Chapter Text
When they all get up the next morning, Hyrule makes his rounds. He checks on Sky first, giving him another small pulse of magic just to make sure everything is healed. Sunny declarations of feeling better only go so far when they’re given by a Link, after all.
Wild is much the same, insisting that he’s feeling almost entirely back to normal, and their cook is absolutely determined to make breakfast this morning. Hyrule gives him another round of healing magic and deems him recovered enough to cook, so long as he doesn’t try anything too strenuous. All that’s left in his recovery is to replenish the lost blood, and Hyrule can’t do that with magic. That will have to come with time.
After he’s satisfied that the injured are alright, he turns his attention back to Time.
To his surprise, Time has already gotten up, and he’s busy handing a messily folded scarf to Warriors.
Warriors takes it with a warm smile, then drapes it around his shoulders and pins it in place with practiced ease. He nods and says something to Time, who looks away and scuffs at the ground with his boot, mumbling in reply.
Hyrule can’t help but feel a little relieved, the way he does every time their new youngest warms up to one of the others. This can’t be easy for Time, but any sort of division in the group is difficult for all of them, and Time and the Captain have always been close. It’s good to see them getting along again.
Time hurries back to the bedroll he’d been using - Twilight’s - and Hyrule goes to join him.
“Wars let you use his scarf?” he asks as casually as he can.
Time nods, a little stiffly. “Yeah.”
“That’s nice of him. It’s really important to him, you know,” Hyrule tells him.
“Oh.” Time blinks, taking in that information, then nods. “It’s really soft.”
“It is,” Hyrule agrees. He really loves when he gets to borrow Wars’ scarf. “So, are you excited for today? Wild says it isn’t far to the Lost Woods.”
Time gasps, eyes going wide. “Really??”
Hyrule nods. “Really! Just a little further, and then through the Lost Woods, and then to the Deku Tree, according to Wild’s map.”
“Then let’s go!“ Time says, quickly kneeling down to roll up the bedroll.
Hyrule laughs and crouches down to help him. “Alright!”
They manage to get everything packed up quickly, especially with Time running around to help everyone else, and Wild makes them a quick breakfast of bread and fruit. They’re on the road soon after.
Their pace is still slower than usual to accommodate the injured, so Time can walk on his own. He’s so full of energy that he has no trouble keeping pace, and he’s practically vibrating. Hyrule holds his hand to make sure he stays with the group and doesn’t run ahead where he could get lost or hurt.
“Stay quiet through here,” Wild says at one point, gesturing to the side of the path where the trees are beginning to thin. “There’s a monster camp in the swamp, and - and there used to be a decayed guardian on the other side of it. The camp should be clear, we shouldn’t have any problems, but… Well, our luck recently has been pretty bad.”
That instantly changes the atmosphere. Time walks much closer to Hyrule’s legs, clinging to his hand much more tightly, and they all keep a wary eye on the rickety structures that come into view. Luckily, nothing seems to be moving on them, and Wild’s slate stays silent. No guardians jump out to attack them as they walk by.
They pass the swamp with no issues, and as soon as the monsters’ tower is out of sight, Warriors calls a break for lunch.
Hyrule passes Time off to Legend, then does his rounds again.
Sky is out of breath, to be expected, but otherwise doing alright. Wild seems okay, too. Both of them are already beginning to sigh and fuss about Hyrule checking in so often, which Hyrule decides to take as a good sign for their health. Wild even shoos him away from the campfire with a grumble about needing to finish lunch. Time happily settles in to help cook, which should help keep Wild from straining himself and also give their littlest an outlet for all that energy.
“Hyrule.”
The quiet call of his name surprises him, and he turns to see Warriors with his lips pressed into a thin line. That can’t be good. “Yeah?”
Warriors tilts his head away from the cook fire, toward Legend and Twilight, sitting off to the side.
Hyrule nods and moves to join them. Warriors scans the camp one more time, then follows.
“What’s this about, Wars?” Legend asks as soon as the two of them sit down.
Warriors sighs, leaning his elbows on his knees. “I think we need to tell Link what’s waiting for him.”
