Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Link rolled his neck as he finished double-checking his supplies and packing them back into the magic bag he’d had since his childhood, running through his mental checklist again to be sure he had everything he needed. The little fairy who had arrived on the ranch earlier that day had been quite worried, and right now helping her meant ensuring he was prepared for whatever strange monsters had her so frightened. Goron tunic, already donned under his armor, his default for it ever since the fighting in the desert. Potions, one green one blue three red. Spare clothes, check. Food for a week, or two at a stretch, check. His various adventure gear, actual checklist already checked. Useful masks, likewise…

A warm hand on his pulled him out of his checklist, and he turned to see Malon holding a jar of sugar cubes out to him.

“Here,” she offered. “I know you like to bribe the little ones.”

He chuckled, slipping it into his pack and finishing packing his things into the deceptively small satchel. “Just paying their generosity forward.”

“Uh huh. I think you just like the way they jingle when they’re happy.”

He let his lips curl into a smirk while he checked the straps on his armor. Who wouldn’t like how people talk when they’re happy? “And here I thought I was the one with the Mask of Truth.” He let out a laugh as she playfully shoved his arm with a smile of her own.

“You wear your heart on your sleeve, mister, I don’t need no magic mask - nor magic eye, mind you - to know you.”

“No, I suppose you don’t,” he agreed, with a wide relaxed grin. Malon’s teasing had a way of raising his spirits on the worst of days, and this day had already been pretty good besides the news from the forest.

Her arms slipped around him while he secured his bag to his belt, and he fumbled the knot as her lips met his in a tender kiss that made him blush to his ears.

“Now I know I say this every time you leave on a mission, but you come back in one piece, y’hear?”

“I will,” he said, smiling fondly at her. “It’s just some strange monsters. I grew up in those woods, remember? I’ll be fine.”

“Alright.” A final, tight squeeze before she let him go. “Now go on, fairy boy, save your forest. Mat’so¹.”

He grinned and leaned in to give her a peck on the cheek before she headed out the door, trying his best to pretend that it didn’t still make his cheeks burn and his heart dance to say it back. “Mat’so¹. See you when I’m done.”

And if he took a moment after she left to just grin like an idiot, well, that was his business.

Goddesses, I love that woman…

With a content sigh, he stepped out of his smaller home, letting the warmth of midday and the sounds and smells of the ranch wash over him. After checking his magical anchor for Farore’s Wind, he headed over to one of the many bowls of sugar water he kept filled around the ranch, ocarina in one hand and holding out his other for a fairy to land on.

“Forgive the wait, Lavi. If I get us to the forest temple, can you lead me to where you found those monsters?”

The fairy nodded, her violet light bobbing with her as she spoke. The soft chimes of her voice danced through the air, his mind supplying the meaning as her magic conveyed it. “I can! Though it’s been a few days. It took me a while to get here…”

“Not at all," he said, giving her a gentle smile as he cast aside her unspoken apology. "It’s a long walk, and longer still at a fairy's size. Hold on to me, okay?”

Once he was sure of the fairy’s grip on his hair, he lifted the ocarina to his lips and began to play. The Minuet of Forest filled the air, and in a swirl of light and magic he vanished from the ranch.

It was almost dark when he found the spot the fairy mentioned, and what tracks he could find were unlike any he’d seen before. Far too small for a moblin, splayed toes so they weren’t hylian, three toes so they weren’t zora. Frowning, he noted the direction the tracks seemed to head off in and turned back to Lavi. “I need to make camp, little sister, I’ll have to investigate in the morning. Will you be okay?”

She bobbed in the air, nodding. “There’s a new fountain I can make it to.”

“A new fountain?”

“Yeah! It’s still in progress though, so we can’t bring anyone to it yet, and I wasn’t really supposed to tell you but you seem so nice and you always take good care of us an-”

“I see,” he cut her off, chuckling softly at the rambling. If she was able to tell him then he was allowed to know. “I won’t seek it out, then. Be safe.”

With a nod and a bob she vanished into the undergrowth, and Link set to looking for a large enough tree to sleep in. He didn’t particularly want to sleep in a tree, let alone in his armor, but he’d much rather be sore in the morning yet alive and ready than ambushed in his sleep by whatever monsters Lavi had come to him for help with. He’d just found one and was about to look for some berries to snack on - trail mix was great, but the berries were even better fresh off the bush - when he felt the familiar sensation of time magic in the vicinity.

Following the feeling to a nearby clearing, he felt his shoulders slack as he processed what he was seeing in the moonlight. A familiar dark abyss stood before him, swirling purple and black and rimmed with magic that he could much more clearly sense now. It was something twisted, corrupted by darkness, just like the portal that had brought him to his adoptive gerudo father and back so many years ago. But this time, he felt no pull towards it. In fact, as he approached to enter it almost seemed to repel him, the way his father had talked about Link’s own return portal. Surprised, he looked over it curiously, hand darting to the greatsword on his back as it rippled.

A boot exited the portal. The rest of a man in gilded or bronzed chainmail under a black tunic followed. He had a familiar pale blue waist sash, a very familiar wolf pelt; ruddy brown hair, duller than Malon’s but distinctly gerudo; twili markings Link had only ever seen on one person before; even the man’s face was the same. And exiting the portal alongside him was the spitting image of his beloved Epona, if she were a draft horse rather than a warmblood. There was simply no mistaking the duo.

“Vàmo?

Chapter Text

Link let out a long sigh as he finished reading the traders’ letter, pulling his wolf pelt over the stump of his right arm to keep it from the cold morning air. “Well that’s… not great.”

“Hm?” Anìsh looked over, finishing off a hydromelon slice. “Vomoq? A’vàn vaqonte voqa?¹”

“Their guards found a portal their side of the valley. Then they got ambushed by monsters no one’s ever seen before, and only one of the guards survived. It’s dated today, the postman is really somethin’.”

He wasn’t sure what to make of that. On the one hand, he knew that Hyrule’s soldiers were better trained now than the ones he’d encountered on his Quest; but at the same time, he couldn’t shake the mental image of the - in hindsight, incompetent - soldiers that had let him reach Zelda’s chambers, unopposed, as an admittedly threateningly large wolf, twice in less than half a year. As much as he hated to speak ill of the dead, it was hard to guess at how competent these soldiers, and by extension the monsters, had been.

Either way, though, whatever was going on called for him to dust off the mantle of the Hero.

“I have to go check it out.”

Liné scoffed. “Àrp Sai’ruba kive. Sai’rubati nàsaqá kive.²”

“Liné!”

Link fixed his guard with a disapproving look, taking the chance to repay all the ones he’d gotten from her over the years as the first light of dawn finally crested the mountains and happened to fall on him. “A’her’sa nive, Liné, voe’attaso xeteda³, and they need my help. And I barely got those trade routes negotiated to begin with; we gotta keep them open.” He sighed. “And, this portal sounds just like the ones my kids had to leave through, I can’t not take the chance to look for ‘em.”

“Nivileso⁴,” Anìsh finally spoke. “We can look after things here, as we do when you visit Sai’ruba’s⁵ queen.”

He nodded. “Sàrq’so⁶. I guess I need to pack, then.”

“Dracaida, Sàv’meti⁷.”

“I still think it is foolish. You are our king, you are needed here.”

Oh, for… “Liné, trade route and helping people aside, what would you do if it was Larune that had a chance to be on the other side of that portal?” He didn’t feel great about bringing her own daughter into it, but by his reckoning she really should’ve understood without it.

Silence fell over the tent, as Liné’s expression fell. “I would go,” she reluctantly admitted.

“That’s what I thought. Now, can ya let my other advisors know? Please? And Midna, too. I’ll leave the mirror here so y’all can contact her.”

He could see her stopping herself from rolling her eyes, it was a look he knew well; they both knew his request may as well have been a direct order, but he still hated relying on that when being polite would do just as well. “Nivemehne⁸.”

“Sàrq’so⁶,” he mumbled, turning to re-packing as she left his tent. Leaving the desert meant being wary of people’s reactions to dark magic, so he began pulling the tools and supplies he thought he’d need out of his shadow to stuff into a magic bag; it was harder to find specific things in, but better than having to try to explain magic every time he needed something. With Liné gone, he sighed and glanced over to Anìsh. “You know I’m going through that portal if it lets me.”

“I know.”

“I made Yahàn a promise.” But he was supposed to be a king, and he was about to abandon his people.

“I know.”

“I know I adopted them late, but they’re my kids, Anìsh, I-” He was rambling now, but Anìsh cut him off.

“Sàv’meti.”

He stopped and looked back over, part of him glad for the interruption.

“Go find your dàran⁹. You have spoken well for us to Sai’ruba’s queen, and our situation is much better now than before you came to us. If needs must, we can as you once said, ‘do just fine on our own’, for a time. But do not forget the wife and daughter you leave behind, or the people you must lead. Promise to us as you promised to your daughter? Come back to us.” She smirked. “Or else it is me your twilight queen will be angry with for letting you go. For all that anyone here could stop you.”

He nodded, setting aside the old tunic and chainmail he’d worn during his Quest; dyed black and adorned with embroidery now, but the same tunic he'd worn whenever the hero was called for over the gerudo king. Best to be recognized as such, for this trip.

“I will. Thank you. And… tell her I’m sorry? Doubt the portal would let her through if she did come, and Sablya needs at least one of her parents here anyway.”

“Dracaida⁷.”

The morning was still cool when he finished transferring everything; only one potion, but he could buy more if it came to that, and he had enough chu jelly to make do. He made his way over to Epona, greeting the other early risers as he went, and smiled as he reached the stable tents.

“Sàv’otta, Kalani! Eqinen ve vomoq?¹⁰”

Kalani looked over from the horse she was brushing, giving him a tired smile. “Sàv’meti! Sàv'sàv'vàn. Ve’sa, te’sada Epona ve.¹¹”

He chuckled. “Va’ehstejame, ah? Vuqu ni’are.¹²”

She nodded, setting the brush down. “Eqarisva nijokarô aqil sosabotteva.¹³”

“Sàrq’so⁶.” With a tiny pulse of magic into his pendant and a swirl of twilight particles he landed on the four paws of his wolf form and plodded over to Epona’s stall, nodding to a sand-cat perched on one of the walls up. “Mornin’, Tabitha, Epona.”

“Mrrp? So the old girl’s onto something, huh? She’s been fidgeting for half an hour, and you don’t usually come to the stables this early.” She sounded annoyed. He wondered, amused, if she’d been napping on Epona and got shaken off when the horse stirred sooner than expected.

Link let out an amused huff, unfastening the bottom of the stall door with his teeth and slipping in. “She’s not that old, Tabitha, you’re just young.”

The cat scoffed. “Excuse you, I am four years old.”

He chuckled, ignoring her, and nuzzled comfortingly into Epona. “Antsy to get going, girl? You always could tell somehow.”

She leaned down, and he bumped her head affectionately. “Always ready, my Link. But I feel a pull today. I don’t recognize it, and I don’t like it.”

“You too, huh? It woke me up early, even for me. Good thing, though, maybe. We’ve got some monsters to look into, but then there’s a portal that might take us to Lessa and Yahàn. I think the portal’s what’s pulling. It’s outta the desert, just past the Valley.”

“I’ll get us there before noon.”

“Atta girl. Kalani’s back with your tack, I’m gonna change back now and get you saddled up, alright?”

A huff and an agreeable flick of her ear. “Hurry up.”

He nodded, and looked back up to Tabitha. “Watch over things for me while we’re gone, yeah?”

Tabitha licked her paw with a feigned aloofness, tail betraying how the request was a treat for her ego. “I’ll think about it.”

Link held back a laugh while he focused on returning to his true form; he knew the lil fluffy lady liked to feel important. In a swirl of twilight particles he was back on two feet with a smile, his fourth limb fading into phantom sensations. “Thanks again, Kalani. We might be gone for a while, this time.”

“Then may the sands meet your steps.”

“And the wind be at your back. C’mon Epona, let’s get this on ya.”

The monsters, as it turned out, were some kind of stocky, green, tailed bokoblins. The three of them that ambushed him in Gerudo Valley were smarter than the ones he was used to, and while relatively clumsy with the machetes and shields they bore, they just would not die until he drove his blade through their necks. On one he apparently missed the internal weak spot, and had to call on his lightning to finish it off as it ducked away from him with his sword still embedded. It seemed the traders’ guards were competent after all, to have defeated half a dozen of these. Which didn’t bode well if there were more.

Inspecting the monsters’ corpses didn’t yield any new information, though for some reason they each carried a butterfly pendant with a bright pearl as the focal point; he grabbed those and made a mental note to have them checked for magic; Celessa would probably like them when he found her, and little Sablya definitely would when he returned. At the very least, though, now he knew these new monsters’ tracks and scent. But there didn’t seem to be any more nearby, so he mounted back up and urged Epona onward again.

The traders, when he found them, were thankfully fine, especially after he assured them that he’d just cleared the path on his way there and that neither Gerudo Valley nor the desert proper got sudden stal creatures at night.

The portal, as he feared and hoped, was exactly the same as the ones Celessa and Yahàn had left through a little over five years before, except that now he felt the pull they had talked about back then. After a patrol in his wolf form revealed no more monsters, he double-checked that the gale boomerang was tied into her holster, took Epona’s reins, and stepped in.

All at once, the information from his senses vanished. There was no sound in the featureless void he found himself in, no smell nor touch nor temperature, no light nor dark; only Epona beside him as he strode forward, with his feet finding traction against nothing yet propelling him onward regardless. After moments that felt like hours, the world came back into focus and he was stepping into a clearing in a thick forest, staring down a very well-armored hylian; she had Yahàn’s face, Link realized as she spoke, only a few years older than last he’d seen her.

“Vàmo?¹⁴”

“Yahàn?” Link couldn’t help but stare, worry overpowering his joy as he noticed and processed the marks that his daughter’s face now bore. She had one eye firmly closed, the scar running through it not promising anything good. Besides that, the markings from the mask were more pronounced now, betraying heavy use at some point during their years apart; she now bore two solid red marks on her cheek in addition to the blue chevron on her forehead. “What happened? You had to use Deity again…”

The younger hylian half-smiled, half-grimaced, running her fingers over where the mask scarred her cheek. “I had to help finish a war. He’s… good at that. Turns out our, uh. Our people didn’t take too kindly to arresting their king on the words of a child.”

“The sealing war. Oh, kit…”

“It was going to happen. Better I was there to end it. But what about you? How long has it been?”

“Just under five years. Sablya’s four now, I turned thirty-three yesterd- Oh!” He smiled fondly. “Your baby sister, Midna had her a few months after you two left.”

Yahàn smiled.  “Looking forward to meeting her. I'm… I’m not sure I want to go back, though.”

“Really, now?” Better in the long term that he didn’t, of course, selfish as that might be, but still a bit surprising.

