Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

out of weird experiences that aether has gone through in the past year or so, this one was starting to make a name for itself. in a never ending cycle of quests, requests and commissions, he honestly wasn’t all that surprised when another threw itself at him. it, honestly, was starting to become the standard.

even though the blond had resigned himself to his fate, it did nothing to clear the ache in his joints or the fog in his mind. all he could recall was that he had fallen asleep near jueyun karst after traveling there to meet with cloud retainer and shenhe. it was normal for him and paimon to camp in the wilderness, and sometimes it felt nice to camp away from the hustle and bustle of the cities of teyvat.

all he could tell about his surrounding were one. that it was not the rocky terrain of liyue he was in and two. that he didn’t recognize his surroundings. his first thought was that the fatui had kidnapped him in his sleep, but he knew with the adepti (mainly xiao) being so close to his campsite that that was not an option. not to mention he wasn’t bound and he could tell he still had his sword with him.

he slowly sat up, his head throbbing dully with the effort. looking around, he could tell he was in some sort of ruin. he was in a long, rectangular room, at the base of a large statue of a woman with wings. he could see the old entrance of the building across from him, but the entire right side of the building seemed to have caved in, rendering any sort of door into the building useless. the stone floor had been largely overtaken by grass and moss. he could tell that this building had once been beautiful and important, but the state it was in now was really… depressing to see. the atmosphere was much different from the ruins scattered across teyvat, these seemed much gloomier and more ancient. he knew he had much more to explore in teyvat, but this really didn’t feel like anywhere in the continent he’d been before. not even enkanomiya had this same atmosphere.

after a short while, the ache in his limbs seemed to have subsided enough for him to get up and start looking for clues as to where he was. he made his way down the steps up the statue and decided to go out the giant hole in the wall. he decided to summon his sword in case he had been kidnapped and an ambush was waiting for him, just in case. he slowly crept out of the dilapidated building and into the light of early morning.

already, he could tell he must be far, far away from mondstadt, liyue or inazuma. this land was vast and none of it was recognizable to him. it was mountainous, but not like the rough outcroppings of rock that littered liyue or the low hills of mondstadt. the most notable feature of the skyline thus far was a mountain that had appeared to be split down the middle. it was pretty, but not something he had seen or heard of before. the more he took in, the less and less he learned about his location. just as he caught sight of a giant volcano in the distance and started to truly believe this was just a weird dream, he heard it: a distinct squeal that was almost a pigs, but something was off about it. it must be a hilichurl, though i don’t remember hearing these noises before, he thought.

slowly, he made his was towards the noise. it seemed to be coming from the front of the building, where the front entrance would be. he kept his guard up as he made his way towards the sound.

something about it seemed so hilichurlian, but it just seemed off. this wasn’t the kid of hilichurlian noises he’d heard before. as he rounded the corner, he started to realize why.

the thing in front of the doors wasn’t a hilichurl. it’s skin was bright red and where the hilichurls were lanky and almost spry, this thing was hunched over and had a gut. it’s mannerisms didn’t seem all that far off from a hilichurls, but they were fundamentally different. aether was really weirded out right about now.

just as he was done pouring over this things differences from a hilichurl, it decided to take notice of him. with a familiar battle cry, the thing came charging towards him. it had a large wooden bat in one hand, and it wasted no time in trying to bring said bat down on his head. it wasn’t hard to dodge and land a hit right into the things side. it wasn’t a hard hit, just enough to throw the thing off balance.

as it stumbled, aether decided now was as good a time as ever to test if he still had access to his elemental skills. he held out his palm and summoned a gust to his palm, and lo and behold, the wind complied. the vortex sucked the beast closer to him and dealt a decent amount of damage to the thing. after releasing the vortex, the thing went flying and laid still on the ancient stone steps. after a moment, it turned to smoke and disappeared, just like a hilichurl-

just then, his thoughts were cut off by a loud yell.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?”

——

at this point, all the links had grown very used to the switch. a portal opened, they’d pack their things, and make their way through. it was disorienting, sure, but if you were prepared for it, you could get over the dizziness and nausea relatively quickly.

this time was no different. a portal opened as they were making their way along a path through faron woods in twilights hyrule, when they stumbled upon a portal. some of them were grumpy because of this, looking forward to almost being in ordon village where they could rest and restock.

“oh, come on! we switched two days ago!” legend bemoaned.

“relax, I’m sure there’s a good reason for this,” hyrule said, trying to hide his disappointment. he was really looking forward to visiting ordon.

“c’mon, let’s go. best to keep moving so we can find a place to settle for the night,” time started making his way towards the portal.

and so, with reluctance, the chain made their way through. this portal was nothing unusual, disregarding the unnatural timing of it. after a few moments of mind-numbing dizziness, the group was in a brand new hyrule, miles and miles away from any sort of inn or village, which only meant-

“hey, this is the great plateau! we’re in my era!” wild said, excited to finally be able to restock his fruit supplies.

a few groans sounded from the group.

“so no village tonight?” sky asked

“come on, boys, let’s set up camp.”

~~

after a filling dinner, courtesy of their resident chef, the boys all prepared for another night of camping. everything had gone smoothly, the first watch was quiet, hyrule spending most of it practicing sketching like wild was teaching him to do. before long, he woke up sky for second watch and headed to bed. second watch was much the same. sky had spent most of it trying to stay awake. he was especially eager to hand off watch to four in the early morning hours.

most of third watch was normal. time was up early because that’s what he preferred, wars was up not long after time, as years of military training taught him to be, and wild was up not long after them to start breakfast.

just as wind was waking up (the smell of cooking food got him out of his bedroll quick), they saw it:

a shooting star. at first it just seemed to be a semi-rare natural occurrence, some of the already awake links taking a moment to watch it. not long after it appeared, it became clear that this thing was going to hit the ruined temple of time.

“hey, i think that thing-“

“ITS GONNA HIT THE TEMPLE!” wind shouted, cutting off four.

wild jumped, wind was seated right next to him, so his outburst startled the cook. time and wars jumped, turning to see what the youngest was yelling about.

winds shout managed to wake up twilight and legend, both grumbling at the noise. hyrule and sky still seemed to be exhausted from their watch shifts and were still sound asleep (and if hyrule and cuddled into skys sailcloth during the night, only the pictures wind and wild had gotten would know).

out of the fully awake heroes, all of their attention had turned to the shooting star. sure enough, it was right in course to hit the temple. a still silence fell over the camp as they all watched the gold light barrel towards the building. it struck noiselessly.

“what the hell is going on?” legend grumbled, still startled from winds yelling. he looked at the other heroes who were all staring at the same thing in the distance, save for twilight, who was staring at the floor in front of him and trying to wake up. holding back a snort at that, he followed the other heroes eyes until he too saw the star hit the temple.

the silence lasted for only a moment, before a low rumble and loud crash sounded. this was enough to startle twilight to full alertness and wake hyrule up. sky just grumbled and slowly started opening his eyes.