All three of them are quiet for a long moment, shocked into silence.
Twilight is the first to speak. “He ain’t gonna be happy.”
“No,” Warriors agrees quietly. “But he deserves the truth.”
Legend shakes his head. “No, no, we can – there’s got to be a better way of telling him what’s going on. He’s been looking forward to this since Faron. We can’t take that away from him.”
“He isn’t going to have it,” Warriors points out in a whisper, with a quick glance to make sure Time wasn’t listening. “He’s going to be let down no matter what we do. The plan of waiting this curse out and hoping we won’t have to deal with it obviously isn’t going to work. He deserves to know.”
Hyrule takes a deep breath. He isn’t sure why he’s been invited into this little conference – maybe just how close to little Time he is? – but he’s going to do his best to contribute. “Maybe… maybe it will be better if he knows what’s coming before he walks into it.”
Warriors nods quickly. “Exactly. If he gets there and doesn’t find anything that he’s expecting…”
“It’ll crush him,” Legend agrees in a soft, pained sort of voice. There’s something jagged, like broken glass, behind his eyes, but he shakes it away before Hyrule can get a good look at it. “Fine. Fine! Let’s break his heart before the Woods can. How do you suggest we do this?”
“I’m going to be the one to tell him,” Warriors says firmly.
Twilight frowns. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
There’s a tension to the Captain, one Hyrule doesn’t see very often. It’s the way he looks when he feels like he has a debt to repay. That realization immediately dries up any arguments Hyrule might have had; far be it from him to get in the way of a debt being settled, whatever might have happened between the two of them last night.
“Are we just going to drop it on him?” Legend asks, waving his hand at the woods around them as if to illustrate how big the shock is going to be.
Warriors shakes his head. “No. I’m going to break it to him slowly, if I can.”
If he can. They all know how smart Time is, even this young. There’s a distinct chance he’ll figure it out before they can actually say it.
“I’ll stay close to him,” Hyrule says quietly, and no one stops him when he stands up and goes back over to the cook fire.
Time looks up at his approach, beaming. He looks so happy that it makes Hyrule’s chest ache. “Hyrule! We’re making rice shapes!”
“Rice balls,” Wild explains, holding up a neat triangle of rice that Hyrule knows has meat inside it. “I’m showing him how to do the shaping.”
Time proudly holds up his own rice ball, significantly less neat but still in one piece.
“Great job,” Hyrule tells him, and he can’t help the smile on his face, despite the conversation that’s coming. “Want some help?”
“Yeah!”
Hyrule sits by the fire with them, taking some rice and carefully following all of little Time’s directions on how to shape it. His ball comes out a little lopsided, but that’s part of the fun of it, he supposes. Wild and Time both beam at him, so it can’t be that bad, really.
With the three of them working together, they soon have enough for everyone, and Wild calls them all over to eat. The rice balls are warm and filling, and Hyrule quietly enjoys the soft hum of a gift given – Time had made one specifically for him.
In the lull of food being finished, Warriors clears his throat.
“Link,” he says, and Hyrule thinks he’s doing a wonderful job keeping his real emotions out of his voice. “There’s something we should explain to you before we reach the Lost Woods.”
Time frowns, just a bit. He grabs Hyrule’s hand almost absently. “What?”
Everyone who wasn’t privy to their earlier conversation looks at Warriors in alarm, then around to the rest of the group, as if asking whether someone should stop him. Hyrule catches Sky’s eye, then Four’s, and shakes his head very slightly. Warriors is right – they have to do this.
“We aren’t just travelers,” Warriors begins carefully. “The goddesses are specifically calling us to travel through time.”
“Through time?” Time’s eyes go very wide.
Warriors nods. “Yes. Sometimes very far through time – thousands of years, in some cases. And we always manage to visit home, every now and then, but in the meantime, we have a job to do.”
Time nods slowly, glancing around at the rest of the group with an increasingly nervous expression. “Okay.”
“We’ve been talking,” Warriors says in that gentle sort of tone that is only ever directed at Wind and Time, “and we aren’t sure if this is your time.”
Little Time goes very, very still, his ears pinning back against his head. “… What?”