“Well, I mean it’s been four years…”

“Kit…”

“…Two months…”

“Kit, come on.”

“...Six days…”

“Yahàn.”

“... and a few hours,” she summarized with a mischievous chuckle, both of them knowing full well she could accurately continue down to seconds. Link still didn’t understand how she always could, but he’d long since given up on questioning it. Before Yahàn could finish the thought, though, she squinted slightly and turned her gaze just before another portal opened where she was now looking.

Link just rolled his eyes. He’d missed her. “Lil’ shit.”

“Old Man.”

“Alright, no. I didn’t let that one slide before, we’re not using it now.” They chuckled at the exchange, before Link changed the subject. “So, d’ya think that one’s Lessa?”

Yahàn frowned, briefly opening her scarred eye to look it over. To Link’s concern, It glowed white without a pupil or iris, just like the Fierce Deity’s albeit not as bright, and after only a second she forced it to close, seeming to struggle against something to do so. “Maybe. I can’t tell when it comes from, only that it's time magic and feels corrupted somehow. You two aren’t the first other heroes I encountered, though.” She paused, eye widening a bit. “Oh no. I don’t think I ever told Aura or the Captain that I was technically gerudo. Dad, the only gerudo they know is Ganondorf, an-”

“Kit.” His hand on Yahàn’s shoulder silenced the worried rambling, and Link shook his head with a smile. “I’m not gonna hide who I am. Besides, even if I wanted to, didn’t you say once that that Captain could see shadow truths? He’d see my crowns and throne anyway, and the shadow magic.”

He let the silence sit for a bit to let that sink in, chuckling as Yahàn brought a palm to her face.

“Right…” She sighed. “Right, obviously. Uhm, I’m not worried about the magic, though. Mom fought in the war, remember? They’re fine with Twili magic.”

“Oh yeah, she is gonna do that at some point.”

“Yeah. Anything that you don’t want to mention, though?”

“Nah. Second Quest, though, right?” Link gave a sympathetic smile as Yahàn nodded. She never did like talking about that one. “Dracaida⁷.”

“Thanks. Although… Why not be mysterious about all of them? Could be fun,” she mused.

Link chuckled and shook his head. “Still a prankster… How ‘bout I just don’t bring up anything you haven’t, yeah?”

A concerning grin spread across Yahàn’s features, the same one that always preceded mischief but now with sharper-looking canines like Link’s own. “That works. I do wonder who else we’re getting, though. If the pattern holds, this will be our final member.”

A flash of white and orange as a scarf began to form ahead of its wearer seemed to answer Yahàn’s question. Link noted the way the new arrival was dressed: pristine blue tunic with white trim, chainmail under that, pauldron on one arm and steel-plated bracers on both; besides the vibrant tunic and scarf and the bare right hand to show the man's dulled triforce mark, he wore exactly what Link would expect from a soldier, but it was all perfectly maintained, not a single visible patch or battlescar to be seen on any of it. Add to that the kind of soft-looking hair Link had only ever seen on nobles, and he wasn’t sure what to make of him, though his initial impression was a bit too reminiscent of Hyrule's less-than-stellar soldiers.

Fortunately, Yahàn recognized the newcomer.

“Hi, Captain!”

Chapter Text

Link strode with purpose into the war room, go-bag slung over his shoulder in case he had to enter the strange portal he’d been told of. The guards outside the room nodded to him, knocking as he approached and opening the door for him when they heard a response. Four familiar faces looked over as he entered, and the map table bore a concerning but small number of portal tokens aside from the one at the castle. Impa and Lana stood to one side, and across the table from him stood Artemis alongside her husband, Queen Linkirian Siroco Hyrule.

"Majesties," he greeted, bowing at the waist as Proxi spoke his words for him. "General, Lana."

"Link," Artemis sighed, "This isn't a formal meeting. Please, for the love of Nayru, at ease."

“Such formality isn’t necessary from you,” the queen agreed.

He winced at the correction; he knew she hated how formal he was with her, but she was the king, dammit, nevermind their shared adventures and shared great-great-grandparents. But she always dismissed his arguments of propriety and setting an example, and her husband had for some reason agreed with her even from their first meeting, so he simply nodded and shuffled awkwardly, allowing himself to relax. "Apologies, Maj- Ahem. Sorry, Arty. So, the portal in the east training yard?"

"Seems to have appeared forty minutes ago at most, while Ashei's squad was breaking for lunch," she answered. "I contacted Lana as soon as I heard, but…"

"We're not sure what created it. There's three entities tampering with time right now, all working around each other… It could be any of them, we're still working on untangling exactly what's going on. Luckily, we've been able to stop any other portals from opening in population centers, but this one is being… persistent. Someone wants it here, and whoever that is has either a lot of power or divine authority on their side.”

Link nodded as he took that in. "In the interest of having all our information on the table, I've been feeling some kind of pull for about that long. It was strongest when I passed by that yard. It… feels like it comes from the portal.”

“Another war of Eras, perhaps?” Impa finally spoke up. “It’s no Gate of Souls, but…”

“But if its only purpose is to call me like Mask and younger Gramps were called here, then it’s enough,” Link finished grimly. “I don’t like this, Arty. I’m prepared to go through, but I don’t like it.”

Artemis nodded, brow furrowed in thought. “Agreed. But if another Hero needs your help…”

“Then I have to go,” he said with a sigh. “I know.”

“Lana. Is there anything else you and your sister can tell us?”

Lana traced a spell out with one hand, holding her fingers to her head and focusing. After a few seconds of silence she grimaced and winced, flicking the spell away. “Cia just got back from taking a look inside. Whatever it is, it’s bad. Something’s unstable, portals are splintering off everywhere, and those entities - those people? are trying to wrangle them. Or, successfully wrangling some of them. Uh, she definitely heard the Song of Time in there, and it felt kind of like the royal line's familial powers from the other two?”

“That makes it sound like Arty's descendants are fighting each other,” Link mused.

"It has to be someone at least related to the royal family, that song is kept secret," Impa pointed out.

“It’s really hard to tell. The Gates of Souls we opened during the war were focused, one place and time to another. This almost feels like they’re spiderwebbing out from each other instead. It's like Koholint all over again, but a million times worse. Just chaos.”

“Actually, I… may know what’s happening,” the queen finally spoke, drawing all eyes to himself. “I thought it was just a story my father told, but it lines up a little bit too well.”

Link answered first. “And what might that be, your majesty?”

“For you? Spoilers, suffice to say you should go through that portal. For the rest of us here… new monsters, and stronger ones. My father only told me the broad strokes, and none of it the perspectives of the kingdoms, but I know we will have plenty of fighting on our hands.”

“You make it sound as though you’re going to war while you send me away.”

Artemis furrowed her brow. “I agree with Link. Kiri, I’m not sure this is wise.”

“Nor am I, dearest, but he’s needed there more than here. And ours is not the only era under threat.”

“Great. Any chance of an extra potion, Arty? Mask and Gramps were here for years, so I don’t know how long I’ll be gone once I step through.”

Without hesitating to consider it, she pulled over a pad and pen and began writing the order out for the quartermaster. “Of course. How many do you want?”

“Just one? I have a purple in my go-bag. If I need more than two before finding civilization and a source of more, then something has gone very wrong.”

“Right, four it is, then.”

“Arty, I’m just one man.”

“And the Hero, and a lead designer on the Guardian project, and my cousin,”  Zelda retorted. “I don’t care how strong a drake you are; we're kin and I am your wielder, I will at least send enough to know you’re safe.”

Linkirian smirked. “Don’t look at me. You were like a brother to my father and namesakes, if she didn’t I would.”

He just sighed; he wasn’t going to win that one. “Fine,” he acquiesced, reaching for the note. He couldn’t help a smirk as he read it. “Purple potion… a yellow, sure, two blue ? Arty, I don’t use that much light magic, I can do without-”

“I can always add more, Link.”

“Fine. Two weeks’ provisions… instructions to not give me a fire rod? Now that’s just cruel,” he teased.

“Link, you are a menace without a fire rod. And don’t even get me started on the ones you’ve managed to augment. No, I won’t inflict that on this kingdom, let alone whichever era that portal takes you to.”

“Only one of those exploded, and I fixed that problem in the rest of them.”

Choosing not to respond to that, Artemis instead fixed him with a glare that reminded him he was speaking to the king ; he subconsciously straightened up, conditioned soldier instincts returning to the forefront under her authoritative gaze.

“Right. If there’s nothing else, Your Majesty…”

She sighed. “Back into soldier mode, are we?”

“I do need to set an example for the men.” And you can be terrifying, even without meaning to be.

/sigh/ came her mental response to the thought, emotions flowing rather than any concrete words. /sorry/really though/terror enough without them/affectionate/do you even need one though/

Linkirian smirked. “You wouldn’t, if you would just let us reveal who you are.”

“I’m no royal, your Majesty; that’s your battlefield, not mine. Honestly, I don’t know how you do it; thinking about how it would interact with Fae law always gives me a migraine. No, I’m content where I am.”

“As you insist… may Satori’s blessings find you, then.”

Artemis nodded. “Indeed. Goddess-speed, Link. And please, come back safely.”

The portal‘s featureless void played havoc on his senses, especially off-balance as he was from the unfortunately timed gust of wind that pushed him in scarf-first, but he quickly found his footing in an unfamiliar forest.

And without Proxi; damn, no voice then.

An unfamiliar one-armed man in black with a wolfskin around his shoulders, ruddy brown hair in a long braid hiding the lost arm, looked him up and down, appraising him. Gold-painted lips, and a sapphire on his forehead in the center of some magic rune, reminded Link of the handful of gerudo he’d met since the Convergence, though this man was far too short to be gerudo. On his hand was a triforce mark with Power glimmering, Courage and Wisdom filled in with green and blue by what looked to be a tattoo.

Next to that man stood the Fierce Deity, vibrant blue eye widened in recognition... No, not the Fierce Deity. He was tall, but not nearly tall enough. He had the Deity’s armor and half of the Deity’s marks, including the blue forehead chevron that Mask had developed by the end of the war, but bright blond hair, one normal blue eye, and an expression that Link could swear was one part mocking him and one part expectant.

“Hi, Captain!”

That had to be Mask. Shaking off his initial confusion, he broke into a grin and quickly signed, ‘Lil shit? ’

Mask grinned that same stupid grin and signed a rushed, ‘Dumbass big bro,’ then swept him up in a bear-crushing hug, lifting him straight off his feet and swinging him around. Link wheezed. Nice as it was to embrace his little shit of a brother, the armor was digging into him, and he couldn’t breathe, and din damn, when did Mask get so strong-

They both heard a loud crunchy CRACK and Link was quickly set down, feeling at and testing his spine in surprise as a very much adult but very sheepish Mask nervously looked him over.

‘Din’s tits, Sprite, I think you just fixed my back.’

Relief replaced the nerves and gave way to elation, and Mask broke into a laugh. “Sometimes I still forget that this armor has my golden gauntlets. It’s good to see you again, Engie! Though, I daresay it’s been much longer for me. You still look younger than Dad.”

Now that was interesting. ‘Six and a half years…’ He smirked at his now-taller-than-him brother. ‘I thought your father was a tree?’

“My first father was. After the War, though… Well.” He smirked, gesturing at the other man with his head.

The short gerudo chuckled, waving lazily. “Howdy. This brat here landed in my era about ten years back, and left five ago. Time travel, am I right?”

‘No shit? Sprite, buddy, you’ve gotta stop going through random portals. Lest one of these days your time shenanigans are give someone an aneurysm.’ Mask chuckled at that, but made no effort to deny it. ‘Anyway, though, if he’s your father…?’

Mask nodded. “Kin, yeah. So’s my sister – she’s another hero, I met her on the same adventure. Or I guess, sisters, now.”

Link turned back to the redhead. “Alright… I trust you understand the significance of knowing someone’s real name?”

The man nodded slowly, and Link took the chance to check his shadow while he spoke. “I do,” he assured, “I also know that you’re fae of some measure, so I know I'm not getting yours. And I know not to use it.” Good, Link would have thought, if he were paying more attention to the man's words.

A beast of a wolf in the man’s black-and-gold tunic, wreathed in blocky inky shadows sparking against silvery light.

Okay, so a shadow mage. Or, a curse held at bay by his light magic? Keep an eye on that, but it looks like he has it under control for now. Looks like a shapeshifter, too. Hm.

 An exceedingly simple king’s throne. Resting upon it, a golden gerudo veil with shimmering sapphire embroidery, and a silver circlet with cyan gems reminiscent of Midna, both fairly simple in design.

Born to rule, but - wait, is that veil another crown? That’s a first. Either way, looks like he doesn’t rely on his authority; that bodes well, I think .

A wedding ring in fiery golden-orange.

Good for him.

A pair of wizard rods leaning against the throne, one in spiraling white and black stripes and the other in red and green.

Definitely a shadow mage, then. But probably also a curse, whatever’s sparking looks a lot nastier.

“See somethin’ interesting?”

Link blinked in surprise, eyes flicking up to meet the striking blue of the redhead’s and spot a grin, sharp canines glinting in the setting sun as the man chuckled.

“I’ll go first, since you don’t seem too interested in telling me what to call you. You can call me Sàv’meti," he said, signing the name. "It’s nice to finally meet you, Captain.”

‘Right…’ Knowing the confusion would be evident on his face, he glanced to Mask, who just shrugged with a bemused grin. Lil’ shit. ‘Seems you’ve heard a bit about me already. You can call me Engie.’

“Yeah, Yahàn might’ve mentioned her big brothers from the war a few times.”

Yahàn? That's a new one. What’s that, little tree, I think? It makes sense for him, but since when does he have a gerudo name?

They were interrupted by Mask’s surprised voice. “Two more… Are we getting Aura and Lessa, too?”

Glancing over to follow his little-turned-older brother’s gaze, Link saw a new pair of portals like the one that had brought him here. Whoever would be joining them wasn’t coming through yet , though, so he turned to address Sav’meti before they did. ‘Well, good to meet you, Sav’meti, it’s nice to know the lil shit found himself a family after he had to leave.’ He paused a moment, going over the name again. Wasn’t that a name out of Nisa’s stories?

Wait. Am I looking at the fucking Wolf King? Shit.

Before he could ask, however, two new figures emerged from the portals: Link’s great-great-grandfather, as Mask had guessed, nearly as young as the last time they'd seen each other and still lacking the scarf that Link had come to associate with him; and a young man in a sturdy green and brown tunic with a strikingly familiar face, sparkling bright green eyes, and the messiest mop of auburn hair that Link had ever seen, with a golden fairy and a prince’s circlet in his shadow.

