Chapter Text
Link couldn’t say he was entirely surprised to find himself suddenly at the bottom of a dry river bed near a town, he’d experienced weirder anomalies during his adventure. He stared up at the weathered stones of the bridge above him and contemplated his life choices. First he needed to find out where, and possibly when, he was. He also wasn’t entirely sure on how the locals would react to a stranger wandering into town. He also knew his assortment of rings, magic bracelets, and the medallions around his neck made him a prime target for idiot thieves. The less attention he drew to himself the better, he quickly took check of all the items he had on him before starting to plan. He sat up and he dug out a ring that he held onto for this kind of occasion. It was one of his odder rings, but rather than turning him into a monster like others he owned, this one just changed him into some Hylian guy he’d never met.
When the jeweler in Holodrum told him that the ring would turn him into “something” with an extremely confused expression on his face he had to test it out. He, of course waited until he was out of town to try on the ring, but hadn’t felt the usual magic disorientation that came with the other rings. If anything he had just felt slightly taller and when he went to investigate what he’d turned into in a river he only found a Hylian boy staring back at him. The boy had messy brown hair, brown-green eyes, tanned skin with a smattering of freckles across it, and a small rounded nose. He also wore a simple green tunic, brown pants, worn brown boots, and simple brown arm bracers. Overall it was an unremarkable change in comparison to previous experiences and at first he’d contemplated simply selling the ring, but something inside of him screamed at the idea of getting rid of something potentially useful. Though he couldn’t fathom what use it would have at the time.
He however found the ring to be incredibly useful when he returned to Hyrule. Even though Zelda had cleared his name, some of the knights of Hyrule saw him as a criminal. So the game ring became useful for supply runs to Kakariko, he could even walk through the front gates of the castle without anyone batting an eye. In short whoever the ring turned into, never stood out much, so much so that the guards of the castle never batted an eye when he never gave them a name. He never used the ring to cause trouble, he wouldn’t want the poor soul whose face he was borrowing to be charged with something he’d never done. Once again he donned the ring and got used to being slightly taller, he crawled out of the ravine only to realize he was closer to town than he thought. The town was just much smaller than most towns he’d ever been to.
He cautiously walked into town, keeping his guard up and immediately noticed that most of the villagers were as cautious of him as he was of them. He didn’t think too much of it, since he was a stranger walking into their town. That was until a boy came running up to him grabbing his hand in a surprisingly strong grip, “Link!” He froze, there was no way this kid should know his name. He'd never even met this kid… unless the poor soul he was disguised as shared his name and also lived here. The kid didn’t know that the ‘Link’ he knew was someone else entirely though. So when the boy looked around and leaned closer with a hand to his face, as if to tell a secret he played along.
He kneeled down, his knees disagreed with the movement, and lent the boy his ear. The boy whispered into his ear and he had to stop himself from flicking his ear at the tickling sensation of his breath. “There were a bunch of scary looking adults here looking for you. Of course I told them nothing, they could’ve been part of the Cult of Ganon after all.” The Cult of Ganon… that was new information to him but if the pig was involved we would be burning all his plans to the ground. One thing was certain that this ‘Link’ was in danger and he wasn’t gonna sit by and leave him to his own devices, they would likely be looking for him too judging by the fact that he was here.
He needed to find ‘Link’ first. He pulled back from the kid, pulling an apple from his bag and placed it in the boy’s hands. “Thank you, I’ll stay safe.” I’ll keep him safe, went unsaid. The kid’s eyes widened as he got up to leave, he didn’t pay it too much mind. He quickly retraced his steps out of town and jumped back down under the bridge. It was a convenient place for him to remove the ring without drawing too much attention and the ring would hinder his ability to use his magic items as needed for finding someone in unknown territory.
He was about to slip off the ring, when his ears picked up the sound of a sword being drawn. Whoever drew their blade was slowly, quietly approaching him. They certainly were familiar with stealth, but the rabbit within Link screamed whenever he was being “hunted.” He acted as if he hadn’t heard them at all but slowly, carefully reaching in his bag for his fire rod. The ring was mostly off his finger, he would just need to dislodge it to actually use the fire rod. He rolled the ring further off with his fingers, he really didn’t want to risk losing it but he valued his life more than a ring. He heard the person approaching step just into reach and heard the distinctive sound of their blade swinging.
