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Everybody has secrets, that much is obvious to every Link here. Sometimes, secrets don’t need to be shared, but sometimes they want to be shared.
Hyrule was deliberating over whether or not this secret wanted to be revealed or not. Hunched over on a log, chin propped up by his hands, his mouth a thin line, staring directly at the fire in front of him, he was thinking quite hard about this.
“You doing alright?” Wars asked him, leaning over into his field of view.
“Yeah, sure,” Hyrule mumbled back, continuing to stare unblinkingly into the flames.
“Seems like someone is speaking an untruth right about now,” Wild sneered.
“Champion, please just say lying, like a normal person would,” Wars sighed.
“Well I think saying untruth is a very normal person trying to do,” Wild retorted, “Right vet?”
“Well,” Legend crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back on his log, “I would be saying an untruth right now if I said it wasn’t.”
Warriors groaned as the rest of the group laughed. Well, most of the group. Sky already fell asleep, Four was half-asleep, and Hyrule was busy contemplating his entire existence.
“Hey untruther!” Wind piped up, “Wanna talk about what’s bothering you? Are you still hungry?”
“I can solve any hungriness,” Wild added.
“N-no, I’m perfectly fine and content, no extra food needed, haha,” Hyrule awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. He actually was still hungry, but he’s been hungrier before, so it was…not fine, but manageable. Actually he should probably get some food, because if he didn’t, they might try to get him to talk about feelings .
“Actually, I could go for a quick snack right about now.”
“Egg?” Warriors…suggested? while pulling out a weirdly large egg.
“Yo! Where’d you get that ?” Wild excitedly examined the egg, while the others also looked at it in varying degrees of confusion.
“Did you nab that from my farm?” Time asked. Warriors shrugged with an uncaring face.
“Maybe I did, but it doesn’t have any Cuccos in it, and that’s what matters I’d say,” he turned to Hyrule, “So, wanna eat it?”
Hyrule did want to eat, for some odd reason. It looked appetizing. So, with a shrug, he held his hands out to receive the egg.
“It needs to be cooked first, Link.”
Hyrule took his hands back until he could receive a cooked egg.
“I think he should be able to slurp up the yolk if he wants to,” Wild said.
“Champion, why would you say that?” Twilight sighed, already far too tired for this conversation.”
“I support the champ!” Wind shouted.
“ I support the champ cooking this giant egg in my hands,” Wars playfully flicked Wind’s forehead, getting a punch to the arm in return.
“It’s your egg, cook it yourself,” Legend said with a yawn, rubbing his eyes.
“But he’s eating it!”
“I’ll eat it if no one wants it!” Wild piped up again.
“He clearly wants the egg,” Time sighed, “how about we get to cooking this egg already. Is anybody else hungry?”
“If he has the yolk, can I have the shell?” Four sleepily asked. Everyone else just looked at him as he yawned, before lying down and promptly falling asleep right there and then.
“…So we’re putting eggshells in his breakfast tomorrow, right?” Wind asked, “Everyone in agreement say aye!”
“Aye,” rang out throughout the camp.
“ Aye ,” mumbled out a sleepy Four. The awake Links laughed, and Hyrule hoped that this meant they forgot about why this conversation happened in the first place, however unlikely that possibility was.
“This is the weirdest tasting egg I have ever eaten,” Wild commented as he had a bite of his own weird-egg-omelette. Warriors had quite a few of those eggs on him, much to Time’s bewilderment.
And it was a weird tasting omelet, weird in the fact that Hyrule loved it. He definitely wasn’t a picky eater, he, along with Wild, would eat anything they could. Wild seemed to just love food-and things that were decidedly not food-while Hyrule was used to eating all he could to survive. Unlike Wild, he actually seemed to have very specific preferences for what he actually enjoyed to eat. This egg was one of those very few things, along with the milk from the Lon Lon ranch, so maybe it was something about that place that spoke to his tastebuds.
