Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Legend was never good with words. He used to just stay silent and that tended to keep him on people's good sides. During Hytopia, he discovered silence wasn't the best option for teams and now he spoke with barbed and pointed words hiding his true meaning, as close to silence as he could get.

But this team was... it was different from the doppels. How he wished he could split and do this quest with three versions of himself rather than stuck with eight other versions of his spirit. They were ignorant, and reckless, and Legend couldn't get why they acted that way. They were heroes, they should know that zoning out or daydreaming while on the road was how you got ambushed. They should know not to trust everyone they met on the road.

He'd snap at them, tell them off and he'd get mad.

It came to a head a couple nights ago, where Twilight got equally as mad, but it was at him because he told Hyrule and Wild off rather sharply for getting lost. Legend might've been a bit too sharp with them, he would admit, but they were both plenty old enough to realize yet they just didn't. How could they not realize how stupid it was to go out without letting the team at least know where they were going out! But Twilight was a protective mother bear and snapped at Legend. They had a brief yelling match before they both stormed off.

One sentence Twilight said stuck with Legend: "Didn't your parents ever teach ya not to say anythin' if you can't say anythin' nice?"

Legend almost wanted to yell: “No, they didn't! I never met them!” However, he kept that comment back. Instead, he decided to be a bit more introspective. Clearly, his communication methods from Hytopia, the only other time he really worked with a team, wasn't going to work here: being blunt about where someone needs to fix themselves, because they obviously should be able to figure out why they needed to.

So he had to figure something else out.

He wondered how silence would work. Obviously he couldn't switch to total silence, that’s definitely not how a team worked, but he could just fall back on old habits: only speak when spoken to, unless necessary to speak otherwise.

Legend rolled over that idea for an evening, then the next morning he decided to act on it.

Legend had never felt so lonely, but it was own fault he supposed. He kept to himself, if prompted he'd say either the least he could or some sharp retort depending on the context of the prompting. But those prompts came less and less as time went on.

It definitely made things far less tense, he noticed. Even if he was digging his nails into his palms whenever someone did something stupid, he wasn't asked his opinion so he kept his mouth shut. He took physical measures to keep the less experienced heroes safe, but never verbal.

He followed the group from the back, counting heads every now and then. He noticed Hyrule begin to drift off but bit his tongue and dug his nails into his palm.

Time called Hyrule back, and Legend had a thought he considered very intrusive and he did not appreciate its arrival.

What if he just stopped following?

Immediately, Legend shook his head, clearing the thought away but it was stubborn. He decided to pointedly remind himself that Warriors and Time were both very consistent and good at keeping the group together... except neither questioned Twilight disappearing for patrols, half the time Legend would have to nudge Sky when Sky moved too slow from his daydreaming or his bad lungs. They seemed to only check on Wild, Hyrule, Four, and Wind...

Legend shoved the idea from his mind. He wasn't a deserter. This was an adventure... well, it was more of a quest, but either way, he'd never ran away from one of these things before and he wasn't going to.

Legend leaned against a tree, sitting perpendicular to the camp and casting occasional glances to the wider forest. It was getting darker and he'd decided to journal. He rarely journaled, it was as old of a habit as his silence was, but since he didn't have Ravio or Zelda or even really the doppels (since they were presently all shoved into one head) to rant to, it was back to journaling he went.

He mindlessly just wrote words, which usually resulted in some poetic way of explaining how he felt since he could never truly draw himself to writing 'I feel sad' so instead it was filled with analogies and metaphors attempting to explain how his mental and emotional state was.

"Hoarder, do you want to take watch?”

"I’ll take third." 

Warriors made a confirming hum and moved away. Legend watched him go before he returned to what he was doing.

Legend eventually finished writing and set his journal back into his pouch to read later when his mind wasn't so pressed and figure out what he wrote with an actual clarity. He let himself fall asleep and get some rest.

Third watch came, and Legend sat back in his spot and read through his newest entry, glancing up and listening closely as he did so.

"You know that a sort of looming presence? The one that's always there and pressing against your mind? There is an absence actively moving, a void fully consuming my mind. There's days where everything is just a giant ocean, there's so much everywhere, unending waves and clouds far above, birds crossing the horizon line to dip for food and rise to eat, fish leaping from the waves and diving below the tides, corals curling over rocks and crags, but where I stand at the surface there is a distinct nothingness, a melancholic serenity."

Legend studied the paragraph, head tilted as he couldn't quite devote full attention to it without losing awareness of the camp and he was on watch.

"Sometimes it throws me off, how they're always so happy. They're so calm and nonchalant. As if there might not be a monster in the shadows or a guard around the corner. They don't see the dangers in the shadow of trees and turning of corners. I don't understand how someone could have gone through even one of any of my adventures and come out unafraid of what's unseen. Maybe their adventures were just that different, maybe there's something there I don't see, or maybe it's just the added adventures I've had that's made me so paranoid. Maybe if I'd only gone on one or two I'd be more like them: less sharp and able to smile without fear of the subject of that smile being taken away. Flare thinks the effects of our adventures piled up but Frost thinks we are less affected by them because there was so many and we became desensitized. Fern isn't sure; he's never sure about things like that."

Legend flipped the page and began writing his conclusion of the previous paragraphs, what he wanted more concise and directly.

"The group is optimistic and positive and its so confusing. They don't look out for things that could take them by surprise, they're not always on the lookout for something lurking in the shadows and that's concerning. I think I feel a bit like an outlier in that, I've never been someone to take things at face value so their reactions to things just doesn't make sense to me. Because of that difference I think there's a divide. They feel so distant, and I know that's my own fault from being rude before, but it still remains. I haven't had a conversation with someone since that random stall owner two towns back. I think it's loneliness, the ocean I feel, but I want my actions to cause ripples, for me to be noticed. I've never really wanted to make friends before, I tend to lose them, and I know I'll lose this group, but if I don't talk to someone I'm going to kill m go insane. I don't know who I can trust to speak to though, who wouldn't get upset at my defensive speaking or who wouldn't mention my genuine voice. I can't trust them with that. I feel like a star in the night sky, from a distance I'm surrounded by everything but I'm really just alone, drifting in a void, being led along by something far more powerful."

Legend looked up, scanning the tree line and listening closely before he pressed the pen back to the paper.

"I want to scream, I want Zelda or Ravio, someone who understands me. They don't get that I'm trying to help, that I don't want them running off and getting hurt or doing something stupid. I learned not to do so many things the hard way and I’m just trying to keep them from learning the same way. At first I didn't know how to explain that, and I still kind of don't, but now I'm scared unsure of how they'd react. I don't need more distance. I keep thinking of other metaphors, a tree in a forest that's disconnected from the root system. I'm not alone, but I am alone. There is nobody here that I can turn my back to and (in full consciousness) trust them to protect me. There is nobody here I could ask to speak with and trust they wouldn't dismiss my problems no matter how badly I explain them, or how small they are. Yet even if I do scream, nobody would listen. (Did the tree that fell in a forest alone ever fall in the first place? Did the star that flickered out even exist if nobody saw it?) If I scream and cry and beg, would they listen and help? Zelda would, Ravio would, but I could name hundreds others who wouldn't blink twice."

Legend startled when a teardrop hit the page. He scrubbed his face before continuing.

"What kind of hero am I? I'm not like Time, steadfast and grounding, experienced in age with knowledge about the world and not just how to fight and solve dungeons. I'm not like Warriors, skills practiced and learned with a head for strategy and leadership. I'm not Twilight with his strength or Sky with his skill. I'm Wild for his tenacity or Hyrule for his. Not Wind for his stubbornness or Four for his, well, his intelligence (V), confidence (G), protectiveness (B), and insight (R). I have items, I have the magical items I can loan out or carry or explain and then what? What else? What help is knowing seven languages when the evolution of written Hylian is more confusing than the timeline? What is knowing a map of the surrounding countries when none of them even exist in any other timeline to their awareness? I don't see my place in this group nor do I feel present in it at all, even as an outlier."

The sun began to peak over the horizon and with it, Wild and Hyrule gradually began to rouse.

Legend scratched down a couple last sentences before he shoved his journal away, deep into his bag to be ignored for as long as possible.

"They say we're brothers, I've heard them call each other that and claim us all to be brothers. I have had two families, my uncle and grandparents, and then Zelda and Impa. If they're so certain we're brothers, then one of us is wrong about families: because I have never felt more alone than with them."

Chapter Text

Legend, in all his self-deprecating tendencies, decided to test the limits.

He volunteered for second watch… every day. Time generally cycled through but he was fallible and would occasionally have someone do a watch twice or even three times in a row, Legend was going for two weeks strong unnoticed.

He couldn't fault Time for that though, the old man was trying to manage the group best he could as the only consistently responsible one. He could miss a few things and if Legend could take second watch off his plate then so be it.

Legend knew Wild would get onto the others, most often times Hyrule, for not getting their portion of the meal. He tested this limit. Wild so far hadn't noticed for a week.

Again, he couldn't fault Wild for it. The champion was their designated cook and that had to of been a hard task, cooking for a total of nine very voracious boys and men. Plus, he had a history of memory loss. Legend didn't know the details but that had to count for something.

Warriors organized the groups for town visits. Legend slipped into an alleyway right beforehand and listened. He saw a cat and could excuse it when questioned... never mind. He wasn't questioned, as Warriors gave out tasks, his name wasn't mentioned and things were done. They moved on.

Legend also noted Warriors hadn't assigned anyone to get Four some more polish since the Smithy ran out some days back. Legend went by the local blacksmith and purchased some, dropping it and some other odds and ends he'd noticed the others had run out of at the appropriate bag.

He supposed Warriors couldn't be blamed for that, the Captain always had a lot in his plate and since he'd forgotten so many things they'd needed to get, missing that there was one less blonde among the half dozen others wasn't too big a deal.

The next limit test was... unintentional. Legend had spotted something in the woods that neither Hyrule or Wild had seen, something colorful.

He glanced at them, then decided to check it out. He wouldn't be gone long and they'd wait the two seconds it took him.

It took him a bit more than two seconds but what he found was a flower he knew Zelda — Fable adored. He slipped it into his pouch after he carefully picked it. Then he moved to rejoin the group, but to his brief surprise, they were over twenty, forty feet down the path.

He was able to catch up silently, but that moment pressed against his mind far more than any other… ‘limit test’.

Another test was built off of the accidental one. It sat in his mind so long that he just needed to see. 

They were just outside a village, an hour out, and Legend decided that was time to actually test this limit.

He slipped behind a tree after Warriors looked back forward and he just sat down and waited... and waited... and waited.

He waited ten minutes, then twenty, then half an hour before he got back up and followed after them.

He kept his ears pricked, listening for when they'd call out and notice his absence.

Legend arrived at the village alone and later caught up with them as they arrived at the inn, signing in as well.

Legend didn't know what to make of the results of his tests, because that was... that last one just hurt.

He decided it was a bad time to test it. Everyone was tired, it was late, and there was a lot of heads to count. A bad time to test. Legend knew they all had a lot to think about and he wasn't normally someone to make sure was still with the group so, they probably just checked back to make sure like Wild and Hyrule were still with the group and left it at that. They didn't need to look more.

So he did it another time. He took third watch instead of second and Time didn't even blink at it. Legend got his daily (and only real) interaction as Twilight woke him up for his shift and then once everyone was completely asleep, he took action.

He packed his stuff up, made sure everything was on him, then he left the camp.

He stayed where he could see them, where he could hear them and be heard, then he waited. He still kept watch, made sure everyone was safe, but otherwise...

When dawn came, Wild was up first and soon followed by Warriors.

Legend waited, expecting his absence to be noticed, however... even Four was awake, they all ate breakfast and chatted and nobody questioned anything, nobody noticed anything. Then they packed up and left.

Legend had to force himself to slip back into the group unnoticed, and it worked.

Legend did his tests over a month, and then he broke.

Legend decided to do it at the inn. He shared a bed with Sky and Four, but neither noticed him slip out and change into his gear.

He could handle whatever this quest continued to throw at him, and he could do so without being... he could do so by himself, and not surrounded by others yet alone. Legend pulled his bag over his shoulder. He stared at Sky, then his eyes slipped over to Time.

A part of him, the part that hurt, wanted them to feel bad, to feel guilty, to understand what he did and why. The other two parts just wanted to leave this, not have to deal with this anymore.

Legend stared for a few minutes before he moved to the table and quickly wrote a note.

He was going to place it on the bedside table, then an idea hit him and he redirected. He slipped over to Warriors' bag and placed it with his, Legend's, fire rod.

He could get a new one, Legend supposed. Then he left the letter wrapped around the fire rod by a pink ribbon and left.

Dawn was just breaking and Legend took that chance to leave. He knew where the black blooded monster camp was, they'd found out last night, he could go handle it and properly investigate for once.

He had five of these adventures under his belt... he could handle one more. And he could do it himself.

Warriors drew his fire rod and burned the last monster they faced.

"Geez, that was harder than usual," Wind puffed his cheeks out as he moved over to Warriors. "Hey, you have a note on your fire rod."

"Huh? Oh I did," Warriors noticed. He pulled it off carefully. "It's in... I think it's in the old man's Hylian."

"Let me see," Time sighed and took the note. "It's addressed to 'everyone'. We can read it later."

Nobody argued. They had wounded.

At the camp that evening, Wind reminded Time about the note and Time brought it out to read aloud.

"To everyone,

Out of curiosity, how long has it been since you were at the Vanneston Inn? Never mind. I probably don't want to know.