“what the hell?”

no one took their eyes off the temple. after a few more beats of silence, the chain started wordlessly packing up camp. whatever that was, it had to be important, and they should investigate sooner rather than later. a few of them grabbed some of wilds breakfast to eat on the road, and before long, the heroes were moving again.

it didn’t take long for them to scale the steps of the ruined temple, taking out the usual bokoblins that littered the steps. as they rounded the corner leading to the front doors, they heard the familiar battle cry of one of the bokos. they prepared for battle, rushing around the corner only to see-

a boy, beating the shit out of a bokoblin. he had landed a good hit to the bokos right side with his sword, blood started leaking out where his sword had hit.

before any of them could react, the boy held out his hand and braced his wrist with the other. for a moment, confusion settled over the minds of the heroes, before the literal fucking wind started to converge in his palm.

this was a shock to most of them. wind was more excited than anything, because this was way cooler than the wind waker, he was using it to beat the shit out of a bokoblin, and even though the wind waker was cool, he couldn’t recall using it to weaponize the wind, and this was sogoddessdamnedcool-

most of the other links were just pure shocked, however. as far as they could tell, he didn’t have any magical items on him, just his sword. how had this kid just manipulated the wind like it was nothing, without any sort of aide?

the boy released the ball of wind in his hand, and the boko went flying, dead. it poofed out of existence a moment later as proof. the poor boy looked exhausted and a little roughed up. the bokoblin hadn’t looked that hard for him to take care of, so that couldn’t have been it.

his clothing was unlike anything they had seen before. baggy pants, a crop top, a scarf and a cape, all decorated with gold and white accents on a black background. he wore a small bit of armor, a chest plate, a shoulder guard, armored gloves and armored boots up to his knees. the most unusual things were the glowing portions of his outfits. around his wrists, at the center of his chest, part of his shoulder armor, the charms on the tips of his scarf, and his earring, all had a gentle teal glow emanating from them. his hair was cut short at the top of his head, but the bottom half was nearly longer than wilds, and it was kept in a braid. however, said braid looked ready to fall out of its holder. his clothes weren’t torn, but definitely could use a wash. he himself was a little dirty, like he had been rolling around on the ground.

the boy looked positively ruffled, and time couldn’t help but wonder if he had been the shooting star. it made sense to him, even if it was probably the most illogical conclusion.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” legend shouted, saying what was on most of their minds.

the boy startled, his weapon immediately pointing towards the chain. which was understandable, seeing as they were probably also strange to him and were all visibly armed.

time held up his hands, taking a cautious step towards the boy. “we don’t wanna hurt you. sorry about my friend, he can be a bit brash.” time sent his disapproving stare towards legend. legend sputtered indignantly.

“who are you people? where am i?” the boy asked.

“you’re on top of the great plateau, at the temple of time,” wild replied.

“great plateau? temple of time? where is that?” the boy looked more confused.

“pretty much right at the center of hyrule, just a bit southwest of the center actually,” the chef responded again.

“hyrule?” the boy questioned, again.

“have you not heard of hyrule? where are you from?” legend asked

the boy looked conflicted for a second, then confused again, before he shook his head slightly.

“i come from teyvat,” he said, “what is hyrule?”

“what the hell is teyvat?” legend, the most experienced and well-traveled link, had no idea what this kid was saying.

“don’t answer my question with a question!” the golden boy growled slightly. time took another step forward.

“look, i’m sure this is confusing for you, but we’re also confused. getting angry won’t help any of us,” time turned to level legend with another look. legend huffed and rolled his eyes.

“so, we’ve never heard of this teyvat and you have never heard of hyrule,” warriors began, bringing his hand to his chin (which legend would later mock him for), “which can only mean a few things,”

“what?” the boy spat, still on edge.

“either you’re from an era where hyrule has fallen to ruin or is yet to exist, or you’re from a completely different… world?” warriors finished.

they expected the boy to looked shocked, or confused, or to get angry again, but instead, the golden boy just sighed and lowered his sword slightly.

“after all i went through to leave teyvat, now is when i get to leave? i wasn’t even done with my journey there, you assholes!” the boy was yelling at the sky. this just left the group of hylians even more confused.

the boy let out another sigh, completely lowering his sword and standing up straight.

“sorry. i shouldn’t yell,” his voice was completely calm now, almost eerily so.

“my name is aether, and i fell here from another world.”

Chapter Text

aether was exhausted. pure tiredness pulled at his bones, making him weary where he stood in front of nine other men who were patiently waiting for an explanation for all of this. he just wanted to zone out and let paimon do the-

wait.

where was paimon?

aether froze, his sentence about meeting the seven archons of teyvat being cut short as he came to the sudden realization that his best friend and only true companion on this journey was missing.

“aether, was it? are you ok?”

the tall one with the fancy armor was talking again, but aether was too focused on trying to feel if paimon was asleep in their weird pocket of space-time. he couldn’t feel her. his breathing was picking up.

“w-where’s paimon?” he muttered hoarsely.

“i’m sorry?” the tall one asked again. aether couldn’t believe he hadn’t asked these boys for their names yet, but it did take him this long to realize paimon was missing.

“my companion, paimon,” he began, still searching for their little blip in reality she chose to reside in, “she’s my companion, they float around, refers to themselves in third person?” he began describing her, hoping they had seen her around here somewhere.

“is she like, an imp or something?” the one with the black fur collar spoke up, looking especially confused.

“no, no,” aether paused for a minute, “well, she could be, i suppose, but i usually call her a fairy,” aether said, choosing to omit the fact that he actually typically referred to her as a food ration.

“oh, oh! i have a fairy!” the, presumably, youngest of the group in front of him pulled out a glass jar from his pack. inside it was a glowing pink orb with blue and green wings.

aether looked bewildered.

“uhhh, she’s a bit bigger than that,” aether said, “and she doesn’t have wings, but thank you,”

“oh, okay,” the kid stuffed the jar back into his pack.

“maybe we can go find a place to setup camp for a while while we look for your friend, yeah?” the one with the big blue scarf asked. seriously, aether, ask them their names. this is why he needed paimon.

“hold on, first of all, i don’t even know your guys’ names,” aether said, still holding his sword defensively, “second, i have no reason to trust you,” he finished.

“we get that, believe me,” the armored one said, “but this would be much easier to explain where we can all sit and catch our breaths.”

“there’s a nice spot just down the steps, we can set up there,” the long haired one spoke up, looking at the weird rectangle that had been strapped to his hip until now.

“that all right with you, aether?” the armored one was looking at him again. aether just nodded, tossing his sword up and letting it dissolve into the aforementioned space-time pocket.

the one in the armor blinked at him with his one open eye, while the others stared with the same amount of bewilderment. aether cocked his head to the side.

“something wrong?”

“where’d your sword go?” the pink one blurted out. aether blinked back at them, before confusion settled across his face.

“i put it away?”

“but-how? where did it go?” the pink one asked again.

“can you guys… not do that here?” aether asked.

“uh, pretty sure we’d do that instead of carrying our weapons on our backs if we could,” the youngest one spoke, getting an elbow in the side from the multi-colored one next to him.

“no, we can’t do that, is what he meant,” the armored one glared again (archons, that stare was terrifying).

“oh…” aether said, reaching his hand out and materializing his sword once more, “i put it in a pocket of space-time. paimon, my companion, taught me that,”

“well that’s some trick,” the armored one said.

“yeah, but i still don’t know your guys’ names, so let’s get back to it, please?” aether dissolved the sword again with a toss.

“right, of course. boys, let’s go set up camp.”

and the group started to make their way down the steps of the old temple in near complete silence. aether was ready for this day to be over with already.

Chapter Text

confusion was too small a word to describe aethers current state of mind. he was used to the world hoping and world saving, but this certainly was a new one.

he was currently trying to wrap his exhausted mind around the fact that all nine of these boys were reincarnations of one another. how they were all born to serve as some omnipotent goddess’ warriors, and how they came from different time periods and had fought in several nearly-world-ending crises and just how unfair this all seemed.

it was barely midday at this point, the sun was nearly directly overhead and the one that introduced himself as “wild” (really, who would have thought they all shared the same name) was cooking some meat and veggies for lunch. aether had offered to help with lunch, but the links had declined, saying he looked like he needed a nap.

he did, but his mind was elsewhere at the moment. he was curled up on his side facing the tree line, on top of some blankets that paimon insisted they needed while traveling. his hands were continuously running through his hair, his mind running wild about, well, everything. as soon as he started thinking about one topic, another reared it’s head and took over his focus. he couldn’t close his eyes for more than a few seconds before feeling a dreadful fear settle in his bones.

he was about to give up on taking a nap when he heard someone clear their throat behind him. he whipped around to find the one with the white cape (sky?) around his shoulders.

