#( even the villagers of ordon only call him ‘hero’ now like he misses being himself ;; )

[abizarreyodelingincident]

Linked Universe: Our Nightly Confidant 1

Wind From Home

Twilight considers himself a simple man. A farmer at heart, even if he has the hands of a hero. He's grown in a small village, where everyone knows everything about everyone else. Community is a sense that's been cultivated in him as well as pumpkins on a sky island (whatever that saying means).

He loves his brothers and his sort of dad. This quest... he doesn't want to say it's a blessing. It isn't. The monsters threaten many. Their group hasn't always saved everyone. It's no blessing that hurts so many. But he can't help rejoice the opportunity to meet so many heroes. To find his place in the legacy of the Hero of Courage.

As a Hylian from a human village, he's never worried about his place, but he does find peace in belonging to a group with no such innate distance.

He's one of the oldests, weird as that is. Most of the group are like little siblings to him. Weird, insane and irreverent little shits that give him grey hair. No, he's not thinking exclusively about Wild (Wild's a special case). He's attuned to their moods.

Four asked if he had a special sense for this, the second time he'd done it. A 'special' sense, he had insisted in the middle of their training camp, meaning wolf senses. No. Twilight doesn't feel one side of him bleeds into the other. It's not like that.

It's not what makes his eyes trail after Wind today. His youngest brother (barely losing to Colin by a season) is currently laughing his ass off on a tree stump over Warriors tripping on Legend's items. It is denied, not very convincingly, that the items weren't left there on purpose. Little shits, he's telling you.

The truth is more down to earth, the way Twilight likes it. Dogs train themselves to recognize hylian expressions. They know what sadness and joy and anger look like all too well. They know when to cheer their big two-legged friends. And a wolf? Well, a wolf better learn fast the difference between a real smile and a fake if it doesn't want to end up stuck in a bear trap.

***

First watch is always a bit nerve wracking. Unlike second and third watch, Twilight can't just shift into wolf form to sniff out enemies and make sure the whole forest is secure. Links don't fall asleep easily. Legend wakes up at the slightest noise for the first two hours he looks asleep. Time might just stare at the sky the whole night, not getting a wink of sleep. Sometimes, Twilight himself just... can't stop thinking. Wondering where she is now. If she's alright. If Ordon's safe without him. Once in a while, he'll close his eyes and hear Lumi crying, and Uli's quiet steps to shush her.

The other half of the time, it's staying asleep that's the problem. The Goddesses know they all have plenty of material to fuel their nightmares (he's never forgetting Yeta's face, he's resigned to that).

When the moon's path has almost reached its zenith, Twilight hears the first few moans. His heart drops. He hoped. But he's not surprised. Sometimes, the heart can't take the weight of the mask people plaster on.

It starts small. It always does.

For a time, it's mostly sniffles and choked sobs. Then a small 'I'm sorry.' Twilight grimaces. None of them show their scar easily. The deep scars, at least. Wind wouldn't appreciate an audience. Unfortunately, Twilight can't exactly leave. The next best thing however is to try and cut it short.

So, decision made, he creeps around camp, places himself behind Wind and shakes his shoulder. (Carefully. The group collectively learned not to take sleeping Links lightly. At least, Sky had laughed out the black eye with grace.)

“Hey, Sailor,” he whispers, hoping none of the others react. “It's your turn.”

In truth, it's a touch early for that. But he knows he made the right call when Wind rubs his eyes and freezes at the wet feeling on his fingers. He'd been in the middle of turning around, but he immediately fakes a stumble and buries his face in his rolled up blankets instead. It's a good cover to wipe tears without being too obvious.

Twilight would be impressed if that didn't send pangs of worry through his chest. Oh, Wind...

“Mrm,” Wind mumbles. “One minute?”

“Sure, I gotta take a leak anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah, piss off.” Wind waves him off from under the blanket.

Twilight smiles to himself. He should ask Wind to direct a play next time they visit his Hyrule. Queen Zelda was always in need of entertainment for the stuffy dignitaries. Jackasses couldn't crack a smile if they were whipped.

That faint irritation pushes him toward the end of the camp line, out of the clearing. Once he's out of sight and hearing range, he grabs onto his cursed necklace and sneaks through the underbrush. His senses make navigating through the twigs and branches child's play, and the lack of any pig-like stench reassures him that there's no malice-infected monster around. In less than a minute, he has circled around the camp and positioned himself the near opposite of where his hylian form left through. Generally, people don't make the association if he leaves a few minutes tick by. Out of sight, out of mind.

It's a bit embarrassing how well that trick works.

Wind's head is turned in the direction he disappeared earlier. Skittish, like a rabbit looking out of its hole. Wind must be waiting for him to return from his manly business, which is a bit of a lost bet at the moment. Seconds tick with only the faint brushing of leaves on his fur and the nightly wind for company. Then, all at once, Wind stands up and stomps his way to the stump Twilight had been using for his turn at the watch.

“Damn it!” Wind curses under his breath. The tears are held at bay, barely. “There's no way he didn't see... calm down, calm down dammit, he's gonna come back soon!”

A small boot kicks off some dirt. Twilight flinches in his hiding spot. That's more anger than expected. He's not sure what to do with that. None of them like vulnerability. None of them are used to being allowed vulnerability. He's worked on Wild and Time for a while now, and he's making progress, even if it's only them opening up to him.

It's that same instinct that pushes him to walk through the bush and reveal himself. He's as non-threatening as a large wolf can be, but Wind still whirls around with his sword drawn. Recognition is a second slower.

“Wolfie!” Wind whisper-yells. “Bad dog! I almost skewered you!”

Twilight raises one eyebrow, unimpressed. He is most certainly not a bad dog, and he is quite experienced at dodging last second hits by flailing, surprised preys. Not that he even thought of Wind as prey, never, but Wind didn't have to imply he'd be that stupid.

“Oi, what are you looking at?” Wind grumbles, dropping back on his tree stump. “Stupid dog...”

Twilight fights the urge to growl. He's here to help, not pick a fight. Unfortunately, his struggle had been obvious, because Wind deflates and sheaths his sword.

“Sorry. It's just... I'd been doing so well so far,” he whispers. “Even if they're big mother cuccos about me sometimes, they still listened to me.”

Twilight feels his tail curl between his legs. He knows he's overprotective. He knows it's annoying Wind, but he can't help it when every other time they fight, he sees Colin rushing into the path of King Bulblin.

“Hey, hey, don't be sad.” Wind cajoles, patting his knee like an invitation.

Twilight's too happy to question the change. He plops his chin on Wind knees and looks up. Small, calloused hands run into his fur.

“Do you have family, Wolfie?”

… What? For a second, he slips out of grasp just to better stare at Wind. Then, he sniffs his breath for a second, and whilst there's a fair amount of onions there (dental hygiene, Sailor!), no traces of booze anywhere. So, he softly woofs, tilting his head to the side.

“Do you have a she-wolf and a litter of little pups that trip all over themselves? I bet you're a good dad, aren't you?”

Twilight can't help the shocked whine that burst out of his throat, nor the flattened ears on top of his head. Him? A dad? He was far too young for that! Being a brother to Wild alone was trouble enough as it was, fatherhood remained firmly beyond his grasp. Besides... it wasn't like he had someone with whom...

“Aww,” Wind cooed, scratching behind his ears, “I didn't want to scare you, Wolfie. I just thought you take good care of us, s'all. I bet you'll be a good dad someday.”

Flattered as he is, he can't help puff and huff into Wind's shirt. He's a noble beast, talked down to like a lap dog. At least, he successfully distracted Wind from what nightmare he had.

Together, they listened to the crackling embers, moving only when the flames needed another log or when a critter stumbled too close to camp (a very curious rat that scampered when it met Twilight's eyes).

“How much did he drink?” Wind mutters, a bit later. “Did he pass out with his breeches down?”

A low growl rumbles into his chest. The disadvantage of others not knowing he's Wolfie is hearing that kind of crap about himself. He's a misunderstood man condemned by the judgemental Links of the world.