I want to say not to blame yourselves. A lot has been going on and there's a lot to keep track of, it's understandable if you miss something or someone —"

"Someone?" Wind interrupted. "Uhh... Wait there's only eight of us in here. Who's missing?"

There was a long pause.

"The veteran!" Hyrule realized. "Shit —"

"I think I know why," Time said. "Listen:"

"Really, I don't blame you, but it's not something I'm going to continue subjecting myself to. So best of luck, I'll continue the quest on my own. If I see you again, I'll share anything I've learned and hopefully you will too.

I did want to reveal a couple little bits of information I've figured out. One, the timeline split three ways. First from mine, resulting in the old man's, then from his resulting in the sailor's (technically from the sailor's resulting in the rancher's but oh well). Secondly, Sky is the progenitor of the Royal Family and building off that, Zelda (Fable) is my older sister. Last but not least, my Lon Lon Ranch is owned by my grandparents and an ancestor of mine I met on my first adventure claimed the hero before me as his ancestor.

I'll leave it at that,

Link, Hero of Legend

P.s. if I see you again, please don't tell me how long it took you to notice.

P.s.s Yes I know the old man's Hylian. Learned it about a month ago. So, sorry for inaccuracies. It's very similar/basically is my ancient Hylian though."

The following silence was thick and heavy.

"Why..." Wild trailed off. "Why would he leave?"

"He felt forgotten," Four concluded and everyone looked at him. "The comments about noticing his absence. Be as it may, if he hadn't specified when he left with the Vanneston Inn, I wouldn't have known. I can't remember the last time I saw him in a conversation with anyone."

"That's not true, he..." Hyrule went quiet. "Oh goddesses..."

"Yeah," Four nodded. "I don't know when or how it changed, he used to be very... vocal. But it did and we didn't pick up on it."

"He made excuses for us," Twilight said. "I can't... Vanneston was weeks ago."

There was a somber silence, the chain of eight trying to understand the absence of someone they hadn't even noticed left.

Three teens darted around a monster camp.

"Flare, left!"

"Fern get your ass off the fucking ground!"

"How about you worry about landing your hits instead of telling me what to do, huh, Frost?”

They were about the same height and overall look similar aside from style and color. One had a crimson red tunic over a white undershirt, golden sort of mage armor as they wielded flames, their hair was a pastel red, not quite pink but close. Another was in an ocean blue long sleeve tunic with more black than gold, wielding a bow and arrow and clearly the one who favored agility and speed the most, their hair a pastel sky blue. Third was in a forest green tunic over a black undershirt with more gold like the mage but it was in chainmail under the tunic as they wielded a sword. All of them wore many rings and bracelets and had the same Pegasus Boots, but they had completely different fighting styles.

The red one suddenly ran and jumped atop the green one’s shoulders, letting a wave of flames fly ahead of them. The blue one saw this and rushed forward, scaling them and ending up on top within seconds.

Moments later, after the arrows stopped flying and flames dispersed, the monsters were defeated.

Light flashed from the trio, and they were replaced by a single teenager.

Legend staggered, shaking his head as if to clear or settle it. He quickly downed a red potion. "Geez, black bloods are a pain."

He blinked a few times then he began to investigate the bodies of the three black blooded monsters.

"They got one too," he murmured as he lifted a black obsidian pendant wreathed in shadow magic with a cloth. He detached it from the monster’s neck. "It has to be either a cause or a connection.”

He put the pendant into a silk pouch that he put back into his bag.

Legend arrived at a nearby town, he entered the bounty house to collect the bounty on the monster camp.

As he left, he was putting the money pouch away and ran into someone.

"Oh! Sorry," he apologized, stepping back. "You..."

"Veteran?" Hyrule gaped. "Oh goddesses — how are you doing?"

Legend stared briefly before his eyes took a frosted blue tint. He shrugged, crossing his arms. "I'm fine. Just finished handling a bounty."

"Oh — cool." Hyrule shifted awkwardly.

"Well, see ya." Legend tried to move past him.

"Wait," Hyrule moved back in front of him, "I — I'm sorry." Legend stared at him as brown eyes melted into petal pink. "I'm so, so sorry. I-I don't... I don't understand how I could've possibly ignored you, much less forgot you. I really don't. I'm so sorry. Please, let me make it up to you. I-I — Wars didn't give me an assignment, I have hours to kill. Please, just — let me try."

Legend stared at the kid. He didn't... get it.

"I promise, I swear on everything I own, I'll do better. Just let me try, please, veteran."

It was either the fae eyes or just the fact that he had, for all the heroes younger than him, a slight soft spot for him.

"Just today, and I'm not going back with you, okay?" Legend made his terms clear.

"Deal," Hyrule said and waved Legend to follow him down the street. "Come on, let's... what do you like to do?"

Legend wrapped his hands around the strap of his bag, a nervous tick of his when he didn't know what to do with his hands. "Umm..."

"Do you prefer creation? Like-like... cooking, woodcarving, metallurgy? Or do you prefer reading, drawing, or... something more active like sword fighting?" Hyrule offered options, examples, and Legend appreciated that.

He was trying not to be sharp, that's what drove him away the first time. "I like cooking, yeah, but I can't cook with a campfire. Except like skewers or steaks. Umm, I like reading and drawing too, but I like to sew or embroider, after my fourth journey I picked up crochet, and baking."

Hyrule smiled at him, a bright and kind smile that sort of disarmed Legend whilst drawing him in.

"Really? You're like a housewife!" Hyrule teased but there was a clear admiration in his eyes, so clear that Legend could actually detect what it was. "You... You know how to live."

"Sorry?"

"No, it's just... You're like Time, you can actually live outside of... this." Hyrule gestured vaguely. "My Zeldas are trying to teach me, but I just don't get it. I've never really learned to live, just survive."

Legend hummed. "I didn't learn to live until my fourth adventure really. Sure, I lived in my childhood, but when I started adventuring it was just survive. Make it to this temple, go to this dungeon, kill this monster, save this country, fix this problem. I figured it out during my third, then after my fourth, I actually started living. My roommate and sister helped."

Hyrule nodded. "How long?"

"About... a year, since they started helping."

"Oh, I'm only halfway there then," Hyrule said.

"Hey, recovery isn't consistent or the same for everyone," Legend chided. "Don't fall into that trap."

"Right, right, like injuries," Hyrule agreed quickly. "Okay! Here!"

He pushed open the door to a business and tugged Legend inside.

It was a craft shop.

"Uhh, why are we here?"

"You listed off sewing, embroidering, and crocheting as things you like, so..." Hyrule gestured around. "Can we get a thing or two and can you show me?"

Legend stared at him. Then he sighed. "Yeah, yeah sure."

"No — loop, then through," Legend instructed as they sat on a bench outside with a roll of yarn and Hyrule tried to learn crochet.

"Oh... like that?"

"There you go. You're actually pretty good at this. Zelda cannot do that for the life of her."

"Huh... I think I'm getting it."

They made a small square before Hyrule insisted they do something else, but he held the square the whole time and kept grinning as he looked at it and at Legend.

Legend didn't know what to make of the kid as he let him drag him around town. Hyrule would get food and demand Legend try it and after he found out Legend was really good at picking out ingredients, he got so excited and kept asking him to do others. It was… endearing.

They walked through the market and Hyrule suddenly gasped and ducked into the crowd.

"Shoot — Traveler? Rulie!" Legend called, very confused and thrown off. 

He glanced around, and ended up just staying against a wall. The market was really busy and Hyrule was short. So he looked around but he couldn't quite find the kid.

"Ledge!" Hyrule suddenly reappeared, carrying a small bag. "Here!"

He pushed the small drawstring bag — velvet, Legend noted — into his hand.

"Sorry I left you, but I saw this and thought you'd like it." Forest green eyes glittered petal pink as Hyrule spoke.

Legend glanced at him before he opened it and carefully poured the contents into his palm.

It was a bracelet, a pink crystal bracelet.

"Oh," Legend said softly, he felt touched but he didn't know why. He knew it was because Hyrule apparently thought of him and wanted to give it to him, but he didn't understand the associate. He looked at Hyrule. "Why?"

"That's pink jade," Hyrule told him. When Legend didn't respond instantly, Hyrule pursed his lips and glanced aside awkwardly. "I just saw it and thought: he needs that. So..." he shrugged. "I dunno."

Legend stared at him, he wasn't expecting that.

"Okay," he said softly. "I... yeah." He didn't say thanks, Hyrule was clearly fae and he wasn't stupid. "I like it."

Hyrule beamed brightly. Legend had to work hard to get the bracelet to slide over his thumb and wrist, but at least it wasn't coming off once it was on.

It got dark and upon pointing it out, Hyrule yelped.

"I got to get to the inn — Thank you for hanging out with me! You... You don't want to come with, you said just today," Hyrule recalled, a bit saddened. "But, thank you. Thank you so much for giving me a chance. I'm glad... I'll see you around, right?"

Legend hesitated, then he nodded. "Yeah... Yeah, I'll see you around. And don't worry about it, I had fun hanging out. So... Here." Legend offered the ball of yarn and one of his crochet hooks. "Keep practicing. Maybe make a scarf or something. Next time I'll show you how to do circles."

Hyrule lit up. "I will! See you later!" Hyrule hugged him.

Legend froze. He stepped back a bit, balancing them from the hug, but just froze.

He couldn't remember the last time he was hugged. Ravio was very touch averse, they'd hugged when Legend returned from Hytopia and Ravio from the War of Eras, but... Zelda didn't do hugs much either, she was raised by very formal people so... Legend couldn't remember he had a proper, warm, genuine hug that wasn't a bit awkward or filled with relief, not since his uncle.

Slowly, he returned the hug, and Hyrule practically chimed happily. He bounced on his heels and toes as he pulled away.

"See you around, Ledge."

"See you, Rulie," he muttered and Hyrule soon darted off.

Legend ended up standing in the street for a moment longer before he headed to find an inn in the opposite direction that Hyrule had gone.

Chapter Text

Legend — could he call himself Link? It's not like he was traveling with the others — was tired, very tired and he was so ready to go home.

He hadn't seen the Chain since that one afternoon with Hyrule and he was fine with that, but even he had to admit that had he stayed with the group things wouldn't be nearly as bad.

He hadn't been able to sleep longer than an hour at a time before monsters were attacking and he was on the move again. It felt like his first adventure all over again, and considering how many pendants drowning in dark magic he had, he had a feeling it wasn't by chance that he was being targeted.

He was getting close, he just knew it. He was close to figuring it out.

Obviously the amulets were from the Shadow, given to the monsters to empower them. He figured out the amulets were rather new in comparison to his era, but old in Wild's, yet also similar to things that were current in both. He ended up in Wild's Hyrule at some point and managed to speak with his Impa, got directed to Purah, and found out the origins were Zonai-inspired. Not Zonai, Purah had said, but definitely based off it with some much-more-ancient adaptations, which explained its similarities to his era's Sheikah.

Both Sheikah sisters (which was interesting to discover that they were siblings) questioned why he wasn't with Wild and the rest, but he didn't explain further than saying they went their separate ways.

He recognized the source magic, and the power was becoming very easy to track. A portal a few weeks back had dropped him near Warriors' Castle Town, but instead of going to ask around for reports, he turned and followed the power that had become familiar from exposure and that was far too strong to ignore once noticed.

He cleared the monster camp within a week of arrival in the era, including travel time. After that was when he was constantly being attacked and followed.

So he attacked and followed right back, splitting into three as needed but generally he was well capable of handling the camps, especially as time went on. At first, he needed three pairs of hands, but by now, he could handle it alone.

He was just exhausted and really needed to rest.

He didn't know which era it was, possibly the travelers for how many caves there were, but more likely the champion's for the layout of the country. He wasn't sure which frankly.

He didn't care either, leaning against the wall and hoping to get a moment's rest.

He didn't sense any other amulets nearby, those suffocating beacons of darkness were easy to sense at this point. He imagined that was why he was easy for them to find, but he couldn't risk leaving any of these amulets someplace for more monsters to find. Keeping cursed objects out of reach of threats was part of his job.

He heard footsteps, too light and consistent to be a monster's but far to heavy to be any small animal, and too little steps to be a four legged creature.

He stood quickly, drawing his sword in front of him and his fire rod at the ready. He fully intended to blast and smoke out whomever he was facing.

"I knew it let out! The air was way too clear to not open back up —" they fell silent as they turned the corner to meet Legend's blade.

"Veteran?!"

"Champion?"

Legend clicked his mouth shut, lowering his sword and sheathing it before she decided he was going to try and hurt another of her masters. She might not hurt him for it, she promised she wouldn't hurt him, but she would scold him and arguably that was worse.

"Are you okay?" Wild demanded, more worried than surprised. "You look awful."

Legend couldn't help but glare at that.

"No really, when was the last time you slept?"

Legend gave him an even more dead glare. "Do you really want to know?"

He made an exasperated noise. "You need to sleep!"

"You try sleeping while being hunted!"

"It's possible!"

"Not when they have a homing beacon on you. Honestly, just —" Legend sighed. "Shouldn't you get back to your group? You should know better than to run off."

Wild rolled his eyes. "We made camp for the storm, plus Wars has his hands full with the sailor being sick. I'll be back before dark."

Legend gestured outside, where the storm had made it seem well into dusk.

"I'll be back before it's actually dark and not physically dark," Wild huffed. He was silent for a beat. "You know, I  — No, I mean — I'm sorry."

Legend did a double take, narrowing his eyes at him.

