Archive of Our Own

The day had been going well, the Links were traveling in Legend’s time, going to the nearest town, in this case it was Hyrule Castle Town itself. They had reached about halfway, at about noon before a portal opened up in front of them. Of course, they all had to go through it.

They arrived in an area between two hills, in front of them was a lone- surprisingly tall- tree. To the left was a road, winding down past rows of trees. Before Time could examine the vaguely familiar area any closer, monsters had started to appear.

At first there was just one Bokoblin hiding behind the tree, which was easily taken yet, but more and more just kept coming. It was like the very earth itself was forming the monsters with how oddly they popped up everywhere, each having tainted blood. Everywhere you would turn another monster showed up, forcing the group of Heroes to scatter around that small area, fighting off the monsters in their own way. 

Time found himself on the right hill, using his Biggoron sword to cleave through rows and rows of these Bokoblins, but it was never ending. Or at least it seemed that way, lasting well past noon from what Time could see, all the other Links doing their best to keep the amount of monsters under control.

Only when Time slayed the last Bokoblin around him did he look to see how the others were faring.

Luckily for everyone, the rest of the Links he could see were also just cutting down the remaining stragglers. The ground littered with the still decaying monsters piled high where the group was fighting. Such a grim sight also made it far easier than it should for Time to spot the others with their brightly colored clothes. 

Except…

Time could see Twilight and Four, both using their bows to kill the remaining Keese, this time not paired with bombs. He saw Sky and Wild fighting in tandem against about 5 moblins. Warriors was to the right of him and Time just saw Legend duck behind a nearby tree with his bag in hand.

Which left….

“Captain!” Time looked over to Warriors silencing the last shrieking lizalfos, “Have you seen Wind and Hyrule anywhere?”

Warriors’s head snapped over as he flicked his blade, getting rid of the blood on it, “Wind and Hyrule? No, haven’t seen them since we all split up. Why?”

Time took a moment to respond, his eye glazing over the field, “Just a bad feeling about this fight. Why else would there be so many monsters if not to separate us?”

“Shit…” Warriors pointed to the tree, “I’ll ask the Vet, you ask Twilight and Four?”

“Sounds like a plan,”

With that Time watched for but a moment as Warriors carefully started jogging to the tree, carefully stepping over the bodies as he did. Time did much the same, turning and carefully walking over the bodies of the monsters.

“Pup!” Time called out, watching as his descendant looked over, still hitting his target, “Have either of you seen Wind and Hyrule?”

The two heroes turned to look at each other, lowering their bows and shaking their heads in nigh tandem, Twilight the one speaking, “Nope, not since it began. Should I go looking?” 

“I thought Hyrule was with Legend,” Four fidgeted with his bow, “And me and Wind got separated by an armoured Lizalfos,”

“Twilight, see if you can pick up their scents. Four, continue with killing as many Keese as you can,” Time said to the duo, “I’ll see if the others have seen them recently,”

With that Time, trusting that they would carry out his orders, left. Rather than going straight to meet back up with the Captain he took a bit to look around the battlefield. He didn’t see either of their missing companions though, just signs that they were there at one point.

He made his way over to the large tree. Once Time got there he saw Warriors and Legend in deep conversation. Legend’s back was facing him so he couldn’t see his face, but Wars had a frown and furrowed eyebrows.

“No luck here?” Time asked, placing a hand on the tree.

“Like I was just telling the captain,” Legend huffed slightly, leaning back to look at Time, “We got separated, a couple of Moblins got in between us. I thought he went around and paired up with one of you,”

Time resisted the urge to sigh. Great, just great, no one has seen some of their members. For fights they purposely kept it so there would always be at least one member constantly looking out for you, even better if you were in the group of three. Yet there were just so many monsters that unless you were back to back or on the outskirts it was difficult keeping track.

“One of you go tell Wild and Sky we’re missing those two,” Time pointed to where he last saw them, “I’ll see if Twilight caught where they went, or were taken too,”

“I’ll stay around here,” Legend kicked a disintegrating moblin arm, “See if Hyrule dropped anything in all this blood,”

“That leaves me I guess,” Warriors stood back up, finally sheathing his sword, “Stay within ear shot alright? No one else needs to go missing around here,”

Time just nodded, once again turning around to check in on his other party members. Four did his job well leaving not one Keese in the air. Of course that was only part of the job, they still had to collect the arrows left to be cleaned and eventually reused.

Twilight in his wolf form was circling a spot in the blood, his nose right above the blood soaked ground. Time could hear a high pitched whine from his descendant as the wolf sat down and looked over, his ears drooping down slightly.

Time forced himself to wait until he asked any questions, watching as said descendant was covered in shadow. Hearing the creaking and cracking of his bones still sent a shiver up Time’s spine. But what can you do?

“Wind’s scent stops right here,” Twilight touched the ground, “He didn’t even bleed, so he was taken by surprise. No scent of any monster running away either,”

“So probably a portal then,” Time hummed, nodding his head, “Think the same thing happened to Hyrule?”

“Probably,” Four investigated the arrow covered in black blood, “Odd how we didn’t hear an-”

“WILD!”

All three heads snapped over to the sound of Sky’s frantic voice. They didn’t waste any time, taking off in that direction. Twilight, being faster than Time and Four, led the way while they ran at about the same speed.

Sky was staring at the ground wide-eyed, his hand still outstretched like he was trying to grab something. Even Warriors looked shocked at what just happened, a hand on his sword, glancing around. The only signs that Wild had been there were the craters in the ground surrounding Sky and Warriors.

“What happened?” Time asked as he was still coming to a stop on the small hill.

