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Their tenth day of their trip is not off to a great start. Even though it should be.
They had planned this get-away for months . Calamity be damned , Link himself had planned this trip for longer, he’d even suggested the idea to Zelda with a thundering heart and hopeful grin.
It is supposed to be their own adventure; the one they had chosen for themselves , unlike the two-life-times-worth one they had been forced into.
They had all of the spots they wanted to explore marked down on the map inside both of their slates. A large number of them were marked by Link himself back during his quest, who admitted that, through stuttering words and a raging blush, he did so with only one thought in mind:
‘Zelda would love this.’ And so far she has, praise the three goddesses .
His princess had suggested Shrine travel at the beginning, to save daytime and squeeze some extra places to check out if the opportunity was to arrive, but Link had said ‘no’ because ‘Where’s the fun in that?’ .
Like a goddesses damn moron .
Now here he stands, in the middle of Rowan’s Plains, completely and utterly horse-less .
Well, not entirely. Zelda's mare stands a few feet from them, completely unfazed despite the turn of events of her fellow companion ditching their party out of nowhere.
She limits herself to stomp her hooves on the ground, looking bored.
Link sighs internally and doesn’t notice the tension on his shoulders until Zelda calls out to him.
“I’m sure she couldn’t have gone far.” She reassures him, cupping his cheek and easing the growing frown on his lips with a quick stroke of her thumb. “The Forgotten Temple can wait.”
“Right.” Link hums before grabbing her hand and dropping a kiss on top of it for the thrill of it. He lifts his gaze to meet his partner’s green eyes with a heavy look, knowing what he’s got to do. “I’m sorry, Zel…”
Zelda waves the apology away with a quick roll of her eyes, a small grin on her lips, easily reading him.
“Honestly, Link.” She starts, using her free hand to poke the cheek she had cupped tenderly just a second ago. “You really believe I would be upset by you choosing to go look for your favorite girl after she had run off out of nowhere?”
Link blinks and wisely stays silent. Zelda huffs at the lack of answer, shaking her head in mild-exasperation but the grin that is yet to leave her lips tells him she’s teasing him.
“I’ll be so if you had assumed you were going to go after her on your own, though.” Zelda adds as an afterthought, arching an eyebrow at him.
Link knows he can’t hide anything, not to her, which is why he can only smile sheepishly at the subtle accusation.
“ Link .” She immediately scolds and low and behold, the promised upset pout. Link huffs a laugh before he pulls her into his arms and eases the annoyance that had started growing on her face.
“I know, I know ,” he says, pressing his cheek against her temple. “Old habits are hard to break, I’m sorry.”
Zelda grunts against his shoulder before she halfheartedly smacks his right side in reproach.
“So, then…” she trails off, words muffled against his tunic and Link bites his lower lip before he pulls back and meets her gaze.
“I won’t be long.” He promises, offering a smile when her face falls with disappointment. “I’m trying, I swear. This is not even my complex of doing everything on my own, Zel —”
“Some of it is.” Zelda grumbles, sending him a stinky look.
Link winces but his smile doesn’t falter. “Alright, some of it is, but not all of it.”
Zelda’s scowl doesn’t soften in the slightest.
“It’s alright, you go back to the stable,” Link says, swiftly kissing her fingers before he flashes her a smile. “I’ll join you soon, I promise.”
Zelda sighs, shaking her head in light disappointment before she gives him a look.
“Safe,” she says quietly, reaching out to poke him on the cheek.
Her lips twitch into a smile when he huffs a small laugh before she’s cupping his jaw with her hand, caressing the scars her thumb can reach with a look that says more than what they have told each other out loud.
Someday soon, perhaps, but not yet.
“And careful.” Link adds, the words leaving his mouth naturally now after whispering them to each other whenever they have to part ways. “Always, Flora.”
Zelda giggles at the nickname, cheeks growing red under his gaze and the sun’s rays.
“Go already, my champion.”
It’s hours into his search that Link realizes that his horse has turned him into a goddess damn liar .
‘Won’t take long’ his ass .
"I knew I should have put the guardian's gear on her." He complains, yet again, as he scratches the back of his head and glares at the field around him that shows no sight of his faithful companion. "But no, she had found it itchy . Unbelievable."
