Chapter Text
Wild and Twilight were the first ones of the bunch to get their nicknames. Granted, they also were the first ones to meet up. At that time, the whole ‘meeting another Hero of Old’ wasn’t a thing yet, so the beginning was understandably a bit rough.
§§§
Link had been in the middle of a midday hunt when he was transported into another Hyrule. One second he was running in the wild mountains of Ordona, tracking a sly fox that threatened the cuccos of the village one time too many, the next he was stumbling on a beach, and the moon was high in the sky, shining on the silvery sand. He blinked.
“Doggy?”
He blinked again.
A good ten paces away, a boy was hunched over a bonfire, tilting his head at him. The first thing Link saw was the large scars running on the boy’s face, red as if they had been inflicted just the day before. The second thing he saw was the light sword and shield put aside, looking like a traveler's grab. The boy seemed only mildly shocked a wolf had spontaneously appeared from thin air.
“Hey big bud,” went on the Boy, pulling some fish off the fire. “You want some?”
There were some hard facts in Link’s life, proven time and time again: everybody had always been scared by his wolf form (at least the first time), and there was no sea in Hyrule. Which meant, he wasn’t home.
Looking at the situation he was stuck in, with no obvious way to go back home, Link likely couldn’t reverse it by himself right now. Maybe the Goddesses had decided to send him on another quest to save Hyrule, but then why the Light Spirits didn’t just talk to him? Even a prophetic dream would have been better than whatever just happened to him. The good side: it didn’t feel like some dark magic manipulation, and on the contrary, his instincts (much stronger in this form) were telling him that nothing was out for his blood right there. Besides, if the strange scarred boy didn’t look like an average traveler, he wasn’t menacing either.
In lack of anything better to do, Link padded towards the bonfire and took the fish, before retreating, keeping an eye on the guy. He was confused, lost, but more importantly, hungry (the plan had been to eat that damn fox).
The Boy seemed overjoyed to have successfully Made A Friend, beaming over his success. They ate in relative silence, before the Boy took something at his hip (some sort of tablet) and began to… talk to it?
“I talked to that girl with the orb, next to the Shrine. Name’s Loone, and she said she can’t give me the orb, even if I need it, because she, I quote, ‘love Ancient Tech and can’t bear to lose precious Roscoe’.” He rolled his eyes.
The Boy went on about that girl and that ‘ancient tech’, deciding the best course of action would be to just take some ‘photos’. Link quickly grew bored by the one-sided conversation, even yawning at some point. He had been running around for some time before popping here (wherever here was) and the meal made him drowsy. However, his attention immediately got back when he heard the Boy was talking about him.
“I met this huge dog tonight,” he said, inspecting Link thoroughly. “Looks like a wolf, or a coyote. I don’t know where he comes from, but he has like a big handcuff on his leg. Huh, didn’t know there were poachers around. Maybe Rozel knows something about it?”
Link met the Boy’s eyes, blue against blue. “I think… I’ll call him Wolfie.”
That was the dumbest name ever. Link decided to stick around.
§§§
In the end, Link learned a few things by keeping close to the Boy.
First thing first, the Boy was, in fact, named Link. Secondly, that precise boy was the Hero of this place, which was Hyrule but definitely Not His Hyrule. There even was another Master Sword the Boy kept with him; a damaged, barely effective against evil any more sword. Fitting for a scarred, lonely Hero. Link followed that other Link for at least a whole week before seeing him interact with another living person.
Usually, the kid would wander in the empty wilderness of this truly huge Hyrule, climbing cliffs and flying off of them, going to places and doing things all alone. Link knew that because Other Link told it himself: the boy had the pretty nasty habit of info-dumping on any animal he saw. He was ever more excited to see the ‘big doggo’ was willing to follow him around and help in discarding the monsters along the way.
After finally seeing another Hylian, Link gathered a third thing: the Link of this Hyrule had beaten up his Ganondorf already (or, ‘Calamity Ganon’ as the locals called him). Which was a relief, as much as he set Link on edge: why didn’t the Boy put the Master Sword back in its place? Where was his Zelda? Why did this Hyrule still look like the ruins of itself?
In the end, Link decided to do something. He had people waiting for him home, and wasn’t closer to know why he was here than the first day he arrived: oracles, divine spirits or sacred Princesses had yet to inform them of the journey they needed to perform in order to achieve the Goddesses’ will. Which was really unprofessional of them, and that’s why he decided to act.
Except, maybe transforming right in front of the Boy wasn’t the best idea. In Link’s defence, the other Hero was being purposefully dumb, running around in the pouring rain and then not drying himself properly. The last straw before Link couldn’t take it any more.
“S-storms are s-so cool,” muttered the Boy, shivering violently as his feeble fire did nothing to warm him up. “R-right, Wolfie?”
He raised his head, only for his mouth to slacken as Link transformed to his Hylian form. Going back after so long in a wolf body was hell for his joints, like always, but Link was stubborn if anything else. He stretched, and then set thunderous eyes on the other Hero.