“A-A portal just opened up right where I was walking, and h-he pushed me out of the way,” Sky floundered for just a second, finally retracting his hand, “He dropped through it so fast I couldn't get a hold of him. It was like something else pulled him through,”

“So so far the ones that have been taken were separated from the group, or were about to be separated,” Four surmised with a frown, “Odd,”

“Shit-” Warriors ran a hand through his hair, eyes widening, “Legend’s alone right now!”

Warriors proceeded to take off running down the hill, Time and the others looking for him from their advantage point. Legend was easily spotted by the group- afterall he was halfway up the hill himself. Warriors started to slide to a stop, talking loudly to Legend as he did so.

This was bad, even by Time’s standards. While the injuries they had weren’t substantial, they were just enough to weaken them. That paired with how long that fight lasted?

They were practically sitting ducks.

“Well that explains where Wind and Hyrule went,” Four looked around, “Whose world is this anyway?”

“Mine I think,” It was rather easy for Time to answer, he had rode Epona down this road time and time again, he could even see the exact same notches on the trees, “Once Legend gets up here we will make a break for-”

“Shit!” Legend cursed, his voice rising in volume, “Guys a little help here?!”

Time’s head snapped over. Apparently Warriors slid right onto the opening portal, already halfway through. One of Wars’ hands was clutching onto the slippery ground, the other clasped both of Legend’s hands. Legend himself seemed to be slipping, his boots finding no good spot with all the blood on the ground. Even with his magic items, Legend was definitely struggling.

Time and Twilight ran towards them both trying to be careful not to slip in. Four and Sky stayed back, no doubt combining something together to use. Warriors’ teeth were bared as he tried to pull himself back up, too busy concentrating to say anything.

They reached Legend easily enough, both latching onto him, trying to pull them both back. For Time it was like playing tug of war with a wall of all things, impossible without some other gear to help him out.

Even with Twilight’s strength, the two didn’t even pull the Captain out by an inch. Rather they just stopped him from sinking further into the portal, half of his body just gone. 

It was at this moment Sky and Four slid down the slope. They had tied two ropes together, throwing it over Wars, trying to help pull him out. 

The moment Time even gained the slightest bit of hope that they would manage to pull Wars out, the portal shifted.

You see, the portal had just been an inky black void. Just as if someone spilled ink all over the ground. Now though? Purple started to pour throughout the portal, making a spiral. The edges warped and started to expand towards them.

“Fuck-” Legend hissed as he was forced to take a step back, the edges creeping towards him, his grip slipping.

Time and Twilight were also losing their footing. Even as the blood dries they are pulling down at an angle. What Time would do just to be able to get into his pack and pull out his Goron mask.

Warriors was no longer just waste deep into this portal either. He was up to his armpits, his hand grabbing the grass vanishing as the portal grew larger. The moment the rope even went slightly into said portal it was shredded, snapping at the slightest pull the weaker members did. Even Legend was having to lean down to keep his grip on Wars.

Wars’ grip went slack as he continued to fall in, the portal expanding once more to the edge of Legend’s boot. Legend, maybe it was adrenaline, maybe it was stubbornness, kept holding on. Time wasn’t too sure if it was even possible to pull him out anymore, lest they get dragged in too. 

“No pain, I can feel my feet still,” Warriors informed them, like he accepted it, “Something… Something has a hold of my legs though, trying to pull me in,”

“Kick them in the fucking head then!” Legend did his best to keep hold.

The portal shifted once more. It went from spinning clockwise to the opposite. Dark blue joined the purple as it rapidly exploded outwards.

It was all Time and Twilight could do not to be pulled even, and even then it was by the skin of their teeth. If not for Twilight grabbing onto Time’s shoulder he would too be sucked into wherever that portal went. Four and Sky were lucky, the rope made it so they were clear of the radius.

Legend however? 

He didn’t even get a moment to react, and just how Sky described it happening to Wild? It happened to him too. Legend dropped like a stone in there, along with what little of Warriors remained outside of the portal.

Then, the portal closed. Not even a blade of grass was disturbed. And the 4 remaining Links stood there waiting for something, anything to happen, to see if another portal would open up around them.

…..it never did.

Time hated that.

He hated the anticipation, how anxious he was waiting to see if something would happen. Hated how they were taken by complete and utter surprise. Hated how those who were left were either exhausted or injured, him included. 

Though, Time supposed, they could consider themselves slightly lucky. Nothing was life threatening and the most serious injury was from Twilight. Twilight had apparently pulled his shoulder yanking back Time as far as he did, but he refused medical treatment.

“Lets wait until we get somewhere safe,” Twilight drew his sword with his opposite hand, forgoing his shield, “I can still fight,”

So there the four were, slowly walking along the path keeping their head on a swivel. Time let his tired legs walk themselves, slowly leading him back home. Normally this trip would only take the group 10 minutes, maybe 15 if they got sidetracked. 

But now? With everyone disheartened and exhausted? 45 painstaking minutes, with Time leading them.

When Malon saw them her happiness soon turned to concern, rushing out to meet them. Time couldn’t even answer her questions about what happened, where the rest of them were. Rather he just bent his head down slightly and pressed their foreheads together.

“I told you I would come back,” Time said with a laugh that was void of any humor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I see,” Only when the story was recounted did Malon speak, looking down at her own cup of tea, “Well, I suppose it’s time for you boys to rest up then! Twilight did that potion do the trick?”

“Yes ma’am,” Twilight set down his tea to roll his shoulder,, having changed out of his armor, “Good as it can get at least,”

“I told you to just call me Malon,” She huffed slightly, “Sky? Four? Are you two doing alright,”

“As well as one can in the present circumstances,” Sky said with a halfhearted smile.