This is the tricky part. Hyrule doesn’t usually pray, but he sends up a quick plea for the goddesses to help Warriors be careful with his words.
Warriors sighs. “Wild isn’t familiar with the Kokiri, though he’s visited the Deku Tree. You don’t seem familiar with many of the things Wild knows, and since this is his era… there’s a possibility this won’t be exactly as you remember.”
Time’s ears pin back even further. It almost looks painful, and Hyrule can’t help but run a thumb over the back of his knuckles to try and soothe him.
“The Woods are still there,” Legend says suddenly, that broken glass look back in his eyes. “The Deku Tree is still there. Wild says there are forest children, even if they don’t call themselves Kokiri. It’s… it might be different, but that’s all still here.”
“… And… and you can go back home?” Time’s voice sounds very, very small.
“Eventually,” Warriors promises. “I swear, Link. Even if this isn’t precisely your home, we will get you back to it. You have my word on that.”
Time looks around at all of them, and Hyrule’s heart breaks to see tears in his eyes. But he rubs his eyes with the back of his hand, takes a breath, and says in a wobbly little voice “… Okay.”
“Do you still want to see the Deku Tree?” Wild asks softly.
“Yes,” Time says instantly.
“Okay. We can do that.”
They pack up quickly; no one wants to linger after that revelation. Time holds onto Hyrule’s hand so tightly it hurts, but Hyrule doesn’t say anything about it. He just lets Time squeeze as hard as he needs to in order to feel okay.
The group is quiet as they walk through the Minshi Woods. It’s a different kind of quiet than the past few days, not anxious so much as feeling the weight of dread. They all know that what they will find is not what Link has been hoping to see, and the fact that he now knows it too doesn’t help as much as it should.
But an hour or so later, Hyrule notices mist seeping from the roots of a tree, and Time gasps from his place against Hyrule’s side. Ahead of them, two braziers burn, flanking the entrance to something that feels ancient and powerful.
“We’ve reached the Woods,” Wild announces, putting his slate away and taking out a torch. “Careful – if you leave the right path, the mist will bring you back here. It isn’t pleasant.”
He goes to light the torch from the braziers, but Time pushes past him, marching directly into the fog with Hyrule in tow.
“Wh – hey!” Wild splutters.
“It’s this way,” Time says with absolute certainty, pointing in what seems to Hyrule to be a random direction.
They all exchange glances, and then Legend shrugs and steps into the Woods after them. “He’s used to the Woods, stands to reason he can navigate them.”
There’s some hesitation, but one by one, they all follow Time in, and he leads them with unerring surety between the trees.
Hyrule can almost see what Time is seeing, if he squints. The magic of this place is older than the stones under his feet, and he knows instinctively that there are Rules here, Rules that will incur punishments if anyone breaks them. He realizes that if it were anyone except Wild straying from the path, anyone but the Hero, the Woods might not be so kind as to let them back out. The fairy blood in his veins agrees with that, agrees that Rules must be respected and the path must be followed. It shows him vaguely where to step – the mist parts, just slightly, and the magic tugs feather-light at his sternum.
There is no vagueness in Time’s steps. He walks like the path is paved in front of him.
Hyrule waits until they’ve been walking for several minutes, then asks softly “Link?”
“Mm?” Time asks, not turning to look at him. His grip on Hyrule’s hand tightens just slightly, though.
“… Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
Adult Time can lie well, even if he usually chooses not to. Baby Time can’t. His voice wobbles, and he’s too fixated on the path in front of them to be doing anything except avoiding Hyrule’s eyes.
“It’s okay to not be okay,” Hyrule tells him as gently as he can. “I wasn’t okay when I had to leave my home.”
“It’s not the same.”
He has a point. Hyrule takes a breath and tries again. “No, it’s not. This is probably worse. So, really, it’s even more okay for you to be upset than for me to be upset.”
Time is quiet for a long moment, with only the whispers of their brothers behind them and the sound of their footsteps to break the silence. The fog dampens all other noises. He slows, just slightly, so he can tuck himself a little bit into Hyrule’s side, and says very quietly “I just… I want to see. I want to know.”
