Chapter Text
It’s their fifth day in the wilderness when Wind declares they’re doomed.
“We’re gonna die in this Hyrule!” He whines, falling to his knees as he throws his head back and screams at the thick ceiling of trees above their heads. “The Heroes of Courage! Defeated for lack of civilization and in the middle of fucking nowhere!”
“Wind!” Sky scolds next to him, hands on his hips.
“Gimme a break! I’m on my ground-death, Sky!”
Time sighs heavily behind them, pausing once more his steps to turn back and see the rest of the group. The others follow his lead wordlessly, Warriors being the unspoken chosen one to step in and pull Wind off the ground by the arm.
“You’re exaggerating.” The captain tells their youngest, reaching out to ruffle Wind’s hair and looking unfazed when his hand is slapped away by the grumpy teen. “Come on, where’s your sense of adventure, Sailor?”
“Back where I left the last fucks I had to give: at the bottom of the river we were spat out days ago.” Wind replies, ignoring Sky’s exasperated ‘Wind’ along with Time’s own warning glare.
“Same,” Legend says dryly from the side.
Wind jumps at the validation. “See! I’m not the only one!”
“It is odd that we haven’t seen any form of civilization since we arrived in this Hyrule.” Four pipes in from Time’s right. He tilts his head to catch the sight of their smallest hero, propped on a boulder. “I mean; there’s life, clearly, because of the wildlife we have seen so far, but hylians? Or any of the other races that vary from Hyrule to Hyrule? Nothing .”
“I’ve got to agree that it feels like we have been just roaming around aimlessly.” Sky supports with a small wince, rubbing the back of his head as he looks around the woods around them. “We haven’t seen a single dirt path in the five days we’ve been walking.”
“Are we even sure we’re in a Hyrule?” Wind huffs, arms crossed over his chest.
Sky nods. “There’s no doubt about that. Fi confirmed it as soon as we arrived.”
"Well, I can confidently say that this Hyrule is a goddess damm nightmare." Legend deadpans, angrily crossing his arms over his chest as he leans against a tree.
“It’s not so bad, I actually like it.” Hyrule speaks up animatedly. Time arches an eyebrow to where the traveler is crouched next to a small puddle and shares a grimace with half of the group when Hyrule turns to face them, a brown and yellow frog held between his hands. “Also, I found this little guy.”
“Heh, cool.” Wind snickers, grumpiness set to the side in favor of taking a closer look at the frog, his grin growing wider when the frog croaks at him.
Legend follows Wind’s lead with narrowed eyes instead, giving Hyrule a suspicious look from the side as he eyes him and the frog in his hands carefully.
“Right?” Hyrule grins, clearly excited and proud, and something on his expression seems to click for Legend.
“Oh, no, no. I see you.” Legend hisses, scrunching his nose in disgust when Hyrule turns to him with frog and all, eyes wide and looking genuinely confused. “Drop it. Now.”
“What? Why? It’s our dinner!” Hyrule argues, his intentions finally in the open, and he startles so badly at their joint cries out of ‘No!’ that he loses his grip, ultimately dropping the frog. “Aw, look what you guys made me do!”
“Sorry not sorry. I’ll just stick to my dry rations, thanks.” Four shudders, a small grimace on his face as he watches the frog leap back to its puddle.
“I believe none of us are there just yet, soldier.” Warriors tells him, offering the traveler a pat on the back.
“What are we going to eat though?” Wind whines. “I’m starving.”
“Grab an apple.” Legend tells him flatly.
“I’m sick of apples! It’s basically all we have been eating for days!”
Legend shrugs. “Food is food.”
“Oh, so now food is food?” Hyrule cuts in, annoyed, and crosses his arms as he glares at Legend.
The vet spares him a roll of eyes. “No offense, Roolie, but you kind of have bad taste buds.”
Hyrule gasps. “Full offense!”
The entire group goes off after that and Time allows himself ten seconds to rub the bridge of his nose, praying to his wife for patience, before he whistles sharply to get the chain's attention.
“Alright, all of your complaints and commentary have been heard. We’ll settle camp here and brainstorm for a new plan of action together over dinner —”
Hyrule opens his mouth, finger already pointing at a new puddle a few feet from them where Time can hear some frogs croak.
“That will not be frog related in the least.” Time deadpans. Hyrule lowers his hands with a pout. “We set camp here; so claim a task for yourselves and get to it. The sooner we settle, the sooner we can plan our next move.”