Chapter Text

Link inspected his spyglass carefully, wiping a bit of dried salt off the lens. Satisfied that it wasn’t somehow damaged, he looked back through at North Triangle Island, taking extra care this time to keep his wings back and out of the way to make sure he wasn’t somehow blocking the lens with his feathers. Sure enough, there in front of Din’s statue was the rounded triangular hole in the world that he thought he’d seen, swirling purple and black in the midday sun. And the pull he’d been feeling for the last few minutes pointed directly to it, which worried him.

“Uhh, Tetra? What the fuck is that?”

“The fuck is what, Link?”

“Just come look!”

He answered her raised eyebrow with a shrug, and her stuck out tongue with his own while she approached, then pointed her down at the island as she brought out her own spyglass with a frown.

“Well. That… sure does look like a hole in the world.”

“See that’s what I thought, but then why is there a hole in the world?? It doesn’t look like the portals to Oshus’s realm or the war did, so what gives? And why does it feel like it’s pulling me?”

Tetra glanced over in concern. “Pulling?”

“Yeah, it’s… it’s, um… You know when you get the feeling you should go somewhere but you can’t figure out why? Like that.”

“Maybe it’s a new quest? Hey Gonzo, steer port! Link and I are going to check out North Triangle.”

“Steering port, aye.”

“How much food do we have? It’s only a few hours to Windfall, the crew can go and stock up if we don’t get back fast, right?”

Tetra nodded. “Yeah… Nudge?”

“Three days, Miss Tetra. For just you two it could last two weeks, but it won’t fit into your shore bags. The barrels are too big for the drawstrings.”

“Shit. We did fine last time?”

Tetra frowned. “You got lucky and found Linebeck, and I was a statue.” She paused, tapping her chin with a sigh. “Then again, if we have to be missing something, food is what we can go the longest without. But, ugh, no th-”

Link grinned. “Cool. Niko! Get my shore bag, wouldya?”

“Aye!”

Tetra huffed. “Are you really going to jump through with no food and just see what you find on the other side?”

“Obviously? It’s an adventure. I’ll manage.”

“Nayru’s sake, you can be so stupid sometimes…” She sighed and pulled a paraglider out of her bag, a gift from Mako to keep up with him in the air. “I’m going with you. I missed almost all of the last adventure, you can share this one.”

He grinned, looking back to the island. “We’re almost there… Can I call it this time?” Tetra responded with an amused shrug and a sweeping wave toward Gonzo, so he cupped his hands to be heard across the whole ship. “ALL HANDS! BRING SHIP TO ANCHOR!”

He just grinned at the bemused look Gonzo gave him. Calling the ship’s orders was always satisfying.

“Bringing ship to anchor, aye!” A chorus of “aye”s rang out, and Link beamed while Gonzo began calling out all the smaller orders that went into that.

“If we’re not back in an hour, move on to Windfall and check in once a day,” Tetra ordered.

“And let Gran know if we're not back in a week,” Link added. “If we miss Aryll’s birthday, I don't want her finding out on her birthday.”

“You heard him.”

“Aye. Goddess-speed, Miss Tetra, Mister Link.”

Link grinned, taking his bag from Niko and tying it quickly to his belt. “Thanks. Ready to go, Tetra?”

She smirked, but not before tugging him closer by his collar to kiss his cheek and making him blush to his ears. “Ready as I’m gonna be, for this stupid plan. Let’s go”

With a snicker and a hop, he took off into a bobbing hover, getting the wind’s attention with a few well-practiced flicks of his baton. “You know you love it!”

“Just waiting to get to say I told you so,” she quipped, leaping off the railing and into a gust to glide alongside him. He grinned and settled in behind her, letting his wings catch the wind to keep pace rather than exerting himself and losing sight of her.

“Not gonna happen, you’re as reckless as me!” They were shouting now; they needed to, to be heard over the wind.

“So you admit you’re reckless, huh!”

“What? No, I- Aw, shit!”

Tetra laughed all the way to the ground, where Link stumbled the landing to even more amused giggling, his wings flailing out to regain his balance. Damn. Clearly he needed to fly more, if he was stumbling like that even so long after getting his scale.

“Come on, am I really that distracting?”

“Obviously.” He answered without really processing, only Tetra’s sudden silence prompting him to think about what she - and he himself - had said. Feeling a flush creeping up his cheeks, he turned to see Tetra blushing just as hard with her expression fighting between amused, shocked and happy.

“That, hm, that’s another point for you…”

It was his turn to laugh now, as he walked backward to talk to her. “How am I still ahead in that…”

“Because!” she huffed, “You’re so oblivious you just say shit back instead of getting flustered!”

“So… I win, then?” He was answered with rolling eyes but a fond smile, so he pivoted to bow dramatically and gesture to the portal. “I’ll take that as a maybe. After you, my King,” he smirked, laying on just a bit more teasing tone than usual.

Tetra laughed, dipping into a mock curtsy as she finished their by now familiar joke. “Why thank you, my Queen. Let’s just go before it closes or someth-” She reached toward the portal with a grin, but recoiled away. “Gah, Hylia’s ass!”

Link blinked, confused, as Tetra seemingly just reacted to nothing. “What?”

“Goddess damned… tingly… fuckin’… nnrrrghh, fuck,” she grumbled, shaking the hand she’d reached out with. “I think this one’s just for you, it didn’t let me go in.” She flexed the hand a few times, working some kind of pain out. “Damnit, and you get the fun adventures, too. Guess you’re on your own again.”

Link snickered at the display, but offered a sympathetic shrug. “Sorry. Next time?”

She sighed in resignation, but let her lips quirk up into a smile as she pulled her glider back out. “Yeah, next time. Send me back up?”

Making sure to keep a poker face, he subtly waved out the motions to the Wind’s Requiem while pretending to merely look over the Windwaker. The winds began to gather around him, but he managed to keep them calm for now and not give anything away. “I mean, are you sure? You didn’t even touch the portal, maybe you should try-”

“Li-” And that was his cue. With a flick of his wrist, he sent her rocketing upward mid-word, giggling up a storm as she scrambled to keep her hold on the glider and screamed at him all the way. “-IIIINK!!!”

Finally, sweet sweet payback for the latest cannon ride.

He made sure she landed safely on the ship, then quickly jumped through the portal, still laughing. Oh, she was going to be mad, he knew, but that was a problem for future Link.

After giving himself a chance to stop snickering, he took stock of his surroundings. There was Nothing in every direction, no light nor dark nor up nor down. It was disorienting… no more than being on a ship in turbulent seas, but very differently so and he wasn’t used to it. Much more disturbing was the complete lack of any kind of wind; not even a breeze could exist in this void, and even spreading his wings brought none of its familiar resistance through his feathers. After five years of having the wind respond to him and constantly feeling it around him, not having it there felt like being buried in sand, claustrophobic, his body too heavy to move. Tentatively he stepped forward… backward? onward, marveling at how his foot seemed to catch on the nothing as if there were solid ground, but clutching his head as his mind tried to make sense of the nothingness. He moved but didn’t, distance and direction impossible to tell in the void; the sensation made him dizzy, nauseous like his first days on the ship. He stumbled onward, moving his feet just so that he wouldn’t fall and be lost in the emptiness without Farore’s breath to catch him.

Then, just as soon as he’d entered the void, he stumbled out, panting heavily, into a clearing in the densest forest he’d ever seen. Without thinking, he drew the Windwaker and flicked it through the air, feeling the area’s winds gather comfortingly around him as he said hello; it certainly felt like the Forest Haven, but it was far more expansive and densely-packed. He took deep, slow breaths, just feeling the wind while he recovered. That had not been at all like the portals to the World of the Ocean King and back, not even like the ones in the war of eras, that sucked. The thought briefly occurred to him that Tetra would be glad to have missed out on that. It was only once he was running his fingers through the unfamiliar winds that he noticed the other four people in the clearing staring at him, one of whom he recognized from the war.

“Hi there,” he greeted, slipping into a cheerful poker face. “So… Where the fuck am I?”

Chapter Text

Ruli frowned, flitting nervously around the strange portal. Its magic was confusing, to say the least. Holy, or at least they thought it was, based on how it felt kind of like Zelda and Aurora. Evil, like the Eyes of Ganon that had only recently stopped hounding them. Both, wound together in a blend that they couldn’t quite make sense of. But whatever it was, the natural magic of the forest and nearby stream didn’t - couldn’t - pass through it, or maybe fell into it, leaving them fully blind to anything on the other side. It also seemed to never change direction, looking the same from nearly every angle. 

With a frustrated huff, they took their hylian form and sat on a log to consider their options. They could tell the princesses, but they were a week from the castle and really didn’t want to leave this unattended for so long. They could find someone to send with a message for them, but that would take just as long and they were already getting antsy.

Or… they could go through to investigate.

It sounded more crazy than it was, they reasoned. They had all of their gear already. They would actually have information when they went to the princesses. And they were already known as a wandering traveler; no one would miss them terribly much, at most they’d just wonder when Ruli would be back. Well, maybe Aurora might miss them. But they weren’t due to visit the castle again for at least another month; surely it wouldn’t take that long to cross the portal, see what was going on, and come back to figure out what to do about it.

Nodding in approval of their own decision, they scooped up a mushroom to munch on and stepped through.

Nothingness assaulted them. No magic, no sight, no sound, no up nor down nor forward nor back. Slightly panicking, they ran fell stumbled somehow moved onward. Just as quickly as they left their world behind, they found himself in a new forest, the opposite sensation slamming into them as their senses were assaulted with just how full of life everything around them suddenly was. Where the trees in their homeland seemed old beyond their years, weathered by Ganon’s influence, even the old trees here felt young and vibrant. The very air felt alive, and its magic rich with moss and leaves and petrichor and… fairy dust? Sure enough, Ruli could feel their siblings in the area. But they seemed frightened, hiding out of sight. Whatever had frightened them wasn’t in this clearing or they would have just fled, it had to be something bigger that made even fleeing seem dangerous. But why hadn’t they retreated to their fountain? Surely it couldn’t be far, not with this many of them out. But, no matter. Ruli resolved right then and there that they wouldn’t leave before cleansing these woods of whatever had scared them.

In the next moment, Ruli noticed the other people in the clearing with them. They first noticed the one with the fur pelt, something dark clinging to his soul and almost masking his natural shadow magic. Auburn-brown hair split to cascade down his back and hang in a braid where his right arm should be, some slight motion under the pelt hinting at a stump where he’d lost the arm. The back of his left hand bore the mark of the triforce of Power, the other two pieces colored in by a tattoo. Some kind of runic mark adorned his forehead, bearing the claim of a great one and surrounding a sapphire that clung to his skin.

Then there was the plate-armored one, whom Ruli found himself staring at. That one’s magic felt ancient and nascent at the same time, mostly like the forest around them and a lot like the few kokiri Ruli knew, but with with a taste of fire and stone, a swirl of obscuring sands, and a streak that felt eerily like the portal albeit less evil. Some powerful magic’s scars marked one side of their face, and his closed eye… there was divinity there, like in Ruli’s sword but held back rather than refined into a weapon. And then there were the unmistakable traces of a guardian fairy, and the way the natural magic of the forest clung to them like a parent to a long-lost child… Were they some kind of forest spirit in the shape of a man? Ruli knew firsthand that transforming oneself that way was possible, but they didn’t know if Kokiri had that magic. Nor if it was possible to hide one’s fae nature so completely. Then again, they could be any other kind of forest spirit, really… maybe one of the divine guardians from the stories their great mother told at her fountain? But wait, if they were fae then how were they wearing all that armor? Questions for later. At the very least, they were all in this being's home… and between all the various magics Ruli could discern within them and the fuzzy static of their magic items, they were not to be messed with.

And now they were staring right back at Ruli, brow cocked in curiosity. Well that was awkward. Ruli sheepishly pulled their gaze away and toward the scarfed one that they realized they’d ignored. His magic was weird, now that Ruli looked properly. They'd thought it wasn’t even there, but in fact it was just subdued by careful discipline, a mix of well-controlled light magic and dark fae magic with a throughline of fire, and they’d only skipped over it because it was hazed over with a fuzzy static they associated with magical equipment. And they were pretty sure they caught him staring at their shadow – at the very least, both he and Ruli averted their gazes at the same time. Was he an ache? They’d never seen any other dark fae that could look Hylian before. But where did the light magic come from?

Ruli was brought out of their thoughts by a sudden change in the wind as it swirled and gathered around a fifth person, this one in a loose white shirt with a magenta and baby blue sash bearing a lobster pattern as his belt; his arms were decorated with tattoos, and a pair of wings the same bright blonde as his hair ruffled in discomfort at his back. Ruli was still terrible at guessing Hylian ages, but this one had to be a child. He was panting heavily, face contorted in discomfort as he clutched his stomach in one hand and waved some kind of magic wand about with the other. It wasn’t healing magic, though, but wind; the air swirled around the boy and he ran his fingers through it, seeming to calm as he did so. Just looking at him, Ruli could swear they smelled the sea.

When the lobster-boy finally noticed the rest of them, he quickly donned a confident smile. “Hi there. So… Where the fuck am I?”

That was a good question. Ruli, dark-fae, and fur-guy looked to the plate-armored one with the divinity, the one whose home this clearly was.

“We’re in the Lost Woods,” he said, “in my era. Some shadow is bringing us together across time for an unknown purpose. I’m not sure how many more we should expect, but I do feel another portal forming, maybe two.”

Sure enough, two new portals appeared in the clearing as Ruli’s and lobster-boy’s fizzled out.

“Well it’s nice to meet you all,” Ruli said. “I never thought I’d get to meet a Hero again, let alone four of you… six of you?” That drew some raised brows.

“And how’d you know that? We haven’t exactly introduced ourselves,” fur-guy pointed out.

“Oh, uhm. Your triforce marks. Other than myself, I’ve only ever heard of heroes, princesses, and Ganon getting them.” And obviously, these strangers were not Ganon nor princesses.

“Yeah but he’s got Ganon’s piece,” lobster-boy pointed out, earning a shrug from fur-guy.

“Took it when I killed him. Normally I’ve got Courage too, but…”

“But when there are multiple bearers of the same piece, it stays with whoever’s native to the era,” the godling finished, flashing the Courage piece for a moment before letting its glow fade back into the hidden mark beneath his gauntlet.

“Anyway… for g- uh, armor guy, I kinda just assumed based on the rest of you. Same for, uh…” they gestured to two new portals which had yet to deposit anyone.

Dark-fae laughed, though it was a quiet wheezing sound that didnt use his vocal chords. ‘“Armor guy”, huh? I have to admit, Sprite, I never thought I’d see you in plate harness.’

“Wait. ‘Sprite’…? Hylia’s tits, Mask? When did you get old!?”

“That’s what happens when we don’t see each other for ten years, Aura,” Sprite quipped.

“Well fuck you too, it’s only been a year and a half for me,” Aura responded, with a wide grin and not even a hint of malice in hs tone. “So who’re the newbies?”