“I can’t believe whatever that was got the drop on us,” Four didn’t even bother responding to Malon, just turned to look out the window, “There was no magic from that portal… it was just an empty hole,”

“Well…” Malon shared a look with Time, who was leaning on the counter, “The captain told you he wasn’t in any pain right? So that means they were captured alive. Which means you can get them back,”

Time nodded, “We can’t do anything right now. Best to just…. Get some rest before we go out and see if there is anything we can find to help us. Anything,”

“It’s still just a hard pill to swallow,” Sky sighed, bowing his head, “We are the heroes from different times and timelines, and yet half of us were taken out. Just like that,”

“We aren’t immortal,” Time’s ‘dead’ eye opened, “Not impervious to harm. Mortal, Hylian, it only makes sense that this would happen sometime,”

“Still sucks though,” Four muttered, Twilight nodding along.

That? That Time couldn’t disagree with.

“Alright you Three!” Malon clapped her hands together, “Go rest up and get your strength back. You fought hard and did your best, we can discuss a plan of action later,”

Slowly, the remaining links dispersed once their drinks were emptied. Twilight lingered the longest, helping to collect the cups and even tried to wash them. Malon shooed him away though with a huff, watching their descendant scamper away to the others.

Only then did the couple retreat to bed. Time sitting on the edge of it with Malon.

“What are you thinking Link?” Malon asked softly, wrapping an arm around him.

Time did the same, pulling her closer, “It… It might be time to dig up that mask. He might be of use for this,”

“Link… You boys can figure out a way to find the others without you losing yourself,” Malon’s free hand went up to touch the tattoos, Time leaning into her hand, “Last time… It took you months to remove the mask,”

“I don’t want to either, but what choice do I have?” Time huffed slightly, “Maybe he can sense those portals better, get a better feel of where they come from,”

“He could, or he will run rampant,” Malon’s hand grazed his scar as she dropped it, “And he might keep you this time,”

“He won’t, not with the others around to bug him,” Time chuckled, looking down at the glowing triforce, “The symbol of courage, or rather of stubbornness at times,”

“Don’t I know it,” Malon’s chuckle was music to Time’s ears, “Let’s go to bed, and tomorrow? You can see if you can remember where that mask is,”

Time watched his wife get up and move to her side of the bed to lay down, getting up to pull the covers himself, “ don’t think I would ever forget that spot, even if I got my memory wiped,”

Malon smacked his arm as he laid down, “Don’t even joke about that! The Goddesses love to call your bluff,”

Time didn’t really care as he turned in the bed to face Malon, a smile on his lips, “Then I guess they would have to deal with me falling in love with you all over again, the world be damned,”

Malon let out a laugh as both of her arms wrapped around Time, “Oh you… Always knowing just what to say,”

Time brought an arm out to pull the blanket up, “I like to think of it as practice,”

Just like that the two fell asleep for the night. Slowly drifting off into sleep with each other’s company. For once no nightmares plagued Time as he slept, too tired for such things. A rare occurrence by all accounts, even if he made no noise waking up.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Time must have been really tired because he woke up with the sun high up in the sky and half the bed empty. He wasted no time getting up either, knowing that he just wasted a lot of time planning and getting ready to try and save the others.

Surprisingly enough, the others weren’t in much better states than him. Sky was nursing a cup of coffee, hair sticking up every which way, still dozing off. Four looked equally sleepy, but he had the contents of his bag out, slowly counting everything inside of it.

Four’s head snapped over as Time came walking in, “Sup Time, enjoy sleeping in?”

“Surprisingly yes,” Time scanned the room once more, “Where is Twilight and Malon?”

“The Rancher is helping with farm chores, apparently he has been up since before dawn,” Four chuckled slightly, “What’s the saying? Can take the farmer out of the farm, but can never take the farm out of the farmer?”

“Something like that,” Time didn’t even bother getting coffee as he crouched down to help Four, “How are you doing on arrows?”

“Need to go back there and collect them now that all the monster bodies are gone for sure,” Four reached over to grab his quiver, showing it only a quarter of the way full, “Maybe see if anything is left from those weird portals, just in case,”

Time thought about it for a bit. On one hand it would be good just to see if somehow they missed something, on the other hand… Well, it was just too risky. If the portal appeared again, there would be nothing to help Four.

“Let’s wait until we figure out a way to combat those portals alright?” Time decided to say, if we can’t figure out a way, then you can just use the arrows I got stocked up here,”

Sky jumped up as he spilt coffee on himself, “Fuck- ow that’s hot,”

“Are you alright?” Time frowned, watching sky pat the small brown spot on his shirt.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine,” Sky continued to just pat said spot, pausing for a second, “Hey what if we all tied ropes around our waists, and when a portal opens up underfoot we all go, or none of us do?”

“That could work, except…” Four held up the frayed rope from the previous night, “The moment the rope touched the portal it ripped it apart,”

“Oh yeah…” Sky scratched the back of his head, “Well Time if you’re hungry Malon made some pancakes before she left. They aren’t warm, but they should still be good!”

“Thanks for telling me Sky,” Time smiled as he went to pick one up, not even bothering with a plate as he ate the plain pancake. 

Once he finished it, he grabbed a second one, moving to leave, “Keep brainstorming, I’ll go check on Malon and Twi. Maybe they have some thoughts,”

Sure he was going to see if they were both still around, but that wasn’t the main purpose of him going around the ranch. No rather he needed to collect IT, from the base of a tree on the complete opposite side of their ranch. 

Lo and behold Twilight and Malon were walking back from the Cucco coop, with a basket about halfway filled with eggs. Both Malon and Twilight perked up and wore similar faces of relief when they saw him. It amused him that despite being so far out in the future he still held some of their mannerisms.