“What? Don't like him? Twilight's okay. Most of the time. Like, he saw me cry. I know he did. He knows I know, but he still pretended not to... you know?”

Twilight's best deadpan glare expresses that yes, he knows. More importantly, he puts a paw on Wind's chest, making a small inquisitive noise. Why? Did he need to share it with a very innocent wolf that doesn't judge anyone and anything except Warriors' morning hair?

The fragile grin on Wind's face falters. His eyes dart around. “I... it's not like... You won't laugh, right?”

Twilight nods emphatically.

“It's nothing too bad. I just miss my sister and my grandma.”

Oh, Wind...

“... Please don't tell the others,” Wind said in a tiny voice. “They already have a hard enough time taking me seriously. I don't want them to think I'm being a baby who cries about his family.”

The confusion can't overtake the lance of shame and heartbreak that spears through Twilight's body. Had... had they pushed Wind into this? Made him think that because they hide their tears, they'd laugh at his?! Goddesses... Uli would smack him with her wooden spoon for making a mess like this.

Again.

He might have been a bit overbearing once his quest had ended. Colin had been happy about the attention... the first three days or so. Afterward... well... Uli and Rusl had taken him aside, put their feet down and helped him let go of his dead grip on his little brother's safety. And half the monsters he'd faced had nothing on the challenge of letting Colin make his own mistake. He thought he'd gotten better about this.

But he might have forgotten Wind was not nearly as tolerant or hesitant as Colin.

“I'm a Hero too. I'm strong. Why would I cry over nothing? My grandma and my sister are fine. I bet we'll be portaled in my Hyrule soon and I'll have worried for nothing and Twilight and Warriors will be right to treat me like a fragile little boy again.”

He's not. They all know he's not. He's just... the youngest. The most cheerful, most innocent, most... most well-adjusted of them all, and they want so badly for Wind to keep that. He's a wonderful young man. They're all so proud, so impressed with him.

He's gonna have a few conversations with Warriors and Time tomorrow. Goddesses!

“Hey, Wolfie... I know you don't like being around too long, but... Do you mind staying a bit?”

Twilight chuffs, stubbornly burying his face even deeper in his little brother's shoulder. As if someone would be able to pry him off Wind before morning.

***

“Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls?”

Wind looks up sharply, startled but unwilling to admit it. He'd been polishing that long view of his by himself. “What?” he says, and there's an implied 'the fuck?!' in there. Pirates...

Twilight brushes the grass and then sits on the hill, staring past the coast at the red sun. “My father told me that, the day before I left on my quest. Neither of us knew then I'd have a quest soon, of course. But it stuck with me.”

For a long time, Wind's expression shifted between fascination, embarrassment and a bit of confusion. Twilight really needed to teach him how to maintain a poker face before he played cards with Warriors again. Still, there's no rush.

For all that it tears him in half, dusk also has a way to sooth his old aches. It's a peaceful time. A moment when the day dies, when the living settle and close their doors.

“It's the horizon, for me,” Wind admits. “When I... the first time, I'd never ever left my island, and all of a sudden, I had to leave because that huge ass bird had kidnapped my sister. So I had to leave my home for the first time, and I was on Tetra's boat, staring at Outset Island shrinking and shrinking till it was gone. Even when I pulled out my sister's long view, all I could find was the waves of the Great Sea.”

“Ah, a boar and a bulblin got my brother, my childhood friend and a bunch of kids. Knocked me right out with a hit to the head.”

Wind pulled his lips together and narrowed his eyes. “Well... I didn't get hit or anything, but Tetra threw me out of a cannon so I could infiltrate the fortress. Hit my face pretty hard too. That counts?”

“It wasn't a competition!” Twilight laughs, ruffling Wind's hair. It causes a flinch, and that's the light-hearted mood gone. Great. Twilight breathes through his nose. “You know, sometimes, I really want to smack my dad upside the head.”

Wind blinks. “... Okay?”

“Every goshdarn time I see the sun set, I remember him and my mom and my brother and sister, and... home. Every sunset reminds me of home. Makes me miss it so bad. Now I can't help feel that strange sadness every time.”

Silence.

A snort.

“Goddesses damned!” Wind wheezes out through his laugh. “He...”

“Yup,” Twilight says, leaning his chin on his fist. “He didn't think that one through. Bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, ain't it? So, I do want to make him think before he spouts philosophy at me.”

“Hey, hey, Twilight!” Wind says, impish, tugging on his sleeves. Then, the second he has Twilight's attention, he puts on the most serious face he ever wore. “Do you ever feel a strange sadness... as you put on your pants?”

“You little shit,” he says, brimming with affection.

Wind, not to be undone, jumps to his feet. “Do you ever feel a strange sadness... as you drink milk?”

“Oi,” Twilight stands after him, darting right after the brat.

“Not the strange sadness of being chased by a goatherd!”

Two minutes. Two minutes and six variations of the most profound saying his farmer dad told him. Butchered. Butchered like a lame goat in winter. Twilight is both furious and delighted and it might be why, when he does catch Wind, he unleashes the noogie from hell.

Wind's screams, so closely related to that of a dying piglet, are very satisfying. Worth the kicks to the ribs.

And when retribution is served, Twilight shifts the hold into a one-sided hug with the smooth grace of a man who regularly pretends not to be the wolf that is never seen with him. Wind freezes, realization sharp on his face when he notices the tears gathering in Twilight's eyes.

“But the first thing I'd do if I saw him tomorrow... is hug him. Tell him I'm glad he's okay and that I missed him. Then I'd smack him and run for the hills, because Rusl happens to be the only guy in my village that knows how to use a sword.”

After a whole body shudder, Wind gives up and buries himself in his big brother's shoulder.

[drabbledragon]

Linktober: Surprise

This post is very close to the day 4 deadline but honestly, I had a lot of fun creating and tampering with the plot! Be cautious, though, because there is quite a bit of violence in this one.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26749021/chapters/65454667

Summary: A new friend is brought to camp, and it surprises a certain Ordonian

Warnings: Some violence

Day 4: Surprise

It was a surprisingly cold day out, Twilight mused, although that’s to be expected as the season goes further into fall. The cold, crisp air and colorful leaves reminded him of his home back in Ordon Village; if memory serves, he would be harvesting Ordonian pumpkins with Fado right now.

He sighed wistfully and tended to the campfire with a long stick. He wondered how everyone back home was doing. Beth, Talo, Malo, and certainly Colin missed him, and he was sure Fado was struggling to herd all the goats back into their house without his and Epona’s help. And of course there was his mentor, Rusl - well, one of his mentors, he supposed, now that he met Time - along with his wife, Uli, who were most likely busy taking care of their newborn child; it’s a shame that he was never able to meet their new baby, but if he knew anything about Rusl, he would excitedly tell Twilight all about his child from sunup to sundown.

And how could he forget Midna? Their meeting may have happened by chance but he felt that they were destined to meet. They had grown to be close friends during their travels across Hyrule - maybe even more than that - and not a single day goes by where he doesn’t think about her. He wondered what would happen if he managed to say what was on his mind before she disappeared into the Mirror of Twilight; if his thoughts and feelings would be enough to make her stay, or allow him to live in the Twilight Realm alongside her. He could only speculate at this point. 

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a tan snout poked at his shoulder.

“Wild, is that a bear?!” He shouted, and he looked up to see his protege sitting idly on the creature’s back, a goofy grin on his face.

“Yeah, isn’t it great? I was out looking for herbs when I found a bear following me around! He looked like he was hungry so I did a little bit of fishing for him -”

Which meant Wild had jumped into a river, Twilight frowned, again.

“- And then we became best friends! Like he watched me cook them by the fire and everything! Although he was starting to lose his patience towards the end.” He shrugged nonchalantly as if a bear watching him cook was just another daily occurrence. “ Anyways, did you know he’s a big fan of Hearty Salmon? I’m more of a Voltfin Trout guy myself but to each their own, y’know?”