“I…do not like this egg,” Twi admitted, “I dunno, it just tastes…”
“Weird?” Legend suggested, poking his own barely ate omelet with his fork, “I don’t really like it either.” He handed his omelet to Hyrule, who gleefully ate it up without a second thought.
“I like it,” Time stated, “kid, you like it too, right?”
Even though Wind had already finished half of his omelet, the look on his face screamed that he didn’t want any more.
Warriors heartily laughed, slapping Time’s back, “Honestly, most people don’t like these eggs. Zelda was one of the few people that wasn’t a light fairy who actually enjoyed it!”
Hyrule nearly choked on his third omelet, from Twilight, surprised from what Wars said.
“W-what do you mean by that?” He questioned soon after after he recovered. Hyrule was a light fairy, and Wars was the one who offered the egg to him, so did he know about him being a fairy already?
“Aren’t all fairies light fairies?” Wild asked, making another omelet but with his own eggs.
“No, there are dark fairies-“ before Legend could finish his sentence, Warriors sprang into a frenzied rant.
“So you know those healing fairies-the ones you typically find in pots right?” He didn’t leave any room for them to answer, “So those are typically- typically -light fairies. There are around five different attributes a fairy can have, give or take.
“There are light fairies, dark fairies, fire fairies, water fairies, and lightning fairies. And you may be thinking ‘ aren’t light and lightning fairies the same? ’ no , you buffoon!” he grabbed Wild by his face and shook him vigorously, “They couldn’t be completely different from each other, and I will not hear so much as a feeble whimper saying otherwise!”
“I-I wasn’t even thinking-“ Wild tried to say-while still being shaken-before Warriors shoved himself away and pranced around the camp at a concerning speed.
“Of course you weren’t thinking because no one thinks about the fairies! My beloved fairies, who deserve more than being trapped in those dastardly pots! One of the few things that can contain their might .”
“I wouldn’t-“ Twi started to speak, like the others once tried to do. And exactly like the others, Wars ignored him and continued his spiel that has clearly been bubbling under the surface for a long, long time. Hyrule was starting to think that Wars was the half fairy here with all this. Wait, was he?
“Did you know that during the war -of course you don’t, I don’t talk much about it haha! But during the war I found many a fairy in a pot. I freed them, obviously , and they stuck with and helped me fight in minor skirmishes-even though I told them not to ! But besides all that,” Warriors finally stopped running around the camp and sat down, cross legged, “I feed them, and there are certain foods that only certain fairies like based on their attribute. For example, light fairies enjoy the Weird Eggs. It makes them more powerful as well! And did you know fairies of a certain attribute can also learn spells from attributes that aren’t their own? And did you know that blah blah blah… ”
The chain listened intently to Warriors extremely long and passionate speech about fairies and all their powers throughout the night. Hyrule learned a lot more about himself than he thought he would. He only knew about light and dark fairies, as most of the chain did, but now he knows about three more types of them! Even though he wasn’t raised by fairies for long, he felt like that he should’ve been taught about them.
When the morning came, Wind convinced Wars to ramble about fairies to both Sky and Four to catch them up, with Four having eggshells with his breakfast. He was not happy about that. Then the conversation somehow went to fairy clothes, which Hyrule gleefully kept an ear open for.
“So with fairy clothes,” Wars began, much calmer than he was last night, “they can help bolster a fairy’s strength. They are attribute specific, so a certain outfit can bring their light damage up while another can bring their fire cost down.”
“How did you find out about that?” Four asked, sipping his tea and eyeing his eggshells.
“The fairies told me, obviously,” Wars scoffed, “Actually, I have fairy clothes on my person right now.”
The group watched Wars rummage through a bag a few minutes, Hyrule, Time, and Four being the most curious out of all them, before he finally pulled out a rack of tiny clothes.
“Ta da!” Wars cheered, “Here are some of my light fairy clothing, but the accessories are…somewhere else in here, ugh.”