Wild met his gaze without flinching. "I am. I'm sorry. I'll be a hundred percent honest with you, veteran: I don't understand. I don't know how I managed to ignore you, much less forget you. You were always on the lookout for us, keeping me and Hyrule in the group, keeping Sky from drifting off, and even entertaining Wind, then it just... I don't even remember when but it just stopped and I didn't even notice and I notice those things! I don't get it, it's confusing and... and I'm scared that it's because of me, because I know I care and if I managed to just forget about you even though I care about you then what's stopping me from forgetting everyone else too? Zelda even."

Legend wasn't fully ready for that whole speech and he cut eye contact with Wild early on in it. He sighed, shaking his head as he sat back down.

Wild shifted. "Honest, vet. I don't get it and for that and for everything else I'm so, so sorry. I failed you. We all did."

"Go back to the group, Champion," Legend said, looking to the side. "They're probably getting worried. I don't doubt you've been gone a few hours if you explored this whole cave."

"That's only a few hours to the... much more that we didn't notice," Wild confessed. "At least — At least let me stay another hour or two. I'll keep guard and... and you can get some rest."

That sounded tempting. And he knew he could trust the champion not to kill him in his sleep, as sad as that fact was, he did.

"Only if you swear on everything you hold dear that you won't tell them," he warned. "Or lead them to me. Or make me go back."

Wild crouched down beside him, sitting to his side. "Promise. Swear on my title as cook and reputation as a troublemaker... and on Zelda's life, I won't tell them, lead them here, or make you go back — I'll add though, I can't promise they won't find you here while I'm here if they track me. But the cave should keep them busy, no matter who's tracking me, for an hour or so."

Legend nodded. "Deal... and only 'cause I'm tired."

"I know."

He drew his sword, holding it loosely in his left hand while he crossed his arms over his knees and used them as a pillow.

He drifted to sleep, tense and ready to spring as ever, but he was finally getting a bit of rest.

He woke up to an approaching darkness and he snapped awake.

"Huh — vet?"

"They're coming," he said in a low voice. His eyes drifted to the cave deeper. "Get back to your camp."

"What?" Wild questioned, grabbing his arm. "What are you talking about?"

"They're coming," Legend repeated. "The monsters. Like I said, they're hunting me and I'm not leaving myself in a tiny cave now that they're close. They're coming from the south, but if you head... two clicks east from north, there will be a monster camp that direction. Okay? I'll get the one in the south. Don't you dare break that promise and lead them to me, Champion."

Wild stared at him. "How..."

"You figure things out when you investigate things a bit closer." Legend glanced at the storm outside. "I have to move. Thanks for the guard, Wild."

He pulled his arm from Wild's grip and darted for the exit.

"Wait! — Damnit, Legend. Be careful out there!"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine!" Legend called back over the din of the storm as he ran southwest, opposite the approaching dark power and right toward a thicker cloud of that same dark power.

He had a bit more energy for now, but he'd need to find another hiding place and get another hour or two soon. He wouldn't last much longer with this sleep pattern.

A week or so later, Legend was taking a moment to relax atop a hill with a single tree in a large plain. If he looked, he could see for miles in any direction, all the way to the forests that guarded the large field.

With that and his newly earned skill to sense approaching black blooded monsters, he let himself relax and lay down in the tall grass.

He woke to a different dark power approaching. He turned over, staying low but ready to spring to his feet as he listened.

Four legs, moving slow and purposeful. Sniffing, a hound of some kind, searching around.

He sighed, sitting up properly upon realizing it was just a dog of some kind. A dark dog, so probably a wolfos. He stood up with his drawn sword, not bothering to try and hide from the creature and he turned, ready to cut through a lunging creature, only to see a familiar one.

Piercing blue stared at him, the familiar symbol on its head and then Legend just stared at him.

"Wolfie? What are you doing here?" Legend questioned, lowering his sword.

Wolfie whined, approaching him slowly and then nudging his sword hand.

Legend sighed, he sheathed his sword as he sat back down and offered his hand for Wolfie to sniff.

"It's just me, Wolfie. Kinda surprised you remember me, seemed everyone else didn't for a while, 'til I left at least."

It whined, dropping its head against his lap.

"What? I'm not wrong. I don't hold it against them, I'm the one who chose to shut up and basically self-isolate. I decided that only speaking when spoken to would help. And it did, did you notice?" He leaned back, not bothering to pet the wolfos' fur as he learned it didn't like that. He looked up at the near cloudless sky. "There was less arguing, the Captain got along with everyone else better when he wasn't arguing with me every ten minutes. I chose that path and while it worked for those guys, it fixed things, I... it hurt for me."

Wolfie lifted off his lap and moved to lay at his back and then curl around, placing its head on his lap again. Legend didn't want to lay his full weight on the wolf, a bit worried of hurting it, but the fur was soft and Wolfie was warm.

He didn't speak up again until Wolfie gave him an absolutely pathetic look and a whine.

"What? Want me to keep going?"

Wolfie nudged his hand.

He huffed. "I don't know if you've got some telepathic link with Wild, but you better not tell anyone anything. I can't believe I'm trying to bargain with an animal about not telling, goddesses." He sighed, and began picking at the wildflowers that grew around them. "It's just... I started arguments and caused discord. I don't get it fully, other than being sharper than necessary, I was right. Wild and Rulie were being dumb when they ran off without telling anyone, that's how people get killed and never found. At least let us know when you're not in camp and when you plan to be back so if you're gone too long, someone can go find you and we don't assume the worst the moment you go missing.

"And don't get me started on Sky, he's asking to get ambushed with his head in the clouds like that. You have to be aware of your surroundings when you're on the road or else you're going to get jumped and you'll either get killed or close to, and take days to recover and keep moving." He sighed. "Days you sometimes don't have."

He started weaving flowers together, something his grandma showed him that he taught Fable in the royal gardens after they discovered they were siblings.

"I know I was too harsh sometimes, but you'd think heroes would know that kind of thing. I mean— Maybe it's just the fact that I've been on so many of these things that it isn't actually common sense seems like it to me, but it's common sense!"

He had a mostly lavender braid for now, as it was a wild lavender field. He was tempted to seek out some other colors, he knew there was some blue flowers nearby and some white further out. He could reach the blue though.

"So yeah, I left. They were happier without me starting arguments over common sense, plus I'm not stupid enough to stay in situations that are harmful. Physically or otherwise. They were fine, I can handle myself, and my own self isolation and silence resulted in probably the worst few weeks of my life outside of deaths and the aftermath of loss."

Wolfie curled tighter around him. Legend sighed, reluctantly leaning back against the dark beast.

"The Rancher and Wild better not be looking for you," he huffed as he reached over and picked a few blue flowers. "I really don't want to deal with that again. Wild wasn't that bad last time, but if he was upset about how little sleep I look like I had last time, he'd be livid this time. Not that it matters, but I just don't want to deal with it."

He let the silence remain for a while as he finished the flower crown. He hummed softly, placing it on Wolfie's head and the canine lifted its head in confusion.

"You can knock it off if you don't like it," Legend told it quietly, he intended to take a nap out here and the lack of nearby dark power — the one that was threatening, Wolfie wasn't a threat, no matter his rabbit side wanted to argue — meant he had a moment to get that nap. "I think the purple is actually a good color on you, it's not as obvious as the blue but it helps bring out your eye and pelt color. Plus the little bit of blue definitely brings out your eyes, not that they need to be brought out."

Wolfie seemed to stare at him before lowering his head again to his lap, curling closer around him and limiting his movements.

Legend hummed softly, ready to fall asleep and soon enough drifting off to the sound of wind rustling leaves and grass and the scent of lavender over iron, and dog.

Legend woke up some hours later, longer than usual but no more than three hours, shooting awake and causing something to fall.

He was alone, but somehow the flower crown had ended up on his head.

He would've questioned it more if there wasn't a very thick dark presence approaching him and was within a mile of him. He quickly got up and ran the opposite direction, flower crown nestled on his head over top his blue cap, mostly out of impulse. He'd just put it on as he realized he needed to move.

Legend was wandering a town when he stepped into the local blacksmith to fix up his weapons. He didn't expect to see a certain smithy, but he frankly couldn't feel surprised.

"Sorry — Oh, veteran?"

"Smithy," Legend acknowledged tiredly. "Is the forge available for access or am I going to need to buy my way into using it?"

"The owner said it's available for public use with supervision, but —"

"Great."

Four stared at him as he moved into the forge.

"Whoa whoa whoa — I can't let you do that," Four said, grabbing his arm.

"What?"

"You look ready to pass out," Four deadpanned and Legend had to give him that. He felt ready to pass out. He'd been moving for days, those monsters were getting faster. He'd need to leave town fast, this place didn't have the defenses for the monsters that pursued him.

"So?" He demanded. "I need to fix my fire rod, mend my bow, and I was hoping this place had the stuff for me to fix my boots too but from the looks of it I'll have to find an arcane leatherworker."

"You won't be doing anything," Four said, crimson piercing Legend's soul. "Take a nap or something, get some rest or else you are going to pass out on the forge and speaking from experience, that would suck."

"Really, go away. I'm too tired to deal with this and I have stuff to do."

"That's exactly my point! I'll fix your stuff, I have my own fire rod and Pegasus boots and I know how to maintain and fix them. Just please — I know you don't want to stick with us and I get it, we screwed up and we deserve anything you say to or about us." Legend wanted to argue that he didn't blame them because he really didn't. "But please, let me help you out with this."

Legend inhaled slowly. "Quite frankly, Smithy, I don't have the time to wait. I need to get this done and move or else you'll have about half a dozen black blooded monsters coming down on this town. So let go of me so I can get the hell out of dodge and those monsters don't destroy this town."

"What... What do you mean by that?" Four asked, eyes narrowing. "Are they following you?"

He sighed. "Yes. Yes they are. Now if you don't mind, get out of my way."

Four glared harder. "At least let me help."

He rolled his eyes but dropped his bow into Four's arms as he pushed past him, finally succeeding and he got to work with his boots first.

"You shouldn't be traveling alone like this," Four said as he handed over the fixed bow as Legend pulled his fixed boots on.

"It's either alone like this or alone with you all and I prefer this," Legend said bluntly. "Thanks for the help."

"Veteran."

He sighed heavily, turning back. "What?"

"I..." Four's face scrunched up. "I don't want you to think we — I disvalue you, or that we considered you weak for leaving. I understand we... didn't treat you the best and I'm glad you had the self awareness and self respect to get yourself out and not just deal with it. I don't know what we can do to fix it, it's up to you if you're willing to give us a second chance."

Legend kept silent for a moment. "I've given far worse people second chances."

He stepped past the threshold and left the blacksmith. Four didn't call after him or follow.

He ran into Warriors at a guard station in his own Hyrule.

Zelda — Fable — had sent him there since it was in the same direction he was headed and asked him to make sure their training was up to the new standards. He didn't mind that, he was the one who drew up the new standards that required learning basic defensive mind magic or wearing defensive magical jewelry, or otherwise. There was also just some general rules and standards that were updated to accommodate the increase in monster activity.

He was flicking through some reports the guard station commander had filled out on the effectiveness of the new standards and how the soldiers have taken to adapting to them. He expected it to basically say it was unnecessary but he and Fable as well as her council, who didn't dare argue with him and Fable when they agreed on something, weren't going to budge on this matter.

He'd rather not have a nine year old framed for a crime they didn't commit and have a kingdom-wide manhunt for them.

He turned the corner of the hall, flicking to the next paper. A presence was in front of him and he spun around them before colliding.

"Goddess — Vet?!"

Legend stopped in his tracks and turned around.

He nearly groaned, but managed to keep a hold on it and just gave an extremely blank look.

"Captain," he said curtly, turning to face him as he adjusted the papers in his arms. "Can I help you with something? Commander Smith should be having a meeting with Captains Tailor and Brown."

"He — You — What?"

"Yes?"

Warriors stared at him. "What are you doing here?"

Legend gave him an incredulous look. "Because."

Warriors spluttered. "Because — because what? Why?"

"Because — You know what, why are you here?" He demanded. "This isn't your military nor your outpost, this is my military. Why are you here?"

"Because we're trying to figure out where the monster camp is, Veteran," Warriors deadpanned. "Have you even fought any black blooded monsters since you left?"

Legend stepped toward him. "I have. More than you I bet. I have a running count somewhere in the fifties and for every single one I kill a larger target's painted on my back so you count yourself and the others lucky that I left."

"Fifties?"

"There's never just one camp, Captain," Legend said. "I count three locations in my Hyrule now that has a concentrated number of black blooded monsters, as well as two other individual ones that are traveling... towards us."

"What — How do you know that?" Warriors was tense.

"Because."

"Because —"

"I'm not obligated to tell you and frankly I don't want to. So here's your tip:" he flicked through the papers and shoved a map into Warriors chest. "The largest concentration of black blooded monsters are southeast of here. Have at it."

He moved to leave it Warriors caught his arm. "Veteran, you know you can come back."

Legend tore his arm back, leveling Warriors a sharp glare. "I'm actually far happier when I don't have to deal with idiots parading as heroes every second of the day."

Warriors used his 'captain' voice. "I'm sorry for how we treated you, but that doesn't give you the right to talk down to us."

"I'll speak how I want to who I want," Legend retorted sharply. "I'm done holding my tongue for anyone, especially not for the sake of a team that managed to forget my entire existence."

Warriors reeled back as if struck.

Legend turned on his heel, marching away from him.

"Uhh... should we do something?" One of the two arriving soldiers muttered to the other.