“Time!” Twilight’s grin showed his sharp fangs, “Thought you were just going to sleep the day away,”

“Thought about it Pup,” Time chuckled before Malong came over and kissed him.

“I see you found the pancakes,” Malon gestured to the halfway eaten pancake.

“Yup, delicious as always,” Time took another bite, earning a chuckle.

Twilight made a noise and stuck out his tongue, “Gross you two. Meet you back at the house?”

“Sure Pup,” Time patted his descendant’s head, “I’m just going to take a walk around the ranch alright? Try and come up with something with the others about those portals,”

Twilight nodded, walking away, as Malon just narrowed her eyes at him, “You really are grabbing it?”

“Just as a precaution dear,” Time forced himself to smile, “Nothing really can stand up against him, not even aliens,”

Malon looked back towards Twilight walking away, “Just… just come back to me alright? As yourself… not him,”

“Of course, not even that god could stop me from coming back,” Time gave Malon a kiss on the forehead, barely dodging her playful smack, “I’ll be back in a bit,”

“Stay safe Link…” Malon sighed, shaking her head before turning around to follow Twilight inside.

Time continued his walk past the fields where Epona grazed, where the sprouting wheat swayed in the wind, and the edge of the forest. From there he continued to walk until he spotted a tree that was split in half, still alive despite it.

It had happened some years ago, back when Time decided to never use the Fierce Deity mask again. After the last time he took it off and gained his tattoos, a horrible storm broke out, lightning striking this very tree. He at the time thought it was fitting to hide the mask in the dead tree.

Little did he know that it would survive such a deadly blow and start to grow and thrive like it never happened.

Time climbed up the trunk, balancing on its roots, just like old times. At first Time didn’t see anything but ash at the bottom of the cavity that the lightning created. However, the moment he brushed it away there it was, looking like it was well taken care of rather than being stuck inside a tree. 

He sighed as he brushed whatever ash remained on it. The face on it haunted him every time he looked in the mirror. How he over used it and did not heed the warning of his friends and families, and just abused it. The time he spent in the mask got longer and longer as his time as himself got shorter.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as a branch snapped, his ears twitching. Looking up he saw several lizalfos approaching, their malicious eyes locking onto them. They even had the gall to not even remotely pause when he spotted them. Just like yesterday, Lizalfos aren’t native to this part of his Hyrule, they were brought in.

Time tried to reach and grab his Biggoron sword, only to grab air. 

Shit….

No wonder they continued to approach, armorless, defenseless. All except for…

He groaned looking at the mask, hesitating for only a moment longer before putting it over his face, it fitting like a glove.

The last thought he had was apologizing to Malon for not coming back as soon as he could….

~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight huffed, standing there in his armor and looking out over Lon Lon Ranch. Time said he was just going on a routine walk around the Ranch, so what was taking him so long? It was nearly supper time! Granted he woke up past noon but still!

Even Malon looked to be getting worried, looking out nearly as often as Twilight. Sky and Four were getting progressively more antsy too. Fiddling with the master sword and some sort of magical staff.

“That’s it!” Twilight stood up, pulling out the dark magic pendant hiding underneath his shirt, “I’m going to go find him, see if he was taken,”

“Good,” Malon sighed, staring outside, “It should have only taken him an hour, nearly two to get back. Did he even take a weapon with him?”

Four shook his head, “Unless he has a dagger we never knew about? No, no he didn’t, his sword is still over with his pack,”

Sky looked at Twilight, “If you aren’t back in 2 hours we are going to come after you,”

“Of course,” Malon facepalmed, before also looking at Twilight, “Be safe alright? He… went into the forest, to a tree split in half,”

“I’ll find it,” Twilight touched the artifact, allowing the dark magic to consume him, taking off through the now open door the moment he could.

It was easy enough, following Time’s scent, even his footsteps were still there. However when he arrived at the tree, panting from running all the way there, he saw a blood bath.

Time’s scent was all around the battleground, yet it was… different. The last bit of Time’s scent ended at the tree, right next to the pile of broken roots and then to the skeleton of a lizalfos. Black blood soaked into the earth, painted onto the trees. Bloody footprints, far larger than Time’s were printed on the ground, leading far deeper into the forest. 

Twilight followed the trail, blending into the shadows as he followed the trail. The bloody footsteps tapered off, but the destruction didn’t. Eventually he would hear the sounds of a battle and raced towards it.

Standing there killing a normal blooded Bokoblin was an 8 foot tall monster. Clad in silver armor with golden accents, this… thing crushed the monster underfoot with just a single stomp. It had no weapon, but clearly it didn’t need one. It had silver hair and Hylian shaped ears.

Twilight’s breath caught in his throat as it slowly turned around. Those were the same markings Time had on one side of his face. Glowing white eyes scanned the forest, looking for something.

Then those eyes landed exactly on where Twilight was watching. It smelled like time, but that was not him, that was not his ancestor. The one who trained him and taught him all the skills he needed to succeed in his journey. This was something else entirely.

Could he run? No… that never ended well for anyone. Fighting was off the table too, just the sheer size and level of armor Twilight doubted his weapons or fangs could get through it.

Didn’t Time say he was still himself when he used his masks? Does he still remember him? Or will this turn into his desperate escape out of here?

As the Not-Time approached Twilight’s head swam through as many possibilities as possible. He was smaller, presumably faster, and these were woods he grew up in. The younger version of Faron woods, but those very trees nonetheless. He could presumably lose this man… hopefully.

Rather than getting caught in the corner Twilight darted out. Keeping a healthy distance between the two. He didn’t snarl, but just bowed his head down, muscles taut as the Not-Time regarded him, not a muscle in his face moving.