Link took a step forward to pivot, he swung his fire rod to meet the person's blade. He froze when he saw the face of the person attacking him, it was the same person he was currently disguised as. He internally screamed, he could definitely understand why this guy was attacking him, Link was quite literally wearing his face. His attacker quickly recovered from having his swing blocked and quickly went in for the attack again. Link stumbled back, hitting the stone structure of the bridge, and he hurried to get the damn ring off his finger. Link ducked down and managed to get the ring off right as the sword swung, hitting the stone just where his head was moments ago. He pointed the fire rod at his attacker and poured enough magic into it to make it crackle to life.
His attacker froze, getting into a defensive position and Link could tell he was preparing to activate some magic by his energy. His attacker stopped when he got a good look at him and his face turned shocked since they were no longer copies of each other. “How?” Link could tell that he likely had more questions by how his mouth was trying and failing to form words. At least his fire rod got him to back off for now, hopefully after explaining himself there would be no hard feelings. He slowly kneeled down, goddesses his knees hated him, to pick up the ring and tossed it to ‘Link.’
“The ring turned me into you,” he saw that ‘Link’ had a lot more questions for him now but he continued before the other could speak. “I found it when I was overseas in Holodrum, around 5 years ago. No idea why it turns me into you specifically, but I was using it because you happen to stand out less than I do and frankly as of right now I have no idea where I am.” ‘Link’ stared at him, likely looking over his clothes and the plethora of magic items and nodded, looking a little numb. Link watched as he put on the ring he had tossed him and… nothing happened, he honestly didn’t know what he expected. He held up his mirror shield so ‘Link’ could see his reflection.
“I don’t know what I was expecting.” ‘Link’ said when he saw no changes to his appearance before removing the ring and tossing it back to him. Well it seems that they had reached an impasse at least, so Link lowered his fire rod completely and sat himself down on a raised stone. In response ‘Link,’ goddesses he really needed to address that soon, sheathed his sword. “My name is Link and you are?”
“Yeah, I gathered that when I went into town. Some kid came running up to me, scared me since my name is also Link.” ‘Link’s’ eyebrows shot up into his hair and he simply shrugged in response. “Speaking of said kid, he said some guy’s were looking for you and something about the Cult of Ganon.” The kid flinched but he continued anyway, “so I was on my way here to find you because if Ganon is coming back again the master sword will find its permanent resting place in his forehead.”
The other Link choked out a laugh in surprise before his face twisted in thought. “You fought Ganon before?” He said with wide eyes.
Link rolled his eyes, “yes, three times in fact, bastard just won’t stay dead.”
“You’re the Hero of Legend.” The other Link said in awe. Link hummed in response, he never really kept track of his hero names over the years… wait. “I grew up hearing stories of your adventures.” What the fuck? How?
“Okay, call me Legend because calling you Link has been giving me a headache. But now I’m going to have an even worse headache because how do I have a ring that turns me into you, when I’m apparently a fairy tale in whatever era this is?” Legend began rubbing his temples and he could see Link looking dumbfounded by the idea too.
“How should I know you found the ring.” Legend threw his hands up in exasperation, Link flinched at the moment but relaxed when Legend just huffed in defeat and rubbed his hand down his face. Yes, he was being dramatic but not even the Three could stop him. “But calling each other Link is confusing, so you can call me Hyrule if that helps.”
“Hyrule?” He questioned, no judgement in his voice.
Hyrule looked nervous, “it’s the only title I have, I kinda stumbled upon being the hero while I’m exploring.”
Well that won’t do. “Do you wield a sword?”
“Yes?” Hyrule looked confused.
But Legend continued on, “have you slain monsters?”
“Yes.”
“Do you love Hyrule?”
“Of course.” Hyrule looked offended by the question.
“Would you risk your life for the greater good?”
“Yes.”