Twilight was barely able to make it through the whole story without pinching the bridge of his nose, “ Wild, you can’t just bring a bear to camp. You know full - well that that thing likes to go through food and attack anything it sees moving.”

“But he won’t, I promise!” The smile from Wild’s face had now given way to a defensive look, “ He’s very polite and friendly and hasn’t done anything to hurt me at all! Plus you always let dogs and cats follow you around, and you don’t even care when Legend brings a whole flock of seagulls to camp!”

The Hero of Legend stopped whatever he was doing at the mention of his name and gave the two a pointed look, “ Hey, you two leave the seagulls out of this.” But he was paid no mind.

“That’s because cats, dogs, and seagulls aren’t actively trying to maul me to death!” The Ordonian’s voice dropped to a lower volume in order to prevent the others from overhearing. “ You know how many times I almost got killed by a bear? Eight, and five of those times were as a wolf. The last thing I need right now is to make that number nine, or to have anyone die thanks to some idiot bringing a bear into camp. Really, you’re like the only one here who’s constantly putting us in danger.”

Perhaps he went too far on that one. He watched all the fight leave his protege like a potion being drained of its contents, giving way to wide eyes and a pale complexion.

“Wait, Cub, I didn’t -”

But Wild didn’t want to hear it. With a gentle tug of the bear’s fur, the Hero of Wilds nudged his companion towards the forest and left, not a single hint of hesitance shown in his actions. 

Twilight watched as the figure disappeared behind tall trees and overgrown bushes, and a large part of him just wanted to shift into his Twili form and run after their trail, but he paused instead.

Wait, why should Twilight go after him? Sure, he’s his mentor and all and he feels like he has a personal obligation to protect the kid but now that he thinks about it, hasn’t he been coddling him too much? Too many times has he taken to his Twili form to find a lost Wild that had wandered to the other half of a Hyrule just because he had a need for adventure, and too many times had he had to answer to Time for the crazy stunt his charge had decided to pull just for curiosity’s sake. Despite being 117 years old, Wild acted like a child - a feral child, at that - that would rather spend the whole day messing around in an open field rather than helping the people who needed him the most.

He crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. Seriously, how was Wild supposed to grow up and take responsibility for himself if Twilight was always there to bail him out? Maybe it’s about time for the Hero of Wilds to learn that he can’t just do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He’ll learn in due time, Twilight assured himself, and he’ll be back by tonight for sure.

With that being said, he turned his back and went to go tend to the fire.

Wild wasn’t back that night. Everything seemed well among the remaining heroes, though: Warriors and Legend were locked in their usual banter, Wind and Four were telling exaggerated stories about their adventures, and Sky, Time, and Hyrule were all idly sitting by, amused by everyone’s antics; the only real difference tonight was Twilight and Wild, where the latter was nowhere to be found and the former worried profusely about his charge’s absence. 

Twilight restlessly tapped his foot against the ground and stared into what Hyrule would call dinner. Seriously, where was Wild? The Ordonian thought that he would be back in maybe two, three hours max but it had been ten hours, and there was still no sign of him. Had he gotten hurt? Was he attacked by a hoard of Darias or Gerus that Hyrule often warned them about? Had a Zora grabbed him by the ankle and drowned him in a river? Twilight knew that his protege was very friendly towards Zoras so it really wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities.

“Go.”

He looked up to Time and stuttered out, “ H - Huh?”

Without ever shifting his gaze from the fire, he quietly whispered to his protege, “You’re worried about the cub, aren’t you? So you should go and find him; I’ll cover for you in the meantime.”

He processed the words for a few seconds, and then nodded. The old man was right: no matter how irresponsible, thoughtless, and careless Wild could be at times, he was still his protege, and as his mentor, Twilight should be there with him every step of the way, ready to help him up when he couldn’t find his footing in a situation. He left the group without so much as a sound, and as soon as he was out of sight, transformed into his Twili form and left, fervently following the scent of the former champion’s trail.

It had been about ten minutes by the time Twilight had finally found Wild. He was located in a small clearing of trees with, oddly enough, his bear companion laying down next to him; there was a small campfire going with a makeshift pot held over it, and the wolf could easily smell the tantalizing taste of Salmon Risotto.

He shook his head: this wasn’t the time to be salivating over the smell of real food. With a gentle command to his Shadow Crystal, his form shifted to that of a Hylian’s.

“Cub, I -”

Go away, Wild signed, and as if to emphasize, the large bear beside him growled.

The Ordonian immediately took a two steps back and sighed. This was going to be hard: not only did he have to worry about his friend fleeing if he got too close, but he also had to worry about a bear potentially running up and attacking him, and he really didn’t feel like defending himself from a creature twice his size. He finally chose to settle himself on the ground instead, intent on making himself seem as small and non - threatening as possible.

“Listen, I didn’t mean anything I said back there, alright? We got stranded in Hyrule’s Hyrule, we’ve been travelling for days, infected monsters are always showing up and trying to kill us, and I guess I was thinking about what was going on back home, so I was just really stressed out this afternoon. When you brought a bear to camp, I guess that was the final straw and I just took out all my anger on you. I mean, yeah, you really shouldn’t bring a bear of all things to a camp but that thing about you always putting us into trouble was completely wrong. If anything, we put ourselves into trouble, and it has nothing to do with you being here.”

He watched anxiously as his protege stirred the pot, never daring to meet Twilight’s own concerned gaze. He could see the bear beside Wild carefully watching him, paws resting readily on the ground as if it was anticipating for the Hero of Twilight’s one bad slip - up. After what seemed like centuries, the former champion finally let go of his ladle and brought his hands up to sign again,

You’re wrong, and that made Twilight lean forward, my whole life’s been nothing but bringing trouble to everyone. Back when my Hyrule wasn’t destroyed, everything I ever did just made things worse: I followed Zelda around, and she hated me; I protected people from danger, and now the Yiga are trying to kill me; I did everything I possibly could to prevent Zelda from dying, and I literally ended up dying right in the middle of Fort Hateno, and I was lucky that Impa was willing to put me in the Shrine of Resurrection. Now I’m here with eight different Links from eight different timelines and it looks like everywhere I go, trouble always follows. Just two weeks ago I led a bunch of Bokoblins to us because I took a couple of their weapons, and then five days ago I dyed Warriors’s hair green because I tossed him a green potion and it hit a branch and spilled all over him. 

“Well that could happen to anyone,” Twilight interrupted, “ Those bottles are fragile so one small hit and they’ll shatter.”

Fine, but what about everything else? The Yiga, my Zelda, my Hyrule - everything’s a mess because I can’t get my life together; I can’t even remember what my life was like in the first place!

“That’s different! The part about your Hyrule being destroyed is all Ganon’s fault, not yours!”

Then why couldn’t I live up to be a true Hero of Courage like the rest of you? Why couldn’t I just stop this whole thing from happening in the first place?

Twilight was growing frustrated. Where was Wild getting the notion that he could’ve prevented an immortal evil demon from corrupting his Guardians? He was just a 17 year old kid back then, for Hylia’s sake! 

He opened his mouth to respond back, retort at the ready, when a sudden axe whizzed by and lodged itself into the tree behind him. His surprised gaze quickly met Wild’s for a brief moment before he abruptly stood up, Ordonian sword at the ready. Just a few seconds later, a horde of snarling enemies pushed their way from the forest and surrounded the heroes from all sides.

The Hero of Twilight knitted his brows as he slowly stepped back toward the center of the clearing, “ Darias? But I thought Hyrule said they only show up around Death Mountain!”

“Infected.” Was all Wild whispered back, but Twilight completely understood. It had become a common occurrence by now to see monsters that they were sure only showed up in one place and one timeline now showing up all over different eras; and as if some of them having to fight monsters that they never encountered before wasn’t enough, the enemies’ blood seemed to make them stronger, allowing them to have the upperhand on any poor passerby they could fight.

And it looks like Twilight and Wild were a couple of those poor passersby.