"I don't know. I've never seen the general so mad except when the old commander tried to —"

"Lieutenants," Legend stopped in front of them and they instantly snapped to attention, "escort this man back to the grounds and have him and his group's temporary lodgings, if there are any, relocated to the barracks. Then let it be known that for the duration of their stay, none of them are allowed inside the main building, only the barracks, training grounds, and mess hall. The shortest with the multicolored tunic can access the forge, the taller one in the blue with the long hair can access the kitchens, and the one with the wolf pelt and golden chainmail can access the horse supplies if his horse needs it. Those are the only acceptions. Am I clear?"

"Yes, General, sir!"

"Good."

He left and with a glance over his shoulder he saw Warriors, clearly shocked, complying with the two lieutenants — Jackson and Hanson, he was pretty sure — and leaving in the opposite direction.

He let out a breath, a bit annoyed at himself for snapping but he couldn't find it in him to regret or wish to take back his words, only his tone and delivery.

He stepped through his given portal and entered...

"Skyloft?" He guessed, mostly to himself as he looked over the edge of what was clearly a sky island.

A huge bird flew overhead.

Definitely Skyloft then.

"Hey!"

He turned and a young woman was approaching him.

"You came from that portal! Is Link back?"

Legend blinked and he realized very quickly who this was. "Oh — Yes? Probably. I'm not sure where though."

"Probably on the surface, he loves that place," she said fondly. "I'm Zelda, you must be one of his new friends!"

He shook her hand. "Link, I go by Veteran or Legend to avoid confusion."

She nodded, a warm smile on her face. "Pleasure to meet you. You know, you feel... familiar."

"I can't say we've met before, not to my knowledge at least and I'm generally pretty good at remembering faces."

"No..." Her eyes suddenly lit up. Sun really was an apt name, Legend realized. "You're one of mine!" She exclaimed. "Link's letter said that the princesses of the future are my descendants! That means I must have sons too and you have my magic!"

Legend gaped, staring at her.

She hugged him, not hesitating. She was also just about his height so it wasn't even an awkward hug aside from the emotions.

She whistled sharply then called out, "Azure! Come meet my chick!"

Legend balked as her giant bird flew toward them.

"Whoa! Whoa — okay, calm down," he said, holding his hands up and avoiding the bird's tackle. "Let's take this a bit slower."

"Sorry!" Sun exclaimed, beaming brightly. "I'm just excited! When Link said that I'd have descendants I never imagined I'd meet one before I even had a kid!"

Legend sighed. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything! Everything you're willing to tell me, at least."

Legend sighed. "Well... how about this. I tell you about my childhood or first adventure, then you fly me down to the surface?"

"Both?" She tried to bargain, and Legend noticed the teasing smile.

But he gave in, this was his very distant grandmother. He also was unlikely to meet her again.

"Fine. Deal."

"Deal! Come! I'll show you my favorite spot in Skyloft and you can tell me everything."

Legend realized Sky had downplayed Sun's energy. She really was her namesake: incredibly warm and just bursting with energy that seemed to completely explode off her in waves, as did the warmth.

"— the next time I faced Ganon, he literally looked at me and went 'you again?' before we fought!"

Sun chortled. "Did he? Oh that's hilarious! I imagine Demise would've been the same had I been able to fight him. Divines, Ghiraham was so... bothersome." She clearly had other words for this Ghiraham person but Legend was curious as to why she censored herself. He didn't ask.

"Yeah, it's kind of funny. I'm almost looking forward to our next meeting so I can just trash talk him."

"You think you'll fight him again?"

"Eh, probably not, but when I die I'm seeking him out so we can fight again, just for old times sake."

Sun laughed again and Legend snickered as well.

"Ah, do come find me first so I can watch," Sun mused.

"Oh fine.” He grinned.

A bird call caught their attention, Legend almost ignored it as he had heard many before except Sun and her bird, Azure, both perked up.

"Link's back!" She exclaimed, shooting up and she ran off the platform.

Legend's heart jumped into his throat before he remembered the bird... the bird that was beside him still.

He looked over the edge, a bit worried but unsure if he should continue to be worried, and he saw Sun get caught by a bright red bird.

Red. Crimson... like Sky's Loftwing he nearly waxed poetry about as often as he did about Sun.

Legend looked at Azure. "No chance you'll take me down to the surface before they get here?"

She pecked his head lightly.

He grunted. "Figures."

Soon enough, Sky was landing not far from Legend and Azure and Sun was jumping off.

"Come on! You can't say you didn't know, you met him first!"

Ah... Didn't his note tell them?

"Zel, I knew we started the whole royal family thing but the only male from that line that I've met was —"

Sky stopped in his tracks as Legend looked over at him, violet meeting cerulean.

"Me?" Legend finished.

Sun dropped Sky's hand and she rushed over to Legend, tugging him up and over toward Sky. "See! He even looks like us, can't you tell?" She cupped his face and Legend rolled his eyes as he gently pushed her hands off but she persisted.

"The eyes are mine, and so's the hair except the pink, but look at that face?" She looked excitedly at Sky. "He's ours, Link! One day we're going to have kids and they're going to have kids and then they'll have kids and — Oh I'm so excited! And he's done so much, I'm so proud of him!"

Legend turned red, he avoided eye contact. "Right, umm..."

"I'm so sorry."

Sun went still, visibly confused while Sky looked near tears.

"I'm sorry, Veteran."

Legend crossed his arms as he took a distancing step back.

"There's... there's no explanation, no excuse, I truly don't know how it happened, but it doesn't matter because it did and it hurt you and I am so sorry," Sky said, and he was genuine. Legend could hear it in his voice, how he was close to tears and Legend just looked away.

"Link?" Sun whispered, confused.

"Forget it," Legend said. "Like I told the Smithy, I've given second chances for far worse crimes."

"That doesn't make it okay, and it definitely doesn't mean you should give us one. I'm not asking for forgiveness, vet. I'm really not. I don't deserve forgiveness, especially not yours, but I am telling you that I regret it, that I'm sorry, that I hate myself for letting it happen, that I —"

"Stop it."

"— want nothing more than to take every single thing back and fix it. I'm so sorry —“

"Sky."

The chosen hero finally went quiet.

"Just stop," Legend whispered. "Look... I believe that nobody can hurt someone more than themselves. A man's own mind can create far worse nightmares for himself than any other mind could."

Sky inhaled sharply.

"You don't need my forgiveness, you already have it. You need your own."

Legend had gotten really good at sensing those monsters. He could quite literally do it in his sleep, waking up just as they got close and running no matter if he'd slept five minutes or an hour.

More specifically, he could sense the amulets, and his own location was becoming an overwhelming beacon that took a lot of focus to ignore.

He was seven days into getting two hours of sleep per day, spread out. He was exhausted and drained and there was only so much more he could handle but he kept moving.

There was three black blooded monsters and they had been chasing him, but then suddenly stopped and Legend backpedaled the moment he realized.

Because those things could sense him just as well as he could sense them. It was a constant chase and when they stopped that meant they were fighting something else.

He darted through the forest, dodging around trees and over bushes and under decaying logs.

He heard blades clashing and then he could see it.

There wasn't just three monsters, a total of ten had been apparently chasing him and then stopped to fight a rather familiar group.

While his initial thought was to leave them to the fight, they'd be fine, he saw Wind getting ganged up on by two of the three black bloods.

"WIND!" Warriors screamed.

Wind only partially dodged a blade that left a deep gash in his side.

Legend's vision went red as he heard the pained scream and he moved.

The monsters could normally sense him coming, clearly the amulets only did so much for their low intelligence.

Golden Sword glowing and fire rod blazing, Legend twirled down onto the monsters, driving his sword through the skull of one and forcing a billow of flames to engulf it.

He kicked off it, dodging under the falling body in a blur of speed he could only achieve when running on adrenaline and adrenaline alone while wearing all of his speed enhancing gear.

He blasted the second black blood with his fire rod, it roared but wasn't killed until he ducked around it and pulled it to the ground with his weight while pushing up at its neck with his sword.

He landed a little roughly, but he rolled into stance and twisted around, another blast of fire rolling at the charging black blood that had completely abandoned Twilight in favor of trying to kill Legend.

It barreled through the flames, and Legend was switching to his ice rod and diving between its legs. Ice coated the monster's legs and he was cutting into its side as it was turning and breaking the ice with ease. He barely dodged the swing of its club.

Driving ice down it's throat had it collapsing and Legend landed with a slight stumble. He turned but the others were handling the remaining monsters fairly well.

He moved to Wind's side, as literally everyone else was busy, and he pulled out bandages and a potion.

"V-Veteran?" Wind gasped, letting his hands fall as Legend's replaced them over the cut.

"Right here, Sailor, stay with me for just a second," Legend said as steadily as he could. "Think you'll be able to tell me how many fingers I can hold up or will you guess wrong?"

"Not that dizzy," the kid reported, though his voice slurred a tiny bit. "Lot’sa blood."

"It is," Legend agreed, and he saw Warriors quickly making his way across the field toward them just as Wind finished the potion and Legend finished tying the bandage. Color returned to the kid’s skin and clarity to his eyes. "Alright. It'll probably heal in a day or two, you should be perfectly fine to walk or even run but don't push it too much, Sailor."

Wind grinned at him as he sat up. "Right — You were so cool! There was fire and then ice and you chopped that one's head off!"

"How..." Warriors trailed off.

Legend couldn't help but laugh at Wind. "You get better at fighting the more you do it kid. I hope you become an awful fighter."

"Hey!"

Legend stood, Wind scrambled to stand too but Legend had his ice rod out and pushed him back down with the bottom end of it.

"I said not to push it."

"When did you even show up?" Warriors questioned. "How did you even know to?"

Wind pouted. "You said I could walk!"

Legend ignored Warriors. "I should've added that you need to rest at least a few hours before. Okay? Or get another potion or Rulie to heal you more, but I don't have any more potions so you'll have to get something from someone else."

Wind looked immediately concerned and he pulled out two potions from his bag. "Take them! For your help!"

Legend lowered his ice rod from keeping Wind down, Warriors was hovering nearby but clearly Wind was feeling better.

"I can't take your potions —"

"At least one! For the one you used on me and then the other one for saving me!" Wind insisted. "Or I'll get up."

Legend stared at the kid, then he shook his head and took the potions. "You brat. Now stay down."

Wind grinned. "You're leaving again, right? You'll be safe?"

Legend wondered if any of the other heroes would be able to ever say as much as Wind did while saying as little as Wind did. Because the sailor was looking Legend dead in the eyes and somehow there was so many things conveyed.

I'm sorry, come back, be safe, don't die, forgive me, I messed up, I'll do better, be careful.

"Best I can, kid," Legend agreed. "I've survived this long, it'll take a lot more to kill me."

"I'm not worried about what will kill you."

Legend had to give him that as he moved to the dead bodies and looted the amulets from them. He heard sharp inhales and several gasps but ignored them.

"I'll be fine, kid," he said as he walked beyond where Wind was sitting, ruffling his hair as he passed him. "And hey, you're the one with the most experience after me. Make sure those idiots use their brains."

Wind stared at him and then called after him. "Only if you show me that move you used!"

"We'll see!" Legend called back. He ignored the other voices calling for him and broke into a sprint into the underbrush.

Legend cursed as he was driven to a cliffside. There were monsters on all ends and he had no out. He was out of potions and he hadn't got a lick of sleep in three days. He was running on spite and adrenaline and a lot of magic energy rings.

He wasn't winning this fight, but there was a cave behind him.

No other choice, Legend ran into the cave and hoped there was a way out on the other side.

He got lost, but he kept moving. The monsters were pressing closer.

He turned a corner and in all his panic didn't even notice the person before he slammed into them.

He hit the ground, dazed and far too exhausted to reorient quickly.

"— k? Link, look at me."

He raised his head and met a single blue eye and the orange light of a single torch.

"Old man?" He slurred a bit, dazed.

"Welcome back," Time said, kneeling in front of him. "Are you alright?"

"Hmm? Oh — Yeah, fine."

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

Legend tried to glare. "I frankly am not even going to try to count. I don't have a concussion, I just haven't slept in days. It's fine."

"Days — fine?" Time near demanded, the worry clear in his voice.

Legend tried to stand and he staggered. "Look, we don't have time. There's about six black blooded monsters following me and I was really hoping this cave would let out someplace else and not trap me so... any ideas?"

"Six?!"

"Yes, six, one for each adventure. Keep up."

"Why are they chasing you?"

"Because I'm a damn snack — Did you come through a different entrance or not?!"

Time sighed. "Come on, it was a cavern with a hole out but I didn't want to try my luck with hookshots on the wet rock."

"No choice 'less you wanna fight and die." Legend near tripped over nothing. Hitting his head on Time's chestplate really didn't help, there wasn't a concussion but he basically had one for all the spinning things were doing.

"I see..."

Silence fell as Legend moved at a rushed pace, he wasn't used to moving slow anymore. His nerves were always alight with a primal need to move, a need to escape, a need to survive.

Time thankfully didn't question it, just kept pace until they entered a cavern.

Legend's eyes darted to the hole in the ceiling and he knew he could make it.

Time may not.

"Before we go, I'd like to tell you something, Veteran."

Legend looked over at Time.

"Thank you," he said, placing a hand on Legend's shoulder. "You're... You're a good man, a far better hero and a far better person than I am. I won't ask you to come back with me, but I'll ask you to take care of yourself while you're alone."

"I'm fine."

"Not sleeping for days is not fine, Veteran."

"It's the best I can do for now," he amended. "Just... Thanks."