“Sounds like you’re a pretty damn good hero to me.” Legend said simply, leaving no room for argument. Oh boy, Hyrule’s eyes lit up and he was clearly trying to keep his face from breaking into a grin. This kid really looked up to him and Legend really didn’t know what to do with that information. “Anyway what’s with the whole Cult of Ganon thing, because frankly if they’re after you they’re probably after me too?” Hyrule shrunk at that, which felt horrible, but he needed to know things if he was gonna help the other hero.
“Well they’re followers of Ganon, but you probably guessed that. They’re people who hunt me, since Ganon cursed me. They need my blood to resurrect him.” Legend felt cold, that was so much worse than Agahnim. He wasn’t sure how to respond but he knew he felt an entirely new form of rage against Ganon. He definitely couldn’t have this kid go running into danger if the people looking for him were on Ganon’s side, but Legend already had an idea brewing.
“How good are you at outrunning people, just in general?” Legend asked out of curiosity and Hyrule looked baffled.
“I’ve run from monsters but why people?” Hyrule asked cautiously.
“Because the people looking for you aren’t monsters, most monsters don’t talk and form groups.” Hyrule nodded in agreement. “That means they won’t be as easy to escape from, lucky for you not even the knight of my era can manage to catch me.” Hyrule looked baffled and concerned by that admission but Legend waved off his concerns with the simple explanation of “Ganon” which seemed to make the boy frustrated.
“So here’s the plan, I’ll disguise myself as you and give them the slip while you get somewhere safe. We can meet up somewhere safe after.” Hyrule contemplated the idea adding that there was a cave not too far east that would be safe but otherwise it was dangerous. Legend wasn’t too concerned about monsters, even if the ring dampened his magic he could still use his sword but as a failsafe he always had his Magic Cape which turned him invisible and invulnerable.
Once the plan was decided on they both crawled out of the ravine, looking exactly alike. They carefully made their way away from town moving silently through the barren landscape to sneak up on their potential presuirers. Legend found himself shaken by the darkness of the sky and the ruined landscape, cursing himself and any god that would listen.
“It’s not your fault.” Hyrule’s whisper broke the silence and brought Legend into focus. He wasn’t sure how the kid knew what he was thinking but scoffed under his breath in response. “One of my Zeldas, Aurora, was put into a deep sleep for hundreds of years. But there were handmaidens that guarded her chambers for all those years and they kept records of Hyrule’s history during that time. Death Mountain erupted 20 years ago and Hyrule’s just beginning to recover. Aurora and Dawn have been working hard to make it better, I just happened to travel to Hyrule at the right time.”
Legend took a moment to process all that information and it was hard to wrestle with something that he simply couldn’t fix. It was the last bit of Hyrule’s story. “You’re not from Hyrule?”
“I traveled from Calatia, things are only slightly better there. I mostly came to Hyrule because of the stories from your adventures.” Hyrule looked bashful in admittance.
“Always been meaning to travel there eventually, but that’s useful information since we can always use Calatian to communicate if need be.” Legend had learned a lot from traveling outside Hyrule, mostly that other countries were also unfortunate victims of Hyrule’s bullshit. Learning other languages had uses and he started learning on his very first adventure with ancient Hylian. He’d always felt happy when the natives in Holodrum and Labyrnna complimented on how quickly he was picking up the languages, speaking of which. “You’re Hylian is pretty good if it’s not your first language.”
Hyrule flushed and his mouth gaped for a long moment before he seemed to collapse in on himself. Legend was concerned for him before he caught a giddy smile on the boy’s face as he turned away, ah right he’s technically the kid’s fairytale hero. It’s a good thing he didn’t outright break him. Eventually Hyrule gathered himself enough to respond, “thanks I had to learn it on the fly. I didn’t meet many people on my first adventure so it was oddly a friendly moblin that helped the most.”
That was something, Legend could think of a handful of friendly monsters. Though he included the “demon” that cursed him to have greater magical storage during his first adventure, because as far as curses went that was mundane. Then of course there was Dimitri, so having a friendly moblin was hardly far-fetched. He nodded and commented on wanting to meet said monster eventually.