“mind if i sit here?” he asked sweetly, a gentle smile on his face.

“i don’t mind,” aether mumbled, fully laying down again. he choose the keep his comment about the plenty of open spaces in the camp quiet.

aether took to glaring at the sky (the actual sky, not the person) while a quiet unease filled the air.

“y’know, i can hear you thinking halfway across camp,” sky said, fiddling with a piece of grass in front of him. aether swiveled his head towards the man.

“am i not allowed to think after all that just happened?” the boy huffed.

“no, that’s reasonable,” sky had started braiding the grass, “but you’re not gonna get any rest like that.”

“thanks, why didn’t i think of that before,” aether rolled back onto his side, away from sky. silence filled the air again, before sky let out a gentle sigh.

“i’m sure all this is hard, but we’ve all been in a somewhat similar position,” he started, putting the braided grass down and looking over to aether, “and if you want to talk about it, we-i am here to listen, at least,”

aether turned to meet with a tentative smile. he huffed.

“i’ll keep it in mind,” he mumbled, eyes turning to the sky again.

sky, the person, frowned. he knew that this was going to be a long process, as it had taken the chain a good while before they were truly comfortable with one another. he wanted to be friends with aether, and he wanted them to share a mutual trust, but this was looking to be a long adjustment period, and they had just met less than five hours ago. unfortunately for aether, the hero’s spirit was not known for giving up so easily.

“when i first ended up in this group,” he leaned back, the braided grass completely discarded at this point, “legend, the one with the pink hair? yeah, we absolutely did not get along,”

he looked over to aether, who had only shifted his eyes to sky for a brief moment, before returning to the vast blue above him.

“i tried my best to please him, and all he did was belittle me or get mad at every action i took,” sky turned to look at said snarky man, “no matter what, i couldn’t seem to get him to like me,” he chuckled a little bit.

“so? why are you telling me this,” aether tried to sound softer than he felt, but he was tired and dealing with a lot of emotions. he felt like he should apologize to sky once he was more well rested.

“because, all it took for him to like me? was for me to snap at him for being rude,” he chuckled again, turning back to the golden boy, “he thought i was being nice for some weird personal gain,”

“and? were you?”

“dear hylia, no, i just wanted to be friends!” sky was full on giggling now, “but he had a hard time trusting me, for reasons he still has yet to fully disclose,” sky picked up the grass again, resuming his braiding as a means of keeping his hands busy, “which i’m ok with! we just didn’t communicate with one another properly, which led to a useless fight over nothing,”

“so you want us to get into a fight?” aether did his best at tilting his head while laying down.

“no, silly, i want you to trust me,” he made eye contact with aether, “not right away, and not all your deepest secrets, but i hope you’ll be able to trust at least me with your feelings,

“and you don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to. everyone has their skeletons,” he turned his own gaze up to his namesake, his smile falling to a light scowl. aether face scrunched up slightly, his mind seemingly running a marathon.

“i’m just… tired,” aether said, softly. sky’s eyes widened, turning slowly to the boy.

“i bet. you looked exhausted,”

“no, no, i mean, yeah i’m physically exhausted,” the boy sighed, dragging his gloved palm along his face. he was so nervous about being around this new group while sleeping that he hadn’t even taken his armor off. no one was going to force him to, either.

“i more so meant, i’m tired of this game i feel like i’m playing. like i’m some pawn on a chess board, waiting for the player to make their next move.”

if aether looked at sky’s face, he would see the pure happiness that had overtaken it. it had worked! he had at least started to get through to the boy.

focus, link, he’s talking to you.

“and it feels like there’s no end in sight, right?” sky’s face morphed into a sympathetic smile. aether sighed again.

“yes! ugh,” he groaned, running a hand through his bangs, “i just wish it were simpler,”

“well, us heroes are never known for having simple lives,”

“i never wanted to be a hero,” aether grumbled, fighting to keep down a shout of ‘i’m not even from teyvat!’ from tearing its way through his teeth.

“none of us asked for this life,” sky turned to the rest of the boys, who are chatting quietly around the fire so as not to disturb the outlander, “but the least we can do is help you through your quest. you no longer have to be alone,”

all the noise in this small clearing seemed to have stilled. aether was still looking at the sky, as if willing it to suck him up and send him back to the city of freedom.

“thank you,” he said, “i think i’ll try and rest now,” he turned back towards the trees.

“of course, i’ll wake you for dinner.”

aether hardly heard sky get up and walk away, instead choosing to finally close his eyes to a silent bliss that had finally settled between his ears.

Chapter Text

“wild, i swear to hylia i will end you if you take one step closer,”

“what? don’t you want a hug?”

aether jumped after he heard a loud yelp a few yards in front of him. his sword was in his hand almost instantly, solidifying as aether frantically looked for the cause of the commotion.

it took his brain a minute to catch up on where he was and how he had gotten here. he was always the heavier sleeper between him and lumine, which wasn’t a problem when he was traveling with her. now that he had been alone with what was essentially a toddler of a traveling partner, he had been trying to break that habit. it left him sleep deprived but alive, and that’s what mattered to him.

when he realized he was still in the clearing with the links (he was gonna start calling them the chain, he thought it was genius) his shoulders loosened from their defensive position. his sword dematerialized almost as quickly as he had drawn it, but his heart still pounded in his chest.

“you guys woke aether up!” the brunette in a green tunic said. he was pretty sure that was the link named after the country they were in.

“do not blame this on m- WILD!” the pink one (legend, his brain supplied) was skillfully dodging wilds attempts at hugging him. he only remembered wilds name because of how often the others had to tell him to not do something batshit crazy.

currently, the cook was trying to get legend to hug him while covered in what appeared to be a baking mishap. the front of his blue tunic had been stained purple and red by what appeared to be berries.

“i can’t believe you don’t love me, legy,” wild was pouting dramatically, but still crouched with his arms out, ready to attack the man at any moment.

“don’t call me that ever again,” legend yelped and jumped back as wild tried to hug him again, “and leave me alone!”

aether covered his mouth and giggled at the scene, his sword dematerializing as he realized he was still in camp.

“they’re really something, huh?” a voice sounded from beside him. aether startled and looked up to find sky.

“is this a normal occurrence?” aether asked, accepting the bowl of chili the  other man was holding out to him.

“i’m sure you’ll come to find that this is tame for them,” sky said, sitting beside the outlander.

aether chuckled at that, and began to eat his meal. he took this moment to observe the rest of the camp as they settled down for the night.

legend and wild had taken up the center of the clearing in their mock fight, wild lunging sporadically and legend diving away from him. warriors and wild stood somewhat hidden in the bushes near the two men, very much looking like they were about to cause even more mischief. hyrule stood near the cooking pot, casually stirring around its contents. wilds discarded mixing bowl filled with berries lay next to him, very close to spilling its contents on the ground. four stood, nervously looking over hyrules shoulder, making sure he didn’t destroy the remaining portions of their dinner. time sat further away from the ruckus, scribbling haphazardly in a journal that he had perched on his thigh. he couldn’t find twilight, the one with the wolf pelt, anywhere.

“and why aren’t you taking part of this glorious battle, o mighty hero?” aether turned to the man, who was casually nibbling on his chili.