"No, thank you. You deserved far better and far more than what we gave you, I'm sorry I overlooked and ignored you, how you managed to slip my senses I cannot figure out, but you did and I cannot apologize enough for it. I'm sorry."

Legend sighed, he pushed Time's hand off. He looked so much like Raven...

"You know, most of you guys said the same. How you don't know how you forgot, I don't get it either, but the fact remains that it happened and quite frankly I'm far too tired to deal with the emotions required for this conversation. Like I told Sky and the Smithy, I've forgiven worse people for worse crimes and given them second chances, you should be more caught up on getting your own forgiveness at this point before the guilt eats you alive."

Time didn't move and Legend looked over his shoulder at him, the double shapes reminded him how bad of condition he was in...

Maybe he should take advantage of this area...

"You're far too wise for your age, Veteran," Time sighed. "I... I appreciate your words, but I'm certainly not forgiving myself for what I did to you, not for some time."

"Hmm, that's up to you," Legend said. He pulled out his hookshot.

"Legend?"

"Yeah?"

Time squeezed his arm gently. "Take care of yourself. Get some rest."

Legend chuckled. "When I've got a second, I'll get some sleep. Coming?"

"Yes, yes."

Legend soon was pulling himself up into the rocky forest and he helped Time up.

Despite Time's clear but unsaid reservations, Legend went his own way yet again and he desperately hoped for a chance to get some proper sleep.

Legend knew he probably looked like hell froze over but at this point he was going to be the cause of hell freezing over.

The portal opened up and there was half a dozen monsters on the other side. After that he was stuck running for two weeks days, non-stop, he barely got eight hours of sleep during that whole stretch of time. He killed the monsters that chased him and then more would come and he just had to keep moving.

He. Was. Exhausted.

He was in a clearing, completely surrounded by monsters. He couldn't even count them anymore, he just depended on his other senses, hearing, scent, and his magic — not the tracking darkness part of it, the magic he unlocked with the Triforce of Courage — all outlining his opponents.

He was breathing heavily and then a monster suddenly just — died. He heard the hiss of an arrow through the air and it was so off target to hit him, he hadn't paid it mind, but then the monster dropped.

Then there was a war cry and he felt several other presences approach.

A moblin tried to catch him off guard but before he could even move to dodge, it was slammed down by Time, sun glinting off the golden plate armor.

Legend stumbled back. Wind was practically tackling a bulbin where Hyrule and Wild were sending flames in the shapes of spheres and swords into the group of lizalfos. Warriors and Four were already locking blades with a Darknut and Armos respectively. Twilight wasn’t far behind Time, practically overwhelming a moblin in an instance.

“Veteran!” Sky near slid to his side. “You alright?”

“Fine,” he replied, shifting to put his back to Sky.

The monsters that weren’t immediately occupied by another hero, all continued to focus on Legend and charged him and Sky.

Legend wanted to curse the presence of others, he couldn’t be near as volatile as he had been recently. Though, he definitely didn’t have the energy to use any of his more volatile items, like his Bombos Medallion or his Quake one.

So he was stuck being safe, which was far more dangerous.

Having a back against his constantly threw him off, he hadn’t dared split into the Doppels since he started being hunted for fear of being permanently split, or just separated. Any presence near him had been a danger and at this point he had to stop himself from cutting Sky’s head off over three times.

Then there was a spike of dark magic that had him snapping his head over at the forming portal. 

And the half dozen arriving monsters, all strengthened by dark magic and therefore black blooded.

“Those are black blooded!” Legend called out, realizing he’d better tell them. “All six!”

“Great!” He heard Wild sarcastically exclaim while Wind outright cursed loudly.

The other heroes converged on the monsters, who were still clearly targeting Legend.

“Why are they going after you?!” Sky questioned with clear panic in his voice.

 “I may have figured something out that their boss doesn’t want me to,” Legend guessed.

“Which is?”

Legend was about to answer when a ball of fire was flying at him and he had to deflect it with his mirror shield.

Somehow or another, he ended up in the middle of a protective circle, Warriors now at his side.

“Why are they so obsessed with you?!”

“Because I figured out who their leader is!” Legend exclaimed and one of the monsters roared, the others promptly attacking even more viciously.

“Well don’t tell us until we’re done!” Wind yelped.

Legend was dazed. He would have run at this point, but they were surrounded.

“Wars, lift me up!”

“What?!”

“I need a higher point to use my magic rods, so help me up!”

“Fine!”

Legend was suddenly on Warriors shoulders, Totem Time was a familiar method he still often used.

Fire and tornado rods in hand, he unleashed burning winds while calling out a warning to his apparent allies.

It didn’t kill anything big, but it did its job well enough. Keese were sucked up and burned while the larger monsters were distracted just long enough that the other heroes were managing to thin the herd. 

The magical energy it took to do that though, and to focus the blasts so they wouldn’t hurt the heroes, sapped a lot of Legend’s remaining reserves. He was near running blind.

Despite that, he continued to use his magic to restrict and focus the blasts of his magic rods to not hit the others until the entire clearing was devoid of monsters.

Once that fact registered, he near slumped over.

“Whoa! Legend!” Warriors yelped, hands flying to try and steady Legend but he frankly couldn’t even catch himself.

He was out before he hit the ground, he hadn’t even fallen part of the way before he was out.

Chapter Text

Legend woke up slowly, and for the first time in... what had to of been months, he felt... 

Well he felt awful, he felt heavy and his body was hot and he tried to inhale but it was a chore.

Everything felt loud, he could hear soft chatter but he couldn't understand it. There were crackles of a fire that had him wanting to jump at the sheer volume. His head felt far too small for his mind as it throbbed.

A whimper fell unbidden from his lips as he tried to hide himself from the loudness, from the heat, from the cold, from everything.

"Oh, shh," a soft voice managed to break through the haze. "It's alright. You're safe."

Something cold pressed against his head and he couldn't help the soft whine of relief as it cooled his throbbing head. 

"Is he alright?"

"He will be, it's a surprise he had been standing when we found him."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean his wounds were infected when we arrived, somehow he had been fighting with a two inch deep gash in his side that got infected, and still finished the fight."

The cold weight on his head had him relaxing, not bothering to fully comprehend the words he heard thrown over him. He wanted to sleep.

And sleep he did, he'd gotten used to falling asleep despite the pain.

He woke up several more times, but never fully, never coherently. He remembered hazes, soft tones and gentle words, a cooling to the suffocating heat, a flame burning not far from him. He remembered panicked voices and fearful urges and then liquid being fed down his throat and he had no choice but to swallow it.

But even then, he passed back out within minutes.

This time, he woke up far slower. He pried his eyes opened and grimaced at feeling the grit there, pulling a hand up from beneath a heavy weight to rub away the sleep and grit from his eyes.

It was soft, where he was, he was laying on a sofa with three blankets over him. He was soaked with sweat and his head still spun, but he was awake and it wasn't throbbing and he felt like he had actually slept. Sure he didn't have energy, but his magic was full for the first time in... goddesses, ages.

He was in a living room, one he didn't quite recognize. It was similar to his grandparents house but not quite, the pictures were wrong, the furniture was in the wrong places. The hearth was cooling, embers still colored with heat but no flames burning.

He pushed the blankets off him, feeling a little cold after but he had been sweating a lot under them and it wasn't gonna work if he kept them on. He was pleasantly surprised to find that he had bandages neatly wrapped around him. For a while, long enough that he could actually remember in the few instances he had slept, he couldn't properly bandage himself up. He had to just block off the bleeding so he could keep moving. He knew he ran out of healing supplies within the first day of that last part.

Fi would know what happened. His bag, surprisingly, was on a table on the side of the room, he spotted it when he sensed his sword.

He folded his the blankets in his lap, trying to figure out what had happened. He stacked the blankets on the sofa and dragged himself off it and over to his bag.

He remembered fighting, but even the fighting was a blur, and even if he knew he had been going for at least a week, he hardly remembered two days of running. He figured it was the lack of sleep. He remembered a flash of gold, and a back pressing against his, but that was really it.

He was found by someone after something, right?

He took her by the hilt and couldn't help but smile a bit. Her soft chimes and questioning rings had him assuring her he felt fine, still a bit tired, but he wanted to know what happened.

Memories were provided to him, fighting, blades clanging and shields banging. Cries of pain and animalistic snarls.

Being surrounded by about a dozen monsters, exhausted and drained of all energy and only functioning on adrenaline, spite, and a need to survive. Having three bad wounds but still standing and fighting because he was too stubborn to lay down and die.

Something gold slamming into one monster, blue and green bringing flames to the field, a back pressing against his and white entering the very edges of his faulty vision.

They'd come, they'd saved him.

Lon Lon Ranch then, he supposed they were at. He recalled Time mentioning the place and it explained why it had the same look as his grandparents house.

Footsteps alerted him to a presence and he didn't hesitate to draw his sword as he turned.

A woman came around the corner and she stopped, she had fiery red hair like a crimson flower, bright and vivid, and she seemed to be just getting ready to get moving for the day.

"You're up." She smiled at him warmly. "It's alright hun, you're safe here. I'm Malon, Li — ah, Time's wife."

Legend lowered his sword. "Oh..."

She approached him. "You're in Lon Lon Ranch. How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"

He shook his head. "No, ma'am. I feel fine. Well, in fact."

"Rested?" She prompted.

He grimaced, but he knew he wasn't going to allow himself to sleep anytime soon.

She clicked her tongue. "You should get more rest." If her hair had been white and gray and she had a yellow bandana in her hair, he would've been looking at his grandmother. That tongue click was especially familiar.

"I don't think I can, ma'am," Legend said softly. He sheathed Fi and set her back on the table. "I've more energy than I've had in... months. I don't think my body will let me recharge completely just yet, not unless I do somethin'."

She hummed. "Get changed, you can help me with some o' the early mornin' chores 'round the farm before Link sends the other boys out to handle the rest. It ought not to take too much energy, but 'nough that sleepin' again may be easier."

Legend was fairly surprised when she suggested that, but he nodded. She directed him to the nearby washroom, unaware he knew the layout of the building, and he changed. He would clean up later if there was time for it, but even now he couldn't sense any black blooded monsters as far as his senses could go (which was extremely far), the only amulets within his awareness were in his pouch.

Malon led him outside and he helped her milk the cows and gather eggs from the cuccoos, making a comment here and there.

"You a farm boy, Legend?" She asked as they headed back inside just as the sun was peaking over the horizon.

"Grew up on a farm 'til I started 'venturing," Legend admittedly, carrying the basket of eggs. "My grandparents own a farm just like this. They're wantin' to give it to me, but I 'aven't the chance to really slow down wit' the adventures yet."

She smiled. "Yew've got an accent, ya know? It wudn't there earlier, but it's been comin' out."

Legend shrugged. "Farms do that. I don' min’. S'what I grew up on and most farmers don't care if I got a bit o' an accent 'round them."

"Link said you... Link said that you mentioned being descended from us?"

"I'm definitely descended from you, or an alternate timeline's equivalent," Legend admitted. "Lon's my family name."

She beamed. "Really? Now that’s amazin'."

He held the door open for her and she led the way into the kitchen. She wouldn't let him help, so he sat on the barstool as she bustled about.

"So yew grew up on a farm?"

"Lon Lon Ranch."

"Then ya started 'venturing? How many yew have? I heard that Wind's got a few and so's Four."

"I've done... four, five if you actually individualize them. I just group two I did together for simplicities sake."

"Five? Ah you must be one o' the older ones then? You don' look twenty..."

"I'm nineteen, and — don't tell the others, they'd flip, but I started at nine."

She stared at him. "Oh... hun." She stopped moving around the kitchen to move over to him, he had propped his head up to keep it up and he lifted it off his hand to look over at her as she moved to his side. "You've been doin' this for a long time... longest break?"

"Maybe a year, between the last and this one."

"You need rest," she said softly. "Real rest."

He chuckled, propping his head back up. "I'll get it eventually. The oatmeal's gonna burn if ya leave it alone much longer, Miss Malon."

She hesitated before going back to the stove. She didn't have to know that he expected his real rest to be when he died, and even then, he had full plans to continue fighting evil in death. Sun had asked to tag along and watch too.

He started to nod off within a few minutes and Malon urged him back to the sofa.

It took a while, since nodding off was very different from genuine falling asleep, but he managed it eventually.

The next time he woke up, the sun was well into the sky and he had far more energy.

He pried his eyes open, dragging himself up too and instantly there were voices.

"Legend!" Wind was appearing at his side, eyes wide. "Malon said you were up this morning!"

"Mhm," he hummed, pushing the blanket to the side. "Everyone alrigh' from the fight? 'Lots of monsters then."

Wind nodded. "Yeah — we had a couple injuries but we've all healed up since. You had it really bad. Why did you have so many injuries that weren't at least bandaged right?! And they were infected at that!"

Legend was admittedly thankful for Fi reminding him of the events. "Didn't have time to do more than what I did."

"More — You did the bare minimum!"

Legend somehow wasn't surprised to see Wind being as bad as Twilight would occasionally be with Wild. He attributed it to older sibling vibes. 

"I barely had enough time to do that much," Legend admitted. "At least I didn't leave it completely untouched. I would've probably bled out."

Wind scowled. "You... You shouldn't have been. Why were they after you?"

Legend winced. "I'm waiting to explain that only once."

Wind narrowed his eyes at him. "Fine."

Legend changed into actual clothes and then ended up helping Malon in the kitchen, as she apparently kicked Wild out since he was always cooking for the others and deserved a break.