“You’ll know soon,” Hyrule tells him. He has no idea if that’s at all comforting.
Time leads them on a path through the mists of the Woods that Hyrule knows is right, even if it would have taken him much longer to find it himself, winding around trees and over small hills. And then, suddenly, there is light through the fog.
Before them, as they step across the threshold of the Woods, the mists melt away into warm sunlight, gold as honey and dappled over green grass and green leaves. Some tension Hyrule hadn’t realized he was carrying melts off of his shoulders, and he breathes in the bright, clear air, reveling in the taste of magic.
Time clings to his arm, some emotion too big to name swimming in his eyes.
Wild takes the lead, then, down a path and over a large stone dais shaped like the Triforce. And there, towering over them, is the largest tree Hyrule has ever seen in his life. Its canopy must spread over half the forest around them, and it radiates a comforting sort of magic that Hyrule has only ever felt from the Great Mothers and their fairy fountains.
And then the tree speaks.
“Welcome, Hero,” it says in the rustle of leaves in its branches and the groaning of old wood. Its voice is booming, but not quite overpowering. “Welcome, all. And welcome back to you, Boy Without a Fairy.”
Time clings a little tighter to Hyrule. When he speaks, his voice is even more wobbly than before. “I- I have a fairy. For right now. Hyrule’s my fairy partner until I can get home.”
Hyrule is touched beyond words. He also feels a surge of protectiveness so strong he thinks it might knock him over.
The tree hums, and Hyrule has the sudden sense he’s being evaluated. “I see. A strange choice for a strange Child, I suppose.”
“Hey!” Legend snaps. Of all of them, he’s the one Hyrule is least surprised would snap at a massive talking tree. “There’s no need to be rude.”
“It’s okay,” Time says quickly. “I am strange.”
“You're one of us,” Legend says fiercely, which really does cover the whole argument, in Hyrule’s opinion. All Links are strange in their own ways, but at least they're strange together.
Little Time doesn't reply to that. He just holds Hyrule's hand tighter and huddles a little closer to his leg.
Wild steps forward, clearing his throat. “Great Deku Tree, we have a question, actually.”
“Of course, Hero,” the tree hums. “What may I assist you with?”
“Link here told us about a group called the Kokiri,” Wild tells it, gesturing back toward Time. “Do you know them? Or at least where they might be?”
“The forest children have not gone by that name in a very long time,” the tree says with a rustle of its branches that sounds like a chuckle. “Now they are called Koroks. Many are scattered through Hyrule, as you know.”
Time’s grip on Hyrule's hand is so tight it's starting to hurt. “... Koroks?”
The tree doesn't answer. It doesn't have to. All around it, little creatures with leaves for faces peek out from the gaps in its roots, or between blades of grass, or out from behind leaves in the trees. When Wild waves, they gasp and squeal in excitement, and several run over to circle around the group. The tallest only come up to Hyrule's knees. They're so cute.
“Welcome back, Mr Hero!” they all say, tottering around on their stubby little tree legs. “Welcome, Mr Hero's friends!”
Time looks shattered.
The others are all distracted by the Koroks, and Hyrule hesitates just for a moment before going over and quietly tapping Wild on the shoulder. “Wild? Is there a place we can go to rest for a bit?”
Wild frowns, confused, then catches a glimpse of Time’s distraught expression. Evidently, he doesn’t need any more explanation or convincing than that; he just nods and gestures toward the giant tree trunk in front of them. “Yeah, there's a little setup inside the Deku Tree. C'mon, I'll show you.”
Hyrule follows, running a thumb over the back of Time's knuckles as he gives the kid’s hand a gentle tug. Time stumbles after him, obviously upset enough to not be entirely present in what’s happening.
A few of the others notice them leave as they carefully push through the little ring of Koroks. Legend and Wind are two of those, and as soon as they notice Time, they both hurry over to help keep him from tripping or running into anything. Legend takes on the role of bodyguard, shooing away any Koroks that get near their little group with a fierce glare.
Warriors also sees them go, and with a glance at Time, gives them a nod. He'll handle everything out here. They can focus on their brother.