Ruli didn’t see any reason to lie to these people, but they were also not even alliances yet, let alone allegiances. So they gave their first Hylian name; the name they had chosen at the very beginning of their first adventure, that had become synonymous with their role as the Hero; a name that, while just as much theirs to the people of Hyrule as their true name was to themself, held far less power over them. “You can call me Link.”

They caught the shadow of a smirk from Sprite. Had he picked up on their wording? There wasn't anything noteworthy about it, they were sure... unless he was a forest god who had caught them staring and could tell they had neither given their true name nor lied. Oh. Right.

“Well that’s gonna be fuckin’ awkward, that’s my name too,” Aura quipped.

Oh…

“Mine as well…” fur-guy smirked up at Sprite. “But I’ve also got Sàv’meti to go by.”

Well I suppose I’m going by my other hylian name, then.

“Hm, too long,” Aura stated, with more confidence than Ruli thought they could muster about anything at the moment. “How about Meti?”

“Works for me. Kit called you Aura?”

“Yep! The Wind of Farore, the Hero of the Winds, take your pick. ‘Kit’?”

“He’s my father…” Sprite looked like they were about to continue, but instead they blinked in surprise as the portals vanished without revealing new heroes. In their place, two new portals opened horizontally to deposit a pair in a swearing tangle of blue, green, purple, and red.  “… And he’s called me that since we met just after the war. Aren't those the smiths?”

Ruli winced as they saw the pair; both had their fair share of magic items, but at least one of them had so many that they couldn’t make anything else out through the wall of static in their senses. They had to force their focus on the two to make sense of what they were feeling, and they could still barely make out anything. They both definitely had divine swords like their own, and one of them had magic that seemed forest-like? But not this forest. Probably. Maybe? They couldn’t actually tell. Ugh, seriously, who needs that many magic items…

It was the collector of too many magic items that spoke first, having pulled himself out of the two-person pile and revealing a pair of triforce marks as he counted off his questions.

“Right, where are we, when are we, what languages can I learn here, who are you three, and what is the Quest that someone oh-so-graciously decided couldn’t wait for me to enjoy my apple pie or say goodbye to my daughter?”

And then Ruli finally processed what the man's face looked like. And suddenly, the amount of magic items made sense.

That had to be Uncle Satori.

Chapter Text

Amethyst’s ears twitched as he heard some commotion or another through the window, and he shared a worried glance with Dot.

Briefly, he wished he could move to check it out, but he was currently posing for a tailor to double-check the final fit of his wedding attire. With Lazuli and Jade gone patrolling for monsters to make sure nothing was going to interrupt the wedding, that left just him, Dot across the room with another tailor checking her dress, and Jasper going over final approvals and triple-checks with their planner.

“Hey, Jas?”

 “Hm?” She, it seemed, was already making her way to the window, where the early afternoon light illuminated Hyrule Town in the distance.

“Nevermind, looks like you had the same idea.”

She chuckled at that, trying to peer down to see what was happening. “Same brain…” 

Before she could begin to describe what she was seeing, however, the door opened to reveal their other half.

Lazuli spoke first, not waiting for the door to close behind him and Jade. “Dot? Guys? Why is there a portal in the courtyard?”

Jasper looked over from the window. “I was just wondering the same thing, actually.”

Amethyst canted his head, adjusting his arm for the tailor attending him to double-check another part of his cotehardie. “What kind of portal?”

“No idea,” Jade said, “It doesn’t look like a moon gate, and our pearls didn’t react.”

Lazuli continued, “The knights are freaking out since it opened under their noses. Dad’s leading the effort to get barricades up.“

Jade gave a sheepish shrug of her shoulders. “Sorry to interrupt the wedding prep.”

“What? Jade, no,” Dot said, “This is exactly what you and Laz went to patrol for, so we can deal with it now and our wedding can go uninterrupted. The rest of the fitting can wait, Amy and I just need to change before we go investigate.”

The tailor attending to Dot’s dress frowned. “But Your Highness, the ceremony is in only three weeks.”

“Yes, and if Vaati has returned somehow, which I wouldn’t put past him, then it will have to be delayed until we deal with him. Besides, I’m confident that you’ve already got it right, you’re very skilled.”

“Ah… as you say, Your Highness.”

“I definitely don’t want fighting them again to be our honeymoon,” Jasper quipped. “You want help, hon?”

Dot gave an exaggerated gasp, bringing a hand to her chest in mock offense. “How forward of you,” she teased, breaking into giggles as the facade crumbled almost instantly. “Yes. Yes, please, this ensemble is not made to be removed quickly.”

Jade smirked, quipping, “Is any dress?" Jasper and Amethyst laughed with her, though Lazuli just rolled his eyes in annoyance at the memory; it had taken all four of them to get in and out of the first dress they’d tried on, and then they'd had to repeat both processes four times over because it had been multiplied with them in the split. "I’ll give you a hand, too. Bet we get you changed before Amethyst.”

“Of course you will, it’s four against two.”

“Ah, but we have twice as many pieces to work through, mister brain.”

Lazuli grinned. “Make that four against three. You’re on.”

Somehow, the girls won that bet.

Dot and Link exited a short while later, hand in hand and dressed much more appropriately for investigating mysterious magic. Dot in a tunic and pants that she could run in if anything happened; Link, once again one, back in his quartered tunic; and each with her own moon pearl just in case.

The castle’s knights were still on edge when they arrived, but no longer scrambling as they had been when Lazuli and Jade had passed by. Barricades had been erected in a rough circle around the triangular portal, spears leveled at it from every direction. Link spotted his father conversing with Artura to one side, and they made their way over. He smiled and waved to them as they bowed to Dot (standing at her side as he was, it felt like they were bowing to him, too; he had yet to get used to that) but he let her do the talking; it was her castle, afterall.

“Captain Vin, Sir Artura. Link filled me in a bit, but what do we know?”

“It appeared twenty minutes ago, Your Highness. Nothing has come through yet, but we’ve prepared for the eventuality. I can’t speak for the test my son performed when his Facets passed through, but one of the more impulsive lads tried to touch it.” Disapproval flashed across his face for an instant, as his eyes flicked toward the knight in question and back. “He reported being pushed back from doing so and his hand becoming temporarily numb, as if it fell asleep.”

“Well that’s odd. Link, did…?”

He shook his head. “No. Lazuli tried, but Jade stopped him. I didn’t want to get half of me sucked through to who knows where.”

“I don’t want to imagine what that would be like.” With a comforting squeeze of his hand, she turned back to the two knights. “Thank you. As you were, Link and I are going to take a closer look.”

Both men bowed, and they made their way between the barricades. Link frowned. She’d dismissed the feeling earlier during the fitting as Jasper and Amethyst, and failed to notice it while approaching the portal as Jade and Lazuli, but now approaching it again, those memories flashed to the forefront and corroborated what she was increasingly feeling as they approached; she was definitely drawn to the portal somehow.

“Hey Dot?”

“Hm?”

“I think the portal’s pulling me.”

She stopped in her tracks and turned on a heel to face him, eyes widening as concern flooded her expression. “What?”

“I didn’t notice it before, I think the moon pearl lessens it somehow? Which is interesting, but not the point. There’s definitely a draw to it.”

“Love, that’s concerning.”

“I know. But it doesn’t feel strong enough to pull me in. It’s more like if you tug on my arm, it’s just asking.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded. “Jade and Laz were right next to the portal earlier. I’ll be fine, it’s just a data point to consider.” 

“Alright. But back away the moment it becomes anything more, okay?”

“And risk you falling in alone? Not a chance,” he retorted, smirking up at her.

“Link…”

“If something happens and I can get you away from it with me, I will, okay?” He smiled, jumping to reach her cheek with a kiss. “I promise. Whatever it is, we face it together.”

Dot returned Link’s smile, leaning down to kiss his cheek in turn. “Okay.”

They finished the last few paces to the portal, and Link stepped aside to let Dot do her thing. He knew the theory of what Dot was doing, extending her magic out to feel the portal’s and more or less read what she found. It was just that unlike Dot he was terrible at reading any magic other than the highly-structured magic of an item enchantment; Link himself would be much more useful once they got to the researching stage. He watched, poised to pull her back or jump in after her, as Dot’s fingers brushed through the air centimeters from the portal’s surface. He watched as her brow furrowed and she frowned, redoubling her focus. A short minute later, she flinched back, face now full of concern and fear that she quickly tamped down.

Turning back around, she briefly addressed the gathered knights. “Excellent work, all of you, keep it up. Stay vigilant.” Then she took Link’s hand again, holding it just a little too tight and turning to leave the courtyard. Link’s brow furrowed in thought as he moved to follow her, and he gave her hand a comforting squeeze. He didn’t need to feel her trembling iron grip to see that Dot was scared, in a way he hadn’t seen since he first rescued her from Vaati.

“Dot…?”

“Not here,” she whispered, stopping to address Link’s father again. “Sir Vin?”

“Highness.”

“A word, please.”

He arched a brow, but dipped his head in respect. “Of course. Sir Artura, you have the command.”

Dot swiftly turned and ushered the three of them inside, bringing them to a meeting room off the central hall and hurrying them in. She pulled the door closed behind them, pausing and taking a moment to compose herself.

Link was the first to break the silence. “Honey, what’s going on? I haven’t seen you this frightened since our first run-in with Vaati.”

Her words tumbled out in a near whisper. “Something dark has corrupted the Light Force.”

“What? How? Four above, are you okay?”

“Your Highness, how is that possible? To my understanding, you possess the Light Force, and any method of removing it would kill you.”

She nodded, letting Link pull her into a tight hug. He was relieved to feel a tiny bit of her tension fade as he returned the embrace, but she still seemed to be barely keeping it together. “The portal is temporal, it’s connecting to a different time. They must have gotten to one of my ancestors… or descendants, or… or myself, in the future.” She let Link lead her to one of the couches before continuing, “L-Link… Link said she’s been feeling a weak pull from it, whi-”

“What?”

“Like a tug on my sleeve, Dad. It’s not enough to do anything more than remind me that it’s still there.”

Clearly biting back what he wanted to say, he dipped his head toward Dot. “I apologize for my outburst.”

“Don’t.” Her words came out quicker now “The point is, I found that pull woven into its magic alongside a ward against anyone else, they’re both clearly intentional, it wants him specifically.”

Link frowned. “If they opened this portal, they can open others. Could be a ploy to get me away from Dot.”

His father nodded. “I’ll check with the town’s guard, and let them and the rangers know to be on alert.”

“And send word to…to..”

Link clasped her hand gently. “To your father? Do you want me to finish for you?” Waiting for Dot to nod her assent, she turned to her own father. “Send word to the King, he’s still in Akala for the treaty renegotiation. He’s not due back until next week but he should be aware of what’s going on. We’ll head to the castle library, hopefully we can find some way to fight whatever is behind this.”

“It will be done. By your leave, Your Highness.” Turning to leave, he paused at the door. “And I’m proud of you, Link, I don’t say that enough. You’re going to make a fine spouse and monarch.”

Link couldn’t help but smile in return. “Thanks, dad.”

As soon as he was gone, however, Dot shuddered, a soft gasp escaping her as she finally let her mask of composure fall away. Link split before she could manage another word, and crowded her trembling form in a cuddle pile. Jade and Amethyst snuggled into her sides; Jasper hugged her shoulders tight and softly brushed his fingers through her hair; Lazuli took her hand in hers and met her gaze, speaking first.

“Honey. Dot. Zelda. Talk to me. What’s wrong?”

With her facade of royal calm dropped, Dot was stumbling over her words as they tumbled faster and faster from her lips amidst what sounded halfway between sobbing and hyperventilating. “It… it wa-… wh-whatever’s powering the portal, it’s exactly what Vaati was trying to make when he-… Link, it was like I could feel the stone overtaking my body again, and I think I made it worse by trying to play it cool and I-”

“Shhh…” Jasper softly pulled Dot in to lean against his chest, pulling his engagement feather aside to make way for her as she finally took a shuddering breath. “Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay, I’ve got you. I’m here. You’re going to be okay.”

“I’m not going to let it happen to you again,” Jade agreed.

“He’s dead, he’s not coming back this time,” Lazuli added.

Amethyst, unsure of what to say to help, simply hugged a little tighter to reassure Dot of her presence, letting Jasper speak again instead.

“Take as long as you need, hon.”

She only nodded into Jasper’s chest in response, pulling Lazuli into the cuddle pile as Jasper’s and Jade’s wings wrapped gently around them all.

‘As long as you need’ ended up being quite a while. The minutes stretched on, ticking by painfully slowly as the four of them held her. They sat together for maybe half an hour, or maybe half that; Link’s Colors didn’t know and didn’t care. Dot needed them, and so they were there.

Eventually, though, she was able to compose herself again. Her breathing steadied from erratic gasps and sobs to a more natural rhythm. Her grip relaxed on the three Colors she held. She relaxed into the Colors’ embrace and pressed her ear to Jasper’s chest, listening to his heartbeat like he knew she liked to do.

When she finally suggested that they move to the library for research, her eyes held the same determination that Link remembered from their second showdown with Vaati.

The castle’s halls were unusually busy when they emerged, its knights in the midst of mobilizing, but all made way for the crown princess and her betrothed. All, that is, save for a downright bubbly young woman with forest-green hair bound up in twin buns, who nearly ran into them rounding a corner.

“Link! And, Your Highness.” She didn’t stop talking, instead dipping into a respectful curtsy mid-word. “I wasn’t expecting to see you in this part of the castle today. Are you heading to the library too?”

“We are, actually,” Dot confirmed.

“And we could use your help, if you can spare it,” Link added. “Nayru’s too, if she’s still in town?”

“Mm. It would be nice to have an oracle’s insight on this one.”

Her cheerful expression fell at their words, vibrant forest-green eyes looking over both carefully. “What’s wrong?”

Link gestured for her to join them. “We can tell you on the way.”

Truth be told, he’d already been considering sending for her and her fellow oracle; finding her along the way was just a nice bonus. Maybe even a sign that things would go well… but he should’ve known better than to let that thought finish forming.

He and Dot were halfway through explaining the situation – skipping over the detail of the portal being powered by the Light Force, in case of prying ears – when the ground suddenly gave way beneath him and both other women cried out in shock.

He scrambled. Arms flailing, he reached for Dot’s hand, only to feel their fingers graze past each other as he fell.

“LINK!!!”

He saw her drop to the floor, ramming her hand into the portal in an attempt to reach him and cradling her hand with tears streaming down her face as it rebuffed her. And then she and Farore and the castle were gone, an aggressively featureless void overtaking his senses. He fell rose flew fell through the strange space for seconds an instant a minute he didn’t know how long. He landed hard on his back, what breath was left in him immediately knocked out by the impact of someone landing scabbard-first on him.

“… And he’s called me that since we met just after the war. Aren't those the smiths?”