The Hero of Twilight swiftly leaned his head away as one of the Darias swung its axe and in the same breath, the former pierced its chest and forced his sword up, causing the enemy to crumple to the ground in defeat. He rose his sword out of the corpse and grimaced: black blood, these are infected.

He perked up when he heard the dull thuds of feet running towards him and ducked just in time to avoid a monster from either side going to swing at him with their respective axes. He winced when the sound of two heads clunking filled the quiet night air and hastily got back onto his feet to slash at the two Darias writhing on the ground. 

He felt light on his feet as he continued to attack the oncoming enemies. Some came to attack him on their own while others stayed stubbornly in pairs, but the process was all the same regardless: step, lean, duck, sidestep, block, spin, and end his foe with a well - practiced stab. If there were two coming at him, he just needed to be quicker, and that was no problem for a hero who was used to facing five Shadow Beasts at a time. 

Every now and then he would catch a quick glimpse of his protege fighting just a few steps beside him, and just like always, every attack was graceful and cleverly calculated. The Ordonian grinned: Wild may act like a child at times, but he took his fighting seriously, and it showed through his undeterred concentration. No enemy should have ever made the mistake of crossing paths with the Champion of Hyrule.

The last enemy fell down in a graceless heap, and Twilight wasted no time in ending its life with an Ending Blow. There was something poetic about it, he mused as he sheathed his sword, ending a battle with an attack that his predecessor had taught him long ago.

He took an eager step forward towards his protege, congratulatory praises at the ready, when a scaled hand reached from behind and dug into his shoulder.

“Twilight!”

Wild’s shocked shriek rang through the air and Twilight had to do everything in his power to make sure that his pained yelp didn’t join it. His other hand scrambled to grab at the Daria’s wrist and when he did, he used every bit of energy he had left to force it back. The threat of an axe raised just above his head made adrenaline rush through his veins, and he became acutely aware of the blood running down his shoulder and soaking into his tunic; but he couldn’t pay any mind to it, because he needed to focus on biding time for a panicked Wild so he could swipe through his Sheikah Slate and find the weapon he needed.

But he didn’t need to wait for that because in a blink of an eye, a rush of brown fur dug its fangs into the enemy’s side and pushed its body aside, freeing the Hero of Twilight from the Daria’s grip. He watched the brown mass - which he now noticed was Wild’s bear companion - tear at the infected foe with sharp white claws and no mercy. The animal finally stepped back when the creature had been torn to shreds, and took a few seconds to make sure it was dead.

Twilight’s breath hitched when the bear started to pad towards him. He wouldn’t necessarily say that he had a fear of bears per se, but the sight of the very same creature that liked to use him for hunting practice was walking towards him did tend to make him feel a little bit unnerved.

However, to his complete and utter surprise, instead of the animal coming over to attack him, it instead gently nudged at his side and whined. 

He froze. Was this bear trying to comfort him? 

And with that very same suspicion in mind, the Hero of Twilight reached his free hand forward and tentatively placed it on the creature’s head, ruffling the fur in the same way the other Links did when he was a wolf.

“You saved me back there,” He smiled sincerely, “ Thank you.”

The creature yawned back in response.

He startled when he felt a gentle hand touch his good shoulder, and turned just in time to see the Hero of Wilds offering him a red potion.

“For your shoulder,” He urged, and when he saw his mentor ready to protest, he added in a quick, “ Don’t worry, I got 25 more in my bag.”

Twilight drank it greedily, and felt its healing effects immediately. He could dimly feel the gentle knitting of skin beneath his tunic, and when he looked at the injury, he found that there was nothing left but a few white scars; but even those would fade in a day or so.

He looked to see the former champion staring at the ground with his curtain of hair hiding his eyes, “ Jeeze, that was stupid of me. I should’ve kept an extra set of arrows at the ready; I could’ve helped you the second that Daria got you.”

“You did help me, well -” The Ordonian patted the bear standing quietly beside him. “ - your bear helped me, but you know what I mean. Sure, the thing saved me and all but if it wasn’t for you taming him in the first place, I wouldn’t have a ten foot tall animal here to save me. So really, because of you, I avoided getting an axe to the head.”

The Hero of Wilds beamed at him and for some reason, his small smile reminded him of Colin’s back home. 

Ah, he wondered how Ordon Village was doing back home; how much Colin, Beth, Talo, and Malo grew up while he was away, and how Rusl and Uli were doing with their newborn, and how Mayor Bo and Ilia were running and keeping the town safe, and how Fado was doing with preparing the ranch for the winter; and how could he forget Midna? The leader of the Twili, the one who was always there to guide him on his adventure, the one he had grown to love. He missed them all dearly, but he knew he wasn’t alone.

Twilight ruffled a hand through his protege’s hair, “ Y’know, as much trouble as you are, I wouldn’t trade you for the world.”

Because when Wild laughed, he was reminded that the Hero of Wilds was his family, too, and he would do anything to protect the ones he loved. 

<Previous Next>

[no-te-lo-voy-a-dar]

The guild of a Warrior

Words count: 4268

Yoo people! I’m back into writing to post this fic, it seems. This one is for the @linkeduniverse discord weekly writing prompt “Warrior’s week”, I’m still not sure if I got the boyes personalities right, because it’s the first time I write for them but hey! Jojo’s AU is amazing and I need more content of the boys ‘cause it never seems enough  (I stopped writing this at some point to talk ‘bout anti-vaxx people on the discord lmao)

I, don’t think there’s any trigger warning to be added but hey, regular fights, blood and injuries that come with the job ahead.

Also on AO3 

Warriors life with the others was usually a calm one. Sure, they were always tired and having to sleep with watch turns and whatnot, but after traveling by their own, having partners and someone to rely on while fighting was a good thing. A relief even.

And Warrior used to fight endless monsters, so the amount they usually fought against was a mental weight less on him. And, even if he doesn’t say it aloud often, he really appreciates the fact the others are so supportive and would straight up jump to danger in order to save the others, even when they keep secrets from each other.

If you had asked him some months ago, Warrior would have laughed in your face if you even suggested the idea of him fighting and trusting his life over a bunch of boys who he barely knows anything about.

Although...they do know a lot of one another, don’t they? After all, they share the same blessing of the Goddess and have faced trials and gained more power over time in order to protect their lands.

And they do keep learning things from one another!

Thanks to Time, for example, they have learned that love, a happy and more relaxing endgame could be possible for them. They realized, even with all the physical and emotional scars their journeys left them with, they could, can , find a especial other.

In retrospective, Time has taught them a lot of things, or guided them more than they usually realized.

Warrior was aware that Time was some kind of father figure for some of them, and for those who wasn’t, he was a figure to respect, to learn from. To follow.

Of course Twili has told him he was also a leader, a captain, since in many of their scouting missions he was the one who came up with a strategy.

Warrior was obviously gonna come up with stuff like that, and at the moment, he took pride in the compliment and made a comment about how his charms were not only limited to his aesthetical being, after all, he used to live fighting hordes of monsters...but he was no leader to the group. He knew that much. That’s how he really felt about that topic.

Until destiny decided to try him again. An interesting week that one time became, but he didn’t want to go over it again.

First, they have been at Twili’s Hyrule for a while, and he had to admit, the sceneries were beautiful, the people was nice and traveling from one place to another wasn’t that hard.

Wild did complain at the close to non-existence amount of wild horses, but a quick visit to Ordon ranch was all it took for him to stop. He fell in love with the goats immediately. And Warrior could see Twili was amused with how fast the goats were to accept the cloak user hero. Everyone could, actually, but just Wind and Warrior said something to him.

Everything was going smooth as usual. They kept traveling until the local Link felt or saw something odd, out of place; Wolfie appeared to accompany them for a while, Sky was amused by the local “terrenal” creatures, and Wind insisted on going to the Lake, or the biggest water body on the current Hyrule, since he still missed the water and it made him feel closer to home.

When things started to go downhill was when Hyrule and Legend didn’t came back to the camp for two nights straight, and then both Wolfie and Twili went missing too.