“… W-wolfie?”
“I've had enough of your bullshit.” He got to the kid, manhandling him into taking off his drenched clothes. The other Hero just gaped. “From now on, you won’t risk your life on a daily basis because of dumb lack of self-preservation. Have a little self-respect kid, you’re a Hero, you are not going down because of hypothermia.”
Once the Boy was stripped down to his underwear and dry enough, Link put his own pelt on his shoulders. He jabbed a finger into the guy’s nose, quitting his grumbling to threaten properly.
“Next time you do something stupid, I’m whooping your stinky ass back from wherever the hell you’re coming from.” And he sat down on his previous spot.
The Boy blinked.
“So… Is this normal, or should I be concerned about my dog?” They exchanged a look; Link so deadpan it made the other wither on the spot. “I’m genuinely asking!”
Link sighed. “Just… go to sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
§§§
They talked about it the next few days, as there was a lot to say. Link explained where he came from (another world), who the wolf was (his other form, the whole magical bullshit), and how he had no idea what happened (strong suspicions of divine intervention). The Boy explained where they were (Faron region, Hyrule), what was the basic gist of Calamity Ganon (“Like a massive monster-pig made of smoke, see? Except he could spill purple malefic goo everywhere.”), and who he was. He even dived deep into his own adventures (before and after his death, yes).
That was a lot to take in.
“You don’t have to tell me anything if you’re not comfortable with it,” reaffirmed Link when the Boy literally pep talked himself into sharing his story.
“No, I…” The Boy’s shoulders sagged. “You stuck around and wanted to protect me, even before you knew I was the Hero. I trust you.”
“We barely know each other, though.” The other Link shrugged, and none of them spoke about the weird intuition they had in their stomach, whispering to them ‘trust him, trust’. It was strange enough to think about it without putting the thing into words.
After that heartfelt conversation, they dicked around in Hyrule. In between completing Shrines and helping people left and right, they explored forests and attacked camps of monsters. It was fun and strangely freeing to forgo every responsibility (not like he could do anything anyway) and just dive in the fray of the battle.
Link got to meet the Zelda of this world and a bunch of relevant Sheikahs. They were all sweet and helpful, even if they didn’t know how to take him back home. One of the Sheikahs (Purah, the kid that had been an old lady, said Other Link) tried to rope him into a battery of tests, and he was saved in extremis by the conjoined efforts of this Zelda and Link 2.
Still, the scientists (how weird it was to see his Queen being a scholar here) tried their best and proposed several solutions or possible explanations as to why he had been yeeted into another time. It boiled down to the same worry every time: if there was a need for two Heroes, then the danger menacing Hyrule had to be greater than ever before in history.
"Well," coldly concluded researcher-Zelda. "Worst case possible, we already know how to survive the apocalypse." It felt slightly wrong (blasphemous) to laugh with them, but at least seeing the Boy and his Zelda cackling together was comforting.
§§§
The Boy was crazy. A month since his first step on this strange land, and Twilight was definitely sure something was messed in the other Hero's head. He had taken them to the Zora's Domain, just to dive up an entire mountain, for the Goddesses's sake. A lot of people blamed the craziness on the amnesia, but Link knew better: Ilia never acted like that when she lost her memories. She had preserved the core of her person, still as gentle and fiercely protective as ever, just… subdued.
Those observations were seriously challenged when they spent more time with the local Zora Prince, Sidon. The Zora had apparently known Other Link in his prime youth, a good hundred year ago (for their whole stay, Link had to make a very conscious effort to remember that those Zoras had a different life-span than the ones from his world, and to not picture a super buff baby Sidon in his head), and as the good older spiritually linked person, Link had to hear some embarrassing stories. The main question was: had the muddy gremlin always been like that?
"Oh no! Link was completely different one hundred years ago!" claimed Sidon. Despite his serious voice, he had a twinkle of amazed wonder in his eyes, looking as Link was showing his collection of arrows to wide-eyed Zora children. A bolder one tried to take hold of a shocking arrow, just to give a loud yelp as he was burnt. Looked painful.
Link smirked, “Yeah, I hope he was better than this.”
"That’s… debatable. I was only twenty at that time, so I don't remember him that well, but my wonderful sister Mipha often complained about how closed off he had been." Sidon threw a pained look at the broken master sword, safely put away from the children. "She said that at the moment he pulled out the Sword, Link changed drastically. He barely spoke any more, trained himself harsher than the Royal Guard, and pulled away from friends and family."
Link blinked, throwing a bewildered look at the fool of a friend that was re-enacting a fight against a Lynel for the laughing crowd. How could that be true?
“But why?”
“The pressure, the expectations put on his shoulders. The whole kingdom had been looking at him, probably expecting him to live up to their standards of what a Hero was. He doesn’t want to talk about any of that, so I don’t push him, but he might have confided in Mipha, once…”
The silence weighed heavily in-between them. Link didn’t dare say a word, not until Sidon finished his thoughts.