Link groaned as the crimson-clad stranger rolled off of her, and clutched at the ribs he’d landed on as he slipped a ring into her other palm with murmured words that she couldn’t make out. Nothing broken, probably, but there was no way she wouldn’t have a nasty bruise for a while. She elected to stay on the ground while she recovered, focusing instead on smoothing the vanes of the iridescent feather that marked her as Dot’s betrothed to give her hands something to do.

Apparently there were more people around in the middle of the woods, because while she hesitantly inspected and donned the healing ring, the stranger spoke again and definitely wasn’t talking to her.

“Right, were are we, hen are we, what lan-guages kan I lern here, who are ya’ll thri and what is the Quest that somone oh-so-graciously chose couldn’t wait for me to enjoy my appel pie ro say gd’bye to my dotir?”

His pronunciation wasn’t great, but that meant he was learning it as at least a second language, and Link knew better than to think less of anyone making that effort. She’d have to commend him on it, once she finished catching her breath.

More interestingly, though, Link could perfectly understand even the words that were completely wrong. There was a jabbernut's magic in play, and hers didn't work on hyrulean.

Which meant the stranger, somehow, had a jabbernut of his own.

Chapter Text

“Rav, where is my ring box?”

Link cast another glance around the storeroom, built to connect their shop to the house. Despite the usual apparent mess, he could easily find whatever he needed. Except that his darling spouses had organized everything while he was visiting the castle last week… which meant that everything was neat and tidy and Link had no idea where any of it was.

“Ravio! Marin?”

Rather than his husband or wife, he heard a tiny voice shout, “I’ll help!” from the other side of the house-side door, followed quickly by said door being thrown open as the voice’s owner ran into the storeroom.

“Careful with the-” He was cut off by said door slamming into the wall and a tiny redhead slamming into him, violet eyes peeking up from under fiery orange curls and drawing out a soft smile. “... door. Hey, dysvi¹. Where’s dad?”

“Busy with a letter from Auntie Zelda.”

Lost to whatever he was doing, then, if he didn’t even answer to say that much. Which meant no help from his lolian husband until the man finished or remembered to take a break. “Hm. And mami?"

“Making tea.” Weird choice, little Alphon was usually napping around this time and giving the three of them a chance to rest, but whatever.

“So you’re gonna help me instead, huh?”

“Uh huh! I helped them organize.”

Honestly, he couldn’t even be mad about it anymore, not with that face grinning up at him. With a grin of his own and a sigh, he hugged his daughter tight, then stepped back. “Alright. Think you can show me where you guys put the rings?”

He tried his best not to chuckle at the way she spaced out while she thought (no easy task, she was just so cute) and waited patiently for her to remember. After a few moments she bounced over to a cabinet and opened it, pointing to a drawer a few inches out of her reach while she futilely tried to jump to reach it.

Link couldn’t help but grumble a little. “Could’ve sworn I checked that cabinet already…”

You did not.

He rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Fi.”

There in the drawer, sure enough, were three ring boxes: the familiar adventure-worn box now bearing a delicately-painted mirrored triforce surrounded with hibiscus flowers, pink and purple bunnies, Fi, and the four aspects of the Four Sword, obviously the one they expected him to see most, so probably the rings with adventuring uses; one with a stylized boar head charred into the lid, probably an abstraction of Ganon, so the cursed stuff; and a much larger one of simple blank wood to hold everything else.

Fi manifested in a flash of orange to look over their shoulders at the second box, golden-orange sleeves fluttering above them. “That is a terrible likeness of Ganon.”

Link just rolled his eyes as he pulled out the adventure box. “Doubt Marin wanted to see that face again after how he made us fight. Besides, the boar gets the idea across just fine.”

“I suppose.”

“Hi Auntie Fi!” 

“Greetings, Aria.”

Opening it, he scanned over the contents. All there, now neatly sorted instead of scattered in a drawer, and bearing labels in Aria’s messy handwriting; well, some of the similar-looking ones were swapped, but he could rearrange the labels later. Setting the ring box aside with a smile, Link cast his gaze over the rest of the too-tidy room. “One of these days you guys are going to have to run me through whatever organizational system you came up with. I can’t find anything in here.”

“I’m surprised you could find anything before,” came Marin’s voice. “Especially with how tidy your bags always are.”

“I knew where everything was before,” he retorted, looking past where Aria had taken to hanging from Fi’s shoulders like a cape to see Marin step into the room with two steaming cups. She laughed, setting one down for him as she kissed his cheek.

“Mi amor², if that’s true it’s more impressive than how many times you’ve saved the world.”

“Well, good to know you think I’m impressive.”

She laughed, rolling her eyes fondly. “Rav’s words, not mine.”

“I agree with Ravio,” Fi said, hovering across the room with Aria in tow. “It is impressive that you could find anything before.”

Clutching a hand to his chest, Link let out a dramatic gasp. “Betrayal,” he cried, only managing the false offense for a second before he and Marin both burst into a fit of giggles. “Seriously though, I could use some help.”

“Sí, claro," Marin said; yeah, of course. “The portal in the orchard, right? But, why don’t you have bags out for me or Rav? You’re not planning to go alone, are you?”

“I have to, Rin. There’s a ward on the portal that I don’t know how to break, I’m the only one that can go through.” he sighed, sparing a glance toward Aria with a smile, “That means you and Rav’ll be here to keep our little girl safe, though. It works out.”

“But-”

Marin groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Of course there’s some nonsense to it. And, if it’s anything like the war… yeah, better we’re here to help.” With a sigh, she met his gaze, her own expression hardening as she raised a warning finger to him. “Alright. Pero si no regresas…” If you don’t return…

“Papi-”

“Then you and Ravio will find me and drag me back, I know. Honestly, ho’fdrᾳ⁵, I’m counting on it,” he said, gently grabbing her hand out of the air to plant a kiss on her palm. “But,” he added, brandishing the harp of ages to emphasize his words, “I’m not planning to need you to.” He still couldn't control the damn thing, of course, not without dark magic of his own, but that just meant he'd have to find the oracle of ages of whichever era he ended up in; it'd be easier to make that case with the harp than without.

“But I wanted to go with you…”

Both of them turned to face Aria at her quiet declaration, alarm clutching at Link’s heart as memories swam to the surface. Memories of Mask, barely any older than she was now, marching into Castle Town alongside hardened soldiers, with an expression that had no place on a face that young. Of himself in the mirror after his first quest, haunted and jumpy. His mind instantly conjured up images of little Aria with the same expressions, forced into battle, and the words bubbled out of him before he could even think about tone or phrasing.

“Absolutely not.”

“Hey.” He felt Marin’s hand on his back, as she cupped his cheek to make him look at her. “We’re not gonna let her go through that. Deep breaths.”

He stared back at her, amber eyes like pools of honey holding real understanding, and complied almost without thinking. Long slow breaths soothed the thought away, and he cast a glance to the weaponized puppy eyes that Aria was sporting.

Fortunately for him, he had built up an immunity in his years with Dimitri.

“Mija⁶, no. It’s too dangerous for most adults, Okay?”

Unfortunately, the weaponized puppy eyes did not abate. Time to switch tactics, then.

So, he sighed, feigning defeat. “Alright. Amor⁷, could you grab a sand rod?”

A bemused smirk told him she’d likely agree, but not before she had an idea of what he intended. Instead she responded in Terminan sign, long-since their goto for talking silently.

‘Maybe. What you planning?’

‘Trying to distract her with a new goal. Make her choose to stay.’

‘Ok. Got your back.’

“There is something, guppy,” he started, smiling at the way her face lit up and unclasping his invisibility cape to fasten it around her shoulders instead. “Normally, I look after our woods, keep Moosh and Dimitri and the Minish and fairies safe. Of course, while I’m gone…” He trailed off, careful not to actually utter a lie; while he was gone, his wards would hold at least long enough for an adventure or two, and for as long as the fairies at the fountain maintained them for him after that, but he didn’t need to say that.

He especially didn’t need to in any way say that Aria had to do it for him; words had power, and ever since he’d finally embraced Styla’s gift, his especially so. No, the last thing he wanted was to accidentally bind her to actually protect the area. Of course, he wasn’t exactly sure that was even possible to do; but that was something to ask his great fairy neighbor about, not to naively risk with his precious daughter.

Aria gasped, standing straighter in an attempt to look more impressive. “I will,” she declared, with all the confidence of a nine-year-old who doesn’t know what they’re signing up for.

Smiling, he took the rod from Marin - “Sarq,” thanks - but pretended to hesitate rather than hand it to Aria, reminding her, “You need to be careful what you promise, guppy.”

“Papi. I can do it.”

Letting a smirk show, he held the rod out to let her take it. “Hm. Why don’t you go check on the fountain, make sure that storm yesterday didn’t block the fairies in?”

Putting on her most serious expression, adorably over-emoted as it was, Aria nodded and ran out of the storeroom.

“Love you!”

He chuckled as she didn’t even stop, instead giving a rushed “Love you too, Papi!” before slamming the door closed behind her.

“You know, I’m not sure if that was genius or a terrible idea.”

He just shrugged, finally taking a sip of the tea. “As long as it makes her stay within the woods. With you here and with all the wards I have on them, they’re the safest place in the kingdom.”

“I guess so…” She sighed. “Let’s get you packed, amor⁷. The quicker you can finish this Quest and come back, the better.”

It took longer than Link expected to find and organize everything, even with Marin’s help, and by the time he was satisfied with his magic bags’ contents the whistle of the teapot had long since sounded again. But, he was finally prepared; he would start this quest with an organized arsenal, finish it quickly, and find his way back to his home and family.

All that was left was to give Ravio the gear he’d set aside for him, and to say goodbye.

Stowing the ring box and checking his various bags and pouches one last time, he made his way back into the house, taking a deep whiff of the warm apple & cinnamon scent that filled the air. Their son, Alphon, slept soundly on the couch by the unused fireplace, snoring softly with a blanket laid over him. Past that at the table, Ravio sat engrossed in some paper or another, biting his lip in thought (he really did look like a bunny when he did that) as he chattered with a familiar sky-blue fairy and made notes on a map that was sprawled across the table. Off in the kitchen, Ghirahim was rifling through the potions cabinet, setting out a selection for the adventure. Link elected to ignore the potions and pie set out for him for now, instead draping his arms around Ravio to hug him from behind.

“Hey, ho’fdrᾳ⁵. Hi, Trill.”

He chuckled as Ravio startled, gently holding the lolian down so he wouldn’t fall out of his chair.

“That focused, huh? No wonder you didn’t hear me earlier.”

“Hah, hi… Wait, you called for me?”

“Yeah, it’s okay, though, I got help from Rin and Aria,” he assured, resting his head on his shoulder to look over the map. “What’s all this that’s got your attention?”

“Oh, uhm, the queens are finally ready to build that embassy between our worlds. Queen Zelda asked us to double-check the places she’s considering before she sends the list to Queen Hilda, so we’ve been… doing that.”

Link nodded, looking over the map more carefully. After a few moments, he reached forward to tap one of the marked locations, just east of the graveyard. “Not that one.”

Trill chimed in confusion, flying over the spot and back to a page of notes. “Why not? It’s in a good spot, it’s close to the castle but not too close, it even already has a road to it.”

“Mhm. It’s also right on top of a great fairy’s fountain.”

“There’s a great mother there‽”

“Mhm, goes by Cotera to strangers.”

“Ooh, she’s my mother’s sister! So that’s where she moved her fountain…”

“You know, here they call that an aunt,” Ravio chuckled. “We’ll make a note of that, mon cœur⁹. Anything else we missed?”

“Hm. No, the ones I know about you’ve already got covered. I do have a spoilers thing, though.”

That got Ravio’s attention, and he turned to face Link with a look of concern. “The war?”

“We’re getting to when you said it pulled you in, yeah. So,” he said, producing the bag he and Marin had prepared for him, “We packed some things for you so you can be ready whenever it does. Your hammer’s in there, some rings, an ice rod. Ephemerelda's letting you wield her; remember to call her Gale, her true name’s for her to reveal.”

“Bunny, that…”

“Seems like a lot and not enough at the same time? Yeah,” he chuckled, ignoring the way his cheeks burned at the nickname; it was Ravio’s favorite for him for the way it made him turn nearly as red as the apples they grew, nevermind that he’d lost the form nearly a decade ago when he embraced Styla's gift, but now was not the time to let it distract him. “We just wanted you to have something. In case it grabs you when you’re not expecting it, like it did us.”

“Well I’m still not exactly looking forward to it. But, thanks.”

Link hummed at that, hugging him tight. “Of course. Wish we could stop you from needing to go. But you’ll be okay. I believe in you,” he assured, kissing Ravio’s cheek before a rumble made itself heard from the lolian’s stomach. Drawing a slow breath while amusement and exasperation fought for his expression, he stepped back to make eye contact. “Rav… ho’fdrᾳ⁵. Amor⁷. Did you forget to eat today?”

“Hm? No, I… Wait no, that was yesterday. Uhm. Yes.”

“Din’s sake, you’re as bad as I am… Come on. Looks like Marin or Ghiry heated some pie up for us, that should do us until dinner.”

He only made it halfway to said pie before Fi chimed in alarm.

Sir Linkirian, I no longer sense the portal.

“What?”

And then the ground gave way beneath him. He scrambled, fingertips catching the floor as he steered himself forward with his roc’s cape. Ghirahim dropped several potions in a rush to leap forward and catch him, the bottles shattering on the ground. The barely-stable magic of the portal’s edge stung like fire as his momentum swung him forward, and then he was freefalling through a featureless void.

His fall was halted by the impact of another body as he landed on someone, and he groaned as Fi’s scabbard dug into his back.

“… And he’s called me that since we met just after the war... Huh. Aren’t those the smiths?”

Wincing and trying to muster through the nauseating unsteadiness in his head and stomach, he rolled off of them to take stock of his surroundings. He was in a clearing in some forest, five others staring at him. The person he’d landed on looked to be a child at first glance, but there wasn’t a trace of baby fat and his body was far more muscular than his tiny frame had any right to be. He wore a quartered tunic with each quadrant in a different color, with a minish earring, a giant blue feather on his belt, and a shimmering iridescent feather on a beaded necklace, and seemed to relax after checking himself over. With the tiny man’s face not yet wizened by age and his own senses thrown off by the portal, it took a few seconds for Link to realize he was staring at his smithing master from the war. Opal, he remembered, though he had to remind himself that the sword spirit may have been pulled from centuries before he chose the alias. Handing her his heart ring with a quiet apology, Link turned with a hesitant grin to look over the motley group of five while his accidental victim sorted himself out.

He recognized two of them. In chainmail under New Hyrule's hero-blue, with a familiar blackened hilt peeking from behind a more-familiar white scarf and minish earring, was the hero of New Hyrule, Captain Engie. And next to him, in casual pirate garb with a familiar blue and lobster pattern on the sash that acted as his belt, stood the hero of the winds, who during his time in the war had insisted on using his hero title as a nickname.