“oh, who says i’m not here to recruit you to our ranks?” a mischievous smile broke out on sky’s face, piquing aethers interest, “we need a little help catching him off guard,”

aether turned to the pink haired man, who was still bantering with wild while skillfully dodging his attacks.

“all of us? against him? he doesn’t stand a chance,” aether smirked, setting his bowl down and putting his fists on his hips proudly.

“ohoho, don’t get too cocky now, my friend. legend is a master of evasive maneuvers,” sky leaned forward, also setting his bowl down, “we haven’t been able to catch him yet,”

“yeah! legend scares me!” aether jumped as a head of bright blonde hair quite literally sprung into his line of sight. wind had snuck over from his spot with warriors and was now nearly in aethers lap. he was leaning precariously close and looking far too excited for this time of night.

“which is why we need your help,” sky chuckled, putting his hand on top of winds head to pull him out of aethers personal bubble.

“yeah, yeah! your wind thingy could totally be the boost we need!” wind broke out of sky’s grip once more, getting even closer to aether. sky grabbed his tunic this time, pulling him back once more.

“wind thingy? how would that help?”

“we think we can do a double hit, one from one of us and one from your wind blast,” sky ruffled winds hair, before pulling him into a side hug, “and boom! we’d catch him off guard,”

aether tapped his chin in thought.

“he’s ok with this, right? he’s not going to hate me after i force him to hug someone?”

“oh yeah, he challenged us!“ wind burst out of sky’s hold again, pushing himself closer to aether for the third time (and he couldn’t help but think about how well this boy would get along with klee), “he’s totally ok with it!”

sky nodded, before pulling the boy back into his lap and ruffling his hair vigorously, “we talked about this,” he stopped the ruffling in order to tickle the younger boys sides, “personal space,”

“what’s this, then! st-stop!”

sky relented, chuckling. wind was still panting, but sat up from his spot in sky’s lap, “so, are ya in?”

aether chuckled, shaking his head.

“tell me what to do,”

~~

legend was getting tired of this. wild would not relent in this hug battle, which was obviously a ploy to catch him off guard. this had been an ongoing bet for the past few months of traveling, and the rest of the chain (excluding time) had been desperately trying to win. so far, this was a poor attempt. he knew wars and wind were in the bushes behind him, and he knew twilight had left the camp with the premise of scouting but he had no doubt the man was lurking nearby. this would be easy.

“why do you hate me so, leg?” wild lunged at him again, which he twisted around to avoid.

“stop calling me leg, you feral brat!” he took a step back, leaning away from the grabby hands wild held out to him.

just as he was about to retort again, he heard a low grumble in the bushes. he darted his eyes over to see twilight crouched low, wolf form aiding his stealth.

“you all tried this last week, and it didn’t work then,” he rolled his eyes as wild lunged again, which he once again avoided. his back was now to the bush wind and wars were last spotted behind.

he smirked, ready to launch his own offensive against wild, when he felt something wrap around his ankle. he looked down to find the end of sky’s whip coiled around his boot a few times, and he heard sky’s laugh from a few yards ahead of him. legend snarled at this, yanking his foot back in an attempt to free it.

sky yanked on his end of the whip at the same time, pulling the veteran off balance. he stumbled, hard, and was just about to right himself when the hero yanked again, pulling legends feet out from under him.

legend, now laying facedown in the dirt, rolled as wild attempted to tackle him. he was successful in both escaping wilds attempt and freeing his ankle from sky’s whip. he stood as quickly as he could, only to be knocked off balance again by a large gust of wind. the sailor stood a few yards away, laughing maniacally with a large leaf held in his hands.

legend was on the verge of falling again, but after a moment of near free-falling, he was able to get his feet under him. he took a few steps, expecting to be able to right himself after a moment, but a rock had sprung up suddenly behind his calves. glowing amber and jagged, it was the perfect height to knock him on the floor again.

he was certain that there hadn’t been such a rock formation just a moment ago. looking up, he saw aether smirking, fist on the ground. his glowing accessories had changed to the same glowing amber color of the rock that had tripped him, and his hand looked almost as if it was smoking. that traitor!, he thought, jokingly of course.

just as he had come to terms with falling on the ground for a second time, his fall was stopped by twilight and warriors. they stood, smirking down at him. legend desperately tried to rip his arms out of their grip, watching as wild and wind charged closer.

a loud cheer, a yelp, his own voice shouting “NO!-“

and they were on him. wind and wild slammed into the trio, nearly knocking the taller men off their feet. legend let out a continuous groan and giggling and laughing could be heard from the rest of the chain.

time sighed, trying desperately to hide his own smirk as he stood to announce the winners of their little competition.

Chapter Text

to put it simply, aether was nervous. it had been a few days, the group having made their way down the plateau (an adventure all on its own) and towards the split-in-half mountain in the distance. the links insisted on visiting the elder, impa, to see if she had any answers about aethers predicament, and it seemed like the best course of action.

yet the outlander was still nervous, like anyone would be in his situation. he wanted to know why he was here, why he was torn from his journey and the land he was calling home currently. he was worried for paimon, terrified that she had also been dropped here with him but was lost and alone in the wilderness of this vast world. the chain had done their best at reassuring him and helping him understand where he was, but there was only so much they could do. and so, he worried.

“we should reach kakariko tonight, but we might have to walk after nightfall,” wild called over his shoulder at the group as he fiddled with the weird rectangle he kept on him. the group groaned slightly behind him, which was followed by bickering and giggling.

aether decided to pick up his pace and walk next to wild. it seemed the two had a lot of similarities, with how big their respective worlds were and their knack for… collecting. or hoarding, as twilight called it.

“if you don’t mind my asking, what is that?” if aether wasn’t mistaken, he could hear a sigh of disappointment from somewhere behind them. wilds eyes lit up at the question, and a wide grin spread across his face.

“this, my new friend, is my sheikah slate!” wild turned the rectangle towards the outlander, revealing a smoother surface covered in glowing images. aether just looked bewildered.

“what’s a sheikah?”

“so you don’t have the sheikah in your world either?” wild looked intrigued, which was usually a dangerous thing, but this time it seemed to be contained, “you really have no connection to hyrule, huh?”

“i still don’t know what a sheikah is,” aether was very confused, which was very much so showing on his face.

“they’re an ancient tribe of people who have aided the royal family for centuries,” sky began to explain.

“yeah, and their tech is super advanced,” wild started tapping on the slate very rapidly, “though a lot of it has been lost to time,” wild flipped the slate over, showing aether the screen.

on it was what looked like one of the picture the outlander took with his kamera. there was what looked like a giant mechanical elephant in the background, partially obscured by wilds face and what looked to be a giant fish person.

“the elephant is vah ruta, a sheikah weapon. it’s a giant robot that shoots lasers, essentially,” wild began. aether just became more confused.

“and that red guy is prince sidon, prince of the zoras,”

aether just looked bewildered.

“why is your friend a fish?”

wild blinked. legend started cackling in the background.

“you can’t just ask someone why they’re a fish!” sky looked oddly offended.

“i wasn’t asking him, i’m asking wild,”

“he’s a very friendly guy. also he’s a shark, not a fish,”

“oh, sorry,” aether rolled his eyes, hands held up in mock defense, “why is your friend a shark?”

legend was full on wheezing by now, joined by a chuckling warriors and a very confused wind.

“wait, sharks are people?” the sailor asked.

“no, no, sharks are sharks. zoras are sentient,” twilight chimed in.

“how do you know sharks aren’t sentient?” hyrule now joined in. legend has since been lost to his cackling.

“yeah, twi, your hyrule doesn’t even have an ocean,” four elbowed said man.

“i know what a shark is?” twilight looked very confused now.