“Alright, we can’t keep waiting just for more of us to go missing. We have to split up and try to find them. I’ll go with Sky and Four.” Time was getting up and preparing himself to go looking for the others on a Hyrule they still didn’t quite know.

Wind and Wild didn’t need instructions to know they were meant to team up wit Warrior, who got a solemn look from Time.

“You are in charge. Take care.”

Oh Din.

They started searching on the Hidden Village, that ghostly place filled with cats that Wolfie took them to one day.

“If he showed us such a place, he must have done it for a reason, right? Maybe that’s where he usually lives, in this place.” That's what Warrior told the other two when they decided to go there, but he wasn’t convinced by his own idea. Something told him that they should try and find Twili, not Wolfie.

As expected, there was no sign of any of the missing partners in there.

“I bet Twili is alright. This is his Hyrule after all. Maybe he went to check on some friends of his or something like that. I would have done that.” Wind was making conversation, since Warrior was more busy with thinking of places to look in and Wild was checking the arrows in his quiver.

“But he would have told us something, right? He wouldn’t just, leave us like that.” Anyone who wasn’t aware of the issues Wild had with abandonment and the attachment issues those left, wouldn’t have heard the slight distress in his voice. Some level of fear about voicing out his concerns.

“Maybe not to all of us; to Time he must have said something if that was the case. But apparently we have another situation right here, because Time didn't know anything.” Warriors was on his strategy-man self and was giving even shorter answers than he usually did in this kind of scenarios.

“I hope he’s okay…” Warrior was aware of Wild’s voice: low and filled with doubt. He knew those two had spent more time together, since they were the first ones meeting, and it was only natural for Wild to worry about his mentor and friend.

“Listen Wild, Twili is a tough guy. Nothing is going to happen to him. And even if it does, as Wind said, this is his Hyrule. He knows his way around, and must feel better of being in a place he might know as well as the palm of his hand.” By this point, Warrior had stopped walking and was now facing Wild.

“And he must know we are going to look out for him. I would trust you all with my life. I know you wouldn’t let me alone.” He gave both of the younger than him blondes a sideway smile, and was relieved to see both of their faces a little more relaxed.

“Okay, let’s get to work now. Any idea what path should we took?”

“What about below those crows? Birds flying like that always mean there’s something going on.” Wind was more used to seagulls, but even monster-birds had a tendency to fly in circles around any kind of event going on on the ground.

And so they started walking. The birds were close, and the path lead to what Twili called “Eldin’s Bridge”.

What they saw, they never believe could happen.

Hyrule was holding Legend back using his wind magic, making a tornado cell, but it seemed as if said magic was stronger, the air he handled seemed to have a forest-like smell in it. Legend, on the other hand, was making lighting fall from the sky, and he seemed to try and shoot ice wind at Hyrule with one of his staffs.

Why were they fighting each other? Something happened on the small travel those two were in that lead to this.

“Hyrule! What happened?! How can we help you?!” Warrior called from one side of the bridge to the boy on the middle of it.

“Warrior! I’m so glad to hear you. And I’m not sure. We were in the province of Farore, and were searching for information on this Hyrule’s magic, when Legend found what seemed to be a mirror piece of some short and next thing I know, he's chasing me down all over the place!”

“Shouldn't we try and help him first!? They are fighting over that bridge whose bottom is not even visible!!” Wild was right but, that's not how things are supposed to work.

“Alright, listen. Wind, use your lasso to pull Hyrule over here, then walk enough to were we came from, to stay as away from the bridge as possible. Wild, you and I are going to work together on getting Legend to this side, while Wind does his part. When all of that is done, you are to switch places with him, and treat Hyrule's wounds. When you both are ready, re-join Wind and I.” While Warrior was giving instructions, Wind had already gotten his lasso-claw out and was preparing to shoot it forward.

After Wind pulled Hyrule over to them, Legend took a few seconds to realize his target had moved. Good. That gave them precious seconds to move to a safer zone to keep the plan going.

By the time Wind and Wild had changed places, Legend was already near them. Perfect, thought Warrior.

“We must not hurt him. We just need to tie him up and wait until we can talk to Twi’ and see what happens to him. This is his Hyrule after all.”

And as if that was an instruction, they launched forward, avoiding Legend's attacks, both physical and magical ones, which seemed to be stronger than usual, as well as more dangerous.

To make things worse, Legend didn't seem to have complete control over the magic attacks his medallions were producing, since he hurt himself a couple of times.

Wild and Hyrule were quick to join them, and soon they were trying to tire Legend up, and it seemed it was working. Or at least he was running low on magic, because his attacks started taking place less and less often, and the intensity of their damage kept decreasing.

Wild threw an old shield to Legend’s legs from the back, which made him stumble after hitting behind his knees; followed by that, Wind was quick to use his lasso to tie him up, but it didn’t seem like that would do.

“This is not going to last until we reach the camp. What else can we do?” Worry over both his lasso and his friend could be heard on Wind's voice.

Warrior didn’t have to think it a lot. He remembered Legend had an magical ice staff, and that it could semi-froze people. But he was no magician.

He approached Legend and kneeled down while taking his (precious) scarf off, and proceded to tie it around Legend’s head, covering his eyes and ears.

“I’m so sorry pal, you are not gonna like this”. Was the almost inaudible apology he gave to the possessed like hero while taking said staff from his persona.

He stood up and walked to Hyrule, handing him said object.

“You are the only one of us right here that I trust enough to make sure this works.” ‘Rule grabbed the staff, and immediately understood what Warrior wanted him to do.

“But, this is not the magic I'm used to. We should ask Four to do it, it would-” Hyrule's slightly panic filled speech was cut out by Warrior putting his hand on his shoulder.

They all were used to monsters and nightmare like creatures, but fighting one another, to be in the need of causing some harm to those they already considered brothers... that's something they weren't really prepared for.

“Listen 'Rule. We can't afford to wait for Four to get here. You're capable of this. I've seen you do magic often. I have to admit I'm not sure what most of those spells were, but as little as they are, you are a natural in magic, your skills covering a very good range of it.” Little by little, the worried eyes of Hyrule were replaced with ones filled with amusement over Warrior's words and determination on helping the others.

The brunette nodded to the scarf-less blonde, who stepped aside, and went to stand in front of a struggling Legend, who was trying to release himself from Wind and Wild, who were holding him down.

“Brother, I hope you forgive me.” And so, Hyrule allowed the magic to start flowing from his core, feeling the tingling that it came with it cover the arm holding the staff, and when the cold started to numb his fingers, he raised the staff and made sure of shooting a ray strong enough to froze, him but gentle enough to not, well, kill him.

And it worked.

When they approached their hands with the signature triangles mark to the frozen boy, it felt warm on each of them. They have learned that was a side effect of their “triforce pieces” being too close to one another. Something about powers clashing together it’s what Four said.

“Wild, could you go and get one of the big pigs the bulblins ride please? We need to take him to camp quickly.” Wild nodded at Warrior’s words, leaving Wind with the taller Link.

Once they secured Legend on the pig’s back, the silent walk to the camp took place, with just a comment or two between them to go clear the path, or to switch places with the one currently leading the pig-like creature.

By the time they got to the camp, the sun was setting away, but the relief was to see Twili with the other team. He had his head covered in scratches, and one of his arms was bandaged. It was almost the usual sight they got of each other after a fight.

Warrior could sense that Wild was holding himself so to avoid running to Twili, to check him up.

“Hey! It’s good to see you are fine. Well, mostly. We were worried when you left without saying anything and didn’t come back at night.” Wild, however, took the lead and went straight up to sit besides Twili, who just gave a chuckle at hearing the statement.

“I did plan on coming back at night, but some issues needed to be taken care of. I’m sorry.” He did sound like he was apologizing for something, but Warrior could feel it wasn’t to them, not completely. Something else was on his mind...perhaps a past memory of something that happened during his own journey. Visiting old places could awaken painful memories.

“Hey, where’s Wolfie?” Wind, just catching up, since he was the last to be pulling the pig, that was carrying both Legend and Hyrule, asked about the semi-wild animal.