Poor guy’s still just a kid. Fuckin’ ëir¹⁰.

At least he appears to have completed his quest now.

What makes you say that? Could be waiting for you to get reforged.

His vital signs do not indicate stress nor haste as they did when he arrived to the war.

Huh. Good eye.

I would have expected you to notice as well. Your insight is normally quite good.

Yeah well, there’s a lot to process right now, he retorted, hiding a fond smirk. Smartass.

I learned from you.

Yeah, yeah… 

Holding back his chuckling, Link turned to look the rest of them over. Two more men and a boy he didn’t recognize had seemingly joined this group before him and been interrupted by his and the smithy’s arrival. A one-armed man with his tunic sandwiched between chainmail and a dark-furred pelt looked at the back of his hand in bemused surprise, a tri-colored triforce tattoo the apparent object of his confusion. Next to him, speaking to Wind and Engie, was a man in armor who dwarfed everyone else there and looked over him with a single mottled blue and green eye. Link couldn’t quite get a read on either of them, but there would be time for that later. The last member of this new squad could easily have passed for Trill were she hylian, but more strangely his magic told him they were great fae; he'd never seen one leave their fountain before.

So, time portal, right? Heres hoping that jabbernut from the war still works.

Mind made up, Link finished dusting himself off and addressed his new companions, counting his questions off on one hand. “Right, where are we, when are we, what languages can I learn here, who are you three, and what is the Quest that someone oh-so-graciously decided couldn’t wait for me to enjoy my apple pie and say goodbye to my daughter?”

It was Wind that spoke up, the jabbernuts leaving his words alone since Link understood Great Sea Common just fine without them. “Lost woods, whatever that is. Mask’s era. No fucking idea. Mask, new hero, and Mask’s dad Meti. Aaand, no fucking idea.”

Link sighed. “It would be a lost wo - wait. Mask? Tiny, youngest one pulled through, Mask?” Incredulously, he looked the man over again; he supposed he could see the resemblance, now that he knew to account for missing baby fat and extra foot of height. “Damn, kid, you grew. Guess Wind’s the little brother this time, huh?”

…Fi. You knew, didn’t you?

Yes, but this was funnier.

“Oh fuck you, he’s still the little brother.”

The Trill lookalike snorted, responding in Link’s own Hyrulean, or close enough to it. “How’s that work?”

“Once the big brother, always the big brother, newbie.”

A groan from the smithy interrupted that particular line of conversation, and six heads swiveled to face him as he pulled himself to his feet and spoke.

“You’re using jabber nuts, aren’t you? Or at least, some of you are. I won’t ask where you got them, but do you have enough to share?”

Mask chuckled. “Observant, aren’t you? I’m afraid we don't. And I can’t get more, for… obvious reasons.” He hid the waver in his voice well, and no one else seemed to notice it.

The smithy nodded, pulling himself to his feet. “Alright. I can, I’ll get some attuned to Hyrulean. I shouldn’t be gone more than… half an hour?”

Meti raised a brow with a bemused smirk. “I’ll come along. I’ve heard enough stories about these woods, you shouldn’t wander them alone.” If there was any doubt before that the man was gerudo, his accent dashed them all immediately.

“All respect, none of you are capable of helping, and that has nothing to do with your skills,” the smithy said, glancing over each of them. Kirian chuckled and offered a smirking shrug; the smaller man could handle himself of course, but he was obviously from before the war if he didn’t know that at least Kirian and the Captain could see his tiny friends. “Don’t worry, I can take care of myself. I won’t go far.” Without another word, he turned and marched off into the forest.

‘So, we can all agree that was stupid, right? It took me a week to-’ Engie cut himself off as two familiar triangular holes in the world opened up, and frowned slightly. ‘Tsk. They just keep coming.’

Meti spoke up. “Just to be optimistic, blue rupee says these’re the last two and my other daughter comes through one of them.”

Wind said that one’s Meti, right? Tough luck, last time it was over a dozen warriors. “You’re on.”

Hm.

What?

Nothing.

Right…

Mask sighed, turning to Meti. “Could you go after him, vàmo¹¹? The sun will finish setting soon, and the woods dont know to welcome him.”

Captain Engie frowned. “Are you sure that’s a good idea, Sprite?”

“Engie, I’ve got the best chance of finding him in the dark,” Meti said, glancing at Mask. “And ithttps://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/wally.shtmI can get us back safely, right, kit?”

“The woods will know you're mine,” Mask said instead of answering.

“‘Kay. I’ll be back with our four-colored friend, then.” He turned to address the group - but particularly Wind, the Trill lookalike, and Link. “The rest of y’all, stay here, don’t go anywhere without her,” he instructed, pointing to Mask. “We may all be heroes, but the Lost Woods are called that for a reason.” Just like that, he left to go after the smithy.

“What’s the ‘lost woods’?” asked a new voice, in a language Link had only ever heard during Fi’s lessons. Link grinned, his ear flicking toward the new arrival.

Five heads turned to whoever spoke the skyloftian, and found a man and woman stepping out of the portal hand in hand. The man wore a thick green tunic over chainmail, the woman a pink and blue dress; both wore matching red and blue feather earrings and a pair of giant white-tipped feathers, one crimson and one indigo, opposite from the swords on their belts. The man wore Fi’s original blade and a white cape that damn-near glowed, beneath which a pair of wings in golden brown and glittering silver ruffled softly. The woman, meanwhile, wore a much more ordinary sword and no cape, but her golden wings glimmered in the fading daylight with a sparkling iridescent sheen that made them seem as bright as the cape. They both looked around the group, confused amusement playing across their features, but the woman’s expression dropped into crestfallen grief when her gaze landed on Mask.

That’s the first of us, isn’t he? The one who reforged you, Zel's ancestor. Who's that with him?

He knew that Fi struggled with expressing herself. She could sass with the best of them, but by her account her own emotions always felt muted and distant; rarely was she able to show them without words, which made it all the more precious when she did. Looking at the skyloftians now, though, Link could distinctly feel a smile in her response.

They are indeed her ancestors. These are Hylia’s Chosen Hero and Her Grace Zelda.

It would’ve been a lot more touching if an arrow hadn’t chosen that exact moment to shoot out of the other portal and pin his hat to a tree.

Chapter Text

Link had never been a morning person. As far back as she could remember, she’d always been content to sleep in and do her chores and other tasks by moon and candle light. Zelda, at least, understood, she’d always been up with the dawn and longed for sleep as soon as evening turned to night, and had always been there to wake her when she had things to do. Luckily, since coming to the surface, they’d been able to allow themselves and each other to sleep when they needed, only waking the other (or insisting they stay up) with obvious reason.

So it was surprising, when Epona reached in through their window to shove her out of bed in the early morning light and Groose called out that Zelda needed her in the temple equipped for an adventure. The sun hadn’t even fully cleared the horizon when she reached the temple courtyard, and most of the little settlement was still cast in sleepy shadows with only a few particularly dedicated farmers moving about the nearer fields.

The interior of the temple was quieter than she’d gotten used to. With no one milling about inside, it felt… well, she wasn’t quite sure how to describe it, but certainly empty-but-not and ancient and the way it had when she’d first set foot within its crumbling walls. The only sound within the temple this morning was the soft, droning thrum of the reason she’d been woken up. Just past Zelda, hovering menacingly where the gate of time would’ve been, was a swirling triangular portal, which looked and felt like it did not belong. Where the gate of time formed a tunnel, this was a swirling void that felt like teetering on the edge of Skyloft with broken wings and looked like Demise’s presence felt. Instead of the soothingly regular mechanisms left by Hylia, this seemed to have clawed into reality with pale strands of magic so bright that even she, completely unskilled as she was, could see them. This thing managed to feel just like the holy magic she’d felt from Fi and from Hylia’s machinations, and very much not at all like it at the same time, and Link didn’t know what to make of it except that she did not like it. For all that she trusted her wife, everything about this portal just seemed wrong.

‘Dad,’ came a soft chime from her shoulder, ‘I have a bad feeling about this.’

“Yeah,” she murmured, glancing over to check since she still couldn’t tell the twins’ chimes apart. “Yeah, me too, Skye.”

‘It feels like Ghirahim…’

“More like Batreaux.” The same glow and chimes, but from her other shoulder. Neri. “After you cured him. Mostly. Kinda borderline, actually? Like when he was halfway through transforming, maybe.”

“I’ll take your word for it, kiddo. Zel, why is there a gate that feels like evil?”

Zelda frowned at that, confusion writ all over her face as she looked between Link and the portal. “Feels like- What? No, it… Oh.” Her gaze softened as it settled on Link. “You’ve never felt dark magic before, have you, starlight? Not since fighting him.”

“Obviously not…? And I don’t remember feeling anything from Batreaux to compare this to.”

“Well, Neri’s probably right. Uhm, very, very short version, dark magic isn’t bad, light magic isn’t good, and time magic - my magic - needs both. This is… a little borderline, actually, but it’s not corrupted like Demise’s. What really worries me is the imbalance. This shouldn't be stable.”

“Okay… That’s a lot at once. ‘Not evil still dangerous’ makes sense, but… not stable?”

“Yeah,” Zelda sighed. “And seeing as it’s still here, I’m guessing it’s in the ‘splinter a bunch more portals off’ way. Which would be about as wrong as time magic can go, but at least that would mean it’s safe to travel by. Or, well, safe as it can be, I guess.”

“And why are we worried about going through?”

“Because,” Zelda said, glancing back at it, “For one thing, someone needs to stop whatever’s making it. And for another… somewhere on the other side, one of our descendants is calling for you. Or helping to, I can’t tell if they created this. I don’t know for what; Nayru won’t tell me, and I don’t remember allowing it when I was just Hylia, but… Dove, whatever’s going on, it’s big.” She let out a sigh and reached for Link’s hand. Though she played her thumb over her knuckles, her gaze lingered on the arm marred by lightning scars. “Which means I… I have to send you away again. On another adventure.”

“Zelda, I chose to go after you,” she reminded, cupping her cheek with her free hand to gently pull her gaze toward her own. “And I chose to keep going and fight Demise, and I’d do it again. You know that, don’t you?”

She sighed, leaning into the touch. “I know. But it doesn’t… I…”

“Sweetheart, just because you remember being Hylia doesn’t mean you have to take responsibility for everything that ever happens. Even the Three don’t, why else would they leave the triforce behind?”

“But this is a temporal portal,” she countered, wilting slightly. “That was my domain, Link.”

Link felt a frown furrow her brow. That couldn’t possibly be all there was to it, could it?

“Which you said you handed back off to Nayru, right?”

“Yes, but-”

“And I know you wouldn’t blame her, so why are you blaming yourself?”

“Because I can’t keep solving things by just throwing you at the problem!”

Oh. Link only counted one instance Zelda could be talking about, with Demise; but then, Zelda did remember the times before Skyloft, so maybe there was something back then that she regretted? Still, a smile crept across Link’s face; if that was the problem, then the answer was obvious.

“So don’t.”

“And I-” Zelda cut herself off as she answered, visibly failing to process what she meant. “Wait, what?”

“Come with me. We’ll throw ourselves at whatever problem it is together.”

‘Yeah!’ Skye helpfully added, ‘If you feel guilty about not helping, then just… help.’

“I…” She trailed off with a stutter, and Link gave her a moment to think it over before she leaned forward to bury her face in Link’s chest with an exasperated groan. “Link, I’m an idiot…”

That got a proper laugh out of Link, and she gently ran her fingers through Zelda’s hair, wrapping her wings around her in a hug. “No you’re not, you’re just stressed. I missed obvious stuff too when I was trying to find you, I can’t even count how many times Fi had to point things out for me.”

‘A lot,’ Neri clarified. ‘She needed it a lot.’

“Yeah, thank you, Neri, for calling me out more.”

“Still, I… nevermind, you’ll just tell me not to blame myself again,” Zelda gave an exasperated laugh, shifting a bit to look up at her. “Oh, my beautiful, genius hero. Why didn’t I think of just going with you?”

Link chuckled. “Two heads are better than one, right? I’m sure you’ll have plenty of chances to be the smart one before we make it back.”

“Ha. I’ll start now, we should take Fi.”

Wait, what? “I thought she was sleeping?”

‘Wassat about sleeping…?’ Red glow, deepest chimes. Leaf, it seemed, had finally woken up.

‘Shh, mom and dad are planning,’ Neri scolded.

“It’s not technically sleep? Even still, she’s the finest blade around, and a powerful source of light magic. I don’t know, maybe I’m being paranoid, I just have a feeling we might need her to smite something.”

“And.. she’ll be ok? We’re not going to hurt her by using her blade while she needs to sleep?”

“No,” Zelda smiled, “No, she’ll be fine, it’ll just take longer for her to finish her battle.”

Link frowned slightly, mulling that over. “Okay… okay. I’ll get her before we go, then. I’d ask if we need anything from the bazaar, but…”

“Yeah, we’re stocked up for that trip to Lanayru next week… which isn’t going to be happening now.” She shook her head, chuckling softly before looking up at him firmly in planning mode. “How much extra did you pack?”

“I mean, I’d rather have a bigger bedroll now that we’re going to share, but we can make it work. Food, uhm. I think I took everything we were prepping for the Lanayru trip? So three days for the both of us. I figured you could get more if you were still going.”

“Right,” she nodded, “right, so just clothes and weapons. We can split everything up on the other side.”

“Are we in a rush?”

“I… I don’t know how long this portal can stay open for, it’s impressive that it’s even still here. Honestly, I might just pack my knight uniform, instead of changing.”

“Okay.” Leaning in to give her a peck on the cheek, Link gave her hand a fond squeeze before stepping back. “Hurry back, then. I’ll get Fi, you can use my sword.”

“You mean my sword,” she quipped, giving a playful grin before turning to leave the temple and take off towards home. Sure enough, when Link slung the sword off to make space between her wings for Fi’s scabbard, she was greeted with blue and silver, not green and gold. Oops..

No sooner had she set the blade down than Leaf began chiming again, glaring at the portal. ‘Dad… why does that thing feel like Demise?’

“Part of its magic is close to what he used,” she answered, turning her attention back to the portal in question. “I don’t like it either, but Zel wouldn’t’ve planned to send me through if she thought it wasn’t safe.”

‘Do we really have to go through it?’ Neri asked.

“You guys don’t, you can stay here if you want.”

‘And let you go alone? Not a chance,’ Leaf cut in, the other two quickly chiming their agreement.

“Heh. Thanks, guys.”

She carefully made her way around the portal, stepping between the pillars and wall to give it a wide berth as she approached Fi’s pedestal. The restoration teams had long since spread canvases across the holes in the roof to keep weather out until they could repair the stonework, and those turned the now-bright sunlight outside into the dull oranges and pinks of twilight. Still in her pedestal, Fi slumbered silently, only the dull shine of metal metal left where she had once gleamed like a star in Link’s hand. No chime sounded when she rested her hand on the guard, no answer came when she spoke.