They spread their tasks with little to no objections and soon enough everyone is on their own assignment, either chatting — like Four and Sky — or complaining — like Legend and Wind — to the nearest companion they had.
Time is in the middle of his own task when his name is called. He turns, catching his protege’s walking towards him with a look that is already giving Time a headache.
“Let me scout ahead,” he says and there it is: the headache. Twilight is quick to continue when his gaze goes flat. “I won’t go far, I promise. You and I both know it will be a great advantage for us if I’m able to shift and get a better look around here. Get our bearings straight.”
“We’ve been over this, Pup.” Time sighs, keeping his voice leveled as he looks at his protege. “We don’t know what’s out there. Just like we haven’t seen any signs of civilization, we haven't encountered any monsters. Generic or infected. We don’t even know the different types that might lurk around this Hyrule.”
“I’ll be careful, Time.” Twilight promises, shoulders and jaw set in determination.
“I can come with you.” Time offers but Twilight only furrows his eyebrows and shakes his head.
“I won’t get a wide range of the terrain if you come and you know it.” Twilight argues, an odd look crossing over his face as he stares at the neverending woods on his right before he turns back to Time. “Come on, just trust me. I won’t be long, I promise.”
Sometimes Time wonders if this entire quest is just a trial for him to practice on how to be a parent before he’s, eventually, due.
Or if it is just Hylia’s horrible humor telling him to not even try.
“If you die, you drag your own transparent ghost-ass back to the ranch and explain to Malon yourself what happened.” Time tells him sternly, narrowing his eyes when Twilight beams. “One hour, Pup.”
Twilight purses his lips. “Two.”
Time’s eye turns into a slit. “Half an hour.”
“Three.”
“Ten minutes.”
“Three and a half hours.”
“Goddesses, Rancher! Do you even know how to negotiate?” Legend shouts, making them both turn. Half of their group is quick to divert their eyes — Sky, Hyrule, Four — while the other half just keep on staring, looking entertained — Legend, Warriors, Wind. “Just let him go already, Old Man!”
Time rolls his eye, sighing heavily through his mouth before waves Twilight off with a “One hour and a half.”
Twilight only grins, throws him a two-finger salute while ignoring the ‘I call dibs on Twilight’s bedroll if he dies’ from Wind, along with the argument that follows, and off he goes.
It takes the rest of them relatively a short amount of time after Twilight’s departure to get the camp settled and it’s not long before Time finds himself sitting on the ground near the campfire with the rest of his companions.
Now, all that remains is to decide who will be the chosen cook for tonight.
Ten minutes later, Time’s barely able to bite down the amused grin that threatens to break through his lips as he steps out victorious from his battle.
“I should have gone with tic-tac-toe.” He hears the vet grumble under his breath as he glares at his own thumb in betrayal.
“Better luck next time, Vet.” Time pats him on the back with a chuckle before he turns to the rest of the competitions, eyes resting on the still on-going thumb-war between Sky and Warriors.
The captain seems to be two tries away from being the winner when the sound of footsteps sets them all on edge at the same time.
Time’s shoulders tense as he straightens his back, catching from the corner of his eyes as his fellow heroes do the same. Instead, they listen; the footsteps are light and short enough to be an animal but firm enough to be considered hylian.
They all share a look with each other, wordlessly considering the idea of investigating the sound before it could vanish. It’s the first thing close to hylian they have heard in days but their paranoia from the lack of civilization has them hesitating.
In the end, the decision is taken from their hands when the footsteps abruptly turn into a run, heading their way.
Time’s jaw sets tightly as he unsheathes his sword, the sound of his companions doing the same making him tighten the hold around the grip before raising his sword high.
It’s fairly anticlimactic when the shape of a young hylian pops out of the bushes, mumbling curses to himself while hopping on a leg as he tries to untangle some of twigs and leaves that had stuck on their long hair.
“Oh, so you are hylians!” He cheers when he finally spots them, looking oddly unaffected by the several sharp swords still aimed his way. The stranger grins, pleased, as he puts his hands on his hips and he tilts his head at them. “Wasn’t sure for a second there, since I didn't expect to see anyone in these parts. Are you here looking for the treasure too?”
From the corner of his eye, Time sees Wind perk up.
“Did you say treasure?” He asks, his jaw dropping low along with his sword when the stranger nods.
