Chapter Text
The Chain was exhausted. And separated, which was never a good thing. During a fight with the black-blooded monsters, a nearby villager of the Traveler’s world threw a potion into the fray. It had hit the Old Man, and while it did not seem to have any effects, negative or positive, it was just one more frustration in an already horrible day. The Links had landed in a remote forest village in the Traveler’s Hyrule, and the group had relaxed for maybe an hour before a group of monsters had attacked the village.
“Concerning,” the Captain and Vet had chorused before glaring at one another.
Sky defended the villagers and tried to get them to go back into their homes. The rest of the Links lured the monsters away from the town’s residents when the mystery potion was chucked at them.
“What was that?” Legend yelled while lazily fending off a bokoblin.
The Captain cut down a Lizalfos a few feet away. “A potion.”
“I know that!”
“You okay, Pops?” Twilight yelled at his ancestor.
The Hero of Time, glaring at his surroundings, huffed. “I’m fine! Let’s finish this.”
Wild yelped from across the clearing. A lynel had knocked away his sword and was charging at him. The Champion pulled out his shield and threw the monster back.
Hyrule stabbed the lynel’s behind with his fire sword. The Lynel fell, face-down, a flaming sword sticking out of its butt.
Wild side-eyed a deadpan Hyrule. “Did you-”
“If I give you fifty rupees, will you never mention it again?”
“Too late.”
At the sight of a fire sword in a lynel’s ass, most of the monsters ran away while the other heroes stared in morbid awe. The Sailor and the Smith were the only ones still fighting.
Wind crouched to avoid a swipe from a stalfos. He sprung up and ran his sword through his opponent. The pirate pulled out his sword and continued to fight back to back with the Smith.
For a second at least. There weren’t many left. Most of the monsters left were standing next to one another in a circle, but there was a gap at Four’s two o’clock. He smiled and tackled one of the monsters next to the gap. The rest toppled like dominoes.
“You are my new favorite!” Wind laughed as he cut through the confused monsters.
“Yes!” Four yelled, killing the last monster. “You hear that Cap- Oh Hylia!” Four laughed at the sight of Hyrule’s sword. Wind bent over in laughter behind him.
Sky, figuring that the laughter signaled the end of the fight, reassured the villagers and walked over. He stared at the scene before him.
“I hate you all,” Hyrule murmured as he climbed the lynel and pulled his blade from its behind.
The Old Man sighed, but his lips were turned up. He looked over his counterparts for injuries. Finding none, he investigated the strange potion that had hit him. It looked like lime green milk that someone had dumped glitter in, but it had the consistency of syrup.
Legend noticed the Old Man’s examinations. Feeling pity for his successor, he decided to change the subject away from the firey butt sword. “Before you ask, no, I have no clue what that potion is,” he told Time.
The others turned their attention to their drenched leader. Twilight and Four looked concerned. Warriors’ and Wild’s expressions were somewhere between curious and wary. Hyrule was relieved that the attention was no longer on him. Wind let out a giggle before slapping his hand over his mouth. Sky’s mouth opened and closed.
“Does anyone know what this is?” Time sighed.
Wind furiously shook his head, hand still on his mouth.
Four pulled his sword and curiously poked at the potion with it. It stuck to the blade when he pulled it away.
“Was that supposed to do something?” Legend snarked.
“I don’t know. You're not doing anything.” Four replied with a glare.
Twilight studied the green substance. “Is it magical?”
“I think so, but it’s unclear,” Hyrule replied. The other magically inclined Link’s agreed with him.
Time sighed, again. “Hopefully it washes off. But until then, don’t touch it.”
“Should we check into an inn or do you want to wash it off in a river?” Wild asked.
“We’re closer to the village, so let’s do the inn,” Time replied. “We may even be able to find the villager who threw it at us.”
Sky checked the list again. “So we need carrots, mushrooms, apples, and a few red potions.”
“What’s a carrot?” Wind asked as he skipped ahead.
Warriors closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. “It’s an orange cone-looking vegetable,” he sighed.
Wind turned around and gave him a shit-eating grin.
“I’m pretty sure he’s messing with you,” Sky teased. He was secretly glad that he had not fallen for it. Wind’s land had been flooded, so he occasionally didn’t know what something was. He once freaked out when he saw a cactus.
The Captain groaned. “Seriously, Sailor?” He dragged his hand down his face. “Again?”
Wind laughed at his older counterpart. “You're the one who fell for it! Aga- wait again? I don’t think I’ve played this one before with any of you.” He paused, as did his companions.
Sky’s gaze went back and forth between the Captain's grimace and the Pirate’s rising confusion. The grocery list was completely forgotten until the Captain snatched it out of his hand.
“So we need some food for the Cook and some healing potions.” Warriors walked past both of his stalled companions. “I think I see a food cart on the right up ahead, though we may have to ask around for the potions.”
Wind and Sky caught each other’s eyes and raced to catch up.
Wind tugged on the Captain’s scarf. “Hey! You never answered my question!” When the Captain ignored him, he tugged on it again. Warriors turned to tell him to knock it off but caught the gaze of the puppy dog eyes. The two Heroes stared at each other for a moment.
“Fine! Fine!” Warriors breathed. “You said something similar during the War of the Eras. But the only thing anybody knew about your world was that there was a lot of water and you were the Hero of it. We didn’t know that Hyrule had been flooded. But we also didn’t know that you had time travelled before. So you asked Artemis what a potato was-”
“Hold up! Hold up!” the Sailor interrupted. “What do you mean ‘during the War of the Eras’? I was there?”
Warriors nodded. “You were older than you are now.” He held out a hand a few inches above Wind’s head. “Maybe about this tall. Still a little menace though.” He smiled and ruffled Wind’s hair. “Especially when you teamed up with Mask. My men were honestly kind of relieved when you left after about a month because it ended a prank war.”
“Woah!” Wind smiled. “Really! So I get to hang out with you after we’re done traveling together?”
Warriors nodded. “Yup. And when you do, try not to terrorize the soldiers too much. I did not get paid enough to babysit you.”