“Hey, Fi. Got another adventure for us… with Zel this time! We're doing this one together, no more leaving her on her own or being too late. We just need… well, you. We don't really know what we're facing, but she's got a bad feeling about it.” She sighed. “Just wish you could answer like you used to. I know, I know, you've gotta sleep and fight… De… mise.”

And fight Demise.

Demise, whom Link had killed before with the triforce.

The triforce, which she still had.

The triforce, which glowed brightly on the back of her hand as she looked down in dawning realization, only vaguely aware of the fairies chiming in concern at her sudden silence.

Brilliant gold light bathed the chamber as she called the holy artifact forth from where it rested within her, the shining triangles hovering just as eerily statically as the portal but radiating power with a comforting holy presence. Standing before the triforce once more, she reached out to touch it and voiced her prayer.

The words came easily, even moreso than her plea two years before had, and she couldn’t quite keep the growl out of her voice as she spoke of the Demon God.

“The job’s not done. A remnant of Demise slumbers in this blade, fighting my friend to escape and bring more destruction. So one more time, please, for the safety of the world and of everyone I love, I’m asking you…

“Destroy him.”

The light became blinding as the triforce resonated, its glow washing out the colors of the temple until she could see nothing but gold. Visions danced through her mind, of wingless heroes, of times that would be altered by this choice. A child in green, wielding the blade though it was too big for him; a pair of children, fighting a man beneath the seas; a soldier, blade in hand, face full of confidence; a vibrantly red haired man, frozen in shock as a mirror disintegrated; a pink-haired child pulling the blade, now golden-orange, out of an oil bath as it began to chime; a scarred young man in blue, slumped crying against the blade; so many heroes and times, all of whom would be affected by her choice here. No words sounded in the temple nor entered her mind, but the question was clear:

ARE. YOU. SURE?

She took a deep breath to steady herself, lips curling into a smile.

“Do it.”

The light grew more blinding still and left her blinking spots away as it faded, the temple falling silent once more but for the ominous thrum behind her.

Hopefully, it had the side effect she'd hoped for.

“Fi…?”

A hesitant chime sounded from the blade, not so much words as an acknowledgement of having just woken up, and Link let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding as she let a smile overtake her features. A familiar shine glittered within the golden gem, and Fi’s form flipped out of it to land in a familiar bow before straightening up.

“Master. If there is need of me again, I would… I would be happy to accompany you and Her Grace on this new journey.” 

Link couldn’t help the joy in her face as she stepped up to the pedestal. Not just at reuniting with a friend she’d thought lost, but at Fi actually expressing an emotion, something she had previously only managed to do just before sealing herself into a slumber they’d thought would be eternal. It seemingly wasn’t lost on the fairy children either, judging by how they cheered and fluttered around Fi.

Drawing the sword was easy, this time; it came free with a sharp ring and no resistance, and a familiar radiant gleam flashed through the blade before fading to its usual shine. Still smiling, she sheathed the holy sword and addressed its spirit before turning worriedly toward the portal.

“It’s good to have you back, Fi. Think you can tell me any more about that portal than Zel?”

“I cannot. Her Grace voiced her thoughts while studying it. Though I was unable to respond at the time, I concur with her findings.”

“Good to know, thanks.”

Unfortunately, the portal in question refused to feel less wrong just because she stared at it with concern, and instead adamantly continued to swirl, threatening to pull her into its depths.

Much as she wanted to wait outside the temple and away from the portal, Zelda had said that one of their descendants needed help on the other side; if it started closing, she wanted to be close enough to get through. So instead she sat against a pillar, letting her mind wander while the fairies pestered Fi with glee over her return and curiosity over her sleep. It wasn’t long before Link’s thoughts turned to the temple around her.

Link had never been particularly devout, if she was honest with herself. Besides, she and Zelda both agreed that worshiping Hylia just felt weird now, thoughthey hadn’t explained that to anyone but her father. And it was weirder still to think of the temple as being one to Zelda, even if only four people knew about that. But the other goddesses… Well, after having collected their blessings to complete Fi and fight Demise, the least she could do was to acknowledge them. Like with the wreath of mafrin flowers that she and Zelda had left a while back, the magically preserved white and blue blooms woven tightly together into a ring of five-petaled stars. Ama’hua’s favorite flower, Zelda had explained; a more personal offering. Link could get behind that, for apparently the only goddess still watching over the world.

Possibly the strangest realization, though, was that with Zelda being Hylia, the other goddesses were her in-laws now. That particular idea still boggled her mind if she thought about it for too long, but more importantly, it felt doubly wrong to ignore them. So, while she waited for Zelda to return, she prayed.

“Nayru, Din, Farore, Ama’hua. I know I can’t hear you all like Zel can,” she started, glancing toward the doors in the direction of statue, “But ever since she got her memories as Hylia back it’s obvious to me how much she still loves you. As weird as it still feels to say, you’re family now. So, uh, sorry for being such a stranger.”

She paused, shaking her head and chuckling at herself.

“I’m not… I’m not stupid enough to expect anything from you. You’re still goddesses and I’m still only hylian, it’d be ridiculous and arrogant and… stupid.

“But, if there’s a blessing that you’re willing to give us for this journey, I’d appreciate it. I’ll see you on the other side! Or, well, I guess you’ll see us, since you’re… already there? Heh, time travel. I never did figure out how to end these without rambling, did I? I’ll, uh. See you around.”

“Master.”

“Hm?”

“You called Their Graces family.”

Link blinked in surprise. There was never much intonation to Fi’s speech, but she could swear there was something more to that statement. “Wait. Are you… curious?”

Silence fell, but that was fine; it had taken their entire journey together for Fi to express an emotion, she could wait a few seconds for the sword spirit to figure out what this one was.

“Yes,” Fi finally answered, and Link felt her face light up with a grin that only widened as she talked about the wedding and everything else that had happened in the nearly two years since they’d defeated Demise, the fairies jumping in to fill in gaps and recount their favorite parts. They might've gotten a bit too into the storytelling, because Zelda’s voice pulled her out of it far more quickly than she expected.

“Link? Is that- How did you-”

She trailed off as Link grinned and raised the hand that held the triforce in answer. “I had an idea, and it worked!”

She couldn’t hold back a fond chuckle at the way Zelda buried her face in her hand. “Oh. Yeah, that would do it… Are you ok? I know you were last time, but it’s still a lot of magic to channel through a mortal body, is-”

“Sunshine,” Link interrupted, bouncing to her feet with a smile. “I’m fine, we all are.”

“I am operating at optimal efficiency, Your Grace.”

‘We’re all ok, mom,’ Skye chimed, flying over to hug Zelda’s cheek, ‘We were just telling Fi about everything she missed!’

“Is that so?”

“Indeed, Your Grace. I am happy to be back.”

Zelda blinked in surprise, glancing over to Link with a growing smile before she responded. “And we’re glad to have you. Sorry I took so long, I had to bind a new enchantment into my cuffs,” she explained, glancing vaguely upwards with an annoyed smirk. “Which Ama’hua could have done when she gave it to me, but apparently miss suddenly the older sister thinks I need to practice my magic.”

“Huh. What do they do now?”

“Keep us tethered to this time, to stave off the shards.” She pulled one of the goddess-steel cuffs off, offering it to Link. “One for each of us, so we won’t have to worry as much about being away from our loftwings.”

That was… a lot more than Link had been expecting. Any actual response would've been more than she expected, if she was honest with herself; one goddess doing everything alone had to have better things to do. She wanted to acknowledge the significance of it all, but she managed was a hushed "woah" while she slipped it on and the fairies fluttered around it in curiosity.

“Well, you are family,” Zelda quipped with a giggle. “She thought that was sweet, by the way. She says hello.”

“I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say to that. Thanks?” She glanced vaguely skyward while she spoke, frowning slightly. “Uh, genuinely.”

“Anyway,” Zelda chuckled, “We should probably go. Just let me poke at the portal a bit first, so it lets me through.”

After waiting a bit more for Zelda to do something to the portal’s magic, and making sure the fairies were secure in their preferred hiding pockets, they stepped in. Having Fi on her back and Zelda’s hand in her own made it more bearable, but passing through the portal still shot right to second on the list of things Link would rather never do again. The sheer nothing of it all threw all of her senses off, even as the feel of the magic burned like the air around death mountain without her fireshield earrings.

When it was finally over, they were in a forest clearing with the sun either just risen or nearly setting; Link couldn’t tell which, and she was too busy calming her panicking body to figure it out. Six others were already there and talking to each other, while one of them - one wearing a lot of armor - prepared a fire. None of them seemed to notice them, which Link was grateful for; it gave her a chance to catch her breath before jumping into whatever conversation they were having.

“‘Kay. I’ll be back with our four-colored friend, then,” said one with fur around his shoulders, his words somehow making sense despite the sounds being all wrong. He turned to address the group, though he seemed to focus on three of them in particular. “The rest of y’all, stay here, don’t go anywhere without her,” he instructed, pointing to the man in armor, “We may all be heroes, but the Lost Woods are called that for a reason.” Finally, his piece said, he jogged into the darkening forest.

“What’s the ‘lost woods’?” Zelda asked, drawing the gazes of the remaining five and the four-legged creature with them. For just an instant, Link could swear she felt a familiar presence from one of them, but it quickly faded. Just as quickly as it did, though, Link found herself looking over at a faint gasp from Zelda, whose shocked eyes were locked on the armored one’s face and the strange markings there. Her expression quickly morphed into one Link hadn’t seen since her mother had died, and her voice wavered when she spoke again. “K-... Ki?”

“What was that?” It was the smallest person present who spoke up, the winged boy in the strange loose shirt with sashes for a belt, while the man who’d lost his hat to an arrow went to retrieve it, strawberry blonde braid swaying behind him.

“I- Nevermind. I thought I recognized one of you.”

“Right… Lemme guess, you’re both Link too?”

“Come on, Aura, you know better than to ask for names,” admonished the one in red while he brushed his hat clean with a playful smirk, the triforce of power glimmering on his left hand, “what if they’re fae?” He was bedecked in more jewelry than seemed reasonable, with rings adorning all of his fingers, a pair of golden bracelets on each wrist, a necklace chock full of pendants, a second necklace bearing even more rings, and a tiny bird feather dangling from each ear. His studded tunic was stiff like the armor the tall one wore, in direct contrast to the strawberry blond braid that swayed behind him as he leveled his piercing violet eyes on Aura.

“Fairies don’t have wings like that,” Aura retorted. “They must have scales from Valoo like I do.”

Link had no idea what Valoo was, but she took the chance while they went back and forth to whisper to Zelda, leaning into her a bit. “You ok?”

“I… I will be. I’ll tell you later.”

Link nodded, squeezing her hand before turning her attention back to the others, with the one in red apparently talking to them.

“Anyway, what’ll it be, Sparrow? A lot of Links in this group, so most of us are going by nicknames. That’s Aura, you can call me Kirian.”

“Nice to meet you all… But, sparrow?”

Kirian chuckled, “your wings look like a sparrow’s, and, well, I don’t know what else to call you yet.”

Link grinned in realization. “Wait… a sparrow is a tiny bird?”

“Well I mean, yes? They’re about yea big,” he said, demonstrating with his fingers and chuckling. “Why?”

“I love tiny birds! Sure, I’ll be Sparrow if Link’s not gonna work.”

“It suits you, moonlight. I’ll be Zelia, then. It’s a pleasure, Kirian.”

“Charmed.” His eyes (surely the red in them was a tricl of the light?) flicked over to Zelia, his expression unreadable for a moment before he turned his attention to introducing the others. “Aura, Captain Engie, Faron, and… actually, what are you going by these days, Mask?”

‘Mask’, the man in armor apparently, just grinned. “I go by many names…”

‘Lil shit,’ Engie supplied without hesitation.

“Or old man, if you keep talking like that,” Aura added.

“Bheith dea-bhéasach!¹” Faron hissed, turning to the one in armor. “Tá brón orm faoi sin, ceann iontach.¹” He lacked whatever magic the others were using to be understood, but his conciliatory body language said enough. The three he’d addressed, however, shared a knowing glance before bursting into laughter.

“Wait, ‘great one’?” Zelia asked, confused. That was strange. She’d told Link that the other languages she knew were all from before Skyloft. Just who was this boy, that he knew one of them?

“Don’t ask me,” Kirian chuckled, “I’m almost as confused as you are.” 

‘What language was that,’ chimed one of the twins, ‘what’d he say?’

“That was forest common,” Kirian answered, confusion evident in his face and tone. “Feyspeech, to mortals… Did you not learn to speak it?” To mortals??

“I’ve been meaning to teach them,” Zelia admitted, “but…”

‘We’ve been kinda busy building Woodfall Town,’ the other twin finished, nestling into Link’s hair. Or rather, Sparrow’s hair; she’d have to get used to using the nickname.

“Fair enough, town-building tends to take all your attention,” spoke a new voice.

Seven heads turned toward the newcomer. Second tallest of the growing group, with faintly-glowing hair the same orange as the twilight sky, dark fur and glowing cyan tattoos covering one arm, a pair of feathers in her hairpin, multiple gemstone earrings dangling from each ear, and an emerald held to her forehead by a simple cord circlet. She wore a long tunic with a blue sash, and winced as she saw Kirian finally get the arrow out of his hat. “That didn't hit you, did it?”

Chapter Text

“Lessa, why is one of your portals here?”

Celessa frowned and glanced at the portal in question, its triangular void hovering in the middle of the flight range. Her confusion must have been evident, judging by Flora’s reaction. Still, she had to ask. ‘My portals?’ she signed

Flora’s face fell, and she reached for Celessa’s hand before pulling back to not stop her from talking, only for Celessa to gently take the hand in her hair hand. “Sometimes I forget you didn’t get everything back…” she admitted, with a deep sadness that she quickly pushed away. “A century ago, when you returned from your adoptive father’s time. You stepped out of a portal that looked just like that one.”

Oh.

Oh.

“But then, why is it showing back up now?” Yatir asked, glancing warily at it over her shoulder.

‘What Yatir said.’ She had no idea when Yatir had gotten here, but she'd long since learned not to question her friend and guard’s methods.

“That, I would love to know,” Flora said. “Would that we still had Fi to ask.”

‘It feels like it’s pulling me. Like the wind does in freefall.’

“Yes, you described something similar happening with the portal you returned by. Apparently it’s how you knew which was for you and which was for your sister.”

‘So this portal’s for me?’

“Possibly? Though I don’t like the reasons I can think of.”

“To meet her father again, maybe?” Yatir offered.