The bloodied, clenched fists opened and fell to his side. Then, surprising Twilight, Not-Time knelt down unblinking eyes staring at him. They narrowed their eyes ever so slightly as they looked him up and down, like they knew Twilight wasn’t actually a wolf. Maybe that really was Time. 

Twilight cautiously took a step forward, ears perking up, but he stayed low to the ground. He made a small whining noise as he tilted his head, questioning if he knew him. Not-Time tilted his head in return, raising a gauntlet up, palm outstretched fingers pointed to the earth.

The metal glittered like nothing Twilight had ever seen before. Perhaps this was the source of the strange smell surrounding Not-Time. Twilight took a few steps closer, nose sniffing, but his blue eyes never left Not-Time’s face.

Then, before Twilight could react, Not-Time struck. His other hand came at Twilight like an arrow, latching onto the back of his neck. It was everything Twilight could do to force himself to be still, a growl mixed with a whine escaping as he was slowly lifted like a misbehaving puppy. 

Not-Time continued to examine him. Now that Twilight was closer he could see that his eyes weren’t just all a  glowing white. Rather there was a faint grey circle in the center, moving as it looked over him. Finally the eyes arrived at Twilight’s triforce or courage.

“Divine Beast…” The voice that came from this man was definitely NOT Time’s, far too deep, carrying the weight of a thousand deaths, “Nay… This is not thee’s true visage,”

Twilight just continued to hang in the air. Staring down Not-Time, it was not like he could do much anyway.

Not-Time’s gaze went up to the target marking of Twilight’s forehead. Slowly a hand reached forward, rough fingers pushing through Twilight’s fur.

Twilight let out a whine, kicking his feet, even going so far as to nip at the arm. This was a dangerous position to transform in, his neck could easily snap with how he was being held. One wrong move could end him right there, leaving him decades even centuries in the past, away from his home.

Not-Time’s fingers froze as they brushed the stone due to Twilight’s panic. Slowly, he lowered the wolf to the forest floor, no longer just holding him by his neck. Still Twilight wiggled backward trying to break free.

Surprisingly Not-Time let him scamper away slightly, inches from his grasp, “Bewray thyself, anon,”

Twilight did not wait to be told a second time, even if he didn’t quite understand what was said he got the message, his bones cracking and popping as he shifted back. Then he ungracefully stood up, both hands outstretched as he chuckled awkwardly.

“Howdy there,” Twilight said, forcing his voice to be aloof, “Never seen you in this neck of the woods. Uh- What brings you here?”

Not-Time did not answer him, locking onto where Twilight’s triforce was, “Bewray thy hand to me,”

With shaking fingers, Twilight undid his gauntlet, showing the slightly glowing triforce, “Now, I can explain- I know this time and place has its own hero. I’m from a different time, decades- even centuries in the future. In fact I am his- Link’s descendant,”

Not-Time stared at the marking, “What has brought thou here to this time and place?”

“I wish I could tell you. Hylia- or the goddesses- or whoever- collected those with the Triforce of courage from all over time and space. There are 9 of us,” Twilight rambled to get out, “I came into this forest to find the hero of this era who had yet to return from a walk… Are you- do you remember me?”

“Upon his brow he placed mine mask, and he became mine,” Not-Time… Time? Responded, “I am privy to some, but it has been some timeth since mine mask was used. It will take time for all memories in this vessel to transfer,”

“Uh well-” Twilight scratched at his face, “Will… will he be able to come back then? Like the mask gets taken off and bam he is back?”

“If I deem it so,” Not-Time stated, “Doest Thy’s presence deal with the black blooded monsters?”

Twilight did not like how Not-Time said that, “....We think so. Uh- what do you want to be called?”

That got Not-Time to pause, “I have been referred to by many names, but Fierce Deity wast hath used by this vessel’s companions,”

“Fierce Deity it is then,” Twilight looked to where they both came from, “Well- I don’t want to leave you here, or I don’t even think I can really. But we have to get going back to the others before they start worrying,”

Fierce Deity tilted their head, “Explain,”

“.....You are going to have to be more specific than that,”

“All of it,”

“Right, yeah alright. Can we at least walk and talk? I promised Sky I would return within the hour,” Twilight started walking, every 3 of his steps were just one of Fierce Deity's, “Well, we are brought here by portals, even when we get separated they always end up placing us near each other. Somehow all of us are named ‘Link’ so we go by titles or nicknames. Like mine is Twilight as my time was plagued by eternal twilight, Sky is because he lived up there for the majority of his life, and so on. As for why they are worried…”

Twilight went on to explain as best as he could about the portals. How they showed up out of nowhere and silently took all but 4 of them, Time included. How none of the Links left could even sense any magic from them. The Fierce Deity let Twilight explain silently, not saying a word. 

With how silent this apparent Deity is, Twilight could pretend that he was not there… If not for the fact that he towered over him and was just hovering right behind him this entire time.

“So… yeah,” They were farther out than Twilight realized. If he was still in his wolf form it would be easy… but he did not think that was a good idea.

Slowly a hand would be placed upon Twilight’s head, like he was just forcing Twilight to kneel. Twilight did a full body flinch as he jumped away from the giant, looking at him with wide eyes. Oddly enough Fierce Deity’s hand remained hovering there, still in the same position.

“What the fuck was that for?!” Twilight stared at the giant.

The fierce deity allowed his hand to drop to his side, “Link… Time did that often, didst he not? To show thanks or approval,”

‘Well yeah but…” Twilight let out a frustrated sigh, walking back over,“Whatever, can we pick up the pace a little? We got to get back before they get lost in this forest,”

“Thou… You are the slow one, I only match thy’s pace,” The fierce deity spoke with something odd that Twilight couldn’t decipher, “If I carry thee, we could leaveth this forest much faster,”

Twilight’s first instinct was to tell the ancient glowing eyed thing ‘fuck no’, but he refrained, mouth still open. He had to admit, Fierce Deity was farther into the forest than he thought possible. He wasn’t going to shift into a wolf again, not with how he reacted last time.