“Uh, no. No, we’re not.” Warriors cuts in, pulling Wind back by the back of his tunic to keep him in place before he slowly sheaths his sword. The others follow suit, Time included. “We’re just — passing by. Exploring.”
Wind squawks loudly next to him, shoving Warriors hard on the side with his elbow and clicking his tongue in annoyance when the captain barely feels it through the chainmail.
“ As if! Talk for Hyrule-self — !”
“Wha — you mean me?” Hyrule frowns, displeased. “Why are you dragging me?”
Wind, naturally, ignores him. “We're not exploring. What we are is fucking lost! Forsaken and doomed and completely lost!”
“Here we go again.” Four mumbles under his breath, exasperated, and Time can’t help but share the sentiment.
“Oh, I can help you out with that,” their visitor says with a kind smile before he pauses and furrows his eyebrows slightly. “Before that, though, quick question: What do you think of bananas?”
Time’s got to admit, it’s not the oddest question he has heard in his life, but it’s still an odd one. And while the others seem to share his thoughts, they look to be bored enough to answer instead of questioning the purpose of the question itself.
“Not a fan of it.” Legend deadpans.
“Feels weird on my mouth but they are better than starving, I guess.” Hyrule shrugs, smacking his mouth open a few times as if he had just tasted one.
“Best weapon of choice to throw at your sister when she’s being annoying and not get scolded for it because you can just say you were giving her a snack!” Wind shouts in one breath.
Warrior scowls with disgust. “Bad experience once. Never again.”
“Their peeling method is one of the easiest ways to open a fruit but it’s also the dumbest because as soon as you peel a little lower than half, the damn thing falls off at the slightest move!” Four spats angrily, smacking the back of his hand against his palm as demonstration. “It’s ridiculous!”
“What’s a banana?” Sky asks quietly to Warriors, tilting his head in bemusement when the captain puts a hand over his mouth and waves the question off.
“I prefer apples.” Time offers dryly with a shrug.
The stranger looks every single bit delighted by their answers.
"Cool. Second question: Is anyone hungry?"
Several hands are raised.
“So it’s not magic.” Legend concludes at the end of their guest’s explanation while holding said guest’s odd square shaped item between his hands. “It’s ‘technology’ .”
“All the sheikahs I know have said so.” Their impromptu cook says with a shrug from his spot next to the pot he had taken out from said ‘nonmagic’ item. “I stopped fighting them on it after a while. It’s their stuff and I use it for free, so who am I to define it?”
“I still call bullshit, though.” Legend clicks his tongue, giving back the square — Slate, they called it? Yeah, slate — to its rightful owner.
“Oh, one hundred percent.” Their cook grins crookedly. “You’re welcome to fight Purah on it. She’s in Hateno, in a lab that’s on top of the hill. Ask around if you lot pass by but I’m sure you won’t miss it.”
“I'll keep that in mind.” Legend hums, tapping the edge of his chin in legitimate consideration.
“Hey, not to imply that this magic or technology talk isn’t interesting or anything.” Warriors speaks up, looking over their guest’s shoulder to take a peek of the food on the pot, before arching one eyebrow. “But I’m more curious about your name.”
The rest of the group perk up at the words, their curiosity sparking almost at the same time now that the topic has been brought forward. Even Time feels himself leaning closer, elbows on his thighs as he waits for an answer.
For his part, their cook for the night just blinks in surprise before he grins and says, “Oh, sure. You can call me Champ. Many do.”
Sky hums from his seat on the log, dropping his chin on his hand as he leans forward. “Is that short for something?”
The cook shrugs. “Champion, I guess.”
Legend snorts, arms crossed as he sits on the ground and leans against the log Sky sits on.
“Humble. What mighty beast did you slay to get that name?”
Champ half turns to meet Legend’s unwavering gaze with a stare of his own, voice playful and yet ominous as he says, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I do! I definitely do!” Wind shouts, waving his hand to catch Champ’s attention. “Is that how you got those scars on the left side of your face?”
Time sighs heavily through his mouth as several voices shout “ Wind! ” with different levels of shock.
“Oh, it’s alright. I get that a lot from the kids from my town.” Champ reassures them with a chuckle, throwing an understanding smile at Wind. “They are not but they do make me look rather heroic, don’t they? The kids can’t resist them. They actually ask me regularly if I’ve gotten a new scar whenever I come back from one of my journeys.”