Wild leads them up onto the tree's massive, ancient roots, then into an opening in the trunk like a little cave hollowed out of the wood. Inside, there are three rooms branching off the main entrance, which has a cooking pot in the center of it.
The room Wild guides them into has a bed in it, made of wood and padded with leaves. It's a bit too small for a grown Hylian to lay on, but it's plenty of space for one overwhelmed child.
Hyrule sits Time down on the edge of the bed, carefully perches next to him, and waits.
It takes a while for Time to come back to them. Hyrule doesn't mind. He's pretty sure the others don't, either - they speak to each other in whispers in the main room of the tree cave, keeping out of the way and staying between the two of them and the outside world.
Eventually, though, Time slumps just a little against Hyrule's shoulder, and Hyrule knows he's back.
“Hey,” he murmurs.
Time hums in reply.
“That isn't what you were expecting to see,” Hyrule guesses, cautiously wrapping an arm around his tiny brother.
Time leans against him a little harder and shakes his head.
“I'm sorry,” Hyrule says quietly.
A small shrug.
Hyrule doesn't know what to say. He doesn't know how to make this any better, or how to support baby Time the way he obviously needs right now. He wishes, for an aching moment, that he was the kind of fairy that Time has been talking about since he first shrunk. That he could know what to do and how to help.
He isn't, and he doesn't. But he does know his brother, or at least who this version of his brother will become, so he can try. He has to try.
“Is there anything I can do?” he asks hesitantly.
Time shakes his head again, his little shoulders hunching up around his ears.
“... Do you want to talk about it?”
“Nothin’ to talk about,” Time mumbles.
Hyrule is a bit proud that he managed to get Time talking again, at the very least. Small steps. “What do you mean?”
“They're not here,” Time says miserably. He takes Hyrule's hand and squeezes, hard. “Those spirits aren't Kokiri. Not anymore. There's no one like me left.”
Oh.
Hyrule carefully runs his thumb over Time's knuckles. “I don't think that's true.”
“They aren't Kokiri,” Time insists.
“No,” Hyrule agrees. “And we aren't, either. But Legend said it earlier - you're one of us. If you want to be. I think we have a lot in common.”
Time looks up at him with big, teary blue eyes. They almost seem to glow here in the shade of the Deku Tree. “But - but they're all Hylian.”
“And I'm a fairy,” Hyrule reminds him as quietly as he can, almost painfully aware of the three sets of ears listening in from the other room. “Sort of, anyway. If they're a lot like me, I don't see why they can't be a lot like you, too.”
Little Time considers that for a long moment. Then, quietly, he asks “... Are you sure they want me?”
Hyrule feels as though his heart is cracking in half. He wants to scream at whoever put the idea in his brave, clever, sweet brother's head that he wasn't enough to be wanted just as he was. He hopes, somehow, that he's helped drive that fear from grown-up Time.
But instead of voicing any of that, he just gives Time's hand a squeeze and nods firmly. “I'm positive.”
“Oh,” Time says very quietly, and then he starts to sob.
The noise draws in their observers, and soon Time is the center of a cuddle pile on the tiny bed, surrounded by worried brothers and soothing words. Wind rubs his back in a way he swears helps Aryll when she's upset, Hyrule softly pulses magic over Time's skin, and Legend hums a soothing little tune he learned from Time himself, with Wild joining in as soon as he recognizes the song.
“I'm not a good Kokiri,” Time tells them through sniffles. “I don't even have a fairy, and I don't have my adventuring legs yet. Are you sure you want me to stay?”
“Absolutely, kid,” Legend tells him, giving him a gentle hair ruffle. “Who else am I going to play music with?”
Time thinks about that for a moment, rubbing tears from his cheeks. “... Sky?”
“Well, yes, but Sky doesn't appreciate wind instruments like we do,” Legend huffs.
“And if you left, we wouldn't have the coolest little brother ever anymore,” Wind says with a warm, bright smile.
Time's eyes go round as saucers. “... What?”
“We call each other brothers,” Wind explains. “If you're part of our group, you're our little brother. If you want to be.”
