Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They were… fuzzy. Yeah. Weirdly so.

Their brain was filled with a fog, thick and impenetrable, and their thoughts came to them slowly, like trying to swim through honey.

They were lying down. They could feel dry leaves under their body, and damp, slightly cold ground. There was a gentle breeze, ruffling their fur. It made their ears twitch. They let out a huff, and raised their head to look around.

It was dark, nighttime. They were surrounded by trees. A forest then. How did they get here? Why were they here?

They reached into their mind for answers and Fog rolled over their thoughts, stealing what little they were thinking in their attempt to remember.

Right. Don’t try to reach into the Fog, that’ll just make it worse, they thought. The Fog is bad. Have to keep thoughts away from the Fog. They struggled to their feet, glancing around the dark forest clearing. Where even were they?

The Fog bore down on the absent-minded attempt to glean information from their own mind, and they quickly retreated, trying to think of nothing. It worked, and the Fog dissipated a little, letting them exist and think as long as they didn’t try to remember.

They looked down, past their long elegant snout, and watched their front paws shuffle around in the dirt awkwardly. Did they always have those? They couldn’t figure it out, because if they tried to remember the Fog would take them.

They should look around, they thought. Maybe if they find something that can tell them where they are, or anything about the area, it will explain things. They could get answers easily if it was outside, where the Fog couldn’t obscure it.

Right! First things first, where were they? Why were they here?

And who exactly were they again?

Chapter Text

As Legend finally exited the portal, the swirling vortex spitting him out abruptly, he stumbled before managing to stay upright as his joints creaked in protest. He furrowed his brows, squinting in the sudden sunlight. It had been nighttime in Warrior's Hyrule before they had shifted, and the realisation that he’d lost sleep since they would have to keep travelling during the day made his already short temper start to burn. He wasn’t taking the second shift again until the next switch in worlds, that was for sure.

As his eyes finally adjusted to the daytime and he looked around, the first thing he noticed was a blue creature.

It stared at him, and Legend stared right back, not moving a muscle from where he’d come to a stop. It was nothing he’d ever seen before. It wasn’t dissimilar to a rabbit, but it was bright blue. Okay, maybe he couldn’t really find that odd considering his own pink form, but it was glowing too! Even in the sunshine, it was easy to see the unhyrulean glow. Its face was that of an owl, with eyes like hot coals, on top of its head were odd branch-like antlers in lieu of ears. Legend had no fucking clue what it was. It stared at him like it didn’t know what he was either.

Then, right on cue, his two travel buddies finally stumbled through the portal. Fast as damned lightning the creature sprinted off into the surrounding bushes, before Legend watched it disappear into blue lights.

“Did you have to go through so quickly?” Spirit grumbled on his left, half of his belongings stuffed into pockets and gathered in his arms since he’d run out of time to pack. Legend had no idea why the guy collected so many spare parts, but Spirit refused to leave any of them behind until he was sure he couldn’t do anything with them. At this rate, surely he had enough to make another… what was it he called it? A train?

“I know you were getting impatient, but please Legend it’s unsafe to go through alone.” Warriors chided from his right, although it lost its edge since he was still recovering from the portal, and looking a little green around the edges. His usual blue scarf fluttered in the slight breeze, and Legend resisted the urge to pull on it.

He did nothing but give an annoyed grunt, looking around to spot monsters before they spotted the heroes. They seemed to have landed in a really beautiful forest, with plants and shrubbery Legend didn’t recognise. Behind them, the portal was situated at the base of a huge tree, a few times bigger than its brethren around it. Legend had a few moments where he wondered why, before he heard a whistle and pulled the captain to the side quickly.

A rock the size of his head flew past them, missing them by a hair before it crashed into a nearby tree and shattered to pieces on impact. The sound alone made Legend sure that it was a guaranteed concussion at least if you were hit by one. Both he and Warriors had their shields out as soon as they realised what they were dealing with. The next shot glanced off Legend’s shield, being deflected over to the side. They could see it now, a shrub-like creature that jumped out of the ground to spit rocks at them. Legend and warriors braced themselves for another shot, but as the octorok jumped from the ground a boomerang hit it from the side, killing it in one shot. It disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a few items on the ground.