“You travel a lot?” Four asks, pausing his assigned task of peeling the carrots given to him. He arches an eyebrow when Champ nods eagerly. “How do you not get lost? This land feels so massive .”
Next to Four, Hyrule nods in support and reaches for the mostly peeled carrot in the smaller teen’s hand.
“We’ve been walking for days and all we’ve seen are these woods.” He explains as he cuts the vegetable in chunky pieces before he adds it to the bowl of minced vegetables next to him. “You’re the first hylian we have seen, actually.”
Champ furrows his eyebrows at the information, looking confused for a second before his eyes widen and a small ‘ah’ leaves his mouth.
“You guys aren’t from around here, are you?” He asks slowly, a small concerned frown on his lips when all of them shake their heads. “No wonder why — Wind, was it? — said you were doomed. You were a little doomed.”
“Ah-hah!” Wind shouts out proudly, jumping off his seat and raising a hand up in victory before he blinks and lowers it in bemusement. “Wait, really?”
Legend scoffs next to him, rolling his eyes as he takes a hold of Wind’s tunic and pulls him back down roughly.
“Is there a specific reason why you say that?” Time asks urgently, sparing a glance around to see any signs of his protege and only growing more anxious when nothing comes. “One of our own left a little over half an hour ago. Could he be in trouble?”
“Oh, no, no.” Champs reassures quickly, confidently, before he pauses and grimaces. “Well, depends: does your friend have a good sense of direction?”
“Almost annoyingly so, yeah.” Warriors huffs.
Champ hums, looking thoughtful. “Which direction did he go?”
Time points to the direction Twilight had gone and immediately relaxes with relief when Champ's expression relaxes.
“He should be fine.” He declares before he goes back to his cooking, throwing all of the vegetables Hyrule had minced into the pot. “These woods are too dense and thick compared to the ones near towns, which is one of the reasons why not many venture through. Not even monsters dare to come here.”
“Not even monsters ?” Wind gapes, practically beaming with curiosity. “ Why? ”
“Well, for one, local folks believe that these woods are cursed,” Champs says with a shrug, sparing a quick glance around them. “An old ancient tribe used to live here. They were called the Zonai.”
He pauses and throws them a look. “Have you seen some ruins the past few days? Some resembling the image of a dragon?” At their collective nod, Champ continues. “Those are the last of the remains. Of their entire existence, really.”
“What happened to them?” Sky asks quietly.
Champ hums with a thoughtful grimace. “No one really knows. Legend says they just vanished one night.”
“ You said that?” Wind teases in a low voice, poking at Legend’s ribs with a finger as he muffles his snickers with his other hand. Legend spares him a flat look before he smacks Wind’s forehead with the heel of his hand. “ Ow, hey! ”
Champ snorts but clears his throat when Wind sends him the stinky eye. “Trust me, your friend will be fine.” He reassures them firmly, waving Wind over and passing him the duty of stirring the soup as a peace offering. “If he went straight, it shouldn’t take him long to find the path that leads to the stables. It’s hard to miss it once you follow the path.”
The entire group relaxes almost in synchrony and while Champ looks amused by it, he keeps his thoughts to himself.
“I can guide you all to the stables once your friend is back, if you want?”
Time shares a quick look with the group. Most seem okay with the idea, with only Warriors and Legend looking skeptical and Sky just looking thoughtful.
“Thank you for the offer but I think we’ll be able to find our own way now.” Time replies in the end, offering a small but genuine smile. “We’ve taken so much of your time already and, while we appreciate your help greatly, we don’t want to take advantage of you.”
“It wouldn’t be an issue for me, truly, but I respect your decision.” Champ nods, offering a grin that tells them there are no hard feelings. “Then I guess this is where we part ways.”
“What? You’re leaving? So soon?” Wind gasps as he looks up from the pot, looking genuinely disappointed.
Champ’s smiles softens. “I am, yeah. The soup is about ready and the sun is about to set. That treasure isn’t gonna find itself, you know, and my partner gets restless when I take too long on these kinds of hunts.”
Time chuckles. “They worry for you. I believe that’s natural.”
Champ snorts as he stands up and starts stretching his limbs.
“I mean, yeah, but it’s mainly because she’s missing out on all the fun. She usually joins me but she’s healing from a broken ankle back at home right now.” He chuckles and sighs pleased once he cracks his neck just right. “That’s what she gets, though, for ignoring my tips when she tried to shield-surf for the first time.”