“Is that a small version of your own clothes?” Four asked as he eyed the rack, “And, wait a sec-“
“Is that Fi’s clothes?!” Sky shouted, grabbing the rack and taking off a blue and purple dress and holding it up, “It is! How-“
“It’s the Spirit Dress! That’s-that is what it is called,” Wars explained, “Based it off Fi, as you said.”
“You’ve met her? And you’ve never told me?”
“Now there, I’ve never said I’ve met her-“
“You’ve never said you haven’t -“
“Aren’t those the traveler’s clothes there?” Four asked, pulling everyone’s attention to a specific piece of clothing on the rack. Hyrule got up and walked over to the clothes, determined to see them for himself. Sure enough, Four was right. It was an exact replica of the outfit he had when he was a kid.
Grabbing the fairy clothes and furrowing his brows, he tried to think figure out if his fairy mother gave these to him on purpose, to help him out. He could feel this magic within the tiny threads within these clothes, and maybe if he was more in-tune with magic when he was younger, he could’ve known if his clothes had magic within as well.
“They don’t really look his clothes,” Wild commented, snapping Hyrule out of his thoughts. Hyrule laughed awkwardly, quickly debating on whether or not he should tell his friends anything.
“Um, yeah. But I did wear clothes like these when I was younger-and is that my flute?!” He just noticed that, his mind having completely glossed over that. And there it was, a mini version of his flute attached to the belt. He looked at Warriors quizzically, hoping for an answer.
Wars shrugged a bit before speaking, “Huh, I knew that it was based off of some hero. And yeah, the light fairies love flutes, Lofti especially,” he laughed, “She’s one of my many fairy friends by the way.”
“How many fairy friends do you have?” Time asked, examining the clothes while holding up a top that looked very similar to something that Miss Malon would wear.
“Oh, many, practically ever fairy in Hyrule I’d say!”
“Really? I’m impressed.”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“I feel like we’re ignoring the fact that we’ve just learned that the Captain over here is this guy’s successor,” Legend pointed out, pointing at Hyrule, who was still looking at the replica of his clothes.
“I feel like successor is stretching it a bit,” Wars waved him off to talk more about his fairy friends to Time.
“We still haven’t-“ Sky stopped himself and sighed, rubbing his temples. Four gave him a pat on back while eating the last of his eggshells.
“Successor or not, why fairy clothes?” Wind asked with his signature scrunched up face.
“Popular with the fae, eh traveler?” Twi teased, arm placed squarely upon Wild’s shoulders.
“Ha, yeah, yeah…” Hyrule trailed off. Would this be a good time to tell them? When would be a good time to tell them? Maybe he could just pass it off as he just had the ability to turn into a fairy, but he wasn’t actually one. But he knew that once the truth eventually came out, it could shake up the trust that they had for him.
Or maybe he was just being paranoid. That. That was likely the truth here. Hyrule couldn’t help but sigh at himself. Yeah, better reveal the truth now than never.
“I couldn’t say whether or not I’m popular with the fairies,” Hyrule chuckled, “But I would say that I’m closer to them than most Hylains.”
“Oh really now?” Wars sneered, leaning over to Hyrule, “What makes you think that, traveler?”
“Hmm, well, it might be because of the fairy blood in me.”
You could hear a pin drop in the few seconds after Hyrule said that. Warriors reeled back, sputtering while trying to process what Hyrule just said. Similar reactions were held across the entire chain, all the while Hyrule was trying to keep up the best poker face he could. In an instant, Wars had grabbed Hyrule tightly by his upper arms, practically squeezing him. Wars breathing was uneven while Hyrule’s has been put on pause.
“ You ,” Wars sounded exuberant, his voice a higher pitch than normal, “ You’re a fairy?! ”
“Tech-technically I’m only half fa-fairy,” Hyrule said as he tried to regain his breath.
Warriors’ eyes grew wider, and he lightly shook Hyrule a little before turning to Time.