The boomerang followed its arc to land back in Spirit’s hand, and Legend and Warriors nodded to him in thanks. “There could be more, don’t let your guard down and take them out before the others arrive.” Warriors gestured who should go where as he talked, and they all nodded, and proceeded to focus on taking out the monsters in the area before their companions arrived.

Within two minutes, the octoroks were dead, and the portal glowed as the next group came through. Hyrule and Wind stepped through, both supporting Four as he sagged, always taking portal transport hard. Seeing that there was no immediate danger, Hyrule lowered Four to the ground and made sure he was okay as the others sorted themselves out and adjusted.

Spirit had finally put all his stuff away in his bag, after being woken roughly in the middle of the night to go through the portal, and his overall pockets were no longer brimming with cogs and gears. Wind stood beside him and the two talked quietly as they looked around.

“Legend, you recognise this place?” Warriors turned to him, raising one eyebrow, and Legend immediately shook his head.

“No dice. Don’t think I’ve been in this Hyrule yet.” Legend had been about the fifth Link to join the chain, but they travelled randomly and it was hard to keep track of which Hyrule they were in sometimes, what with so many of them now. They'd visited Time's hyrule about three times, but hadn't gone back to his own since he was picked up. He felt a little despondent at not seeing his sister or Ravio for so long, not that he would ever tell them that.

The last three, Sky, Twilight and Time, stepped through and quick as a flash the portal closed as soon as they were all present.

"Right, everyone okay?" Time looked around, and Legend could see him doing a quick headcount.

"Yep, there were a few octorok about but we've taken care of them. Don't know who's Hyrule this is though." Warriors reported, and everyone studied their surroundings once more.

"Definitely nae mine." Wind's Hyrule was mostly water, and he'd explored all the islands so he was easily confident in his answer. Legend had hated all the sand when they'd paid a visit to Outset, but had hated fighting his way through Wind's version of Faron woods even more. Way too many floor masters.

"Not mine." Hyrule called out. They'd been to his Hyrule twice now, once to pick him up after Legend, and once to deal with a group of infected. His successor hadn't been happy showing them around, and Legend had spent some time convincing 'Rule that it wasn't his fault and he shouldn't be ashamed of his Hyrule.

"Obviously not mine either." They had just been to Warrior's Hyrule. It was odd, seemingly onset with waves of monsters constantly. Legend didn't really care for it, and was glad to have left, although they'd inevitably back whenever there was a problem.

"Doesn't look like mine." Spirit's Hyrule had been founded by Wind and his Zelda, Tetra, and had developed technology beyond most of the other time periods resulting in spirit tracks being laid over the entirety of its land. As much as it was nice not having to do much to travel, Legend was not a huge fan of riding Spirit's train. At least they had only gone there once.

Four, still kneeling on the floor, took a look around the area, before shaking his head and going back to trying to recover. It must've been a rougher portal than normal, but Legend knew he'd be back to normal by tomorrow. He didn't know what Four 's Hyrule looked like so hopefully Four's quick assessment was accurate.

"Don't think it's mine." Twilight's Hyrule was fine, if a little big. Since Twi only had the one horse, they'd had to walk for days to get from his house to the zora kingdom where there were signs of trouble. Legend could feel his feet ache at the thought of it.

"Probably not mine." Sky was looking up at the sky through the trees, and Legend knew he was looking for his loftwing, crimson. The giant red bird always seemed to know when Sky came back, and landed nearby as soon he could. Sky deflated somewhat, clearly hoping it had been his Hyrule.

"It's not mine." Legend stated, and with that everyone turned to Time.