“yeah but have you talked to one?” it felt like four was poking a bear with a stick currently.

“no, but i’ve met the zoras before,” twilight crossed his arms over his chest.

“have any of us met both a shark and a zora?” time finally spoke up, choosing to further the conversation for entertainments sake.

“no,”

“nah,”

“nope,”

“well,” wild scratched the back of his head.

“oh no,”

“oh my goddess,”

“please tell me you haven’t ridden a shark,” legend wheezed out, barely recovered from his laughter.

“oh no, i got to ride on sidon once,” there were a few choking noises throughout the group, followed by a ‘what the fuck.’

“i may or may not have fought the shark, however,”

twilight slapped his forehead. time looked like he regretted asking. legend was thrown into another fit, and warriors joined him this time. wind looked ecstatic and sky looked overly concerned. the rest of the group seemed unfazed by this information.

“you fought it?” aether was bewildered once more.

“look, it was self defense!” wild began to defend himself.

“did you win?” hyrule asked, causing a round of groans to sound from the chain.

“i’m here, am i not?” wild donned a sinister grin, “we all know it’ll take more than a shark to kill me,”

sky gasped and twilight and time both looked shocked by this. there was a stunned silence for a moment, and the group had even stopped walking. twilight turned to face wild.

“cub, what the fuck,”

“humor is my coping mechanism,”

“wait until you learn some coping mechanisms are bad,” legend said as if speaking from experience.

“i feel like i’m missing something,” aether was glancing between twilight and wild cautiously.

“oh,” wild said. twilight grimaced. “did we not tell you?”

“i’m very confused,”

“so, okay,” wild put the slate away, “this isn’t a very nice story i’m afraid,”

“you don’t have to tell me,” aether quickly said.

“i want to tell you,” wild looked the traveler in the eye. aether simply nodded.

“so, to put it simply, i spent 100 years being dead,” wild stated very quickly. aether blinked.

“what?“

“it was this whole thing,” wild began, waving his hands around in an attempt to illustrate his story, “i got hit by this big robot laser while trying to save the princess of hyrule, and she put me in this high tech sheikah shrine that healed me, but it took 100 years and almost all of my memories,”

“oh shit,” aether said dumbly, “is it weird that you aren’t the first person i’ve met that this has happened to?”

“dude what?“ legend looked confused now.

“I’m gonna have to say it is, yes,” safe to say, wild had never gotten that reaction before.

“i feel like that was probably the wrong thing to say,” aether said, scratching the back of his head.

“no, no, now i’m intrigued and i’ve forgotten about my trauma momentarily,”

“oh, we’ll i have a friend and she also was dead for a long period of time and lost her memory,” aether brought his hand up to his chin in thought, “though she died for very different reasons and was brought back by magic,”

more silence filled the group.

“well this is a weird thing to have somewhat in common,” wild said. the group finally seemed to relax slightly. aether giggled a little.

“and i’m still slightly confused as to who the sheikah are,”

“well, let’s get moving then so you can meet them by nightfall,” time turned back to the path and began the groups movement once again, determined to get to a village finally. wild grinned at aether, following after their leader and the rest of the group. aether chuckled to himself, before catching up to the long-haired man. so far, this group had been quite entertaining, and he was starting to feel welcomed as a part of it.

Chapter Text

kakariko was a beautiful village. it wasn’t nearly as busy as the cities of teyvat, and a serene calmness hung in the air at night. the fact that it was nestled in the mountains just gave it the same feeling as a gentle hug. aether could tell he was going to sleep well tonight.

though the chain had been traveling all day, they seemed to be full of energy once again at the sight of the village. wind had challenged warriors to a race to the inn, loser has to pay. legend was currently holding hyrule back from scaling the mountains surrounding the village. the rest of the group were chatting quietly, slowly following wind and warriors to the inn.

“ok, aether, let’s go meet impa,” wild grabbed aethers arm, pulling him away from the inn that the others were headed to.

“can’t we sleep first?” aether groaned, exhausted from the days of traveling the group had been doing.

“let’s just get this over with,” time spoke up, following the two, “sky, twi, make sure the others don’t burn down the inn,” the man called over his shoulder.

“we’ll certainly try!” twi shouted back, before turning to continue his conversation with sky.

wild led time and aether to an absurdly long staircase that lead up to a small wooden house that sat high above the rest of kakariko village. two men stood on either side of the base of the staircase, presumably guarding the house. both men waved to wild as he led the two up the stairs.

“so, who is this impa, and how is she going to help me?”

wild just blinked for a second after hearing his question, before growing slightly confused.

“you know, i honestly don’t know if she can help, but i bet she’ll at least have some knowledge to share with us,”

aether sighed, continuing up the stairs. he really wanted to go to bed.

once they reached the top, time opened the doors  and ushered the shorter two inside. the inside of the house wasn’t nearly as grand as its exterior (not that that was all that grand anyway). a simple square room, decorated with what looked like the sheikah tribes colors. a few paintings and hanging lanterns made the place feel much cozier than the outside would make you think. directly across from the door sat a very small and very old looking woman, who was wearing a hat probably twice her size.

“ahh, link! i see you have returned, with company no less,” she smiled warmly at said boy, who beamed right back at her.

“impa, sorry it’s been so long! i trust you and paya got my letters?”

“yes, though that mailman of yours is quite… something,” aether would ask the chain what that meant later, “and i assume these are two of your counterparts, so to speak?”

“i am, ma’am, however this boy is not,” time spoke up, gesturing to aether. aether wasn’t quite sure what to do do, so he waved awkwardly at the woman.

“hello, ma’am. my name is aether,” the outlander began, feeling nervous in front of the woman. though she was old, he could tell she was formidable, and it was kind of terrifying, “i believe i could use your help,”

“and what is it you need my help with?” impa smiled at the boy, clasping her hands together in her lap.

“he is not from our world,” time explained for the boy.

“not from our world? how peculiar,” the woman leaned forward to get a better look at the outlander.

“we were hoping you could possibly shed some light on the situation,” wild added. impa hummed in thought.

“i cannot claim i know how to help you,” impa began after a moment, “but i can offer you my wisdom,”

“your wisdom?”

“it is hardly by accident that the goddess has grouped the heroes spirit together. in fact, rarely anything she does is by accident,”

“so there is a reason i’m here?” aether asked, “can you tell me what that is?”

“that i cannot tell you, for the goddess also rarely reveals her plans, even to those who are a part of them,”

time very visibly held back a groan at this, and wild let out a defeated sigh. aethers face scrunched up in an unreadable expression. even in another world, he was held back from the truth.

“i am sorry i won’t be of much help for you, boys,” impa smiled softly at the trio.

“thank you for your time, miss impa,” time bowed politely before turning to leave.

“before you go, more of those monsters you were looking for turned up near fort hateno,”

aether remembered sky telling him about these black blooded monsters, the chain had been tracking. he supposed that is what impa was talking about.

“thank you, impa. we should head back now,” wild said, gesturing for time and aether to follow him out.

“let paya or me know before you head out, we’ll give you some food and supplies for the road,”

“thank you!” wild called over his shoulder as he shut the sliding door behind him.

“well, that was almost useless,” aether huffed, barely trying to conceal the annoyance in his voice.

“unfortunately, all we can do for now is continue searching for the shadow. hopefully we’ll gain more information as we go,” time sighed, taking the lead of the trio as they marched down the stairs.

aether bit his tongue and shifted his gaze to the floor. he couldn’t help but feel frustrated, as this was all too similar to how his journey had been going this far. he barely registered the hand that came up to grip his shoulder.