Time being the perceptive one no matter the lack of one eye sight, was quick to notice both heroes on the pig’s back.

“Wolfie was the one protecting Twili, he went on his own, but he's fine. Most importantly, what happened to those two?” As soon as he pointed that out, the rest of the team was quick to surround the brown animal, and help down Hyrule, as well as carrying Legend to the floor.

“Well, we were searching for magic in this world, Legend wanting to see what he could use to enchant some of his weapons, and I was just looking forward into seeing the differences between our universes, as usual.” As Sky took care of some of Hyrule’s wounds, the later begun telling everyone the story.

“Everything was fine. We just had to cut down some Babas from the path, and scare some Keeses away. Then I got a blessing from some of this land’s spirits, a close one to Farore I think it was, and my wind magic got stronger and, somehow, it felt more alive.” He made his point by creating a small tornado and making it dance among the other Links, who felt indeed how the air was fresher and, for them, gave a sense of calmness.

“And when we got deeper into the forest, near a temple, Legend found was seemed to be a mirror piece, in the shape of a diamond of sorts.” At this, Twili’s eyes shined, and, if he had canine ears, Warrior thought, those would have perked up.

“Both of us could feel magic emanating from it, but it felt...weird. Like it didn’t belong to this world. I told Legend to leave it, but he said it felt similar to the one he felt when he traveled to his Dark World. As if that was reassuring.” Hyrule, now as healed as he could get, stood up and walked, staff in hand, towards the frozen boy.

Everyone stepped aside, to stare and listen to the story from behind, all except for Four, who was now standing to the right of Hyrule, certain cane on his hand.

“And then, he was going to drop the mirror piece by accident, and when he tried to catch it, it cut his palm enough for it to bleed. Next thing I know, Legend is just, not himself. And when I tried to approach him, he snapped and started attacking me. The rest of the story is a mere chase across this Hyrule fields and me trying to find any of you guys.”

Warrior knew, could almost feel how distressed ‘Rule was after what he saw. A perfectly fine hero, a warrior, a loyal companion, being corrupted enough to attack what used to be his friend.

“Are you sure what cut him was a mirror piece?” Twili’s voice sounded almost plain. Too serious, even for Time.

“Yes, but I have no idea what happened to it after it cut his hand. I didn’t see it on the floor.”

“That’s all I needed to know.” With that, Warrior became the audience, along the others, of witnessing how Twili stood up, and took what looked like...a pine cone with orange lines? from under his clothes, and proceed to move it all around the frozen boy.

When it reached the left hand of the boy, the, thing glowed.

“Four, I’ll need you to defrost his head and left hand. When I say it’s done and safe, defrost the rest of him. Then you’ll need to take him near the fire and help warm him up.” Twili wasn’t even looking at them, and that was unsettling for Warriors, because it was a sign that whatever happened to Legend, it was serious. Or had something to do with Twili’s own past in that land.

Wild and Skye were quick to go make sure the campfire was strong enough for the task, allowing Four to use his cane to warm the ice and release both the boy’s head and hand.

Soon enough, Legend woke up, and Twili could see the characteristic black straight vein-like lines going up Legend’s left neck side.

Warriors saw how Twili took a deep breath with his eyes closed, and when he opened them, he was sure he saw a flash of orange on the second leader eyes. Focusing now on Legend’s hand, he saw how Twili magically extracted what seemed to be little black dots, and a black mist too, from the still half frozen boy, whom, the most dots Twili pulled out of his body, more limp went.

It was a quick action, but for Warrior, who was amazed at the fact that Twili was using magic, felt like long minutes. Twili, the one who seemed to despite magic, who refused to use any magical item and prefered to do everything ‘the old fashioned way’ was capable of using magic, and to tame it too it seemed, because Warrior saw how a piece of mirror formed out of thin air when the dots and mist that were extracted from Legend’s body fused together.

“It’s done. Defrost him.” Twili’s voice seemed to break some spell that had fallen upon the boys, who were speechless after the event they just witnessed.

After Legend was safe by the fire, (and that he got his scarf back) Warrior, Time and Wild approached the former farm hand, who has sat down on the grass and haven’t moved since he ‘healed’ Legend.

Wild just sat besides Twili, same as Time. Warriors just stood aside by a tree near them.

None of them said a thing, giving Twili the chance of just stand up and leave, or say something, anything. Warrior could tell Twili was distressed.

At last, he talked, with a shaky voice.

“It’s my fault he got like that. The thing inside him, was a piece of the Mirror of Twilight, the object that opened the gate to the Realm of Twilight. To her home.” Oh Farore, Warrior was already doubting if he should be listening, after all he didn’t consider himself close to Twili. Not enough anyway.

“After my journey ended, I tried to fetch all the tiny pieces. She might have destroyed the Mirror, but not even her could eliminate it from the face of earth. Before I meet you guys, I had barely got a quarter of it. That’s why I left so many times on our time in here. I’m still looking for them, but I’m not sure if I do it for myself or to keep people safe.” Twili let out a heavy sight before continuing.

“What happened to Legend has happened before to the people of this Hyrule. And it’s awful. It’s easier for me to find the pieces as a wolf, since my form is created out of the same magic, but I freak people out like that.” Ok, definitely shouldn't be listening.

That mere sentence was all it took for Warriors to realize that Wolfie and Twili were the same. That’s why they never saw them together. And, if he had been more clever, payed more attention, he could have seen that the mark on both Twili’s and Wolfie’s foreheads were exactly the same.

How a fool he felt like at that moment. It made him realize he really wasn’t leader material if he couldn’t see that kind of stuff. So obvious yet he was so oblivious to it.

“Hey kid, it’s okay to still seek them, even if you are not sure yet why you keep doing so. You are keeping the people here safe, and maybe it will give you time to realise if you need closure or something.” Time, as wise as his adventures had made him, said what made the more sense. But he could see words were not what Twili needed right there, so he rubbed his pupil’s back a little before he went to the fire and tried to help with warming Legend up.

Warrior could see Twili will take a while to recover, and he didn’t seem convinced by Time’s words, so it was his turn to try.

“You know we are a team right?” Both of the sitting heroes turned their heads, as if just realizing Warriors was there.

“And this is your Hyrule. If you need help with anything you can just ask. ‘Course you don’t have to tell us the whole story on why you need this or that thing done, after all we all have secrets. But we are willing to help a friend in need...” Warrior gave a small smirk towards Twili, “...Wolfie.”

Wild just covered his mouth to cover his laugh, and Twili’s eyes went as wide as Wind’s got when he saw a Zora that didn’t fly .

“I forgot you didn’t knew. I…” Warriors put his hand up to shut Twili up.

“Don’t worry, I kind of see why you didn’t want us all to know. I’ll keep it a secret...as much as it is to some I suppose.” He allowed himself to sit down where Time was just moments ago.

“But seriously, there’s 9 of us, and some have knowledge in magical stuff. We could help you find more of these Mirror pieces.” When Warrior shoot a glance towards Twili, he could see he was on the verge of tears. We all are screwed up, huh?

He threw at Twili his scarf, half covering his face, I haven’t used it all day anyway . “Cover your face up; we can’t let the kids see their second leader’s face all red and ugly after such a day, can we?” Wild seemed surprised to see Warriors lend his scarf that easily, and Twili seemed grateful.

Warrior stood up to go sit by the fire, but not without first listening to Twili.

“You are also a good leader to them you know? To us. I'm serious every time I tell you this...You just love being under the spotlight.” Yeah well, maybe…

“That’s right! You really are good with keeping us sane in stressful situations. You are good at keeping your posture when things get too hard for some of  us.” The almost chirp like comment by Wild wasn’t something Warrior was expecting, but in retrospective, it appears the long haired hero was right.

Perhaps I can be a good leader after all. He nodded as a sign of gratefulness to the other two, and started walking towards the fire.

“You better wash my scarf before giving it back Twi’!” After such a departure comment, it was only natural to feel the rock softly hit his back.