They kept up a quiet conversation for sometime before they stumbled across the group that was looking for them. Legend was suddenly glad about offering to be the runner because they were all heavily armed, but Legend had out run Hyrule’s best knights before. He cast a quick glance at Hyrule and they both shared a nod, before Hyrule took off deeper into the underbrush.
Legend took that as his cue to jump out of their hiding spot and begin approaching the group. He needed to get closer to get their attention before giving chase, getting closer also gave him the chance to observe the people out to get them. He instantly latched onto the tallest of them, his heavy armor meant he’d be the easiest to outrun. The second tallest was definitely a knight, either a deserter or brainwashed, but definitely had a build that screamed endurance. The third tallest would also be hard to outrun forever but was definitely stronger than the other two, not a knight though.
There were two other knight types: one had longer hair and lots of scars, the other seemed tired on his feet with a white cape tucked around himself. The second wouldn’t make it very far after him with how dead on his feet he was, but the first looked like he was itching to explore, he’d be difficult. The last two surprised him they were just kids, one just barely reaching the tallest man’s hip in height. They’d have difficulty keeping up with him due to their short statures, but kids had more than enough energy to make up for it. Why in Loria’s name there were kids in the group was beyond him.
A loud shout broke him out of his thoughts, it was the kid with the blue shirt and he was staring directly at him. Legend stood up his legs tense, keeping his eyes glued to the group, his instincts screaming not yet. Legend hated the fact that he was a rabbit, but the rabbit had never failed him when it came to danger. The group seeped surprised at his appearance, the armored man raised a brow and Legend noticed his scarred eye. The sleepy knight perked up, finally some semblance of awake. The tall knight with the blue cape stepped forward though and the sturdy man followed slightly. Some words were exchanged that Legend didn’t quite catch but the kid who’d spotted him jumped into action, followed by the rest.
The rabbit in him jolted and naturally he followed, bolting through the empty woods without hesitation. He heard shouts and the thuds of feet following him, but he kept running. He mentally geared his mind toward the direction of the cave Hyrule mentioned, while continuing to weave through dead trees. He didn’t bother looking back, he could still hear a few following him. Inside him the rabbit still pushed him forward, something else was chasing him now. Not a monster but a hunter. He felt some relief seeing the bridge that Hyrule mentioned but the rabbit’s anxiety pushed him forward. Something large and dark jumped In front of the bridge.
Legend kept running, his mind spiraling to alternate options. Hyrule mentioned the water was tainted, poisoned, so swimming was a no go. His roc’s cape could get him across but he’d lose speed and he couldn’t use his pegasus boots at the moment. There was his magic cape, but in the end he’d have to work past what was blocking his path. His rabbit instincts froze and his legs locked with them, he stumbled to a halt, his legs locking.
The beast blocking his path was a wolf, he suddenly felt small. Hunted. Part of his mind screamed to grab his sword, something to protect him. The other part wanted to run, to hide, burrow away till the predator gave up the hunt. He took a step back keeping his eyes locked on the wolf’s bright blue ones, he hadn’t even realized that the wolf was simply standing in front of the bridge, it made no move to attack but its ears were back. The wolf let out a howl and Legend took another step back only to stumble and fall.
Blood rushed his ears and his breath caught in his throat as he lost his footing. He distantly felt pain in his hands and side as he hit the ground. He tried to look at his surroundings but his vision blurred and his ears rang. Panic overwhelmed his thoughts and he scrambled to get upright, the wolf was gone and Legend’s breath stuttered.
He looked at his surroundings to find the predator, someplace to hide, anything. He panicked further when he saw that the wolf was now right next to him, he scrambled back fearful of the jaws that could easily reach his throat. The wolf’s ears pinned back and Legend flinched, bringing his arms up to protect himself. Then deep blue filled his vision, blocking his sight entirely.
He heard someone speak, muffled and distant. Then he felt hand prying his hands away from his face, it was the tall knight. He was saying something but the words swam in his ears, then the knight pulled Legend towards him. Legend braced himself for the worst but the man simply held him against his chest, his breath was steady and his hand ran through his hair. Legend choked in a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and eventually he found himself relaxing and matching the man’s breathing.