It's been almost an hour and a half since Aurora ran off on him and he's yet to find her.
He has whistled the usual calls she always answers to, even some of her favorite melodies from Kass’s selection, but nothing has worked so far.
The seed of doubt and worry on his stomach is slowly but surely growing as the clouds above him pass by and the sun changes its place.
"Calm down." Link mumbles to himself, forcing himself to inhale a deep breath to get his nerves under control. "She's gonna be fine ."
Link throws one last look around him, suspecting he must be nearing Inch Plain by now. He taps the side of his jaw, debating the use of his last resort.
"It’s been a while, though." Link mumbles under his breath with a small frown as he takes the slate out and pulls out an old worn out ocarina from it. "Let's see if I’ve still got it."
It’s not that he dislikes the musical instrument for what it is. It’s what it represents and where it came from that makes his stomach turn uneasily.
It’s the memories it carries and had triggered in him the moment he had found it hidden and forgotten deep inside his house during the first week after he had bought it from Bolson.
It’s the foggy sight of a family he had been yet to recognize as his own at the time, huddled together near the pond next to the house as they listened to the rough looking man playing the very same ocarina Link now holds.
It’s the muscle memory in his fingers that comes to life as soon as his fingertips touch the ocarina’s surface.
Link shudders a breath as he brings himself back, clearing his throat a few times to ease the sudden knot on his throat before he shakes himself.
The song he plays from his memories, the one his father had played himself, still feels foreign with every breath he blows into the ocarina but even he, stubborn as he is, can't deny the odd sense of belonging and rightfulness that surrounds him whenever he dares to play it.
He misses a few notes but his fingers have gotten better at mending his mistakes and getting back on track with the melody over time.
Links half-way through the third round playing the song when the familiar sound of galloping reaches his ears. He gasps as he lifts his head and his face breaks into a grin the moment he sees the sight of Aurora racing straight at him.
"There you are!" Link cheers, laughing as his favorite girl all but collides with him, rubbing her head against his with affection. "Oh, trying to act cute to avoid the scolding, huh? "
Aurora nudges him harder and huffs in victory at the laugh he lets out freely.
"Cheeky." He mumbles with fondness, scratching the side of her head before he sighs and rubs his forehead against her. "Don't do that again, okay?"
He gets no other answer than another gentle nudge. He will take that as his well-earned apology.
"Alright, let's go." Link nods, pulling back and doing a quick round of securing the saddle on her before climbing on. "Ready, beautiful —?"
Link's question is cut short as his breath hitches, an startled shout stuck on his throat, and Aurora takes off with him on top without warning.
For the briefest second, Link is thrown back to the past like he usually is whenever memories hit him and he’s once more experiencing his and Aurora’s first meeting.
"Wait! Wait, Aurora!" Link shouts, spluttering in disbelief as some darners, and the occasional butterfly, smack him on the face. One of each manages to get in his mouth. " Disgusting —! Aurora, for Hylia’s sake —!"
Link truly must be in the past somehow because Aurora has never ignored him this way after the day they met, once he had offered her all the apples he’d had in his inventory at the time.
He makes sure to keep a tight grip on the reins as his horse continues to ignore him. It's frustrating and ridiculous the way no matter how hard he tries to reel her back and stop her on her tracks, she doesn't budge and instead speeds up.
Almost as if she was possessed.
"What has gotten into you?" Link screams as he resigns himself to hold tight to her instead of falling on his ass and losing her again. "You are in so much trouble when you stop! You hear me —?"
He had been holding on tight. He swears .
Yet, he still falls on his ass the moment she abruptly stops and he's thrown off her back.
" Goddess damn it all! " Link howls, shutting his eyes close as he moans in pain and flops to the side, hands rubbing his injury through his pants. "No carrots for a week —!"
"Are you okay?"
Link pauses, frowns, and slowly looks away from his mare's undisturbed look to meet a pair of baby blue eyes.
"Uh," Link mumbles, frowns harder as he looks behind the hylian man knelt before him and sees six others behind the first one. "Well, this is embarrassing."
One of the strangers that looks like the youngest snorts disgustingly before slapping his hands over his mouth, being decent enough to look away from Link and muffle his snickers.
'Greatly appreciated, kid.' Link thinks, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes.