“...fine,” Twilight shoved his side aside for a moment, “We need to go back to that tr- hey!”

As soon as Twilight relented the Fierce Deity picked him up by the wolf pelt. Using both hands, Twilight was securely placed on the Fierce Deity's back. A part of Twilight wondered if this was Time leaking through, the grip much lighter and gentler than when he tried to ‘pat’ Twilight’s head. 

Eventually they made it back to the tree, Twilight giving the instruction to follow Time’s old footprints. The Fierce Deity was indeed fast, faster than even Twilight in his wolf form. No wonder he was able to make it so deep into the forest before Twilight caught up with him.

Luckily again for Twilight, they had reached the exit of the forest just as Sky and Four got there. Both of their eyes widened comically as they scrambled back. Twilight pushed himself off of Fierce Deity, rolling to break the fall.

“Twilight, you're alright!” Sky relief bled into wariness as he looked at the hulking figure sliding to a stop 20 feet away.

“Who is that and where is Time?” Four’s eyes narrowed as Fierce walked over, once again standing behind Twilight.

“It’s a long story, but remember all those masks Time showed us?” At the two’s nod he continued, “There was another that apparently had this guy trapped in and possess him if worn. Fierce Deity, these are the other two that I mentioned: Sky and Four. Guys this is Fierce Deity, apparently sticking around to help us with what happened,”

“Indeed,” The Fierce Deity bowed his head to the two, “Where is my vessel’s blade? The Biggoron sword. I require the weapon,”

Twilight shared a look with the two, but they led him back to the farm house. Malon was safe to say not amused by the appearance of The Fierce Deity, but still went about handing Time’s things to said Deity. She handed the other three links food for the road, and asked them to return with her husband back to himself.

The moment The Fierce Deity touched the Biggoron sword it shifted and changed to fit his size. It was now shaped like an infinity symbol, or the number 8 depending on what angle you say it. Twilight could tell it was wickedly sharp and definitely not to be played with. It clicked onto The Fierce Deity’s back like it had always belonged there.

As they walked to the battle sight they talked about what to do if another one of those portals opened. However this time The Fierce Deity declared something.

“You will not succumb to the portals, not while I am here,” 

It was said with such conviction that the three couldn’t argue with it. After all Deity was in his name, so perhaps he could sense them far better than they could. Fierce Deity was definitely the quiet type, not speaking a word until they arrived.

“This place reeks of Demise. Did you fight his Legions here?”

“Uh no- well maybe?” Sky shrugged as he checked around where both Warriors and Legend got sucked in, “We don’t know who sent the monsters here, but there was a lot. It’s how some of our companions went missing, we didn’t notice it until after things cleared out. We saw a black lizalfos a while back, we think that it has something to do with it,”

“Twi! Anything up there?” Four called out, standing further down where Hyrule was.

Twilight poked his head back up, “Unless you count the craters? No not really,”

“Then this is pointless,”  The Fierce Deity declared looking around, “Where is the portal you spoke of to take us to another place?”

“Don’t work like that,” Twilight started walking towards the behemoth, “They happen at random. Sometimes there ain’t even a-”

Twilight’s eyes widened as he watched the ground underneath him give way. An inky black pool bubbling up to the surface, small as a pencil that rapidly expanded. Then just like that, he was hauled upwards and away from the portal. Said portal grew to his exact size around where his foot was.

“You must be more aware,” It sounded like Fierce Deity was scolding him as he was safely placed away from the portal, “Demise’s power does indeed power this,”

“Sorry…” Twilight ducked his head slightly as Four came running up.

“Did you really nearly get eaten by that thing?” Four slapped his arm with a frustrated sigh, “Right where Wars was taken too,”

The moment Fierce Deity’s hand was close to the portal it slammed shut. Like whoever was on the other side knew who was on the other side of the portal and knew what he was capable of. 

“If it truly is Demise’s power then what should we do?” Sky poked the ground where it disappeared, “In my own time he was killed, and from what we all gather… I am the earliest of us,”

“Perhaps it is a remnant of him causing trouble?” Four suggested, snapping his fingers, “I got it! But we need to get to my time,”

“You have an idea on where they are?” All three looked over to Four who was now pacing around them.

“No, but I got an idea who does,” Four explained, “There was this guy I fought, Vaati, he was obsessed with all that power that Demise had. He is imprisoned with the minish, but getting lucky with the portals to get us close is another thing…”

They all had a moment of silence. To think they finally had an idea of where to go yet could not make it there. Even Fierce was clearly thinking of what to do. Yet no one spoke up for a long while.

That is until The Fierce Deity looked up to the sky and called out, “Hylia! Aid us in vanquishing the foul curse that is plaguing your knights! Help us to find those who were lost!”

The three normal triforce of courage yielders stared at each other dumbfounded. Did he not know that Hylia reincarnated as Zelda in all of their realities? Or did he think that she would still be able to hear them. Maybe even that the Three high Goddesses would grant them pity?

“Uh Fierce Deity," Sky decided to speak up, about to show him the master sword, “I’m afraid tha-”

Almost like it was on que, the swirling portal that they all got to know opened in front of their faces. Except this time it was much larger, matching the 8 foot tall warrior next to them. 

“Wha-” Four looked between Deity and the portal, “How?”