“I’m still glad, though. He and the Princess, they look much happier now, and maybe… Maybe it’s foolish, but I’m hoping they find peace in this new life.”
"Yeah… I’ll pray for it, too."
He observed the Boy for a long time, lost in thoughts about responsibilities, passing down traditions and the poor teenagers that had been forced into a role much too great for them. Eventually, Other Link got back to him, smiling and still buzzing from the excitement of the children.
“Hey, what’s with the long face! Want to go diving to keep yourself from wrinkling early?”
Every bit of fondness disappeared from Link’s heart. Rolling his eyes, he pushed the other’s head away, “Kids those days, I swear.”
§§§
By the second month, Link had lost most of his hopes about going back home. They had waited and hoped (not so much) for a sign from the Goddesses, they even prayed to the strange fourth goddess people from this Hyrule called Hylia.
“How come you don’t know Hylia,” had asked scholar-Zelda, squinting suspiciously at him. “You are one of her Heroes.”
“Well, y’all don’t know the Light Spirits, even though they’re literally the pillar of the world.”
“But we have dragon spirits,” had pointed Link 2 (which might be a good point, whatever).
All in all, they tried multiple things, from pilgrimage (which made everyone wince, for some reason they didn’t explain) to strange Sheikahs runes, in vain. Nothing worked, and not even once had the divine forces tried to contact them. Even worse, nothing had gone wrong in Hyrule. That was so bizarre: never had Link heard about a party gathering before the threat was there/the prophecy announced.
Morale was lower than ever, that’s why both Heroes found themselves sprawled in the tall grass of Hateno’s fields, looking at the stars and drinking bad wheat alcohol.
“We should get new names,” decided the Boy on a whim, as his voice suddenly became extremely serious. “It sucks and iz annoying. The ‘other Link’, ‘not this Link’, ‘the first Link’, eurgh! I wanna be original again.”
Link hummed, eyes closed and battling against sleep. “Like a nickname?”
“Yeah! Like, wha-what is like super, duper important to you?”
Link thought about it for a whole three seconds before nodding intently. “The twilight. T’was a pain to go through, but t’was, like, important.”
Not questioning any of that, the Boy cheered. “Great, from now on you sh- you shall be ‘Twilight’!” It felt mostly weird, but the alcohol felt warmer, and they both giggled like crazy. “Iz great!”
“Guess yeah,” ‘Twilight’ said (Uh, that was a mouthful to say). “But what’s- what about ya?”
The Boy shrugged. “Dunno. Any ideas?”
“Shouldn’t ya choose yar new name? Is pet- pretty personal.”
“I don’t even know who I’m most of dayz. You, you try and find som’thing cool!”
His voice suggested it wasn’t even important, but under the haze of his own mind, Twilight felt it was a terribly serious business. He thought about the matter with a deep frown, occasionally taking another sip.
“What’bout… ‘wildling’…”
The Boy considered it. “Yeah, ‘m- I’m pretty wild.” He muttered the name a few times under his breath. “Wild… ‘like that.”
They both agreed it was great thinking right there and promptly resumed their drinking session. Waking up the next morning, with the biggest hangover ever, Link has some regrets: researcher-Zelda was openly smirking at them at the breakfast table, silently judging their strained faces.
“Had a good evening, ‘Twilight’?”
“Sweet Golden Goddesses,” grunted Link, passing a hand over his face. “I hate how dumb this is, but I genuinely can’t think of anything else.”
Even now, as the idea of nicknames had the time to reveal all of its silliness, it was still more practical than what they had before. Wild collapsed on the chair next to him, grunting some messy greetings, and this Zelda snickered harder.
“Well, while you boys had had your fun, I thought about some runes we worked on in the lab, and I think if we-” She pushed away the food to put a clutter of papers under their noses. It was way too early to talk about anything related to the Sheikahs, but the Princess didn’t seem to mind their half-responsive state.
Reluctantly, Link (or, well, Twilight now) tried to focus on the blueprints. If this was how he could understand what was happening, then he had to give it a try.
§§§
(Later, they found a smarter, better story to tell when people asked them why they named themselves like that. They were the founders after all, it had to be at least some sort of mystical.
“You ‘lost someone in the twilight’? How do you even lose someone in an hour, that makes no sense?”
“One day you’ll understand.” Twilight kept a straight face, sweating heavily under his collar. Wild was grinning like crazy, wiggling his eyebrows at him, the traitor. Fortunately, his antics shifted the Chain’s attention onto him, and they left Twilight alone.
“And you? What’s with ‘wild’, it’s not even a noun.”
Wild’s eyes had a maniac glim in them as he shrugged, “Well, I’ve never claimed to be completely Hylian, y’know.”
Twilight sighed, sweet Goddesses, that boy was too much.)