"I'm fine." Link gruffs, groaning as he begins to push himself off the ground. He blinks in surprise when a pair of hands reach out for him, helping him stand up.
"Oh, okay." Link mumbles awkwardly but feeling oddly comforted by the kind smile the stranger with the soft blue eyes offers him. "Um, thanks, she's not usually like — Oi! What are you doing to my horse?"
The blond hylian — which is a horrible way to identify since half of these strangers are blond — near Aurora pauses, hands still placed on her neck.
"Um, your horse?" The blond with the blue scarf — yeah, that’s better — echoes, frowning in confusion that many of the other strangers mimic. "This isn't your horse."
Wow. Link has never felt more disrespected in his two lives. And he had been acquainted with Revali .
"Excuse me?" He hisses, brushing off the hands of one blond to glare at the other blond. "Run that by me again?"
"This is Epona." The tallest of them cuts in, taking a step forward towards Link, his thick and golden armor on him almost glowing against the sun’s rays. "She's mine."
The disrespect .
“Like hell she is.” Link snaps, tilting his head back challengingly. The armored man arches an eyebrow at him but doesn’t dismiss the possibility of threat Link very much possesses if they dare to speak nonsense again. “And that’s not her name.”
Golden Armor’s frown deepens and Link squares his shoulders back, getting himself ready to fight for his horse’s honor.
“Her name,” the hylian man says slowly, taking another step forward, getting into Link’s face, “is Epona .”
“Her name is Aurora Serene Clobberby.” Link replies shortly with a scowl before he pauses, blinks, and purses his lips as he clicks his tongue and adds, “Epona The Third.”
“Ah-hah! So it is her name!” Their youngest member shouts out in victory. Link spares him a quick glare.
“Not entirely! ”
“But technically !”
“I’m not above throwing hands with a kid, kid.”
“Please, do. You’d be doing us a favor.” The young hylian man sitting on a boulder next to the group says, almost boredly.
The hylian man with the long blue scarf rolls his eyes and smacks the back of his companion’s head, making his odd hat fall off.
“I think it's a nice name, but why ‘the third’?” The only brunet in the group next to the kid asks, blinking at Link’s horse as if she knew.
“She was the third horse I boarded. I have a system, it works.” Links shrugs before he scowls once more and whips his head back to Golden Armor. “And I won’t let you steal her, you horse-thief .”
“We’re not — I’m not —! She’s not your horse! ” Golden Armor shouts, looking ready to throw hands with him. Link’s up for the challenge.
To show so, he raises his fists, bouncing on the spot as he shouts back, “Every stable in this country will tell you otherwise, keese-shit face!”
“Oh, that’s a good one.” Link hears the kid mumble. “Can I use that?”
“No.”
“Aw, but he can!”
“He’s not a Link, he can do whatever the hell he wants.”
Link pauses and frowns. Were they talking about him? He’s not who —?
The sound of leaves and branches snapping behind him distracts him enough to look away from his enemy, who also snaps his attention to whatever’s coming behind Link’s back. Has this turned into an ambush? Are these guys Yiga?
With his fists ready, Link turns around —
“So the good news is that there’s a stable nearby.” A hylian man sighs as he steps out of the trees, hand running through his dirty blond hair as he clicks his tongue. “The bad news is that it looks pretty crowded, so we might not all get a bed tonight.”
Link’s heart skips a beat at the marks on the hylian’s forehead. He knows those, he knows —
“I call dibs for finding the stable, so you can all just — what the…? Link? ”
“Yeah?” Seven different voices echo.
The newcomer scowls at the group behind Link and says, “Not you!” before he jogs the rest of the way and grabs Link by the arm. “Is it really you?”
Link can only stare, taking every feature his eyes land on. He takes in the hair, longer than he remembers, and the eyebags below teal eyes, darker than before.
Link’s swallows thickly as he recognizes the slowly growing familiar grin on his mentor’s face.
“Twilight?” He whispers in awe, breath itching at the same time his mentor lets out a breathy laugh.
“It is you…” Link’s mentor — hero, ancestor, best friend, brother — exhales in disbelief. “Cub!”
Link scrunches his nose at the nickname, a muscle response done by old habits he thought he had grown out of since he had last seen his mentor.
He’s glad to find out he hasn't.