“The goddesses above always hears the call of one of their own,” Fierce deity started to gently usher them all through the portal, twilight swearing there was a smile on the Deity’s face at how dumbfounded they were, “Come, let us not waste their blessing,”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Lo and behold the portal did indeed take them exactly where they needed to go… Apparently, Four seemed pretty certain of it despite looking at an empty clearing once more. Twilight was sure however if he turned into a wolf he would be able to see at least something, but right now? All he could hope was that Four knew what he was doing, shrinking and disappearing into the shrubbery as he did. 

In Four’s time it was actually around noon rather than supper time. Still Twilight and Four set up camp a safe distance away from where Four disappeared into, just to make some food to keep their strength up. Fierce Deity watched, never sitting down for even a moment as he looked out for Sky and Twilight.

“Soo… Mr. Deity?” Sky asked as Twilight worked on warming what Malon gave them, “Where are you from?”

“A place far from here, known as Termina to its residents,” He didn’t even bother to look over, “I was considered their god, even though I was not originally from there,”

“That’s a big task! Did you know Hylia well?” Sky just smiled at the Deity.

“Yes. We worked well together, fighting against Demise, once he turned to the Dark Side,” Fierce nodded, turning his head as Twilight offered Sky his portion.

“Thanks Twi,” Sky took a bite before going back to badgering Fierce, “What was he like before then? Even in my time he was like a ghost story to tell to naughty children… Before he actually showed up,”

“Strong,” That seemed to be the first word that came to mind, his nose wrinkling as he thought, “Kind to allies, vicious to enemies, until becoming stronger was all he thought about. Even to the detriment to those he considered friends,”

Sky frowned, his spoon lowering, “Enemies? Like what? Monsters? ...Other Gods?”

“Victory is written by the victors, not the ones who land underfoot,” Fierce Deity told the two, looking away, “They were not even worth the ink it would take to tell their story,”

“Sounds rough, is that how you ended up in Time’s mask?” Twilight asked, glancing over, purposely trying to get a reaction, “You lost?”

“Twi!” Sky scolded the slightly younger hero, “You don’t have to answer that Fierce,”

“I… am unaware of how my presence was sealed, just that it was by Majora after our battle,”  The deity admitted it like it was painful to say, “We were both injured gravely,”

Twilight had nothing to say to that. Despite his slight anger towards the deity, he felt a small amount of pity towards him. He stirred the food that was left in the pot, thinking.

“...Here,” Twilight offered.. Time’s bowl to the behemoth, “Probably not enough to fill you, but it's better than nothing,”

“That is kind of you to offer Pup…” Fierce Deity seemed unaware of the shock on Twilight’s face, “But I do not require sustenance,”

“Time does though,” Twilight kept the bowl raised, “And seeing as you are using his body, better keep it strong, eh?”

Sky nodded along, “It would make both of us feel better if you ate something,”

The Fierce Deity actually sighed, taking the small bowl and even smaller spoon in his armored hands. To Twilight, it actually looked somewhat comical to see Fierce copy them to eat, trying and fumbling to use the spoon though as he sat on the ground next to them. Twilight was almost tempted to give the man the serving ladle he had, but held off.

“... it is good, thank you,”  Fierce said as his bowl was wiped clean, handing the bowl back to Twilight.

“It was made by Malon, Time’s wife,” Twilight stored the three bowls away, keeping the small fire going so when Four returned so he too could eat something warm, “Do you have those memories of his yet?”

“Some, most are just… feelings,” Fierce chuckled slightly as he stared at his hands, “He has grown well since he last put my mask on,”

“Maybe you don’t need to be here now,” Twilight offered softly.

“No! …No,” Fierce repeated what he said softer, “I will see this through, he placed my mask on for a reason. I won’t allow myself to go back until you are reunited with your comrades Pup,”

There again with Time’s nickname for him.

Rather than showing irritation he leaned back, closing his eyes and sighing, “Well, it was worth a shot. Gonna hold you to that though, he is kinda the only one with enough patience to wrangle us all,”

“Or sanity,” Sky joined in with a snort.

Even Fierce joined in with a small smile, this time patting Twilight’s head with a lot less force “I have no doubt about that,”

It was at this time Four reemerged from the bush growing in size as he walked back. It took him a second to find them, but once he did he ran over.

“Good news! They are okay and in a dungeon!” Four said with a large smile, “Apparently that place was where Vaati first discovered Demise’s power,”

“Did he give you any insight into why it activated?” Sky asked, tilting his head.

“What did it cost you for the information?” Was what Twilight asked as he went about warming Four’s portion.

“Apparently it was after our triforces, or rather the one closest to Demise’s time,” Four pointed where his was, “And while trying to get Sky it got confused or something. Too many of us with it. And all I did was get him access to the flower garden, supervised,”

“I’m betting whoever that black lizalfos is activated it,” Twilight offered the bowl to Four, “Here, eat up and then you can lead us there,”

“Yes, eat, regain whatever strength you may have lost,”  Fierce said nodding as he stood up, “If what the minish said was true, we are too close for another portal to open. Too much instability in such things,”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vaati’s until was correct, the small dungeon really was close by. The entrance, a grand looking hallway- covered in ancient glowing red markings-, and an equally grand door marred by the same glowing symbols. 

Twilight could only understand some of them, and even that was iffy. They reminded him of The Twili text. Midna had set about trying to teach him how to read it during their adventures. After all this time only a few words stuck, but personally? Twilight though they were the most important of them all.

Death, pain, and basically the symbol for ‘do not enter’.

And Do Not Enter was pasted all over that door.

“So how are we going to open it?” Sky turned to Four, “There isn’t even a handle,”

“Vaati apparently snuck in using his minish form, didn’t even think to mention this,” Four pressed a hand to the door, “Maybe there is like a hidden switch? Something?”

