Work Text:
Linebeck hurried to the house nearest the castle. He had heard the news that the rascal was back, and he wasn’t going to let the kid go without chewing his ear off for scaring everyone. He caught sight of Link in front of his house poking at the dirt with a man two heads taller than him. A man taller than even Linebeck, and what Linebeck lacked in muscle he had in height. Linebeck paused and watched as the kid eagerly listened to the man speak as the man lifted the dirt and appeared to explain something. Link nodded and grinned and copied the man’s motions by picking some of the dirt up and chattering in his animated way. Linebeck’s jaw clenched. Link used to do the same when Linebeck explained how his steamboat’s propulsion worked.
“Hey!” called Link, waving his arms over his head in his dumb energetic greeting. “How’ve you been?”
“Worried sick,” Linebeck snapped. The grin curdled on the kid’s face as his cheeks flushed. Linebeck stomped over. “Not just me. Everyone was panicked over your sudden disappearance. Your princess near ran everyone ragged trying to find you. Where did you run off to?!”
“He didn’t choose to leave,” the man stepped in between Linebeck and the kid. Linebeck’s fists clenched with his jaw. “All of us were stolen away by portals and sent on a joint quest.”
“All of us?” Linebeck crossed his arms to keep from punching this guy’s ugly scarred face. “Who is all of us?”
“Linebeck,” the kid said in that voice he used when he was trying to be more adult than the actual adults like Linebeck. “I’ve been taken by portals before. Remember that time me and Tetra disappeared in the middle of the ocean? It’s like that. Except this time it’s more than two heroes across time I’m working with. There’s eight.”
“Eight heroes? Is this one of them?” Linebeck pointed at the tall one-eyed man who blinked at him.
“This is your Linebeck?” the man muttered.
“Yep. He doesn’t make a good first impression, but he’s cooler once you get to know him,” Link confirmed. Linebeck didn’t know how to feel about that introduction. The kid patted the tall man on the arm. “This is the Hero of Time. But you might remember him from my stories as Mask.”
“This is Mask? I thought you said that Mask was a kid hero younger than you?”
“I got older,” the man—Link’s Mask unhelpfully clarified. The kid rolled his eyes.
“Time traveling adventure,” Link almost helpfully explained. “He was smaller when we met before and now he’s bigger. He’s still my little brother though.”
“Big little brother,” Link’s Mask insisted, earning another eyeroll. Linebeck’s jaw stopped gritting his teeth together, and one of his arms fell back to his side. The other scratched the back of his head.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Linebeck said ruefully. He hadn’t meant to get so abrasive with Link’s much-loved little brother. Link only ever spoke about Aryll in that same adoring tone he’d used when talking about Mask. “Sorry about the outburst. Some of us were just losing our minds for the last two months about where our dear Hero might be.”
“I would have left a note if I had known, but I was getting ready for bed when a weird portal thing happened to appear in front of me. I grabbed my item and spoil bag and ran through. Thought I would have a chance to see Mask and Wars again.”
“That still gave you time to write a note,” Linebeck pressed a fist to his side and pointed a finger at his slouching Link. “It would have saved us all a lot of panic.”
“Sorry. I thought if a portal would open for me, it would open for Tetra, and she would have left a note.”
“Trusting your princess to leave a note on the off-chance she was also taken by a strange portal is a new level of recklessness, even for you,” Linebeck stepped forward and grabbed the kid in a headlock. “Next time leave a note of your own.”
“Time! Save me!”
“These are the consequences of your own actions,” the tall man said calmly.
“Traitor!” Link accused as he wriggled in Linebeck’s grip.
“What’s going on here?”
From one second to another, Link went from in his grasp to standing between him and the newcomer. Linebeck knew the kid was stronger and craftier than him, but the kid could pretend he was helpless in Linebeck’s headlock a little longer.
“The one who helped you sail the Ocean King’s sea,” the scarf-wearing man said. Linebeck straightened and gave him a little wave. He refused to make a bad impression on one of Link’s new companions.
“And this is the captain, Wars the main Link himself,” Linebeck’s Link spun and spread his arms to frame the decently tall man. Linebeck’s jaw clenched again. So this one wasn’t new. He was the one who had stolen Link and Tetra away last time.
“It’s nice to meet you,” the war captain said coolly with a slight incline forward of his shoulders. He then turned to Linebeck’s Link. “What did you do that made him put you in a headlock?”
“Why do you think I did anything?” Linebeck’s Link pouted.
“Because I know you,” the war captain rolled his eyes in a manner too reminiscent of how Linebeck’s Link did. He looked at the tall Mask. “What did he do?”
“Apparently he went through the portal and didn’t leave them a note about where he had gone.”
“I thought Tetra would get pulled through too! Like last time!” Linebeck’s Link defended.
“You shouldn’t have assumed that Tetra was also going to be taken by the strange portals. No wonder Tetra gave me an earful when she saw me at the market. We are not going through any more portals without leaving a note for those left behind.”
“I sent a letter.”
“To your sister. Who is still on Outset Island where we stopped by last time. According to you, that is hundreds of miles from here.”
“Yeah. It is. Okay. Fine. We’ll leave a note this time,” Linebeck’s Link agreed with that guilty half-grin he wore when he recognized he was in proper trouble. Linebeck frowned.
“He’s already been on enough adventures. Why don’t you leave him here instead?” Linebeck suggested through gritted teeth.
“We would if we could. But portals don’t close unless we all go through,” the war captain answered with a bit too much warmth. “We’ll make sure nothing happens to him. No one needs to threaten us into keeping an eye on him.”
The pointed comment had Linebeck’s fist clenching again. It wanted to meet the war captain’s entirely too pretty face.
Time stood next to his little big brother and watched the other two men face off. He peered down at Wind. Wind looked up at him, and Time raised an eyebrow. Fingers subtly flicked and swung at his waist.
‘Did you set them against each other on purpose?’
‘Why would you think that?’
‘Because like Cap said: I know you.’
‘Maybe. I just wanted Linebeck to stop being mad.’
‘He looks plenty mad.’
‘He’s not mad at me. And Cap’s wanted to talk to Linebeck for a while.’
‘Who do you think will win?’
‘The captain.’
Time went to ask how many rupees Wind was willing to wager when he remembered, ‘Aren’t they both captains?’
‘Yep,’ Wind signed behind his head where Warriors couldn’t make the hand signs out. He gave Time a wide smile with curled edges. ‘And I love them both.’