"I'm telling you, some Subrosian Peppers and this would peak." 

"Do you have any?"

"Sadly no, I don't tend to carry around spices with me — I should though!" Legend realized. "I could put a box by my ice rod and it would keep it cool. I bet I could make it so I could have the magic constantly keep it cold so I could carry sauces too."

Malon hummed. "I'm sure you could figure it out. You seem to be quite the smart man."

"I like to think so."

"Missus Malon!" A voice called from the front door simultaneously as it creaked open. "Link wants to know if he should send us to wash up for dinner!"

"It's almost ready so yes!" Malon called back.

”Okay!” The door slammed shut.

Legend hummed. "You know, with how you're doing this, it almost seems like you and the Old Man have yourselves seven sons."

Malon gave him a smile. "He might have seven, but I think I'll have eight."

Legend glanced over at her from the dish he was finishing. "Oh."

She nudged him gently. "If you'd have me."

"I..." he hesitated a long moment. "Sure."

She positively beamed, she wrapped an arm around his shoulders but was careful not to get her flour covered hand on him. "Thank you, Legend," she murmured against his hair.

"Thanks," he muttered back and that was that. She pulled away and they didn't mention it again, going back to finishing dinner and setting the table for ten.

Everyone filled in, and each time one of them saw Legend, he was immediately questioned on his condition.

It was a bit overwhelming, even back home, he only had two people like that at a time, sure there was more total but never at the same time.

Eventually, after far too long in his opinion and it took him way too much self control not to snap, they were settled. He was trying not to start back at the beginning though, so he grit his teeth and repeated that he was fine a dozen times.

"So?" Wind demanded. "Can you tell now?"

Legend let out a long suffering sigh.

"Tell what?" Wild asked. "Why those things were so obsessed with him?"

"Yes! There was so many and they didn't even care when we showed up, they just wanted him!" Wind exclaimed.

"I'd like to know too," Sky agreed. "You said it was because you figured something out that they didn't want you to."

"I figured out who — or rather what — is causing all this," Legend corrected.

"How?" Four asked.

He dug into his pouch and held up one of the many amulets he had pilfered off the many bodies he'd slain. "This is an amulet filled with extremely dark magic. Magic so dark that when worn by a monster, which can take dark magic and amplify its own strength, it turns their blood black."

They all stared at it.

"Every single black blooded monster I've encountered is wearing this amulet or something similar, it's so consistent that I've begun to function off that. Tracking identical magical signatures is extremely easy once you know how. Sure, distance is hard to determine, but direction is easy. That's how I've been... escaping them, and finding them. I told Wild which way to go, and Wars, then I found you that one time because I was tracking distance and they stopped getting closer or remaining stagnant. It's a little unreliable, since it's only the monsters wearing these things that I can track, but I can more easily handle the other ones."

They all stared at him.

"And — Why didn't you tell us?" Hyrule asked, blatantly surprised.

Legend bit his tongue with his back teeth. He didn't want to admit that he didn't want them to be constantly chased like he had been, but that was the reason.

"Didn't get around to it," he said instead. "Usually slipped my mind."

"How?" Twilight stared at him.

"Look, I was tired, I have been running on adrenaline, spite, and energy-boosting magic for over two months so please don't try and find logic in any of my decisions."

"Two months?!" Sky exclaimed.

"Wait but who's behind it?" Four cut in, sticking his arm out and pulling Sky back into his seat. "And how'd you figure it out?"

Legend sighed. "I'm fairly sure I know but I'm not certain since I've been under the impression they're very dead but magic and all." They all looked confused and he sighed, sitting straight again. "Look, all magic has a different signature. You've got dark, which is kind of like a... soft embrace, that's how it gets you, it feels enticing magically and soon the rest of you follows not realizing how far you fall. Anyways, then you have elemental magic which varies depending on the core element, water, fire, earth, and air. These amulets were created, so we're looking for a mage. There's dark magic in them yes, but if you pick it apart enough and remove the dark, you can find the original magic of the creator and whatever other magics they used."

He pulled out a different amulet and showed them, what was a black crystal was now a plain clear one. "This is one I purified. I pulled all the dark magic out and what's left is —"

"Elemental magic," Four said. "Air — wind."

Legend nodded, a bit surprised it was the smithy who figured it out but oh well. "And divine."

"Divine?" Sky repeated.

"The Triforce," Legend amended. "In short, our enemy is a wind mage who got their hands on a piece of the Triforce, unlikely the whole one but that is a possibility. Now, this is where it gets a bit more interesting. This wind mage has been traversing time, so we have to determine either their original era or the one they currently reside in, which is most likely the same one but there's chances, obviously."

"Did you figure that out?"

"I have an approximate. While the design of the amulets are a mix of Sheikah and Zonai, Wild you can tell Purah and Robbie thanks again for me," Wild gaped at the comment, "the creation method is far more ancient. The design is post-Warriors but pre-Wild, however they used a magic method that has long since been replaced by a far more efficient and effective method. Their method is from Four's era. Since there's a better method, I'd guess that they used a method more familiar and possibly one they had already fully learned, rather than searching the timeline for a newer, better one."

"No." Four near stood up. "A wind mage from my era?"

Legend nodded. "That's what it seems. One with access to extremely powerful dark magic or knowledge in it that can pair with the Triforce of Power."

"YOU'RE KIDDING ME! VAATI?!"

Four near flipped the table had Twilight not been quick to restrain him.

Legend startled a bit. "Wait — You know a wind mage?"

"He was one of my enemies in my journeys, right beside Ganon!" Four looked livid.

Warriors raised an eyebrow. "What can you tell us about him?"

"He's a —" Four scowled and then apparently rethought his choice of words. "He's over dramatic, a little — very, very annoying, extremely skilled with magic. He was... at best, a nuisance, at worst, the most infuriating thing I ever had to fight."

"What happened to him? Ya mean you didn't defeated him?" Twilight asked.

Four shook his head. "I did. In the end, Vaati wasn't much of a mage anymore, he was a creature of darkness and we had to seal him into the Four Sword. Since I've been using the Four Sword, we actually managed to transfer the seal from the Four Sword to this huge pyramid, so he's trapped there."

"Wait a pyramid?" Legend questioned.

Four nodded again. "Yeah."

"I assume it's associated with the Four Sword?"

"Well," Four tilted his head, "not really. It's just a very magical location that was apparently built to house a great evil, so we used it for that."

"So should we go there?" Twilight asked. "Sounds like that's where our big bad is."

"I think so. If it's a wind mage from my era then it is definitely Vaati, but it doesn't make complete sense since he gave up humanity. Plus he should still be trapped."

"We can at least investigate it," Warriors suggested. "If we end up there."

"Umm," Wind glanced at Legend. "Who do you mean by 'we'?"

"All of us," Warriors said with a gesture to them all.

Legend frowned, leaning back a bit.

"Legend doesn't have to come with us!" Hyrule jumped in, clearly defensive. "He — He's perfectly entitled to that, after everything. I mean, I know it would probably be safer and-and I'd prefer it if — but it doesn't matter what I or we want, only if he's alright with it!"

"Have you even asked if he is?" Wild argued. 

"Well no, but we can't assume that things will change! The baseline was him alone and us together and I don't want to force him to change that based on our expectations!"

"Well?" Twilight looked over at Legend expectantly. "Would you... be willing to rejoin us?"

Legend admittedly didn't expect that. He didn't expect the offer and he didn't expect the immediate indecision in his heart. He quickly stood and moved for the front door.

"Wait!"

"Legend!"

"I'll be back!" He yelled over his shoulder. He just needed some air.

The door shut behind him, he kept walking 'til he was leaning against the cow pen fence and watching the animals graze.

"Do I?" He muttered to himself. "Do I want..."

Did he want to go back. There was an unease to that decision, a fear of it, if anything. 

On one hand, he...  he knew they felt bad, he knew they regretted it and most of them begged for a chance to do better. He knew he could at least trust Sky and Hyrule, he knew they wouldn't leave him behind.

Even so, there was that lingering hurt. Even if he insisted they were forgiven, it still lingered in his heart. Those weeks where he was testing things, testing them. When he went days without food just to see if Wild would notice like he did with Hyrule. The nights back to back that he took second watch and Time never noticed despite preventing Warriors from taking first or third multiple times in a row multiple times during that stretch. Especially the times he stepped out of eyesight and never heard them try to find him.

He may have forgiven them in his mind, but he was well aware his heart still hurt from that and he just... he didn't want it to happen again.

Did he dare?

Several days later, Legend sat up in a tree, ears pricked for sound while he tried to finish fixing the embroidery on his tunic. It was crucial the embroidery was perfect for the magic to work correctly, and this tunic was probably one of the only reasons he survived as long as he did.

The portal from Lon Lon had been unexpected, but Legend wasn't too bothered. He was enjoying his current alone time.

He didn't regret his decision, not yet at least. The nights were especially nice, even if he could sense the monsters pressing in, he could actually breathe and that was... nice.

He heard the banging of a pot and he looked down. At the base of the tree was the camp, the others all quickly moving to get food. Wild was waiting and then he looked up at Legend.

"Coming, Vet?"

"Coming," Legend confirmed. He finished pulling through his stitch before he climbed back down to accept his dinner.

Warriors was teasing Twilight for something he'd said, apparently with an especially thick accent, and Wind started speaking really posh to tease Warriors in turn. 

Hyrule slotted himself beside Legend, not talking but almost leaning on him. 

After most everyone ate, they shifted to talking or their own thing. Sky started woodcarving, and Legend felt a warmth bubble up as Hyrule pulled out some yarn and a certain hook and began to continue a scarf. Legend went back to his embroidery.

Hyrule leaned over to show Legend his stitches and Legend had to glance over with a needle between his lips to nod. Hyrule grinned and continued.

Legend hadn't quite noticed it at first. Not with how many amulets he was accumulating. Thankfully the others agreed to him keeping them all on him as he gathered them. But the dark magic made it hard to notice anything in his immediate area.

Oddly, they weren't being hunted like Legend had been, which confused him just a bit.

Then he noticed it. 

He noticed it when he got more comfortable with the group and made a sarcastic comment that immediately had him reeling back and snapping his mouth shut. A comment that had Twilight chiding him about it afterwards. He noticed it when Wild had to barely scrape enough food to count for nine. He noticed it when Warriors had nearly forgotten to give him a task during a village visit.

He noticed it when he had dropped an amulet he was working to purify of dark magic so he wouldn't have to deal with the danger of its power and the obvious target it painted on his back. He'd stopped to pick it up and he noticed the absence of anyone noticing, despite him having been near the middle of the group.

He ignored the thought to see how long it would take them to notice and caught up, pulling Four into a conversation about metallurgy.

He hadn't noticed the cause though, he hadn't noticed why there was a very familiar shift.

Legend stared at the camp under him, eyes narrowed as they packed up. He'd told Warriors, and Time, that he was taking his watch in the tree. He'd had third watch that night, so he'd seen everyone woke up, and he was getting painful flashbacks to another morning where he'd tested a limit.

"No way," he muttered, eyes narrowed. "They wouldn't... not again." Hyrule had promised.

He saw them begin to leave, then Hyrule stopped in his tracks, fairy magic spiking and he looked back.

"Legend! You coming or what?" He called and Legend saw the others visibly startle.

He was lucky he still had a handkerchief he'd been embroidering as a project in his lap.

"Yeah! Sorry!" He called down, he jumped down and ignored the confused looks some of the others had aimed at themselves as he fell in step with Hyrule.

Why did Hyrule suddenly seem brighter? Why did the others seem darker upon inspection?

Legend had a sinking feeling. He fidgeted with an amulet, eyes narrowed at the magic.

He'd felt it before, hadn't he? A long time ago...

The next portal, once again, did not let out into Four's Hyrule, but it was very close to a certain grove in Legend's.

"Where —"

"Mine," Legend said and he hated the way half of them jumped as if reminded of his presence. "Follow me."

"Where are we headed?" Hyrule asked.

"To the Palace of the Four Sword," Legend answered.

"Wait what?" Four sped up to walk closer to him. "The palace of — What?"

"Yep."

"Any explanation, vet?" Time asked as Legend led the way through the forest.

He glanced back over his shoulder. "I just need to check on the place, that's all."

"If you say so."

Legend nodded and he led the way. He felt everyone's surprise as they arrived at the Pedestal of Time.

"What is this place?" Hyrule asked. "It's so..."

"Powerful?" Legend suggested. His successor nodded. "That's because this is where the Master Sword resided before I drew her."

"She's not back?" Sky asked while a few others inhaled sharply.

"No," Legend said as he walked up to that pedestal. Memories curled to the forefront of his mind, memories of a terrified child fighting for his life, finding three medallions that he still wore around his neck, memories of a kind but weak and near broken voice soothing his fears, memories of a woman subtly guiding him throughout the rest of that adventure and then after.

"What are you doing?" Time asked. "Were we not headed to a palace?"

Legend hummed. "We are. Problem is, that palace is in the Sacred Realm." He drew his sword. "Now I can theoretically let us all in, forming a portal there, but I don't think I need to explain why that's probably a bad idea."

There was several nods of agreement, inclinations and winces.

"So either I do that, or I'll go on in myself."

"Why would you need to check on a palace that's inside the Sacred Realm?" Sky asked. "It should be safe."

"The Sacred Realm was corrupted during my first adventure. I fixed it, but remnants remain even today and... the Palace of the Four Sword had a majority of those remnants." Legend purposely didn't make eye contact with Four. 

"How do you get there?" Twilight asked. "Do you need the Master Sword?"