Time took one last look around the forest they'd found themselves in, and let out a breath. "It seems we've found ourselves in a new Hyrule once again." The group shifted. It had been over two months since the last new addition- the chain had assumed that this was them. Time continued, ignoring their obvious curiosity. "This has only happened before when we have a new hero to find, so our first order of business is to find civilisation and get information on this Hyrule. If there is a new hero, we need to find them quickly and ask them to join us. If there isn't a new hero, this could just be another world we have to protect."

Legend could see the discomfort among the group. Time himself looked resigned, but most of the others seemed to wonder why now? Why wait so long for this one? Only Wind seemed actually excited to meet another hero. The others seemed to have mixed feelings. Legend just wanted Hylia to stop traumatising people.

He looked back to Wind, planning to make fun of him for looking so excited, when he noticed a plant shifting through the ground behind him.

'Shit! I thought we got them all!' Legend shifted his weight, preparing to lunge forward and tackle Wind to make sure the octorok didn't hit him. However, the moment the octorok burst from the ground, a red blur burst from the bushes. There was a puff of smoke, and then nothing. No shot, no octorok, nothing.

"Legend? You okay?" Time brought him back to the moment, and Legend realised he'd taken a step forward before realising that the threat had been vanquished.

Legend looked around the group. They were all facing him, no one was looking the other way. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I thought I saw another octorok. Don't let your guard down, one hit from those things and we'll be carrying you for days." No need to explain that he absolutely had seen an octorok, and it was taken out by… something. Potentially something more dangerous. Legend resigned himself to keeping an eye out for it- it was unwise to assume anything, and in a new Hyrule anything was possible.

Time raised his eyebrows, the scar over one eye stretching. He could tell Legend was keeping something from him, he could always sense that somehow no matter who it was, but didn't ask anymore questions. "You heard him. Keep an eye out and your shields up. We don't know what we're going to be dealing with, so make sure to not rush into anything, and stay with the group."

Time, Warriors and Twilight then huddled together to discuss their plans, while the others got out their shields and got ready to depart.

Legend glared at the bright blue sky. He was too damn tired for this shit.

Chapter Text

For Sky, it was always a disappointment when he didn't hear the call of his lovely crimson when he stepped through a portal. It was the sound of home, and it was hard to fight the bitter disappointment when he was faced with an unfamiliar land.

After he'd defeated demise and their people started returning to the surface, loftwings had stopped appearing for the younger children. It was a clear sign they were to stop living in the sky, for loftwings to stop coming to them. It had been… hard for him to come to terms with, but seeing the future of their kingdom made it easier. Still, the hylians who already had loftwings didn't lose them, and loftwings were even able to travel down to the surface now. Sky loved Crimson, his most treasured friend alongside Fi and Zelda, and was always glad when his loftwing explored the surface with him after so long being above the clouds.

When he realised that this wasn't anyone's Hyrule, his disappointment was tempered with curiosity- why a new Hyrule now? Was there a new hero? Where did this Hyrule fall compared to the others? What was the land like now? He was eager to see what had become of the aeons-old kingdom he was just beginning to  found in his own time. Time-travelling adventures were weird like that.

The chain had landed in a small forest, and as they explored there seemed to be more octoroks than trees, but they were quickly and easily dispatched. There was a giant mountain to one side of the forest- they could see smoke at the top, and agreed it was probably Death Mountain- and a drop into a canyon at the other, leaving two directions to go. There were short sections of sheer cliff stopping them from going one direction, which meant there was only one viable path left to take.

As they explored the small bit of wood they could see a small glowing building at the top of a stone tower. It was very odd, but Time refused to let them try and reach it- both because it clearly wasn't inhabited, and it was dangerous to even attempt to climb that kind of cliff. The stone tower rose up from an oddly shaped lake down in the canyon, which made even attempting to reach the stone tower a bit of a challenge. The more curious heroes backed away from the edge as Time gave them a reproachful glare, and they all headed in the only direction they had yet to explore thoroughly.