As he walked to join the others, he realized this team, this many versions of himself, they made a nice...family, to him. It was something he would fight to protect and oh the Goddess better protect whoever hurt any of them, because he had fight swarms of enemies before, and he would do it again in the sake of any of the 8 boys that’ve been travelling along him these past few months.

A/N: I...was going somewhere different with this, but then I realized I wanted to cover like three different stories and arcs in one, and this one was (is) already pretty long so, later, maybe, in another fic. Besides, if I had done this one longer than it is now, who knows if I may have been able of finishing it up.

This was longer than planned too, but I still like it. Feedback is appreciated!

[wildsolareclipse]

Shatter the Mirror

Link was greeted with the plain ceiling of his treehouse as he opened his eyes, the sun filtered through the single window that sat some distance away, the glow of dawn lighting up the room. Remembering his duties to the ranch, he hastily rolled out of bed and dressed in his normal Ordonian attire, leaving his green hero’s clothing abandoned in the closet.

Grabbing a satchel, he filled it with a few necessities for his coming adventure before finally deeming himself ready to leave.

When Link opened his front door, the full light of outside made him squint as his eyes adjusted to the change in brightness. After a moment, the hero slid down the ladder of his house, feet hitting the ground in a matter of seconds.

Suddenly, an excited neigh sounded from just behind him. Link smiled and turned to see his beloved steed, Epona, prancing in place, clearly happy see to see him. Still smiling, he walked up to her, swinging himself onto her back.

Link patted her neck, “It’s good to see you too, girl! Now, c’mon, we don’t want to keep Fado waitin’ too long!” Epona immediately set off towards the ranch, already eager to start the day.

The ride through the village wasn’t very eventful, it was still quite quiet at this time of day, save for a few.

As soon as the Ordon Ranch came into sight, Link could see Fado struggling to herd all the stubborn goats into the barn. The hero shook his head and urged Epona closer.

“G’morning, Fado!” Link called as he approached.

Fado spun around, surprised, “Ah, Link, Epona! Thank goodness you’re here! These goats ain’t listenin’ to me today! Do you think you two could help me round ‘em up?”

Link smiled, “That’s what we’re here for! Always glad to help out!”

The rancher sighed in relief, stepping aside for Link as he quickly got to work, the goats obediently letting themselves be herded into the open barn. After making sure that all of the animals were inside, Link dismounted Epona and shut the doors.

“Link, I think that might be a new record for you! You really do have a gift when it comes to ranchin’!” Fado complimented, approaching the pair.

Link smiled bashfully, “Oh, it’s nothin’, besides; I highly doubt that anyone could be a better rancher than you, Fado!”

Fado laughed, “You’re too kind! Well, since you’re here, do you want me to set up the fences for ya?”

“Not today, I think I want to do a bit of explorin’, and I minus well get a head start by leaving now!” He replied, swinging himself back onto Epona.

“Well, alright, thank you for the help!”

“It was my pleasure; I’ll see you later, Fado!” Link waved as he rode out of the ranch.

More of the villagers were roaming about when Link reentered the village, a few calling out greetings which he returned heartily as he passed by.

When Link finally made it out to the road Epona, sensing his eagerness, sped up until they were galloping through the forest. It had been a while since the two had gone on any long rides like this, since the last time, they had run into a pack of bulblins, and Epona ended up getting a small scrape, invoking the wrath of his friend, Ilia.

After chewing him out for a good part of an hour, she essentially banned him from leaving the village with Epona without consulting her first, which was a hassle since Link knew how strict she was about where he went with the chestnut mare.

He knew she meant well, but she could be a bit too much sometimes. Link just wished she would lighten up a bit about it. Epona never exactly appreciated the babying either, save for the copious amounts of treats she received in Ilia’s care.

Link was snapped out of his thoughts by a scream ripping through the calm of the woods. Epona skidded to a stop, surprised. Just ahead was a brown-haired girl surrounded by bulblins, each holding spiked clubs, grinning widely.

Hardly missing a beat, Link leapt off of Epona, quickly reaching behind him to draw out his steel Ordonian sword. As soon as he hit the ground, he dashed forward, straight towards the unsuspecting monsters.

Surprised by the sudden attack, the bulblins were basically defenseless against his blade, and Link made quick work of them, slashing through the monsters with just a few swipes.

Sheathing his sword, Link turned to the cowering girl.

“Oh, thank you, sir! I thought I was done for!” she wept dramatically, throwing a hand over her eyes.

Link raised an eyebrow at her theatrics, before he heard Epona suddenly rear up, whinnying angrily. The hero whipped around, seeing a hooded figure making off with a leather satchel he had left on Epona’s back.

It wasn’t filled with anything too valuable, mostly just some food rations, but the satchel itself had belonged to his father, and he couldn’t just let some thief run off with it. Glancing back at the girl, Link started when he saw that she had disappeared.

“She must’ve been with that thief” The hero grumbled to himself, before turning to Epona, “Can you wait here for a minute, girl?”

The chestnut mare snorted indignantly. Link chuckled, getting the message, “I know you can take care of yourself, no need to get offended.”

With that, he dashed off into the woods after the thief.

Clearly, this thief didn’t have much experience when it came to covering their tracks, considering the fact that they left a very obvious trail of snapped twigs and smashed leaves for Link to follow as he ran.

Dappled sunlight filtered through the many leaves overhead, lighting the way between the trees. By now, Link had wandered far into the woods, the trail being the only thing standing out in the otherwise undisturbed forest.

If he strained his ears, he could hear someone running just ahead, which meant that he was close to the thief. Link probably would have caught up to them by now if he had been able to transform into a wolf, but he hadn’t brought his crystal with him since he figured he would just be riding on Epona.

Suddenly a familiar ragged, brown cloak entered his line of sight, fluttering behind the thief, who was clutching Link’s stolen satchel. With a burst of speed, the hero quickly dashed forward, tackling the thief to the ground, hearing a way-too-young boy cry out as they hit the forest floor.

Reacting quickly, Link, while still keeping a firm grip on the boy, rolled off of him as to not to crush him. By the looks of him, the boy was around twelve years old, with shaggy brown hair and bright blue eyes that were shifting left and right, looking for an escape.

What concerned him, however, was how startlingly thin this boy was. He looked as if he hadn’t had a decent meal in a long time, his cheeks looked sunken and two boney arms stuck out of the cloak.

“Please let me go! I’m sorry I stole your stuff! It’s just my sister and were hungry and desperate, but I won’t do it again I swear! Please, please don’t hurt me!” The boy cried, covering his face with his hands.

Link glanced at his satchel, which laid abandoned a few feet away, before releasing the boy to grab a small loaf of bread he stashed inside. The kid had uncovered his face to watch the older boy, before reeling back in shock as the bread was offered to him.

The hero smiled, “Here.”

The boy looks at the food in awe, before shakily reaching out a hand to snatch the bread away, holding it close to his face and nibbling on it like a squirrel. He was watching Link warily, but otherwise appeared calm.

“Can-can I have some?” A quiet voice whispered nearby, making Link jump.

Peeking from behind a tree was the same girl from earlier, her eyes wide and hopeful. Link simply smiled again, nodding his consent, and the girl shyly shuffled forward. He once again reached into his satchel and pulled out some of his bread, handing it to the girl.

After letting them both devour the offered food, Link cleared his throat, gaining the two children’s attention, “I hate to be so straightforward about this, but am I correct in assuming that you two don’t have a home?”

The two children shared a quick glance, before turning back to him and nodding. Link sighed, his suspicions confirmed. He stood up, much to the sibling’s apparent confusion, and retrieved the satchel from the ground.

“Okay, how about this: Not too far from here is my town, Ordon Village. We could go there and get you two some food, fresh clothes, and a nice place to sleep for the night.” Link offered, before continuing, seeing the children’s distrust, “I know we just met, and you don’t trust me, but I do want to help you.”