“we aren’t giving up on you till we figure this out,” wild’s eyes shone with a bright determination, “we all know what you’re going through, and we’d be damned if we didn’t help,”

aethers eyes widened at the bold statement. while he had met plenty of people in teyvat, many of which he considered good friends, he still felt relatively alone while wandering the wilds. but this group, the chain, they knew his frustration. they understood his drive. he suddenly felt less alone, less helpless. he blinked.

“thank you,” was all he could mutter in response. wild nodded, letting go of his shoulder.

“hurry up boys, there’s dinner to be had,”

“coming!” wild called, the intense look from earlier completely gone, replaced by his usual gremlin smirk.

aether smiled, content to trail behind the excited teen. he finally had a good feeling about this journey.

~•~

“so we’re headed to fort hateno next?”

the chain had fully settled into the inn after a filling dinner courtesy of wild. they had taken up the whole inn, and the inn keeper, ollie, had headed to his room in the back for the night, leaving the heroes alone in the cozy inn. the boys had all huddled around the bed time had claimed for himself while talking about their plans for the next day. time was leaning against the headboard of his bed, with wind propped up against his side. sky sat in front of the two, cross legged with a blanket pulled over his shoulders, and he looked ready to fall asleep at any moment. warriors stood leaning against a support beat near the end of the bed, arms crossed in front of him. legend stood next to him, arms crossed in a similar fashion. twilight sat on the bed next to times, with wild sat between this knees on the floor as the older of the two brushed his protégé’s hair. four was seated next to the duo, with hyrule right next to him. aether stood on the opposite side of times bed from them, near the foot of it.

“how long of a trip is that from here?” sky but back a yawn as he asked his question.

“not very long, just a few hours walk,” wild said, head jerking slightly to the side as twilight hit a larger knot. the older man apologized as the wild child let out a small curse.

“so we should head out just after breakfast, i say,” legend spoke up.

several links mumbled in approval, relishing in the idea of sleeping in in actual beds for the night. time smiled at his boys.

“ok, but no later than that,”

with their leaders agreement, the rest of the boys seemed to gain a burst of energy, save for wind, who had fallen asleep only a few minutes into the conversation.

“but you all have to actually sleep tonight. wild that means no leaving at midnight to visit the great fairy fountain,” wild let out an indignant squawk at that, as twilight tried to wrangle the boy back to being still.

“go get some rest, boys,” time sighed, running a hand through winds hair.

the chain needed no more prompting. the boys quickly began to trickle to their own beds, save for a few pairs that preferred physical comfort at night. warriors came up to take wind to his own bed, and time somewhat reluctantly helped the captain ease the boy into his arms. aether smiled lightly at the scene, turning and walking to his own bed.

after taking off his boots and his heavier armor, the outlander settled into the sheets of the inn. it felt like it had been years since he had last slept in a bed, the feeling nearly lulling him to sleep instantly.

for the first night in months, he fell asleep without the looming sense of loneliness that had come to haunt him.

Chapter Text

it wasn’t long before the group reached the scorched earth surrounding fort hateno. it wasn’t a long hike from kakariko, but the change in scenery was astounding. the large, green mountains had been replaced by flat, jagged earth that had once been torn apart in a great battle. remnants of the mechanical beasts were scattered across the plain. aether felt uneasy, to say the least.

“should we spread out to check for the infected mob?” hyrule asked, looking out at the empty space around them.

“no,” wild almost snapped. the boy had been on edge ever since the mountains gave way to the empty field, “there are still active guardians in the area. we can’t risk it,”

time nodded, “wild’s making the calls for right now,”

the boys silently agreed with their leader. the usually chaotic teenager being so uptight and rigid put them all on edge. it was a strange change of pace from his usual demeanor, but no one was about to push him to open up about this.

and so, wild carefully and methodically moved the group across the plain. there was very little conversation, as the boys could tell this was not the time or place for banter. they all just wanted to get this over with so they could call it a day.

about halfway across the plain is when they spotted the makeshift camp. it couldn’t be spotted from the main road, as the beasts had been smart enough to hide behind a few of the decaying guardian shells. there were maybe 15 monsters in all, and aether could recognize a few of them as hilichurls. the rest were either lizard-like or much larger, pig-like beasts.

“i recognize the lizalfos, the bokoblins and the moblins,” wild zoomed in with the scope feature on his slate, “but there are a handful of them i don’t recognize,”

“those are hilichurls, from teyvat,” aether supplied.

“so even your monsters have crossed over here,” time brought a hand to his chin in thought.

“anyone have a battle plan?” legend asked, standing behind the group with his arms crossed.

the chain quickly began talking battle strategy. it was almost entertaining, watching one of the younger links suggest an absurd plan, only for time or warriors to shoot it down with an unamused look. the casual atmosphere seemed to be returning, even if wild was still slightly on edge (aether got the sense that he didn’t have good experiences at this place).

it didn’t take long for the group to finalize a plan. they decided on splitting into two teams, led by time and warriors, to attack from two sides. after splitting off, the group aether was in was quietly moving to the opposite side of the camp, doing their best to not be spotted. wild was cautiously moving them for the time being, even though warriors was technically in charge of this group. hyrule and twilight made up the remainder of the their group, while the other five heroes remained on the other side of the camp.

they had been using the guardian shells to conceal themselves from view, and it wasn’t long before they were in position. wild took out his bow and a few arrows, which all had red, glowing tips, and he nocked three at once.

“ready?” he asked the four heroes around him. they all nodded.

“here goes,” he pulled back on the string, the tips of the arrows started glowing brighter, and he sucked in a deep breath. his gaze was focused, calm, and calculating as he aimed. he released the arrows at the same time as he released his breath.

aether understood why he used the fancy arrows now, as they acted like a flare would. they hit the camp, one arrow knocking one of the bokoblins over, another one embedding itself into the back of one of the taller moblins. the third hit the ground, but ignited a small area of grass around it on fire, startling some of the nearby monsters. this was their cue to begin, as the links all pulled out their swords and began to charge in. aether was quick to follow, his own sword appearing in his hand as he followed after the heroes.

the boys essentially surrounded the camp, not allowing any of them to flee or call for backup. aether was fighting three of the bokoblins at once, using his anemo powers to keep the monsters near him. the fire nearby was aiding him, as he was able to pick it up with his element and deal even more damage to the beasts.

the outlander released his palm vortex, leaving the bokoblins stunned in front of him. he darted forward, bringing his sword down in a large arc across the first one’s chest. the beast let out a howl of pain, bearing its fangs to the blonde. aether didn’t give it a moment to compose itself, swinging his sword once again. this time, the bokoblin was able to hold its arm up in defense, and aethers sword connected with its forearm. he felt more than heard it’s arm crack from the impact as black blood coated his blade. the blonde wrenched his blade free, jumping back as the second bokoblin tried to swing at him.

he parried the second ones blows with practiced ease. after one, two, three hits, the outlander saw an opportunity to strike again. he surged forward, his sword pointed straight ahead of him, aimed for the bokoblins stomach. the hit landed, plunging into the monsters gut. aether used his palm vortex to pus the beast and it’s companions back, freeing it from his blade. two of the bokoblins rose again, but the third, the one he had just stabbed, lay mostly motionless on the ground. this is going smoothly, aether thought.

just as the thought hit him, he heard a frantic shout of “aether!” to his right. he took a moment to glance over his right shoulder, his eyes widening as one of the hilichurls, a geo shield wielder, was practically on top of him. at the last second, aether used a burst of his palm vortex to push the beast away. he stumbled lightly, attention drawn away from the bokoblins from earlier. the blonde was prepared to fight off the hilichurl, watching it stand up and shake off before turning back to him. the outlander lifter his sword in defense, ready to block its blow.

but the blow never came. instead, a mass of green and black slammed into the hilichurl, knocking it back. aether watched in awe as twilight shattered the beasts shield in one solid hit. unfortunately, he couldn’t take too long to stare at the man, so he turned back to his own battle.