Time's lip quivers, just a bit, and his breath hitches. Then he starts crying so hard Hyrule is genuinely worried he won't be able to breathe.
They all panic a little, of course, worried they've upset him even more, but then Time nods frantically, latching onto Wind’s tunic like a limpet and wailing.
As if by magic, the sound summons the rest of their brothers, who all crowd worriedly into the small wooden cave. They relax when Legend quickly explains what's going on, but even as Time calms down a bit, they hover. None of them want to leave him, not now, when he looks so overwhelmed and so happy that they're all here.
“Right,” Warriors says crisply, clapping his hands together to get everyone's attention. “I'm assuming we all want to stay in here tonight?”
Time nods, and the others follow his lead.
“We'll need to set everything up, then. This bed won't be big enough for everyone, and it's getting close to dinnertime.”
They all shuffle around obediently; for once, it seems that everyone is willing to follow the Captain's directions without much complaint. Wild is directed to the cooking pot in the center of the hollow, and most of the group is shooed out to join him while Warriors, Twilight, and Sky set up the sleeping arrangements.
“I think,” Wild says with a grin and a wink at Time, “that we all deserve something sweet. How does breakfast for dinner sound? With lots of pancakes and syrup?”
“Can I help?” Time asks, wiping at some of the dry tear tracks on his face.
Wild beams at him. “Absolutely! We can make some bacon, too, Twi will like that.”
Time takes on the job of stirring the pancake batter while Wild adds ingredients, and their cook puts a few of the others to work, too. Hyrule's job is to cut bananas into slices, probably because there's no way to mess that up in a way that will make the dish taste bad.
Wind starts telling outrageously silly stories while they cook, and whenever Time laughs at his jokes, the mood of the whole room lightens even further. Their little brother's joy is contagious, all the more so because he knows now that he's their brother. Hyrule hadn't realized until now how much that loss of knowledge hurt.
“Y'all can come in now, if you want!” Twilight calls. He's leaning through the doorway with a grin on his face, and past him, Hyrule can see a lot of blankets on the floor.
Wild hands out plates of pancakes, and then he and Time lead the way into the other room.
Warriors, Twilight, and Sky have transformed the whole room into a nest. Blankets and pillows and bedrolls cover the floor, creating one big pile perfect for cuddling.
Wind cheers and dives into it, laughing brightly. Time is right behind him.
“Careful of the pancakes,” Twilight warns, but he's beaming.
They all settle in, chatting and laughing, and Time tucks himself under Hyrule's arm like the spot was made for him. It might as well have been, at this point.
“Thanks,” he whispers under the sound of the others talking.
Hyrule gives his shoulder a little squeeze. “For what?”
Time thinks about that for a second, then settles on “... Wanting me.”
“We've always wanted you,” Hyrule tells him, his heart full. “We just didn't know it until we met you.”
Time buries his face in Hyrule's tunic for a minute, and Hyrule can feel him shaking, just a bit. Then he sits up, wipes his eyes, and settles in to listen to another one of Wind’s stories.
Little Time really has slotted easily into their lives the way only a fellow hero can. They've all missed the calm, steady presence of their oldest, but Hyrule can already tell he'll miss this little Time, too, when the curse is eventually broken. There's a bittersweet feeling to that; gaining one version of his brother means losing another.
But they still have this, right here. Hyrule has a small body under his arm and a flower pressed between the pages of his journal. And little Time won’t ever be gone, not entirely - he’s still there, in older Time’s expressions and tastes and behavior. It’ll just take some digging to find him again, that’s all.
Across the hollow, Legend heckles Wind’s exaggerated pirate tale. Wind jabs back, and the whole nest erupts in laughter and teasing and bet-making as the two launch into a friendly, argumentative scuffle. Time laughs, too, sheltered against Hyrule’s side.
“I think Legend’s gonna let Wind win,” he whispers, eyes bright.
Hyrule grins at him. “Me too. He’s nice like that.”
Time nods decisively, the way adult Time always does when he considers a matter closed.
There are worse things than this, Hyrule decides, taking a bite of his pancakes. There are many worse things than having to remind your brother who he used to be.