling in his eyes. Oh this was going to be so fun.

The front door opened now of course, before any of the others could regain their composure from where they were gaping at the pair about to brawl in the hall, and in strode a stout red headed woman, who promptly saw the disaster going down in what Legend assumed to be her hall, and made eye contact with what must be her husband and simply said “What in Naryu's noble name is going on in our hall.”

“Trouble came to me this time” he chuckled sheepishly, heads swiveling from where everyone had stopped to look at the new woman back to where Time stood, looking at his boots sheepishly. “They've all come through the same kind of portal, and they all seem to be heroes of their own eras. Malon, this is the Link and Linkle I told you about all that time ago.” He gestured to where the new two were standing and she seemed to brighten considerably at the news, and went to go greet the group when another portal caused her to jump back with a startled yell as it thundered to life. Out stepped another child, no, not a child, a very short teenager it looked like.

“I seemed to have interrupted something, very sorry about that,” he tucked a strange ornate amber mirror away into his pack, why did everyone else get pretty amber artifacts, “I'll be going then, again, terribly sorry for interrupting”

“Hold it” that was Time “Now, since you came through that portal you must be a Hero as well, right? The rest of us are too, so you'll probably want to sit tight because it seems like we're not done gathering quite yet.”

The poor guy looked utterly flabbergasted but hey that was on Time for the shitty introduction.

“We should wait to do a group introduction until we've all arrived because I don't want to sit through the same speech however many times as there is Heroes, so you might as well come make yourself comfortable while our lovely host goes and finishes packing up.” Legend was surprised with the tone of authority in his voice, though it seemed like the others more or less expected it. No he was not getting suckered into leading them so help him Din. Thankfully, the colourful teen simply nodded and sat himself down on the bench beside Legend politely, and the commotion returned to the rapidly filling room. He needed to lay down but it didn't seem like that was going to happen anytime soon. Oh well. Malon simply sighed, shook her head and went right back out the door. Clearly her day was going to be longer than she'd hoped for too.

The next one out of the portal was a man with sandy hair and the actual goddess forsaken master sword strapped to his back, peeking out from under his strange white cape with a very odd looking Hylian crest embroidered onto it. Colourful seemed to recognize him instantly because he took one look at the bewildered man and said.

“You're King Link the first.”

As in the mythical founder of Hyrule? As in. Oh NO. Legend looked around and saw that Hyrule was the only other one who'd lost the colour to his face, and seemed to be tugging his cloak out to cover his shield which probably had the crest on it, and oh this day had gone from bad to worse.

Colourful and the new guy seemed to be having a stare-down while the new guy slowly turned as red as Colourful's tunic. Well, a quarter of his tunic.

“I wouldn't, I'm not. I don't.” he was floundering, and clearly put off by the intensity of the multiple sets of eyes on him. Thankfully, for him of course - not that Legend was going to step in because this was a little bit funny, Time ambled back down the stairs with his pack filled and took in the scene before giving the new guy the rundown and telling him to get comfortable. Probably just thankful to step out of the spotlight, Mr not-the-king went to sit at the other side of the table, shoulders up to his ears in embarrassment. At least Colourful had the decency to look down in shame at all the trouble he caused the poor guy.

-----------

Time sat themself down with a sigh, This was going to be a long day. When another portal didn't seem to be forthcoming, the heroes slowly turned to chatter to pass the time, and introductions got made, and the colourful hero pulled out a pack of cards which made Wind whoop with excitement at the prospect of a game to pass the time with. Time eventually excused themself to grab their letterwriting set and by the time they'd come back, set it up at the table and the group was halfway through a rather raucous round of gin another portal opened up. Out stepped two teens, who took in the chaotic scene with as much grace as can be expected. No one spoke, the younger ones clearly looking to Time who really just wanted to finish this letter to queen Zelda.

“Hello there, nice to meet you, I'm Link, Hero of Time, and these are all other heros, as I am assuming the two of you are as well.”

“Nice to meet you” the long haired one began to sign, “I'm Link, I don't have a title, this is my sister Flora.” Time went to translate but the others seemed to be following along just fine. Good. One less thing to worry about when they inevitably woke up too tired to speak the next day.

“Um, Fi says that your title is the Hero of the Wild” white-cape spoke up, a little timid to have the floor again, the name seemed to make the other flinch back and Flora's face scrunched up in distaste but neither had time to comment on it when yet another portal opened up.

“Oh sweet Ordonia this is not what I expected.” The voice came from a tall, dark haired teen that had stepped out of the portal. Please, please, goddess above let this be the last one.

“Hello. Nice to meet you. I'm Link the Hero of Time, these are all also heros of their eras, also named Link, except for Linkle and Flora, as I'm sure you are as well.”

“Um, nice to meet you sir, I'm Link of Ordon” the group at the table all seemed to stare, before calling out a friendly greeting to the bewildered ones. Time went back to the letter he was writing and gestured at Wars to fill in the new one.

“Nice to meet you Hero of Twilight. I'm the Hero that comes after you, the Hero of Wars. I think everyone I knew of existing is here now so we can go around and introduce ourselves. Though, I'll admit that even I didn't know about Wild and Flora, so they must come last even after me in the timeline. Hopefully. We're already going to have a hard time transporting supplies for a group this big.” And a few of the others, who had clearly not thought about the logistics of travelling together or the immense amount of money they'd be having to share to support such a group were furrowing their brows worriedly.

Wild snapped to get Twilight's attention and seemed to study the markings on his face with a knowing look that clearly made the older one itch before introducing himself and Flora again and nodding off to the group.

“I'm the Hero of Hyrule, nice to meet you Twilight,” he nodded on to Legend who gruffed out his own greeting.

“I'm Four, the Hero of the Minish,” now that caught Time's attention, he'd heard stories of the hero of the minish, “But you can call me Four.” the others murmured remarks of surprise, except for Legend who seemed to scrutinize the short hero closely looking for something he clearly didn't find.

“Hello, I'm Wind I guess,” the youngest piped up, still clearly disappointed the new ones didn't have sillier sounding nicknames then him.

“I'm Linkle and this is my brother uh, Wars” Twilight's eyebrows raised up to his hairline at that introduction before he managed a friendly wave.

“You can call me Sky,” White-cape finally spoke up with a friendly smile.

“Well. I suppose we better all get on with getting this place ready for supper, we can set out in the morning for wherever it is we're getting dragged. Now, we've got seasonal workers on so you all are going to have to set up here in the hall tonight but I am going to go send this letter and see if I can scrounge up some spare mattresses. You all listen to Malon when she comes back in here because we were not set up to feed this many hungry travellers” Time finished, folding up the letter and going off to do exactly that, marvelling at the ease with which the group was already settling together. Though that was probably because all of them had seen some very weird shit and this whole situation was already so goddess-damned weird that they might as well make it easier on themselves with some teamwork. Hopefully.