“how did you shatter that shield in one hit? they’re made of like, pure geo energy and rock!” aether shouted over the noise of battle, already landing more hits on the bokoblins.

“haha! easily!” twilight had an almost feral look in his eyes, already landing even more impressive blows on the hilichurls.

“you get used to it!” wild shouted from somewhere nearby. aether decided he’d ask more questions later.

after a few more blows, the bokoblin aether injured earlier went down with a cry of pain. the third wasn’t in much better shape, it was obvious that it was near the end of its life. a quick glance at the rest of the field showed that everyone else was almost finished with their own foes. time had teamed up with four, the two of them covering the others blind spots and making quick work of the bokoblins. four seemed to be keeping his weight off of one of his legs, however, which worried aether. wind was near the duo, seemingly having a fun time with his remaining monsters. sky and legend were using a combination of items to take down the moblins in increasingly more confusing ways. closer to aether, twilight and warriors had also teamed up. an unlikely duo, seeing how much the two of them liked to bicker, but on the battlefield they sure made a terrifying team. hyrule had finished off his few bokoblins, his sword still smoking from the fire spell he had been using. which left wild. said hero was down to his last lizalfo, a steady smirk on his face. aether was relieved no one seemed to be too seriously injured, just a few minor scrapes and bruises, but of course their luck wouldn’t hold out.

the outlander landed another sickening blow to the monster in front of him, a loud crack of its ribs ringing out around them. just as he felt relief, his battle finally finished, he heard what sounded like shattering glass and a strangled cry coming from wilds direction. turning to look at the boy, aether saw shattered pieces of his sword flung about around him and the lizalfo. the hero was laying on his left side, where he presumably was thrown after getting hit in the right side by the lizalfo’s rugged blade. the red starting to coat his blue tunic was concerning, to say the least.

“shit,”

“cub!” the first curse was muttered by a very tired looking, but unscathed hyrule. the frantic shout came from the cook’s mentor, who was still fighting one of the moblins with warriors.

shit, aether thought, eyes wide. letting his selfless-hero instinct kick in, he resonated with geo almost instantaneously and booked it towards the injured blonde. geo energy began to collect in his palm as he rushed to get in range before the monsters blade could connect with wild’s flesh again. the beast rose it’s sword, ready to strike, and aether shouted, raising his arm as the geo energy condensed. just before it swung, the outlanders fist connected with the dirt.

the lizalfo was knocked of balance by the quake before it could bring its sword down. aether met wilds surprised, yet pain filled, gaze as the monster stumbled away. the outlander closed the distance between the two, putting himself between the lizard and the fallen hero.

“you ok?”

“i’ve been better, but what was that?”

“an earthquake,” aether said simply, deciding to resonate with electro next.

“i wouldn’t be down if my sword hadn’t broke,” wild grunted, holding his side. aether looked at him funnily for a second.

“your… sword broke?”

the hero looked sheepish, “it happens sometimes. i just pick up shitty ones from monster camps, really,”

this didn’t make aether any less confused. he turned his attention back to the still shaken lizal, making sure he had the time to chat.

“why didn’t you say you needed one before?” aether said, holding his hand out to summon another blade. aquila favonia solidified in his palm, the blade glowing a dim teal color.

wild was gaping at the blonde, “you have multiple swords stored away in there?” he asked, slowly standing as he accepted the sword.

“not just swords. aquila should heal you slightly too,” aether got back into his battle stance, wild joining in next to him, “but don’t push it. it’s not all powerful,”

wild nodded, and just like that, they were back in the fray. between the two of them, the lizal could barely get a swing in. aethers electro power worked wonders against the lizals metal armor. in no time at all, the monster fell to the ground, unmoving.

wild was panting. aquila had stopped the bleeding, but the cut left behind still looked gruesome. aether couldn’t help but wince at it.

“you sure you’re ok? maybe you should sit down,” aether suggested. the rest of the camp was pretty much taken care of, save for the poor moblin that sky had entangled with his whip.

“i’ll be oka-“ wild began to protest, but winced heavily when he took a step. aether grabbed his arm and slowly helped lower the man to the ground.

“cub! my ordonna, that’s a lot of blood,” twilight knelt down next to the duo.

“it’s ok, aethers cool ass sword stopped the bleeding,” wild gestured to the blade still held in his grip.

“the… sword stopped the bleeding? oh goddesses, you don’t have a head wound, do you-“

aether giggled, “no, no, aquila favonia can do a fair deal of healing,” aether smiled, taking the sword back from wild.

“your sword can heal you?” twilight sounded bewildered.

“just this one, yeah, and i don’t use it very often,” aether said, putting the blade back into his pocket dimension. he also took the time to put his own sword, mistsplitter, back as well.

“how many swords do you have?” twilight asked.

“too many, but i feel like this conversation can wait,” aether gestured to wilds injury. said hero seemed to have forgotten about his own ailment.

twilight smacked his own forehead, apologizing to wild quickly (who just laughed at his brother) before pulling out a bottle full of a viscous red liquid and handing it to the cook. said cook groaned.

“drink it,” twilight demanded.

“don’t you have a fairy?” wild moaned, reluctantly taking the bottle from his mentor.

“be lucky we have anything right now, cub,” twilight said, urging him to drink. wild sighed, drinking the contents of the bottle.

aether had heard the boys mention these potions before, on their way to kakariko. they were one of the two primary ways the chain would heal their injuries. it wasn’t too far fetched, he supposed, to be healed by a potion, but the concept was intriguing to the outlander. as wild downed the potion, his cut miraculously began to shrink, until it was a fraction of the size it had been.

“we’ll have to set up camp nearby for the night, for your sake,” twilight frowned at the cut, hoping it would have healed further. wild scoffed.

“i’ll be fine. we need to get out of fort hateno,” wild urged. hyrule approached the trio with some bandages, and aether moved aside so he could clean and dress wilds wound.

“we’ll get to the forrest on the other side of the fort, but no further. you’re in no condition to travel far,” time compromised with the boy, stepping up next to his own protégé. wild huffed, carefully removing his tunic and undershirt so hyrule could work.

“fine. twi can you get my spare undershirt from my bag? i’ll have to mend these,” wild asked, letting hyrule maneuver his arms however he pleased to clean the cut. twilight, who was ready to mother-hen his protégé at a moments notice, quickly grabbed the boys bag and began to look for said undershirt.

“so, just how many elements can you control?” aether nearly jumped out of his skin when legend spoke. the man had slid up next to him while he was distracted with wilds current predicament.

“umm, as of right now, four, but one day i’ll hopefully have access to all seven,”

legend looked confused, “seven?”

aether sighed, not really wanting to explain all of this himself. where was paimon when you needed them?

“the seven elements of teyvat, they represent the seven nations and their respective archons,”

this seemed to confuse legend more, as he only gave aether a quizzical look in response.

“there’s anemo, which is the wind, geo which is stone, electro is lightning and dendro is plants. those are the elements i have at my disposal,” aether stated, looking legend in the eye.

“ok, and the other three?”

“then there’s pyro which is fire, hydro which is water and cryo which is ice, and those i have yet to control,”

legend nodded, seemingly following along, “ok, that’s cool and all, but how do you control the elements?”

“that’s a bit more complicated,” aether sighed again, really wishing paimon could explain this instead.

“we still have a bit of a walk,” legend said, gesturing to the group as they prepared to make their way further east.