"Stop calling me that already." He complains meekly, both to save face and make the nostalgia filling his chest linger a bit longer. He must have sounded weaker and wetter than he intended, for his mentor's smile widens even as it wobbles.
"Not a chance." He reassurances him gleefully before pulling him into a tight hug. "Hylia above, c’me here."
Link grips the back of his mentor's tunic just as tight, burying his fingers on the wolf pelt he finds when he shifts to press his face on Twilight's neck, hoping to be enough to muffle his sniffling.
By the way Twilight pats him rhymically on the back, he probably didn't succeed.
“Where in the hellish Calamity did you go?” Link asks, voice muffled by the pelf he buries his face in. He shifts to get a hand free which he uses to portray his anger as a punch on his brother’s side. “You asshole, you left out of nowhere — !”
“I know, I’m sorry.” Twilight cuts him off, tightening the hold around him and running a hand through his hair that effortlessly makes Link melt. “I’ll explain, I promise. Right now I’m — Hylia, I’m just so glad you’re alive .”
Link hums and it’s not until he hears faint sniffles not coming out of him or Twilight that makes him freeze and remember the current situation his horse dragged him in.
“I don’t know what’s happening,” One of the blond guys of the group says, sounding like the one with the white cloak, “but this is oddly emotional. Am I the only one?”
“No,” another voice supports the first one, this one younger and Link can only picture the only other brunet present that’s not his mentor. “I think I’m gonna cry.”
“You’re crying already.” A third voice says.
“This is not the time for facts, Four.”
“Seems like you already meet this weird-ass bunch, huh.” Twilight chuckles next his ear, squeezing Link one last time before pulling back to meet his gaze.
Link purses his lips, eyebrows furrowed together at the playful and amused look he finds on his long-lost friend's face.
“Weird-ass sounds about right.” Link mumbles before he looks over his shoulder to glare at Golden Armor. He leans towards his mentor and covers his mouth to whisper, “The Hinox-look-alike is trying to steal my horse —”
“I heard that!” Golden Armor cuts in, face flushed as he glares at Link, who glares right back and turns around, fists up and ready once again. “And I’m not stealing anyone’s horse.”
“You are literally stealing mine right now!”
“ This is not your horse! ”
“Yes, it is!”
“What the fuck…” Link hears Twilight murmur behind him. “Steal who? Aurora — ?”
“Yes!” Link cheers in victory, fists thrown in the air. “Yes! Exactly, thank you! ”
“Twilight!” Golden Armor exclaims in shock. “What are you talking about? This is Epona!”
Twilight splutters. “Of course she is Epona — !”
“ What!? ” Link shrieks, whipping his head back to his mentor. “What! No! Twilight, she’s mine!”
“She is!” Twilight shrieks back, hands up in surrender. “But — !”
“But she isn’t! She’s mine. Tell him, Twilight!” Golden Armor snaps, glaring at Link, who puffed his chest out to him.
“I mean, technically —!?”
“Technically—¡? Pup, what the heck —!”
“The fuck you mean technically? Oi! Oi, Twilight, where are you going —!?”
“Hey, what the fuck did I walk into?” Twilight asks the soft featured hylian, reaching out to him with shaky limbs. The hylian with the white cloak welcomes him with open arms.
Link, for his part, rolls his eyes and throws his hands in the air in exasperation at the help he got from mentor. None.
“Look at what you did! How dare you drag Twilight into your devious and malicious plans!” Link hisses at Golden Armor’s face. “You stay away from him and my horse, you fake-ass stalnox!”
“Don’t know what’s that.” The youngest of the group mumbles to himself from the side. “But I’m jotting it down too.”
Link barely spares him a glance before leaning to the side to whisper, “I’ve got more where that came from, so stick close.”
The kid beams and tightens his hold on his small notebook.
“That’s it!” Golden Armor snaps. “Since you refuse to listen, then I’ve got no choice but to prove it to you.”
Link scoffs loudly and crosses his arms over his chest.
“Prove it to me? Do tell me how.” He deadpans, gaze flat as he stares at Golden Armor only for his eyes to widen when his enemy pulls out an ocarina. “What the …”
The air is punched out of Link’s lungs the moment the first note is played and Aurora immediately reacts to it the same she does whenever Link plays it.