Legend could feel the man chuckle, “you back now?” The question wasn’t mocking, but the knight almost sounded relieved. “Sorry that Wolfie frightened you, but trust me he meant no harm.” The man said pulling back but he took Legend’s arms and examined them carefully. Legend realized quickly he was looking for any injuries, it was odd that he wasn’t completely off guard by a knight. He found himself looking over the man while he was focused, the style of his hair and clothes screamed city boy. His eyes held a different story, they were deep blue but held weight under them, the man had likely faced more than any self important knight in his era had.
Before Legend could respond one of the other knights, the one who looked one swift wind away from falling asleep. Once he reached them, he pitched forward gasping for breath. That’s when Legend saw the sword on his back and felt an entirely different form of dread than finding out that Ganon could be back. The Master Sword, that means the whole group wasn’t hunting Hyrule. No, they were looking for another hero to help them with some time breaking adventure to save Hyrule. Legend wanted to curse the gods but particularly whatever caused him and these others to be transported through time.
The sturdy tall man, Legend could now see he was wearing a wolf pelt, caught up with them. He set about helping the knight with the Master sword up, when he caught Legend’s eye he almost seemed remorseful for a moment. The knight with the blue scarf stood up, pulling Legend up with him. Legend knew there was probably no point in trying to run now, but perhaps at night he could slip away to meet with Hyrule. Though he still wasn’t certain about the man holding the master sword or any others in their group.
The knight with the master sword, removed the sword and in its sheath from his back presenting it to him. “Sorry for scaring you but she told me you’re the hero of this time when Wind noticed you. It’s nice to meet you, Link, she says you’re the Hero of Legend.” Legend was a bit stunned by the man’s pleasantness, his rabbit instincts saw him as safe. He carefully took the sword and drew it. He was expecting the golden blade that he’d reforged only a few years ago, but he was met with pristine silver. He had to upgrade the Master Sword to use it to beat Ganon, it had held little power otherwise. This Master Sword was new, unworn by time and defeat, it chimed mournfully in his hands.
He quickly sheathed the sword and placed it back into Sky’s hands, the echo of the sword’s voice in his head telling him the man’s nickname. By the three, that whole group were a band of idiots all named Link. The other two introduced themselves as Twilight and Warriors. Legend frankly wasn’t sure how to respond, perhaps if this was his own era, his own home he would’ve loudly cursed to any god willing to listen but currently he was in a different time wearing another Link’s face. Thankfully the three seemed to take his silence as stunned processing of the situation at hand.
Before Legend could say anything the rest of the group showed up with Hyrule with them, the boy was awkwardly being dragged along by the boy with the blue shirt. Wind, if Legend remembered correctly. The kid tan skin, sandy blond hair, and dark green eyes and his face quickly screwed up in confusion at the sight of him.Legend saw the captain stiffen at the sight of Hyrule and Legend could begin to see the others becoming confused by the fact that they currently looked alike. He needed to think quickly, he prayed to Zelda to lend him a braincell in a moment of weakness. Play dumb Link.
“Thank the goddesses you found my brother.” He said with exaggerated relief and Hyrule looked befuddled for a single moment before he continued on, “the town folk made it sound like some group of people were hunting him down. It was an absolutely terrifying thought after I just got here from Labrynna.” Okay maybe he was playing into the story too much but being in an entirely different country would give them wiggle room with their stories at least. Hyrule seemed to finally get the idea he was setting in place too. The unfortunate group of heroes just looked more confused.
Legend quickly moved over to hold Hyrule’s face in his hands, pretending to check his well being. This kid definitely had a baby face. Hyrule started slightly but managed to recover, making almost look natural by patting his arm. He could feel the muscles in Hyrule’s face jump under his hands and he knew the kid was trying not to laugh. So Legend decided to perform a little more, pulling some inspiration from Ravio. He sighed dramatically and flopped all his weight into Hyrule’s arms, who thankfully caught him.