"No, I have it," he said. "So? Mind if I run on an check on it. Shouldn't take 'til dinner." He wasn't expecting them to stay.

"Hurry," Time agreed. "I imagine the Sacred Realm is perfectly safe, so you should be just fine."

He nodded, drawing his own sword. The Golden Sword gleamed in the sunlight, especially as he raised her skyward.

He heard Sky's gasp. Once he had enough power in the blade, he drove the Golden Sword back into her pedestal, hearing a few of them jump and several make some kind of loud noise, a gasp or inhale or yelp, as golden light streamed into the clearing.

Then he blinked and he felt the magic shift, and he was alone.

Legend stood back up, exhaling as divine magic curled around him, welcoming him, soothing cuts and bumps and bruises. A darkness still lingered, leaving a foul taste on his tongue, but he was definitely back in the Sacred Realm.

"Alright, old girl... time for a walk down memory lane," he murmured softly, sheathing his sword back. "Think they'll still be there when we get back?"

The soft chime in response was telling.

"Not even fifty," he muttered. "Hyrule wouldn't, right...?"

"He is the reason the chance of them remaining is so high," she said, as if the chance she told him wasn't 36%. "However the magic that appears to be influencing them has been growing stronger. Their continued surprise at your presence has been a demonstration of such increase."

"I know," he sighed, spotting the pyramid of his nightmares. "It's his promise and his fae magic that's been keeping him aware, but I'm almost worried the others will think him insane or that dark magic will block out his magic."

"Both are likely to happen, sixty and seventy respectively."

"Figures," Legend sighed. "Alright. Hopefully this thing will give some answers because this — This has got to stop."

The surprised looks, the near drawing of swords, the almost being left behind — It'd taken far too long for him to notice the infection of darkness sinking into the other heroes' skin.

He had to hope that this... infection wasn't permanent. He had to hope.

The pyramid was the same as before, but lacked the monsters and the stupid door toll guy. He'd nearly forgotten about the guy who blocked the door until he saw the door and figured out what was missing.

He didn't have to do the dungeon all over again, but he had a sinking feeling. That dark magic he'd grown so familiar with was thick in the air, though far older and more ancient than what he was used to.

The doors swung open without preamble and he made his way to that final room.

The magic spiked, and instead of residue, this was consistent, this was a seal.

"Can you break seals?" He murmured to Fi, disliking the feeling of being watched as he moved to the middle of the room. 

Before he heard a response, he heard steps and he was blocking a dashed attack, blade locking with another. Red eyes burned and Legend remembered why he swore not to return to this specific part of the Pyramid of Power.

He dodged the next attack and was rather underwhelmed by the next attack.

He twisted around the swinging sword and slammed the green shadow to the ground.

"Come on, Smithy," he muttered. Divine magic curled around him and he tried to pull at the dark magic that held fast to the shade, just as he had lately been doing to the amulets.

It, he, screamed.

Legend tried to move as fast as he could, keeping the shadow pinned and hoping that once he pulled all the darkness that nothing would remain, that his new theory was dreadfully wrong.

Except he was watching the darkness seep from his skin, he was watching color return to gray skin and vibrancy return to faded fabric.

The darkness thickened behind him and Legend dove aside, pushing one last burst of warm magic into the green one, who remained unmoving on the ground as a red shadow tried to tackle him from behind.

The red one was far faster, but Legend was older and clearly these guys hadn't changed.

Dodging past spinning blades, Legend twisted arms behind their back and pulled more on that dark magic, pouring more of his magic in its place to snuff it out.

They screamed too, and Legend heard a whimper behind him. He allowed the briefest lapse in magical focus to look over and meet dazed green eyes, reaching a hand out toward him and the other shadow.

Legend tried to move faster. Just as the red one went limp, the air shifted and he was diving aside. He pulled the red one in his arms as he barely dodged the downward thrust of the blue shadow.

Legend quickly laid the red one down and he dove to block the next swing of the blue shadow's sword.

That magic cape that had been such a struggle the first time around was suddenly unimportant as he wasn't trying to hurt him. He just had to pin him down.

The blue one was a bit harder to pin down with how jumpy he was, but Legend managed it and with all the kicking and literal biting it was a much larger struggle to keep him pinned and start draining that dark magic.

He was far more ready for the fourth. He twisted and quickly laid the now limp form of the blue one down as a sword beam flew over his head.

He darted forward and rolled under the attempted downward thrust. Catching the purple shadow was far harder than the previous three, he was dodging sword beams and slashes and they were really flighty.

Eventually he pinned him by the wrists to the ground and he could hear one of the others groaning behind him. The purple one kept twisting and fighting, snarling and everything. The dark had a far stronger hold on him but Legend was stubborn. He was stupidly stubborn in some cases, and this was partially one of them as he used a tiny bit too much magic.

The screams that all four of them had made would haunt him far more and far longer than the first fight.

Legend shoved himself to the side, near collapsing but stumbling to his feet. There was four prone bodies, the red one was curled up in a fetal position and whimpering while the green one was groaning and beginning to pull up. The blue one was just limp, face the picture of peace with the slightest lines of pain, and the purple was clearly in immense pain but far more out of it than any of the others.

He moved to the green one. "Smithy?"

Green eyes blearily blinked at him. "L-Legend? Wha..."

He winced. "Welcome back to the land of the living. You're — Green, right?"

He nodded, eyes slowly showing his awareness of the present. "What... what happened?"

"I don't know, last I saw you four was in the Lost Woods, not an hour ago, with everyone else."

Green was about to say something when a whimper drew their attention.

"Green?" Red, a softer less bloody-crimson, eyes met Green's and then flicked to Legend. There was a haze, a confusion there. "Wha... wha' happened?"

"Red," Green gasped, forcing himself and practically crawling over to him. Legend let them stick together as he went and knelt by Blue, then Vio. Both were alive, but much to his annoyance, there was a darkness that clung tightly to Vio.

His eyes narrowed. How dare this mage…

The other two jumped as bright gold light flashed from Legend's hand as he placed it over Vio's pained face.

Another scream ripped through the room, Red flinched into Green's arms. Blue shifted but was otherwise still practically unconscious.

Vio went still, clearly pained but far more at ease.

Legend grimaced as he sat back. He looked over at Blue and tried to feel out anymore darkness. Finally, the room seemed to magically lighten. 

"Vet?" Green called.

"Yeah?" Legend looked back over at him. Green was helping Red to his feet before he moved over to Legend.

"Can we leave this place? How do we leave?" Red asked. "We'll help carry Blue and Vio, but we —"

"I get it," Legend assured. "Do you — Are you missing anything? Do any of you feel anything wrong, magic wise?"

Green looked at Red, who shook his head.

"No, I-I feel fine. Better... better than I have in ages, actually. Lighter, capital 'L' Lighter."

Legend nodded. "Good... I'm more worried about these two, especially Vio, he had a lot more dark magic, there was some — different dark magic, I tried not to mess with it, but it's all so clingy. So there might be damage to that. But let's go."

He drew himself up and as Green quickly picked up Blue, he pulled Vio into his arms. He led the way out of the dungeon.

How did they... how did they get trapped here? How were they infected, corrupted, like that?

He had seen them not an hour ago, perfectly fine aside from —

Aside from this magic, the same magic that was slowly thickening around the other heroes, the same magic he had realized he recognized, the same magic from the Palace of the Four Swords.

Chapter Text

Legend set up a camp once they were out of the Sacred Realm and in a safe forest. Green and Red were looking much better and Blue had since come too, but Vio was still basically out cold.

He made a simple soup, a little hesitant to make anything heavy not just because they'd been through a lot. He frankly had also not yet gotten used to eating full and heavy meals since his several months of surviving on what little he could grab and ration.

"How'd you know our names?" Red asked as they started to let the fire die and moved to their bed rolls.

Legend paused in cleaning and maintaining his sword. "Well... you guys are something of legends in my time, your stories are childhood stories. I... I kinda just grew up on that."

"Oh! So you're kind of our successor then?" Red asked.

"I thought he was Time's?" Green spoke up from his place at Vio's side.

"Yeah..." Red narrowed his eyes. "I don't know then."

"I thought Time was dead in his timeline," Blue spoke up.

Legend sighed. "Time is my predecessor, but if it were more of my role model, then you guys were more than he was."

"Well duh, he died," Blue deadpanned.

"Wait really?" Green stared at him. "Us?"

Legend snorted. "Yeah, and then I beat you all in a fight at nine years old."

"Okay no! We fight so much better than — I use items! I can spin attack and Green is faster than us!" Red argued. "I'm never fighting you but we could do so much better."

"He's right," Blue agreed with a sharp grin. "We'd wipe the floor with you —"

A groan broke them from the conversation and Blue and Green moved the fastest to Vio's side.

Legend raised his head to watch for monsters as the three checked on their fourth. He stood.

He caught Red's arm. "I'll go on patrol. Yell if you need me."

Red nodded and then quickly darted over the other three as Legend stepped out to patrol their camp.

Blue came and found him to drag him back to camp.

Vio still looked pale, but now that he was up, they wanted to talk about the problem at hand.

"So. What happened?" Legend asked, sitting down.

"We... aren't sure," Green admitted, seemingly a bit of the spokesperson of the four. "We remember you leaving! It's weird, there was — the same thing that was controlling us, it was there even then. A weird... shadow of some kind and it..."

"We didn't even hesitate to go through a portal despite you being gone," Red frowned. "I don't — It doesn't make sense."

"I think something was influencing us," Vio said. "More specifically, I think something was keeping us from noticing Legend."

Legend nodded. "I've come to the same conclusion. That's... That's actually why I came to the Pyramid of Power."

"Really?" Vio looked curious. "Explain."

"The dark magic. It was... familiar, it took me far too long to figure out where I'd sensed it before but my magic wasn't as good the first time I was there," Legend explained. "The same magic in the amulets was becoming thicker on everyone and then I remembered. So I thought that maybe a hint or more information would be there."

"And you found us again." Blue glared at the fire. "I can't... we've been there for... centuries."

"There was another portal," Green explained at Legend's confused look. "It... It went back to our time, our era, and we finally went to the pyramid we mentioned, and... it's... It was Vaati, wasn't it." He looked over at Vio. "We all fought him, but he wasn't fighting back, he was drawing us all around the pyramid and we got separated, and then... it went black and there's just... a dark haze."

"Yeah, that sounds right," Vio agreed and Red nodded in agreement as well.

"And the others?" Legend found himself asking.

They shook their heads.

"We lost track of them," Green admitted. "We... we kind of lost all sense of reason when we saw Vaati, and then ran off ahead, they might've stuck together but..."

Legend nodded. It was fair, if he saw Agahnim again he would probably lose all sense of reason just to kill the guy again.

"Are we from this era now?"

Red's voice was rather small and Legend froze. He was aware the others did too.

He tried to recall the end of the Heroes of the Four Swords, how they died or at least retired but...

"No," he said, before any of them. "No, that's not how the stories went so — you go back." He would force it to happen, at least. Nayru owed him one, she owed him a few. Even if the stories were vague and there wasn't any firm explanation for what happened to the Heroes of the Four Sword, he would make sure they at least got back to their era, at the very least.

The way Red lit up, Green and Blue slumped in relief, and Vio's shoulders dropped their sudden tension was plenty worth anything the goddesses cooked up for him.

He'd make sure they got back home.

The portal let them out back in the Colors' time. They merged again and Four led the way back to the pyramid.

"It looks about the same time we were here last," he said, eyes on the starry sky. "Constellations look about right."

"Then let's hurry up, we have a wind mage to beat up," Legend said. "I'm a bit tired of getting forgotten."

Four blinked. "HE DID THAT!" He exclaimed as if just realizing it. "OH, THAT SON OF A —" He grabbed Legend's arm and bolted down the road.

"We snuck in last time," Four said as he marched toward the front door. "But I think this would be a great alternate. Vaati thinks he has us trapped, and he does, but... we have to leave them, don't we?" He suddenly stopped. "Or else you wouldn't have met us, you wouldn't have encountered this magic before, you wouldn't have recognized it, I wouldn't have been able to tell you where we went after that... We have to leave them... to be trapped for centuries, even if they won't remember much of it."

Legend hesitated, then he nodded. "I'd rather not cause a timeline split, so yeah... we should."

Four nodded. "Fine. It — We'll be back. We are back. And we're going to kick Vaati's ass for the third time. Two or five?"

Legend sighed, he pulled on a medallion around his neck. "Let's do seven."

"Wait what?"

"You're four, I'm three. Seven. So let's go."

Four hesitated, then he shrugged and they ran the last of the way to the front door where a few monsters were guarding.

In two flashes of light, two became seven and Blue was full on tackling a bulbin that charged them. Flames flew from Red's fire rod as he wielded it in his right hand and dueled a darknut with his sword in his left. Vio was stepping back, bow drawn, and taking out a lizalfos that tried to attack Green who was already dueling two stalfos. Fern and Flare both took on a huge lynel as Frost shot a daira down from beside Vio.

The entrance was cleared in moments and Flare took the lead in taking down the front door, Green moving quickly to catch up and he led the way further in.

Between the seven of them — the Colors fueled by a wave of unmatched righteous anger and the Doppels just accustomed to constant, drained fighting — they practically stormed the pyramid and made it to the top.

The Doppels merged again just before they reached the top.

"Huh?" Green gave Legend a confused look.

"I prefer to stay as one," Legend explained, fixing his hat. "Being three is so — separated. We prefer to stay whole, rather than broken. Not that you're broken it's just — the doppel medallion is a bit different from the Four Sword, for one, and two we just prefer to stay singular."