“well, prepare yourself because this is gonna get confusing,”

~•~

after the group had started making their way through the ruined battlefield once more, on their way towards camp, legend struck up a conversation with the outlander once more.

“so, you gonna explain your powers or not?”

aether chuckled, and winds attention was suddenly focused entirely on their conversation.

“ok, but tell me if i’m boring you,”

“i think i speak for all of us when i say we are all intrigued by your powers,” time said, still facing forward, marching towards the forrest. a few sheepish smiles from the other links confirmed their leaders statement.

aether smiled again, taking a moment to mentally prepare himself for all this talking.

“teyvat is broken up into seven nations, each one worshiping its own archon, who is essentially the god and creator of their own element. the citizens of teyvat can wield the elements if the celestial gods grant them a vision,”

“the celestial gods?” sky interrupted.

“i don’t know much about them, and i’ve only interacted with one,” aether scowled as he spoke, “but they are all powerful, essentially. they are the ones who granted the archons their godhood,”

a few members of the chain seemed put off by that statement, but they all stayed silent, waiting for aether to continue.

“anyways, they can also grant citizens of teyvat visions. i don’t know much about why certain people are granted visions and others are not, just that it has to do with someone’s ambition,”

“ambition?” wild spoke up from where he most certainly was not leaning against his mentor for support, thank you very much (twilight had offered a piggyback ride. wild refused, but looked like he was regretting it).

“that’s about all i know, that when someone’s ambition is strong enough, they are sometimes granted a vision,” aether shrugged.

“so what are the requirements for getting certain elements?”

aether thought for a moment. he knew very little about this himself, and was trying to make it palatable for the chain.

“that’s even more complicated. i know those who have a strong desire for freedom are often given anemo visions, and those with a strong sense of justice are given hydro visions. but it gets a bit more technical than that, and it’s difficult to explain,”

legend let out a hum of understanding, mulling the information over in his head.

“basically all you need to know is certain people get visions so they can control the elements. as you can probably see, however, i don’t possess a vision,”

“wait, is a vision a physical object?” legend interrupted. aether blinked. had he not explained that? this is why he wanted paimon here.

“yes, it’s almost like a crystal. most people who poses one will wear them on their belts or something similar, almost like a mark of status,”

“couldn’t someone just steal one then?” wind asked.

“if the gods don’t grant you a vision, it won’t work for you even if you steal it. stealing one from a vision holder will make said vision holder lose their ambition, and they’ll become a shell of their former selves,”

the group fell silent.

“that’s… concerning,” warriors put simply.

“these sound dangerous,” time said, and aether could feel the dad-like disapproval.

“there’s still so much we don’t know about them,” is all aether said in response. the group seemed to all be collectively thinking, and no one spoke up for a moment.

“so wait, how do you control the elements? you said you don’t have a vision,” legend changed the course of conversation.

“right, so i don’t have a vision, but when i first arrived in teyvat and started exploring with my companion, paimon, she showed me this statue. when i interacted with it, it granted me the power of anemo. each nation has several of these statues of their archons, and for whatever reason, when i interact with a new one, it gives me new elemental powers,”

“so the gods just… give them to you?” legend asked again.

“i don’t know why, but it’s definitely handy,” aether shrugged.

the group fell silent again, presumably processing this information.

“so uh… any questions?” aether tried not to wince. he really, really wished paimon were here.

“so, there are the archons who lead the nations, and then there’s the… celestial gods? what’s the difference,” wind asked.

“for the most part, yes. each archon has their respective nation, and most of them rule over said nation. but the celestial gods stay within celestia and watch over teyvat from afar,”

“you said you encountered one,” time stated. it was more of a question, and aether took the bait.

“yes… she’s the whole reason i’m traveling through teyvat. she’s why my sister and i are separated,” aethers almost scowl was back.

“did you fight her?” wind asked, almost giddily.

“yes. and i lost,” is all aether said.

it was clear the outlander didn’t want to talk about this, if his expression was anything to go by.

realizing this, wild changed the subject, announcing that they were about to pass through fort hateno and out of the danger zone. the group seemed to sigh in relief, weather it was because of the subject change or the fact they were out of a dangerous area was anyones guess.

the chain busied themselves with setting up camp. in no time, a fire had been started and the bedrolls had mostly been set up. wild had been banned from helping from a mixture of sky, hyrule and twilight and was busy tapping through his slate and humming.

“what do you guys want for dinner?” the injured man asked.

“you’re crazy if you think you’re doing anything but laying down after your bedroll is out,” twilight called from where he was arranging the hero’s gear.

“we need dinner!” wild called back.

“and, we can also figure it out without your help,” warriors responded from where he was cleaning and polishing the groups weapons.

“i can cook!” hyrule called, a mischievous smirk on his face.

“twilight why don’t you cook?” four quickly interjected.

“i only know one meal, and i don’t think anyone has any pumpkins,” twilight responded.

aether chuckled, amused by the groups antics.

“i can cook,” he said, walking up to the cooking pot. he had already begun taking out ingredients for a simple miso soup, a healing meal for his injured friend.

“you keep ingredients in there too? how much shit do you have?“ wild asked. aether thought for a moment.

“i just store anything and everything that i can in there, honestly,”

wild blinked at him as the traveler began cooking their dinner.

“so wait, how many swords do you have?”

aether paused at the question, thinking for a moment.

“i dunno, at least like, 20? and that’s not even counting my bows and claymores and such,”

“so you can use a bow?” wild looked excited for a moment.

aether giggled, “no, i’m only proficient with a sword. i collect the other weapons for my friends,”

“what the hell,” is all wild responded with. the scarred man was used to the selflessness of the chain, but sometimes hearing about it still shocked him. aether chuckled again, turning back to the meal he was cooking.

the rest of the night went on smoothly. wild struck up a conversation about cooking with aether as the other heroes slowly made their way around the fire, waiting for aether to finish the meal. the sun started to set as aether began dishing up the soup, passing the bowls around.

“damn, this is good. you might give wild a run for his rupees,” warriors said between mouthfuls.

aether chuckled, “i wouldn’t go that far,”

“still, this is great. plus it’ll be nice to have a second chef in the group,” wild said around a spoonful of broth.

aether smiled, happy the group enjoyed his cooking. happy that the chain made it through the day with minimal injury, and happy that wild seemed to be doing ok despite the gash in his side.

“wait, what even are these cubes?” wind asked with a full mouth.

“it’s almost like meat…” twilight looked at his bowl quizzically.

aether blinked at them.

“have you guys never had tofu?”

“tofu?” legend asked, picking up a cube with his spoon. aether had decided to give them all spoons, seeing as they were all confused the first time aether pulled out chopsticks.

“it’s pretty much just compressed soy beans,” aether supplied the group, picking up a cube with his chopsticks, “it’s high in protein, so it’s kinda like a meat substitute,”

“it’s delicious,” sky said, taking a bite. the rest of the chain agreed, falling silent as they dug back in.

the day hadn’t been that pleasant, so to end it off on a note like this was like pure bliss to the chain. it wasn’t long before watch shifts had been distributed and twilight was forcing his protégé into his bedroll.

the chain continued to chat and giggle with one another as they all settled in for bed, refreshed after a day of fighting. just a half hour after dinner ended, snores could be heard throughout the camp of heroes as they prepared themselves for another day of traveling.

Chapter Text

sorry, sorry, i know it’s kind of annoying when this happens. but i wanted to post in case anyone had this fic saved and has been waiting for an update for years, i finally got the motivation to rewrite this. i’ll leave this one up, just cause i know i hate when fic authors delete fics no matter how long it’s been. but there won’t be any further updates here! if you’re at all still interested, pls go check out the new one!