For a split of a heartbeat, Link sees the shadow of his father, replacing golden armor with a worn out red hylian tunic and a shaved jaw for a thick but well-kept blond beard.
The mirage of his father leaves as soon as it comes but the melody of what he used to play stays and the evil stranger before him carries it note by note, without missing a single one.
Link’s heartbeat drums loud inside his chest, suddenly too big for its cage, and the fire that ignites right in the middle of it makes it worse.
The song’s melody rings loud inside Link’s head until he grows deaf to it at the sight of Aurora fondly nudging Golden Armor’s shoulder the way she does to show she’s loving you without boundaries.
The fire inside him becomes an inferno that rages on as his ears pop and silence greets him back.
“I can’t believe it…” Link exhales as he stares blankly at Golden Armor, who stares right back and shifts on the spot as he puts his ocarina away. “I — you —”
Golden Armor nods, face held high. “That’s right, I — ”
“You stole my song too!?” Link shrieks, reaching out for his sword, eyes narrowed in accusation at Golden Armor. “You’ve crossed the line.”
“There was a line?” The smallest one in the group asks the brunet who looks around their feet, a little confused.
“ Your song!? ” Golden Armor hisses, face growing red with rage, and for the first time, Link feels a tiny bit of uneasiness. “My wife taught me this song.”
Link scrunches his nose, not believing an ounce of that .
“Oh, really, your ‘wife’, huh?” He deadpans, clicking his tongue as he eyes Golden Armor from head to toe.
“Listen, you’re clearly delusional, and I’ll tell you why,” Link says, holding a hand up when Golden Armor tries to cut in. “I might have lost of my memories after a long-ass nap but I’ve been studying, re-learning, and recovering every one last bit of those memories from proper tiggers for years now — ”
“ Are you okay? ”
“I want one of those naps.”
“Hylia above, Cub.”
Link ignores them all. “Which is how I know for a fact that you’re lying since this song has been part of my family for literally generations and, as it happens to be, every member of my family has been dead for the longest time —”
“ Are you okay!? ”
“Jeez, that got dark.”
“Hylia above, Cub —!”
Ignoring the side-comments, Link takes a step forward and tilts his chin up at Golden Armor, squinting hard at his face.
“So unless you’re some sort of ghostly ancestor of mine from ancient times, this song’s not yours to play .”
The entire forest goes quiet and Link can only stare at the way Golden Armor’s lonely eye stays wide open, staring back at Link in shock.
When he gets no answer to his ridiculous claim, Link pauses, reels himself back, and stares at Golden Armor in a new light.
“Shit, wait, are you?” He breathes out, eyebrows furrowed.
“Am I?” Golden Armor croaks out, tightening the hold on the ocarina in his hands.
Link blinks, wets his lips, and with a quick and smooth move, he pulls something out of the sheikah slate and throws it at Golden Armor’s face.
The smack sound the blue jelly chuchu makes at the landing has every single hylian present gasp, except for the one with the hat. That one just whistles, lowkey impressed.
“Cub, he’s not a ghost!” Twilight shouts, smacking the back of Link’s head, making him yelp.
“Then how in Calamity’s name…!?” Link shouts back, rubbing the back of his head. “I thought you were my ancestor!”
“I am.” Twilight sighs before he nods towards Golden Armor. “And he’s mine .”
It’s the blond with the blue scarf’s turn to whistle.
“Wow, the whole family tree.” He nods, hands on his hips as he glances between the three. “I can see it.”
“Jelly.” Kid pouts, arms crossed over his chest.
While Link processes the turns of events, Golden Armor limits himself to swipe the remaining death chuchu off his face. Link eyes him suspiciously from the side as the old man spares him a quick glance once he gathers most of the jelly in one hand.
Link blinks when Blue Scarf slaps Golden Armor’s hand right there and then, making the jelly fall flat to the ground, a knowing look on his eyes that makes Golden Armor scowl.
“Twilight, please explain.” Golden Armor pleads flatly as he points at Link. “What’s with this shrieking wild child?”
Link scowls. “I’m twenty, Old Man.”
“I’m not old.”
“And I’m not a child.”
“The grandpa and grandchild introduction is not going so well.” Hat Blond mumbles behind Link, followed by some crunching and some other hums of agreement.