“Stand aside,” Fierce demanded, pulling out the large sword, wielding it with only one hand, “I shall cut it down,”

Then, by nothing Twilight could explain, the door swung open. The scrapping of stone on stone made him cover his ears. In fact everyone covered their ears, besides Fierce that is. He just stood there looking at the door with narrowed eyes.

“Well,” Four chuckled, walking to enter, “I guess the door heard you,”

Fierce, weapon still in hand, blocked the way, “I shall enter first. To check for this black beast,”

Four raised his hands and took a step back from the sword literally bigger than he, “All-”

He froze, staring off to the left of the hallway, his face paling considerably, “No…”

“Four? What’s wrong?” Sky asked, immediately going over to their friend’s side, “What do you see?”

Twilight saw nothing on that wall, but still pulled out his sword, “Something bad?”

“No! No- I mean,” Four sighed, glancing back at his shadow for whatever reason, “I just thought… I saw someone who died that it,”

“Trick of the light hopefully?” Sky suggested, pulling the shortest towards the open door where fierce sat waiting.

“I don’t know, especially knowing him,” Four shook his head, “Let’s go save our friends, yeah?”

Inside the room were indeed all of the other links. Stuck, almost frozen in time, all of them surrounding an ominous pedestal in the center of the room. Clear spaces marked out for the four remaining. 

Twilight felt a chill go up his spine at it. Whoever activated this room truly was collecting them like trophies.

The Fierce Deity walked right up to the pedestal, searching over the links inside. Then, without waiting for the three remaining to recover, stabbed straight through that pedestal. Almost like a hot knife through butter.

The effect was instantaneous, each and everyone of the frozen Link’s crumbled to the ground. The three remaining ran over to them as Fierce stood there, removing his blade from the pedestal like what he did wasn’t extremely dangerous.

All of them were breathing and lucky to be as well, just knocked unconscious. After some debate the three decided to try and wake up Warriors before the rest, working down from most recent to the ones taken earlier. The only reason for that is if there were some side effects, they want to be able to catch them with less serious versions to make a game plan.

Warriors woke up with a loud gasp, shooting straight up, nearly stabbing spear in the arm.

“Woah! Woah Captain,” Twilight forced Wars’ arm down, “It’s alright, we got you. How are you doing?”

“Fine- Fine I think, what about the others? Where is-” Warriors frantically looked around, until his eyes landed on Fierce, the next words were spoken with surprising animosity, “Deity… So you he went back for you,”

Fierce bowed his head slightly, “Captain. It has been some time,”

“Don’t ‘Captain’ me. I’ve seen what your influence does to Time,” Warriors shakily stood up with the help of Sky, “Let him go,”

“I will, once everyone else has been awakened,” Fierce turned around “Clearly your nerves are still frayed from the battle you vanished in. I will stand guard,”

Once Fierce was turned around and outside of the room Warriors sighed, letting himself be pulled back down, “....How long has it been? Since I went under? Since Time put that mask on?”

“You’ve been gone for about a day now, and time has been like that for…” Four shook his head, “Couple of hours? Like 6 at max, why?”

“That is his story to tell, but the longer that mask stays on his head the more draining it is,” Warriors looked to the other Links, “Everyone else alright?”

“Sleeping. Woke you up first to see if you have any side effects. Feel anything besides tiredness?” Twilight asked, feeling his forehead.

Warriors smacked his hand away, “I could really go for some food. How did Malon react?”

“Not amused that’s for sure,” Four carefully went over to Legend, “Should I go ahead with him?”

“Yeah… just don’t get hit,” Sky turned around, letting Twilight give Warriors some jerky.

That's how waking each and every link went. Chaos, confusion, before they admitted how tired they were. Wind and Hyrule were by far the worst, having literally been plucked in the middle of a fight. It took considerable effort from all three of the alright links to restrain them while they came to their senses, before they hurt anyone. The rest of the Links ate the jerky and whatever rations Wild had to snack on.

Only once everyone was standing did Fierce walk in, earning confused looks from a good chunk of them “Is… Are all of the heroes alright?”

At Fierce’s ‘gaze’ Twilight nodded, “Yes… It is time to hold up your end on the bargain Fierce. Thank you, for all the help in getting here,”

Fierce sheathed his weapon, bowing his head slightly, “It was a pleasure to walk alongside you all. Even if just for a moment,”

With that? The Fierce deity wasted no time using a gauntleted hand to grab around his chin and pull. Twilight doesn’t think he will ever forget that noise, like tendons being slowly ripped away from each other.

The moment the mask was fully off, Time, still in his casual clothes stood there. His pack and sword dropped to the ground like he was never touching them. He nearly followed right after if not for Twilight catching him and lowering him down.

Time groaned, opening his good eye, “What happened… Is everyone okay?”

“Yep, we just got everyone back,” Twilight confirmed softly, “It was one hell of a day that’s for sure,”

Time slowly sat up, looking at the fallen mask on the floor, “Did he… take it off? Willingly?”

“That was the deal we made when I first found him,” Twilight looked over to Sky and Four, “He promised to help and then leave,”

“Yeah, he was just guarding the door for us all to recover,” Sky nodded as he offered a flask of water to Wind.

“Any of you actually see what took you and froze you here?” Four asked the group, “Someone had to have activated it,”

“If we did I can’t remember,” Warriors frowned, tapping his head, “...Last thing I remember my head going into the portal… then nothing,”

There was a chorus of agreements from the other, previously trapped Links. Twilight could only sigh, somewhat fondly. Of course that was the side effect, though there was no doubt in Twilight’s mind it was that dark Lizalfos, even if there was no way to know for sure.

But for now? Twilight was just happy everyone is alright. Even if it's just for that moment.