“Hm,” Celessa tried, testing her vocal chords - still protesting today, she'd have to keep signing - and turned her attention toward the portal. She still wasn’t much good at identifying magic, but what better chance and reason to practice? So, she drew on her magic, reaching out toward the portal with it.

The first thing she noticed was the dark magic; it bordered on black magic, and that was never a good sign. But on top of that, the portal had so much of it that it nearly overpowered the light, and that was strange in and of itself. According to what her mother had told her, time and portal magic, especially when combined, required shadow: light and dark in balance. Without that balance, it could… fray.

Oh no.

“What is it? Love, what’s wrong?”

Flora must have sensed her concern; she now mirrored it, glancing warily at the portal and back and searching for an answer while Celessa redoubled her focus. It actually felt a bit like Flora, once Lessa got past how imbalanced its magic was; not the same, it wasn’t made by her, but close enough to notice the resemblance. And she could swear there was a push to its pull, though that kept slipping away whenever she tried to pin it down to have a look, almost like it wasn’t meant for her. Given that what she felt was a pull, maybe it wasn’t.

‘Wait. Need to tell the other sages too.’ She tried to ignore the spike of concern from Flora, but honestly, it was warranted. Maybe. Better than being surprised again, at least.

Five of her six rings glowed as she channeled her magic into them and prodded at the telepathic links between them and the respective sages. One by one they manifested, zora, rito, lynel, gerudo, and goron, ghostly-green eyes filling with color and life as they answered her call.

Tulin was the first one to speak up, barely letting his avatar finish forming. “Find something already, sis?”

“Let her speak, Tulin,” grumbled Kiron, the lynel’s avatar crossing his arms as he shot Tulin a toothy smirk. “She hasn’t told the rest of us why she called yet.”

“Indeed! Normally It’d be joyous to speak with you,” Sidon cut in, “But it's the first time you've called all of us at once since killing Ganondorf, and well…”

“You look worried, sister,” Riju finished. “Why don’t you tell us what’s going on?”

‘There’s a portal here. It’s for me, Mafri^1.2 recognized it from before the Calamity. But… The magic is wrong. It’s unbalanced, unstable. Whatever’s making it has to be stopped.’

“But not alone, right, goro? You have us.”

Celessa’s stilled hands said enough.

“Lessa,” said Flora, “I understand not taking Riju or Sidon, they have duties as leaders of their peoples. But what about Kiron? Or Yunobo, or Tulin? Me or Mipha, for Nayru’s sake.”

“Your wife is right,” Kiron added. “Surely you don’t still expect yourself to face these things alone.”

“That’s not all there is to this, is it, Lessa?” Leave it to Sidon to notice. For all he liked to present as just a lovable goof, the zora king had one of the sharpest minds in Hyrule.

‘I don’t think I can take anyone with me,’ she admitted. ‘There’s a push and a pull. I feel the pull, and I’m guessing the push is for anyone else since I don’t feel it. I think this one’s just for me. But also…’

Tulin frowned, looking up at her quizzically. “But?”

‘I hope I’m wrong. I haven’t seen it happen, but time magic that’s unbalanced like this… it can fray.’

“Fray?” Celessa could practically feel the gears turning now, as Flora dissected the phrasing. “You’re… worried there could be more portals?”

She nodded, and Yatir continued where Flora left off. “And that we may have to fight…” He trailed off, realization crashing down like an avalanche. With the stepping stones laid out aloud, Celessa could see the same realization cross the other sages’ faces.

‘You guys and sea angel could be all that stands in the way of another calamity.’

Silence fell for just a moment, and then they were all seven talking at once, each with their own version of the same question: “What does that say about where you’d be going‽”

“Guys,” she chirped in rito, its chirps and whistles easier on her throat than hylian syllables, and silently thanked Satori that it was enough to quiet them. She loved them like family, and most of them were family in some way, but goddesses above, she couldn’t hear herself think when they all talked at once like that. ‘I’m good at making friends. And I’ll have your avatars. I won’t do this alone, I promise.’

“You just wanted us to be prepared,” Sidon mused, “in case you’re not wrong.”

She nodded, and a collective worried sigh ran through the sages, Flora wilting a bit even as they all understood.

‘I really hope I am wrong. But we’ve been caught off guard twice.’

The first time had torn the country asunder; only Flora and some of the zora had any reliable memory of what was lost. The second had nearly done the same, and they’d only emerged victorious because of Rauru’s and Flora’s interference. Celessa silently swore to herself that there wouldn’t be a third; the eight of them would make sure of it.

It was Riju who finally broke the silence. “I hope you’re wrong too. But we’ll be ready. You just make sure you come back.”

“Promise us that you will,” Flora added. “Please.”

With a smile, Celessa reached out to interlace her fingers with Flora’s, giving her hand a soft squeeze. “Of course, ámàtta² .” Her throat still protested against speaking, but the promise came easily too easily despite the weight that settled on her mind from it.

“Good,” Riju said. “A’col asec dinev’yahu ee sah’ro³, vàla⁴.”

‘Strength to those with the power to protect,’ Celessa signed, echoing the gerudo phrase back at the group; they’d have their own fight here, if she wasn’t wrong like she hoped she was. ‘I’ll see you guys when I get back.’

One by one, with several hugs and a few more wishes for luck and her safe return, the avatars winked out, leaving her and Flora alone with Yatir once again.

She didn’t need their bond to know Flora still didn’t want her to go. Yet no pleas to stay came, even as she was pulled into a hug.

“Take me with you.”

“What? Ámàtta, I d-” Well her voice was back at least, thank Farore, but Flora quickly cut her off.

“Try. Please? If it doesn’t work then fine, come back as fast as you can. But I want to face this together, if we at all can. Besides, you're...” It was a complicated bundle of emotions that flowed across their bond

With a sigh, Celessa relented. “Alright, we’ll try and hope I’m wrong. But if I’m not, I don’t know enough to fiddle with it, okay?” She smiled as Flora nodded, and sighed. “We need to tell Mipha.”

Flora just smirked and held up her purah pad to show her the call already connecting and their wife appearing on the screen.

“Zee, Lessa! How's the flight range going? Wait, what's going on? Darling, you look worried.”

“Love, there's a portal. Lessa and I are going through to investigate.”

“But we don't know if something might come through while we're gone, or if there might be more portals,” Celessa added. “Or if Flora can even go through with me”

Mipha frowned. “And you have to go through?”

“Have to fix the magic, probably can't do that except at the source.”

“We'll be careful, love. And we have Yatir, he'll find us anywhere, and Lessa has the sages’ avatars.”

A deep sigh came through the pad's speakers. “I don't like this. Be careful. Okay?”

“Love you, Ámàtta.”

“Love you, angel.”

“I love you too - both of you. Hurry back.”

“We will,” Lessa agreed, glancing back over to estimate the gap after Mipha ended the call. “Hover stones?”

“Hover stones.”

It didn’t take long to construct their bridge; Flora was nursing a numbed hand soon after, with Yatir giving his assurances that he'd somehow find a way to her - which somehow Celessa couldn't help but believe, despite it being a time portal and him not having time magic to her knowledge. Goodbyes said, she kissed Flora one last time, reluctantly stepped back, and entered into the portal.

It was disorienting, in a word, and her elemental magics cried out over the sudden lack of anything to connect with; if not for her shadow magic latching onto the portal itself, it would've been nauseating. She almost didn't notice the brightening of the master sword on her back, though the mental yelp from Flora was telling enough. 

Soon enough, though, she found herself in an unfamiliar clearing, in a place whose magic felt like the Lost Woods, with seven other people: four strangers, two she'd met, and one she recognized from some of the memories she'd recovered of her pre-calamity life.

“I’ve been meaning to teach them,” said a woman in a pink dress, with golden wings like Flora's glittering faintly in the gloaming twilight, “but…”

‘We’ve been kinda busy building Woodfall Town,’ a blue fairy finished, nestling into the hair of a brown-winged man in green and chainmail with miniaturized equipment tucked into his sash, brown and glittering silver wings… and the master sword on his back. The fairy’s excuse made sense, to Celessa; getting Sanctuary Town up and thriving had kept everyone occupied for several years, and was still a good deal of work. The man's weapon had her attention, though.

“Fair enough, town-building tends to take all your attention,” she spoke, only to wince as she finally noticed that a man in red armor – great fae, her magic told her, and something more that she couldn't place – was pulling a familiar arrow out of his hat. No wound that she could see, but he could have taken an elixir already. “That didn't hit you, did it?”

“Took my hat, but no more - no harm done, nothing owed, friend. Call me Kirian,” he answered with a smirk, much to Celessa’s relief - with all the worry and rush to investigate, she'd nearly forgotten about the arrow that the portal had taken when it appeared.

“Hi, Lessa!” Yahàn, the one who'd taught her the song of storms and the helm-splitter, stood in armor and taller than everyone else, years older than she remembered, one eye now missing and the distinctive magic marks on his face - the marks of a god’s claim - more extensive than in her memories. He was grinning at her like he was greeting an old friend – or a sister; not great, with her pre-calamity memory being what it was, but she managed a smile and wave, which got her a concerned look followed by a round of introductions.

Next to Yahàn was a boy no older than she'd been when she woke, his tanned complexion and casual sailor's attire reminding her of Lurelin: Aura, the god hero of winds and Yahàn’s big brother. The strikingly beautiful great fae in red armor, with strawberry-blonde hair and violet eyes: Kirian, the Hero of Legend, whose title spoke for itself. The younger-looking auburn-haired one standing in simple garb next to Kirian – another great fae, she could tell, as if their likeness to the great fairy beneath Sanctuary Town didn't tell her enough: Faron, the hero of Hyrule; and, if she were a betting woman, that same great fairy. A man in blue with a billowing white scarf, with a face just like the hylian form of Kiron's sword and that very sword on his back: Engie, hero of Spirit, Captain-general in New Hyrule's army. The woman in pink: Zelia, knight of Skyloft. And finally the man woman with the master sword: Sparrow, Hylia’s chosen hero. And almost none of them using their true names – smarter than the average hylian, for sure.

Celessa couldn't help but feel a bit inadequate in their presence; couldn't help but remember that she had failed the first time where all these other heroes hadn't – with only the memory of her wives’ words to tell her otherwise, that she'd still saved Hyrule in the end, that that was what was important to her people.

And then another redheaded woman arrived introducing herself as Dash – older-looking than the others, in the green tunic that seemed to have been favored by most of these heroes at some point – not through a portal but stomping out of the woods, and sat with them after another round of introductions.

“So,” Dash started while Celessa handed meals out (thank the Three for being able to store them cooked in the slate), “What exactly are we all doing here?”

“I'm not entirely sure,” Zelia answered, with Engie translating for Faron, “but Sparrow at least was called by one of our descendants to help, so, we're here to help.”

“Portal just showed up without warning, seemed worth checking out,” Kirian admitted, to general agreement from Faron, Aura, Dash, and Engie. 

“The fairies have been seeing weird monsters. Odd behavior, more aggressive, outside of their usual turf. Couple of fairies got scared and one came to the ranch for help,” Yahàn explained, and there came that sinking feeling, of being right about something she really wanted to be wrong about.

“I was worried,” she admitted quietly. “The portal seemed like it could fray through time, and if it did it could've brought back Ganon's monsters. It needs to be stopped it at its source, and whoever made it from making more unbalanced portals.”

Yahàn blinked, grinning and looking some amount of impressed. “Sounds like we've got a plan, then. We can head out in the morning, see what we find.”

“And who put you in charge?” Dash teased.

“His Hyrule, he leads,” Aura answered, seeming almost automatic. 

“Aura's right,” Engie said, looking briefly at everyone but Yahàn, Aura, and Kirian. “Experience trumps seniority. Whoever's era we end up in, they're in charge of anything relating to that era. A lot changes over time, and we each know our own era best.” So Engie was used to taking charge, then, and to delegating.

“Like cap said,” Yahàn agreed, smirking. “And, these woods don't know any of you.”

“On that note, Sprite, you wanna take me to look for Opal and Meti if they're not back in another fifteen?”

Celessa didn't notice Yahàn nodding. One of the names – Meti – had caught her attention. Her mother had told her that her father was named Sàv’meti, could it... “Isn't that… vàmo⁵?”

“Yeah, dad's here,” Yahàn answered with a grin, looking up from his stir fry. “He went to make sure another hero doesn't get lost. Since, y'know, Lost Woods.”

“Helluva group,” Dash murmured. And wasn't it ever; with a team like this, Celessa was sure, they could overcome anything.

Dinner continued much the same after that. Stories of adventures were exchanged, especially Celessa’s – the scars and arm they had left her with drew many questions that she was well used to answering.

Engie and Yahàn were preparing to set out by the time the last two members of the group returned, with the rest of the group in the middle of cleaning off their plates for Celessa to stow.

One of the two, she didn't recognize at all; he must be the Opal that Engie mentioned. The other – her father – she had only one memory of; but it was enough to recognize the man, and to know that she'd felt loved. What she didn’t remember was him missing an arm, with his tunic – and presumably the chainmail under it – closed off over the stump.

She didn't get a chance to process anything else though, as she quickly found her face buried in the wolf pelt on his shoulder, his arm wrapped around her. She couldn't help but melt into the embrace, as she was pulled out of the present into a memory.

The sands whipped around her as her camel came to a stop, and she gently petted its neck while Yahàn and her dad made their way over, a dead molduga behind them. No sooner had she dismounted than her dad pulled her into a tight hug.

“Vàmo^5.2,” she whined, “I'm fine, I didn't get anywhere near it.”

“It was still targeting you when it showed up, cub. I'm just glad you're okay, is all.”

“I can take care of myself,” she grumbled.

“She is getting pretty good with her lightning,” Yahàn offered.

“So no more hugs from your dad, then, huh?”

She hesitated at that, well caught in the verbal trap. “I didn't say that…” she mumbled, sighing.

He just chuckled, and ruffled her hair a bit with his good arm. “Love you too, kiddo.”

When she came back to the present she was held at arm's length, her eyes wet with unshed tears as he looked over her with concern.

“You back with us, cub?”

She nodded. She tried to blink away the tears, but they came as fast as she could clear them.

“You wanna tell me what just happened? You gave me a scare, ya weren't responding to anything.”

“I- I…” She tried to answer, she really did, but her words caught in her throat so she resorted to sign instead. ‘I got a memory back,’ she replied, and she only realized by the confusion in his face doubling back into concern that obviously none of these people would know about her amnesia. ‘I don't remember a lot before the Calamity, only…’ Oh right, nor would they know about the calamity. But, he responded before she could explain.

“Just one more thing to catch up on,” he assured. “We have time. Do you at least remember me?”

Barely, she thought bitterly, shaking her head. I didn't even know you'd lost an arm. ‘Only two memories… Vàmo^5.3?’

He smiled, pulling her into another hug, and this one she returned. “It's a start. Welcome to the group, cub.”