“ He’s a half fairy, ” Wars practically hissed, “He’s a fairy .”
“Cap-captain,” Time held out his arms to grab Wars, “calm down now-“
“ I’m perfectly calm! ” Wars hissed as he shook Hyrule a few more times, “Fairy-just, fairy ! He’s a fairy . Fairy fairy fairy fairy…” Wars let go of Hyrule and started to mumble the word ‘fairy’ over and over again.
Sky lightly pushed Wars’ back and led him a bit aways, guiding him to walk around in sort of short circle, as an attempt to calm him down.
Then everyone else started to shout in varying degrees of shock as they finally processed what just happened. To their credit, the shouting was mostly short lived, but Time had seemingly lost any composure he had before.
“You okay old man?” Twilight nervously asked. Time looked back at him with an ever so slightly crazed eyed.
“You don’t understand , rancher,” Time said with an extremely shaky voice, clearly trying so hard to stay calm, “It all makes sense now rancher. ”
“Wha-“
“It explains your healing magic? The you being part fairy, right?” Legend asked. Hyrule nodded, not wanting to speak any more just yet.
“ See ? See?! I should-“ Time took in a deep breath, several times, trying to calm himself. Wild came over to him with a glass of water, but Time waved him off, so he went over to Hyrule to offer the glass. He graciously accepted it. Wind tugged at his sleeve and whispered in his ear.
“I would ask to see your fairy form,” Wind started, “But I don’t think those two could handle it.” He pointed at both Time and the currently walking in circles Wars. Hyrule bust into laugher, nearly choking on his water.
“I apologize for my actions traveler,” Time said as he finally calmed down, “I am just…overwhelmed.”
“Not nearly as much as he is,” Four pointed at Wars, “But yeah, hearing that the traveler here is half fairy is almost as wild as hearing I’m half Minish or something!”
“What’s a Minish?” Wild asked.
“It’s-don’t worry about it, I’ll tell you later. It fairy time, right traveler?”
“I still can’t-I don’t really believe you are a fairy, I’m sorry,” Time sighed, “My head is having a hard time wrapping around it.”
“Says the man who ‘ fOuGhT tHe MoOn ’ huh?” Legend snickered, “I’ve seen weird stuff, so sure! You’re a fairy or half fairy, whatever, you need accommodations or something? You like bees?”
Everyone was confused as to why Legend suddenly asked Hyrule if he like bees. Legend groaned dramatically, “It’s because the fairies in my time like bees, okay? Yes, collectively, they all like bees, they hang out with them a lot.”
“How do you feel about fairies being bottled?” Wind questioned, “Do they like it? I think I remember Cap saying that they were okay with being bottled.”
“Well-“
“How do you feel about someone drinking fairy dust?” Wild asked.
“Champ, we’ve talked about this before,” Twi pinched Wild’s ear.
“But it tastes like fake strawberries!”
“That’s doesn’t make sense!”
“Yes it does!” Wild turned back to Hyrule, “Are you okay with me drinking fairy dust?” Hyrule just nodded. He did not want that conversation to continue. He’s just glad Wild wasn’t eating any actual fairies. Hopefully.
“Bottle.” Wind tugged at the traveler’s shirt, “tell me your feelings.”
“As long as you don’t shake us around, I don’t see what’s wrong?”
“How do you feel about bees?”
“Vet, drop the bee question.”
“But my bees !”
“I still can’t believe you’re a fairy.”
“We still don’t know why there’s a copy of your clothes here.”
“ THE TRAVELER IS A FUCKING FAIRY! ”
Hyrule laughed at the cacophony of voice all around him. He had calmed down considerably since the beginning of this conversation, and he could see the tensions dissipate as the roaring voices went on and on. Secrets will always be revealed, and he’s just glad he was able to choose to reveal his secret. Things would be different, strange, and at least somewhat uncomfortable for a while, but Hyrule knew that in due time, everything would be alright. His friends, his newfound family, would be right by his side.