The boy bit his lip, thinking, “Well, how do we know that you’re telling the truth? What if you’re just going to take us back to the orphanage? Or worse, turn us in for stealing your stuff.”

“In all honesty, you don’t, you’d just have to take my word for it. I won’t force you to go with me; I just thought I’d offer.” The hero sighed, turning to leave.

“Wait!!” The girl shouted suddenly, making him turn around again, “We’ll go with you!”

“Emily! What are you doing? We just met this man!” The boy angrily whispered, “Even if he did give us some food, that doesn’t mean he’s trustworthy!”

The girl-Emily stood firm, “He didn’t have to give us food, Owen! If he had wanted to apprehend us, I highly doubt he’d have had any trouble with two starving children! He’s offering us a place to stay and food to eat! We’d be idiots if we passed that up!”

The two siblings glared at each other for a minute, before the boy-Owen- finally seemed to relent, sighing in exasperation, “Fine, fine. You win, we’ll go.”

“Alright, well let’s head back to…” Link trailed off, suddenly feeling something strange.

“Uh…mister?” Emily inquired, tugging at his tunic.

He ignored her for the moment, trying to figure out what it was he was detecting. It was very familiar, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. For whatever reason, it reminded him of his lost companion. Well, she wasn’t lost, really; just lost to him.

Then it hit him; this was Twili magic. But why would there be any left in Hyrule after Midna destroyed the Mirror of Twilight?

Link shook his head, he would get to the bottom of this, but he had to take care of the kids first.

“Sorry, just got lost in thought, let’s head back to the path and you guys can go on ahead to Ordon Village.” He said, before starting to head back down the trail Owen had left.

“Are you not coming with us? The boy asked, running up to walk alongside him.

Link smiled, “No, I need to check on something first, but don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you two.”

Owen nodded, seemingly satisfied.

A few minutes later, Link had the kids riding off on Epona, heading to Ordon Village. As they rode out of sight, he trekked back through the woods to where he first felt the Twili magic.

Now alone, Link could focus on the magic, trying to sense the direction of the source. Since he wasn’t able to turn into a wolf at the moment, sensing anything from the Twilight Realm became much more difficult, but he could feel it radiating the strongest from the left, so he jogged off in that direction.

This time around, there wasn’t any visible trail to lead him as he wandered towards what he hoped was the right way. Link could sense the Twili magic a lot easier now, so he assumed that he was getting closer at the very least.

Link estimated it was about noon by the time he found anything other than trees. He stumbled upon a large clearing with what looked to be ancient ruins, an aura of twilight seeming to cover the area like a dense fog. The ruins themselves resembled a small castle, but he couldn’t say for sure what exactly it was before it deteriorated.

The hero cautiously approached the ruins, glancing around for any sign of danger, but all was quiet. Even the birds had long gone silent, which unnerved him. Link stepped through a crumbled archway, scanning the area for anything that could possibly be emitting all this Twili magic.

The first room didn’t have much of anything, it had a few overturned wooden tables with old, yellowed paper strewn across the floor, but there wasn’t anything that looked to be of Twili origin, so he moved on into the next area.

The next few rooms were just about as empty as the first, housing some rotted furniture and tattered banners. However, in the fifth room, there were two wooden doors in the ground, leading to what Link assumed to be a basement or cellar or sorts.

Curious, Link heaved open the heavy doors, light spilling to reveal a small staircase, leading down into the barely illuminated basement. The hero descended the stairs, his footsteps echoing in the small space.

When he reached the bottom, it was fairly dark, but Link could just make out what looked to be a mirror at the other side of the room, the small amount of light in the basement reflecting off of it. He could almost immediately tell that this wasn’t a normal mirror.

In fact, Link could feel the Twili magic pulsing out in waves from the mirror. This was what he had been looking for. Link slowly approached, reaching out a hand, feeling the coolness of the glass underneath his fingertips.

Suddenly, a bright light erupted from the mirror, blinding Link for a moment before it faded, revealing something very familiar. It was a portal; a portal to the Twilight Realm.

‘No. That’s impossible; Midna destroyed the only link to the Twilight Realm after she left him behind.’ Link thought. Yet right in front of him sat proof that that wasn’t true.

A faint feeling of hope sparked in his chest. He could walk through that portal right now, he could see her again. After so long, he could finally see Midna.

‘Light and Shadow can’t mix.’ Her words echoed in his head.

Link looked down; the right thing to do would be to smash the mirror before someone else found it, but…

‘Link…I…see you later.’

Words couldn’t begin to describe how he felt when the Mirror of Twilight shattered that day. It was like his very soul shattered along with it. And now he finally had the chance to reunite with her. He stepped closer to the portal.

Link stopped. He couldn’t do this.

She broke the mirror because it was too dangerous. If the Twilight Realm and Hyrule were to ever collide again, it would mean utter chaos for both worlds. Stepping through this portal would mean he would be joining two worlds that Midna sacrificed everything to keep apart.

In quite a literal sense, she shattered that mirror with her tears. She probably felt the same amount of pain he did, if not more. The decision wasn’t an easy one for her, but in the end, she had to put her people, along with Hyrule’s, first.

Link clenched his fists, biting his lip so hard that it drew blood, but any pain from it was numbed by the throbbing ache in his heart. He was so close to her, just a few steps, in fact, yet he had to let her go. Stepping to the side slightly, he shakily raised his hands to grip to top of the glowing mirror.

He closed his eyes as he pushed it forward, letting gravity do the rest. A shattering sound echoed through the room.

Link didn’t know if that shattering was the sound of the glass, or the sound of his heart.

Keeping his eyes shut, not being able to bear looking at the pieces of glass scattered across the floor, he ascended the basement steps, tears threatening to spill.

‘It was for Midna.’ Link repeated like a mantra, trying not to focus on the broken mirror just behind him.

He opened his eyes again to the happy, sunny day. Why was it so cheery? How could anything possibly be bright after what just occurred? After he lost Midna for the third time?

Sinking to his knees, he let himself sob under the bright blue sky.

He sat there long after his tears had dried up, almost in a daze. It registered in his mind that the sun had set, the remaining light painting the clouds overhead with an orange hue in contrast to the still-blue sky.

Twilight.

Coming to himself more, he stood up off the ground, staring at the sky. Ever since she left, he watched the twilight as it rose and fell every night. Seeing it always made him feel closer to Midna, as if they weren’t worlds apart.

He was the earth and she was the sky, forever close, but never able to meet. To many that might sound like a depressing thought, but feeling that bond, even for a short time, brought a small smile to his face. He had made the right choice regarding the mirror, as much as it pained him to make it.

Link may not ever see her again, but as long as he held her memory close to his heart, he would be alright. He took a deep breath, and made his way out of the ruins, leaving the mirror behind.

When Link finally returned to Ordon Village, he could see the two kids he found earlier playing with Colin and the rest of the village children, each smiling and laughing as they ran around.

“Link!” A voice shouted, footsteps alerting him to someone rapidly approaching.

He barely had time to turn around before Ilia crashed into him, hugging him tightly. She looked up at him, her eyes shining with relief.

Ilia looked up at him, “I was so worried about you! Ever since Epona came back with those two kids and without you I’ve been waiting for you to come back, but you took so long I was scared something had happened to you!”

“Sorry I worried you, Ilia. I just had to deal with something, that’s all.” Link explained.

“Well don’t go disappearing on me again, you hear? And don’t think you’re in the clear about Epona! You took her out without my permission! What if she had gotten hurt again?” She stopped speaking for a moment, and sighed, “But, since you both returned safely, I’ll let it go for now.”

With that, she walked away, presumably to return to her house for the night, the blue sky having given way to a starry night.

Link watched as the children were ushered to bed, including Emily and Owen. He smiled, happy that they could find some joy in the village. Rusl spotted him from a distance, offering him a smile, which he heartily returned.

The day having ended, Link climbed up into his treehouse, taking off his gear and settling into bed.

Before he drifted off, he smiled softly to himself, “Good night, Midna.”

In another world, a Twili princess spoke, “Good night, Link.”