"Oh, fair I guess. Ready?"

Legend nodded.

They pushed the doors open and Legend had flashbacks to his first journey, where he faced Ganon. The Triforce sigil on the ground was stained by blood and the other seven members of their group were already there.

Or rather, a shadow of most of the other seven heroes was present. Their skin was gray, their eyes a dark crimson red, and only one stood with colored skin and blue eyes.

Sky was panting, the Master Sword gleaming a bright white as he dodged blades, deflected some slashes, and parried others. He tripped Wind, deflected an arrow from Wild with the flat of his blade, and rolled out of the way of a blast of dark magic from Hyrule.

Legend ran forward. He slid between Sky's back and Warriors' swinging blade, blocking it with his own. Fi sang in his hand, a sad agreement to fight her other masters.

"Legend?" Sky gasped. "Wait — four... Fours?"

Red's fire rod took quite the hit from Hyrule's sword and Blue's hammer came swinging at Wild. Green caught Twilight's blade and Vio shot Time's from his hand.

"Don't question it. Fight and cover me from them."

Where were the other Colors? Legend nearly questioned. He parried Warriors' sword again and he moved fast against the other hero, twisting under a swiftly swung blade and driving his elbow into his stomach. It did little but it gave him the right stance to kick a leg out from under the infected hero.

He pinned him down.

"COVER HIM!" He heard one of the colors scream and Sky stood just behind him.

Legend cursed the fact that he hadn't had a chance to recharge his magic. Four had been hard enough, another six?

He'd need so many potions if he was going to stay awake.

Divine magic curled at his fingertips and he drove it into Warriors, a scream ripped into the air.

"NO!" Someone, something, a voice unrecognizable, roared. Pure anger, hatred even, rang in their tone.

Something slammed into Legend from the side. He rolled across the ground, slamming his already dizzy head against the stone ground.

"LOOK OUT!"

He didn't move fast enough but Sky did. Legend cursed as Sky tackled and rolled him just out of the way of a blast of dark magic.

"You!" Sky snarled, so uncharacteristically angry. Legend looked up and saw a mage holding a very familiar golden triangle.

"VAATI!" Blue roared.

"Shut it!" The mage screeched. "You're all pests! You are all sealed away in that damned room downstairs! You shouldn't even be here!" He gestured at the Colors, the other shades had stopped fighting, converging like soldiers behind the mage. "Then you! Your stupid sword only just now decides to start purifying you?! Ugh!" If looks could kill Sky's glare would put that mage below Subrosia. "And you!"

Legend tightened his grip on his sword as he glared up at the floating mage.

"You should be dead! Two hundred! I sent two hundred monsters after you! I isolated you from the group and even broke your spirit by making them forget about you! And you still survived!" The mage roared in anger.

"You — YOU MADE US FORGET HIM?!" Sky exploded and the air suddenly smelt of ozone. No, no it didn't suddenly smell of it, it already smelt of it, the scent just strengthened tenfold.

Legend startled back.

"You corrupt my brothers, force them to be your puppets, trap them goddesses know where! Fine. I'll kill you. But you're the reason my descendant was alone? Why he fought dozens of black-blooded monsters without backup? Went months without sleep? Without food? Why we spent almost a whole month nursing him back to health and even then he's still not a hundred percent?!"

Legend swore that thunder must've rolled through the building, that lightning was crackling off Sky's skin, but there wasn't.

It was just him.

"You really — You made a mistake, Vaati. You're dead."

Thunder had to of boomed with that vow, it had to.

Legend didn't even see Sky move, but the older hero was bringing a lightning bolt down through the ceiling and sending it at Vaati. He was slamming his gleaming blade against Vaati's staff. If there was ever, ever an example of a hero pushed too far, of a friend whose patience and composure wore so thin that it snapped, this was it. Sky had snapped, their softest, kindest, easily distractable Skyloftian had snapped.

"Legend!" Vio was at his side. "Come on! You have to break the others out!"

Legend nodded, shaking his head clear. Something warm bubbled in his chest from Sky's words.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, since that first day he found out, he felt... he felt happy to have royal blood. For the first time, it didn't feel like a death sentence, like it was something to hide so deeply from everyone. It was something he could covet, but not out of fear, out of warmth and safety.

The Colors rushed to help cover Legend as he charged Warriors again, having already started with him. He had a feeling Hyrule, Time, and Twilight would be the hardest to do, as the darkness was so thick around them, so he'd have to save them for after he took a potion.

Thunder boomed and lightning flashed, Vaati was sent to the ground and Sky chased him down. Vaati had been screaming for Sky to get away from him, but the screams of Wind as Legend tore the dark influence from his mind kept Legend from feeling even the slightest bit empathetic.

Blue had to protect Warriors as the shades tried to attack his limp form too. Red quickly carried Wind over to Blue and helped protect the two unconscious heroes while Green and Vio covered Legend until Red quickly returned to join too.

Wild was next, Legend had just enough magic to pull the last of the dark magic from him, and he knew these screams would add to the four that were already going to stain his nightmares for the rest of his life.

Fire blazed over his head and Red used his own affinity for fire elemental magic to forcibly redirect it from hitting anyone.

Vaati sent blast after blast at Sky while flying away to try and escape the livid hero, but he couldn't escape. Even summoning monsters did nothing, Sky cut them down in seconds.

Legend dodged a swinging blade, recognizing the Ordon Sword out of the corner of his eye. He pulled out a green potion from his pouch, ducking under a flying arrow and quickly downing the whole thing. Green slid between Legend and Wild's flying arrow, ice spreading across his shield.

With his back covered, Legend dodged another swing of his blade and tackled Twilight.

Stupid move, Twilight was much stronger than him. Turning them over and pinning Legend, but that didn't matter. He had the proximity he needed.

Golden divinity flashed through burning red eyes and Legend feared he was becoming desensitized to these screams. They were gut-wrenching, heart-stopping, painful screams that tore him apart inside. He was the cause of their pain, even when he'd seen Twilight, or any of the others, take near-lethal hits, he had never heard anything near the level of screams they released this time.

Pink returned to grayed flesh and clear azure washed out bloody crimson. Eyes rolled back into his head and Legend was pleasantly surprised Twilight wasn't as draining as he'd expected.

Hyrule and Time left.

Time was closer and a quick sweep of his legs had him falling.

Time hadn't screamed, not audibly, and that was just as bad. It didn't take as much magic as he expected, for how thick the darkness was around him. There was so much of it but unlike with anyone else, it wasn't able to cling as tightly. Oh, it was trying, but something of the Old Man's held it from fully sinking its claws in while his mind still fell to its influence.

As blood melted away, Legend met milky white and sky blue.

He staggered back to his feet and away from a now unconscious Time.

A blade hit his foot, one had just slid across the floor and hit his foot—the Master Sword. Legend looked frantically at Sky, who was weaponless.

Almost unsurprisingly, Sky dodged under a monster and pulled out a whip. He stole a giant sword from a moblin and promptly used the blade over twice his height and at least twice his width seemingly with ease. The moblin was sent crashing and Vaati's last line of defense was an armos that was probably also going to be obliterated by the huge sword.

The air already reeked of ozone, but as he felt his hair raise as if a fabric filled with static electricity had been held above it, he had a horrible feeling. He looked behind him and met a gray face that he would hope to never see in such a context ever again.

Hyrule's infected crimson eyes blazed with electricity. A fierce chime pierced his mind, an order, and his sword was raised skyward just in time as a lightning strike plummeted down to him.

He hadn't felt the lightning, Fi absorbed all of it into her blade and he hadn't felt the expected recoil.

"LEGEND! PASS!"

Legend turned and threw his blade at Sky.

The moment of seeing his ancestor catch the blade whom he had forged and then Legend had re-forged, raised her crackling blade to the sky as she sang, and then brought down the lightning onto Vaati. It was... incredible, seeing the gleam of the sword and hearing her sing, watching the righteous fury of his ancestor

Legend grabbed the Master Sword at his feet, bringing her up and stopping the Magical Sword from decapitating him. Hyrule somehow lasted longer than most of the others in a duel, but even so, this infection detracted their skills. He should've known that for how he had fought the Colors, but he had never sparred with Four.

He had sparred with Wild and Hyrule in the past, and as he disarmed his successor with a move that Hyrule had nearly used against Legend once in a spar, it was just so obvious.

Hyrule probably fought back the dirtiest once Legend pinned him, teeth clashing and trying to grab onto anything, magic flaring violently, he twisted his whole body. Legend only barely managed to pin him and he pressed his hand over the blazing red eyes.

Golden light flared and he heard the scream. It ripped him to his core. He never wanted to hear that sound again, ever. The golden light of his magic burned through the darkness and encouraged the glittering fairy magic back into place. He pulled back as the last of the darkness was driven away.

Hyrule was far more drenched, more than even Vio had been. His innate magic must have tried to fight it off and Vaati hadn't let that happen, he just drowned out the sugary fairy magic.

Once color returned to pale gray skin and crimson became viridian, Legend collapsed to the ground, barely controlling his fall enough not to crush Hyrule.

Everything felt heavy, he was drained heavily of magic and that just snapped his actual energy. At least Sky had taken out Vaati and everyone was hopefully... hopefully alright. He could rest, he was allowed to rest. Vaati was dead, the heroes were all freed of his influence, and they'd cleared the monsters on their way inside. He could rest. The other heroes could handle whatever —

"— d! Link! Link! Drink the potion!"

Something soft was pressed to his lips and liquid poured down his throat. Somehow he swallowed it and felt his meager magic begin to replenish faster. He groaned, forcing his eyes open.

"Oh thank the goddesses." Red breathed out a sigh of relief. "Wars and Wild's waking up. We're trying to keep everyone awake but monsters are coming in from nowhere and Sky's going to crash soon."

Legend pushed himself up quickly. "I thought we cleared the monsters on our way in."

"So did I! But there's a lot more coming and the others are not going to be able to defend themselves, most of them need potions and supervision. We need you back in."

He nodded and grabbed the Master Sword as he stood, she was far more silent than his Golden Sword, but as he lightly channeled his magic through her, not dispersing it but essentially making her an extension of his magic, she thrummed in approval.

"Right," he said to Red. Then he murmured to the young sword in his hand, "Well, old girl, shall we?"

About half a dozen monsters were entering at a time, must've been the monsters he and the Colors hadn't cleared from the Pyramid when they stormed up it. Vaati had to of sent out some call, some kind of summoning that had them all flooding the room.

Legend moved over to Sky, who stood at the front of the group as a single barrier between the heroes and the monsters. The Colors were rushing with potions and helping Wild and Warriors move to a more defensible position. Red was rather firmly scolding Warriors for even trying to get back to the fight.

The Colors had been extremely drained, Legend didn't doubt they could've raised a weapon, Green had carried Blue after all, but even he could tell secondhand that they would've lost any fight that began, even against a keese.

He was glad they weren't taking chances with the others, even if they'd been trapped far longer.

"Can't be too hard," Sky said, flicking his whip lightly as he held the Golden Sword in his other hand.

"Done letting out your anger or can I start letting out mine?" Legend asked, spinning his ice rod in front of him.

"Who says we can't both do it? Switch?"

"Sure."

Swords swapped, Legend moved first and Sky was not far behind him.

An actual fight was relieving, and Legend lost himself in the movements.

Memories resurfaced, memories that drove him forward. All his tests, how he'd pushed lightly at a perceived boundary and just walked past it with ease, how he kept trying to find that back wall and never found it. The weeks of being ignored, forgotten; silenced. It all bubbled back up to the forefront of his memories.

It was no fault of these monsters, but it was the fault of their leader, and Sky had already left Vaati to be finished off by the Colors or already dead. As a result, Legend had limited options on who he could lash out against. He switched from his ice rod back to his shield and the Golden Sword sliced cleanly through armor and flesh. He bashed a head with his Mirror Shield.

The months of running, of unending fear and panic as he was hunted. He never coped well with being hunted, he never handled the constant chase, the eyes on his back, with any amount of stability or grace. It was the ceaseless drain on his energy, the way he strained his magic beyond any of his limits, and on one hand, he could thank them for that. His magic control was beyond what he had ever had before, but the pain of training magic and improving that far should've taken years, not two adrenaline-driven months.

Legend turned to find another monster to kill, but there wasn't any. Sky was looking around a bit frantically for the same, but they were both at a loss, surrounded by dozens of smoking bodies and soaked by black blood.

Legend looked over to the Colors and their charges. Warriors and Wind were staring at him and Sky, Wild was grinning and he called out a cheer across the room. Twilight cuffed Wild but he shot them a shaken grin too. Time looked dizzy, but he seemed far more surprised by the two of them than by his own condition. Hyrule was similar to Wild, only he looked far more awed than excited and far too coherent for what had happened to him.

Legend looked over at Sky.

"I lost count," he said lightly. "But I think I won that one."

Sky laughed, and it was a bit crazed, but the furious blue flames of a wildfire had softened to a hearth, lacking the rage that was replaced with fondness and warmth. "Nah, I definitely won."

"Think Fi kept count?"

Two distinct chimes reached their ears.

"Ha!"

"Oh come on."

"Called it! Three more!" Legend grinned as he teased his ancestor.

"Fine, fine." Sky laughed, bumping Legend's shoulder with his own as he led them back over to the others. "You win it this time, but only because I'm not counting the ones from before you joined in."

Legend rolled his eyes with an amused smile. "You're lucky we're not counting the monsters we killed on our way inside."