Wind’s eyes seem to spark at the words. “What’s — ?”
“Don’t.” Legend cuts in, throwing Wind a look that makes their youngest flatter with an angry pout.
Champ laughs with sympathy, reaching out to ruffle Wind’s hair before he says, “Maybe I can show you next time? If you guys stick around long enough for us to cross paths again, of course.
“Anyway.” Champ continues before any of them could reply. “I’m off. You can keep the pot, by the way, or just leave it here. I have a bunch of them in storage and it’s kind of a local tradition to leave one behind for the next traveler to come.”
“This Hyrule is so weird.” Wind mumbles not so quietly to Four, who facepalms with a flush when all of their eyes fall on them. Champion's included.
Though, he looks more proud than offended by the comment.
“Oh, you have no idea, Wind.” He cackles before he bids them farewell with a quick two-fingers salute and disappears right from where he had come from.
"Alright, real talk.” Legend speaks up as soon as Champion is out of their sight and ears. “Hands up if you agree this forest really is cursed."
Several hands are raised.
"Hands up if you believe we just encountered a ghost."
The same amount of hands stay up.
"Hands up if said fact will stop you from eating the ghost's soup."
All the hands are lowered.
"Atta, my men. Four, pass me the bowls. If we die in a cursed forest, we might as well do it with a full stomach."
"Hear, hear!" Warriors shouts from the side while Wind cheers loudly and Four helps Legend with the servings.
Their group is in the middle of teasing Hyrule for his vegetable chopping skills, all of them with bowls in their hands, when Twilight finally comes back. Unscratched. Unbruised. Alive.
“Should I be worried that I just heard ‘Hyrule’ and ‘soup’ in the same sentence?” Twilight asks as a greeting, grinning with goodhearted amusement at the light cheering that goes around the camp at his return.
“He lives!” Wind shouts, head thrown towards the sky as he drags his vowels for as long as he’s able to. Which is ten seconds. “Hooray!”
“The prodigal son returns, now we can start to feast!” Warrior cheers, raising his spoon high in celebration.
“As if you hadn't shoved down half of your share already.” Twilight snorts, rolling his eyes when Warriors winks at him.
“Found any trouble?” Time asks as soon as his protege sits next to him. He sighs through his nose when Twilight shakes his head.
“None at all,” Twilight says, nodding in thanks at Four when the smith hands him a steaming bowl. “I wasn’t actually on my way back here. I smelt the soup a few miles back and I thought I could ask whoever was cooking some of it to bring back to you lot but it turned out it was you guys all along.”
“What? Didn’t trust us to cook a decent meal?” Legend asks and smirks when Twilight sends him a flat look. “Good, because we definitely didn’t.”
Twilight blinks. “What? Then who cooked the soup?”
“A wild hylian.” Legend snorts.
“Who was a traveler!” Hyrule exclaims with a grin.
“ And a treasure hunter.” Wind shouts, the soup on his bowl swinging dangerously. “With the coolest scars!”
“ And amazing cooking skills.” Sky hums animatedly around his spoon. “He was very nice and fun too.”
“Quite the interesting fellow.” Warriors says with an amused chuckle.
“Who’s still arguably a ghost.” Legend adds from the side, several heads around the camp nodding their agreement.
“With a vendetta against bananas.” Four shrugs nonchalantly. “Which I can respect.”
Time finally takes pity on his descendant and his growing bewilderment and offers, “A hylian named Champ,” before taking another bite from his bowl.
“Ok.” Twilight mumbles slowly, eyebrows furrowed as he takes in the information. Time gives him a look, watching in silence as Twilight’s gaze grows distant the more he stares at the soup between his hands, expression unreadable.
“Everything okay?” Time asks, keeping his voice low for the others not to butt in. Twilight blinks twice before he turns his head to meet his gaze.
“Oh.” He breathes out softly before the frown disappears and he nods. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Time believes him but he also knows there’s something else behind his reaction. He doesn’t push, though; he trusts Twilight enough to tell him in his own time and terms.
“Oh, by the way.” Twilight speaks up, turning towards the group with a proud grin. “I found the end of the woods and even some — ”
“Stables?” Legend cuts in and grins when Twilight frowns in confusion.
“How —? ”
“Champ.” They all echo jovially and Twilight does a poor job to hide his petulant pout behind his bowl.