He spoke in exasperation, “you would not believe how worried I was.” He could feel Hyrule’s chest jump slightly with withheld laughter and he had to give props to him for his poker face. Hyrule awkwardly patted his back, nodding his head with an impressive look of remorse. Legend could feel the others staring at him, but he could tell they were more baffled than anything. He heard a faint but familiar chime and Sky confirmed to the group that Hyrule was also another hero.
It was the scarred knight in blue who broke up their ‘reunion’ with a question. “Wait if you’re both heroes then what’re your names?” He could tell the knight was asking more out of sheer confusion, he supposed it made sense if they were ‘twins’ then they both wouldn’t be Link. But before they could both agree on an answer they both answered on habit.
“Link.” “Link.” They both responded at the same time, well they were doomed. Warriors’ eyes narrowed in suspicion, while the scarred knight just looked nonplussed. Legend could have laughed at Wind’s bewildered expression if he wasn’t internally panicking.
“You’re both named Link?” The tall man in armor asked, his face was neutral but his voice gave away his hesitance. Sky next to him looked like he was personally about to question the Master Sword on what was happening. Before Legend could think of an answer Hyrule spoke up.
“Our parents couldn’t tell us apart?” He said with a shrug of his shoulders and Legend nearly choked on his own laughter. There was no way they’d believe that. Legend caught a glimpse of the kid with the multicolored tunic’s face and was surprised that he seemed genuinely concerned.
“That’s definitely a lie.” Said Twilight but his tone came off more scolding than angry.
Warriors heaved a loud, pained sigh and he just looked incredibly tired as he rubbed the bridge of his nose with one hand. “You say that Twi but I have a twin sister named Linkle.” He was joking right? The others seemed to be staring at the man, asking the same question with their eyes. All of them except for the one in armor who just nodded in acceptance, as if he’d met the other man’s sister.
“They are both heroes according to Fi.” Sky said meekly, but from the look on his face he was still processing everything. It didn’t take long for the rest to fall into resigned acceptance. “How is that even possible?”
Legend could easily bluff his way out of that one, he stood putting an elbow on Hyrule’s shoulder and leaning against the boy. It was definitely something he wouldn’t be able to pull off without the ring, since he was shorter than the other hero. “Well he’s been here fixing up Hyrule, I’ve been traveling outside of Hyrule for the past...” He paused to think for a moment on all his adventures out of Hyrule, did Lorule count? He might as well include it to be safe. “For about 7 years now. You would not believe the troubles that come about in other countries.”
Hyrule nodded along, “Hyrule has been isolated from other countries, except Calatia, for the past 20 years. We were always inspired by old stories from other nations, so when I decided to travel to Hyrule. My brother decided to go overseas to see Labrynna, Holodrum, Subrosia, and Hytopia.” Legend was a bit surprised by how much the kid knew of his adventures but wasn’t surprised that he didn’t know about Lorule.
Sky almost seemed excited when he looked at Legend, “oh that must mean you haven’t fought Ganon too.” Legend scrunched up his nose at the man, how has he not fought Ganon? The bastard literally couldn’t stay dead, he had to take him down three times already. Well they didn’t need to know that.
“Sorry to burst your bubble but the whole trubble stirred up in Labrynna, Holodrum, and by proximity Subrosia was caused by Ganon’s evil mothers trying and succeeding to revive him.” He questioned if twinrova were actually Gonon’s mothers or grandmothers but either way they were horrifically old and terrible influences. Sky deflated at his admission and Twilight patted him on the back.
The short one with the multicolored tunic spoke up, his voice horribly flat, “we had to tell him who Ganon was?”
Legend’s elbow slipped from Hyrule’s shoulder in shock, Hyrule managed to catch him before he planted his face in the dirt. Legend didn’t bother to gather himself upright, his legs ached, but he could tell that he and Hyrule were looking at the man with similar expressions of shock.
“How?” Hyrule said meekly. “What the fuck?” Legend said louder at the same time.
“Language” said three voices, responding on instinct. Legend responded to them on his own instincts, flipping the three of them off. Hyrule signed but still held him upright.