“I wonder when it all went wrong?”
“Probably somewhere between Time stealing the poor guy’s horse and changing its name.”
Link arches an eyebrow at the comment, since it wasn’t concept of time that stole his horse, it was Golden Armor —
“I’m not stealing anyone’s horse!” Golden Armor screams out in frustration and Link scrunches his nose.
“Your name is Time ?” He asks, bewildered. “What kind of name is that?”
By his side, Twilight’s sighs and runs a hand down his face.
“It’s a nickname.” He explains, placing a hand on Link’s head. “Like when we decided I would be called Twilight during your quest based on my hero title, remember that?”
Link blinks. “Well, yeah, but that was only because we both couldn’t be called Link by the locals.”
Twilight hums, ruffling his hair. “Right, and remember the other heroes of the past mentioned in the Forgotten Temple we found?”
“Of course I do.”
“Well,” Twilight says as he waves towards the group surrounding them. “Connect the dots, Cub.”
Link arches an eyebrow at his mentor, turns his head to get a glimpse of every hylian present, settles on Golden Armor in the end, and his stomach drops.
He whips his head back to his mentor, heart on his throat.
“No way.”
“Yes way.”
“You’re messing with me.”
“I’m not.”
“He’s the Hero of Time?”
Twilight nods. “He’s the Hero of Time.”
Link swallows thickly, leaning towards his mentor without looking away from Golden — the Hero of Time — and whispers under his breath, “I called him keese-shit face.”
“That’s nice — Wait, you did what?”
“You also called him a horse-thief .” Small chimes in unhelpfully. “Which is fair, because he technically was.”
“ Four .” The Hero of Time warns through gritted teeth.
Small raises both hands in mock surrender and Link blinks. Four?
“My favorite was ‘fake-ass stalnox’ .” Kid cackles gleefully. Next to him, Hat Blond arches an eyebrow at him.
“Do you even know what those are, Wind?”
Kid — Wind? — shrugs with a grin. “Ignorance has never stopped me before.”
“It should.”
“If it matters, probably not, but I also heard ‘Hinox-look-alike’, which was, personally, my favorite.” Blue Scarf says, shrugging nonchalantly when the Hero of Time spares him a flat glance.
“Gotta admit, same for me.” Hat Blond nods, fist-bumping Blue Scarf.
The brunet with the fluffy hair gapes at the pair. “Sky, am I crazy or did Legend and Warriors just agree on something?”
White Cloak laughs. “It’s alright, Hyrule, we all saw it.”
Link stares. And stares. And stares some more at the names thrown from left to right that rattle his head almost violently. Are they all nicknames too? From Hero titles? Because he knows those — He has — They are —
Link coughs, snapping himself out of his head and bluntly ignoring the way everyone else’s gaze falls on him, before he turns towards his mentor, facing him straight forward, and pulls one of the gigantic clubs Link had stolen from a group of moblins earlier in the week.
“Here,” Link says, passing the club to a clueless Twilight who takes it out of bemusement. “Hold this.”
“Alright?” Twilight mumbles, locking eyes with the others who look just as curious and confused.
“Know how to use it?” Link asks, hums when Twilight nods. “Good now swing it as hard as you can and knock me the fuck out —! ”
“Link, no!” Twilight shrieks and curses when Link grabs him with the wrist and tries to make him swing against his will. “ Cub! ”
Link can only pray the next nap erases this entire day.
“You’ve got quite the genes.” Warriors says as he stands next to Time, staring at the scene in front of them. The sudden tug-war takes a turn when the new guy hugs the club close to his body as he tries to convince Twilight to knock him out with it while half of the chain tries to peel him off it.
Time hums, staring at the scene blankly, before blinking at the way Epona settles the topic for them all by stepping in and tugging their new guy off the club by his loose ponytail.
“Aurora!” Link complains, dropping the club and instead focusing on breaking free from his — their — faithful companion’s hold. “What gives? Is this because of the no apple for a week comment? Hey — Twilight, help me!”
“For Hylia’s sake, Cub...” Twilight sighs before he steps forward.
Warriors chuckles to himself before sneaking another glance at their unofficial leader, the uneasy knot on his chest easing on its own at the small and faint smile on Time’s lips.
Good. Maybe now this meeting will take a necessary turn for the better.