Chapter Text
Link woke up in a stone tunnel, which wasn’t that unusual — he did a lot of dungeon crawling, after all — except he quickly realised that he couldn’t remember how he’d gotten there. The tunnel seemed a bit like a dungeon, maybe? It was hard to tell, because it was so dark, but Link was pretty sure that the wall he was leaning against had swirling designs carved into it. The floor seemed like it might have similar designs, but they were bigger, so the shape was harder to make out by touch alone. Regardless, Link knew he didn’t recognise the designs, which meant it wasn’t a dungeon he’d been to before. He was pretty sure he’d visited every dungeon in Hyrule (and at least most of the ones in Labrynna, Holodrum, Koholint, and Subrosia), so this must be somewhere new.
Was this a triforce-led trip again, like how his second and third adventures had began? Damnit, Link had been hoping that, this time, his retirement would stick. The last thing he remembered was going to bed, safe in his own house, after a day of tending to his orchard and arguing with Ravio-
Oh fuck! Ravio! He’d be so worried when he woke up and Link was just gone! He didn’t even have any of his tools, which Ravio might’ve been able to track him by. Not even, he realised, the bracelet Ravio had given him. How was that missing? He never took the stupid thing off!
The one, singular positive to this whole thing so far was that he was dressed rather than in his night clothes. He was wearing the green skirted tunic he’d taken to recently, layered under his enchanted red tunic. On his head was his blue hat. Both his hat and red tunic were covered with as many protection spells as he could get onto them, and his green tunic had a few basic enchantments added too.
On his feet were his pegasus boots, which he’d had to stop wearing after he’d accidentally activated them and ran into one of his apple trees three times in one afternoon. It was weird to be wearing them again, though Link couldn’t say he wasn’t pleased that they would be accompanying him on whatever this Quest turned out to be.
Having taken stock of his situation and assessed what of his surroundings he could see — dark, stone, vaguely damp — Link stood up. His ears twitched as he listened for any indication of what direction he should move. Hopefully, he’d hear wind and be able to follow the sound to an exit. Instead, however, a low grinding sound echoed throughout the room. Wall sconces lit up with a weird blue light, illuminating the area — it was indeed not a dungeon Link recognised. Small orange lights decorated the walls in constellation-like patterns.
To Link’s right, up on a higher level, a door slid open. Behind it stood a very naked person — Link was very relieved that they were at least wearing shorts. The boy — Link was pretty sure they were a boy — also had something magical hanging from his hip, but Link couldn’t see what it was.
They studied each other for a minute. The boy had mottled scars trailing down his left side, though they didn’t seem to be affecting him too badly right now. He also had blond hair that was slightly longer than Link’s own, which hung loose about his shoulders. He looked like he was probably slightly younger than Link, though the scars made him look older.
The boy gave Link a half smile and a small, hesitant wave.
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It had taken some talking, but Link had managed to learn some very important things about the kid.
First, his name was also Link!
Link — the original, not this nearly-naked newcomer — had been hoping that this Quest would be some sort of “escort the person where they need to go” thing, not whatever this was shaping up to be!
Second, he’d found that the kid knew just about nothing, except that ‘a voice’ had told him to wake up and take a weird slab-thing called a Sheikah Slate. He’d gestered to his hip, where the magical object was.
While the kid was explaining, Link searched the room. He found the kid some clothes to wear in a couple of chests, but the clothes were rags, barely holding together. Thankfully, the wear had also made them soft, so they wouldn’t be too bad on the kid’s scars. Grumbling, Link offered the kid his red tunic, too; at least he’d have some protection. Also in the room were some boxes larger than Link was tall. He shoved at them, but they were too sturdy to break.
The entire time, the kid followed Link around like a small puppy. It reminded him of Gulley, but that thought made his heart ache and so he quickly stopped.
Back through the door from which the kid had come, there was a shallow tub in the ground. Above it was a mass hanging from the ceiling, covered in glowing blue markings. There were no other exits. The room gave Link the creeps, and the kid didn’t look any happier. They left quickly.
On the other end of the room Link had woken up in, a pedestal stood. The top of it had more of the orange constellation lights on it. Next to the pedestal was what Link was pretty sure was their way out, but it was blocked, and he suspected that he had to do something to the pedestal to open it.
He put his hand on the pedestal and nothing happened. Waving his hand over pedestal didn’t do anything either. Link tried a few more things, all to no effect. Finally, he gave up and went to go see if there was something in the room he’d missed.
Behind him, the kid stepped up to the pedestal and froze, head tilted like he was listening to something. Link paused in his second search of the room to watch him. The kid unfroze after a few seconds, and Link breathed a light sigh of relief. He watched the kid hold his magical object up to the pedestal. The lights switched to blue. A circle on the ground lit up in the same blue light. The door opened with a deep rumble.
In the distance Link could see sunlight, and relief filled him. A way out!
Link hurried up the steps that’d been hidden behind the door, closely followed by the kid, eager to leave this weird not-a-dungeon and see where he was. Unfortunately, at the top of the stairs, a rock wall twice as tall as Link stood behind a large puddle. He splashed through the water to stare up at it, but he was pretty sure there was no way he could climb the stupid thing without one of his items — which he didn’t have, because the stupid triforce or whatever that had brought him here hadn’t accounted for this!
Apparently, the kid didn’t have the same issues, because he scrambled up the wall faster than a mountain goat, and then stared back down at Link with innocent confusion painted over his face. Link wanted to be mad at him, but he couldn’t.
“I can’t climb this. It’s too fucking tall.” Link said shortly. The kid still looked confused, like he couldn’t understand why not everyone could just scale sheer rock walls, but he nodded and lowered an arm.
It was a bit of a jump, but Link managed to grab onto the kid’s hand and was pulled up over the ledge.
Together, they walked out the cave entrance.