They made their way up a plain rockface, climbing up a small slope in the only path that was seemingly safe for them to take. About halfway up Sky heard the rumbling of clouds, and knew that a storm was coming. He could tell Legend knew as well- the vet tensed up as soon as a roll of thunder echoed around the sky. The others didn't seem to mind storms, Time sometimes even seeming to enjoy them, but Sky felt a bit of camaraderie with Legend as the two people who hated storms. He didn't know why Legend hated them, but Sky was always reminded of the nightmares that had started him on his journey, and the storm that had ended it. Every dark cloud seemed to resemble Demise, and every bolt of lightning made his bones ache as if they were remembering the pain. Neither of them slept when storms were around.

As Sky reached the top of the hill, the last person to do so due to his stamina, he realised everyone else was gathered up ahead, their expressions pinched with worry or fear. Sky worried it was a dead end.

It was so much worse.

Sky had only heard stories from the others, but looking over the edge of the cliff and down to the monster below, he already felt nervous.

"It's just… outside. In the world. Why isn't it in a bloody dungeon?!" Legend complained in a whisper, and no one else had any answers.

There was a forest a short way down, and in amongst the trees the group could see a lynel, walking around casually. It hadn't noticed them yet, and Time seemed to come to his senses and pull everyone away from the edge, out of sight. They all gathered round to discuss their next move. Trying to fight a lynel would be a bad idea normally, but doing so in a new hyrule where they didn't know what it could do? Insane. Fighting it wasn't an option. But all their other paths weren't easily travesable. Falling off a cliff could kill them just as easily as a Lynel could.

"There was a slope down to its level to the side. We could get down there fine, but dealing with it is another problem." Twilight sighed, clearly not sure what was best.

"Sneaking past it will be hard. But the other routes would only be accessible through climbing or with our hookshots, and there's no good points to hookshot onto. Especially with this stone, it crumbles too easily." Time kicked a small rock forward, which was made of the same lighter stone that a lot of the surrounding area was made of. He stepped on it, and they watched as chunks came off the stone easily. Right, definitely not stable enough for hookshots then. “I don’t want to risk falling, but sneaking by will be hard. Anyone got any other ideas?”

Silence. As much as they didn’t want to, sneaking past the lynel seemed to be the only choice.

“Right.” Time let out a breath, and looked around. The dark clouds that had been steadily gathering for the past half hour finally broke, and the heroes were quickly doused with rain, thoroughly soaking their already damp enthusiasm. Hylia, this hyrule sucks, and they’ve barely gotten anywhere yet. At least the thunder and lightning hadn't quite gotten over to them yet- it was still in the distance.

“Wow, right on cue.” Time muttered, looking up at the sky. The rest of the heroes realised what he meant- the rain would help to hide them as they snuck past. “We’ll wait for it to get a bit heavier, and then go one at a time. Go down the slope and hide behind that rock. We’ll continue on when the lynel isn’t facing this way.”

They formed an order, planning to go one at a time along the planned route and be as stealthy as possible. Wind was first, then Four, Hyrule, Legend, Spirit, Sky, Warriors, Twilight then Time. Twilight sat near the edge with his bow, ready to shoot at a moment’s notice to distract the lynel should it spot someone. Time sat beside him, a bow in his hand too. He wasn’t the best shot by his own confession, but wasn’t going to sit and do nothing.

Wind, the best among them at sneaking around due to his many years of, uh, very legal activities, gave them an excited grin before he peered over the edge, waiting for his chance. The lynel wandered over to investigate something, facing the other direction, and Wind seized the opportunity. He carefully stepped down the slope, not sliding at all with the placement of his feet, crouching low to the ground before darting over behind the rock, quiet as a mouse. The lynel gave no signs of noticing the movement, and before the others could even protest Wind had already moved on, sneaking over to the next tree and hiding his entire body from view just before the lynel turned with a snort. Its two hooves stomped the dirt, before it wandered slightly closer to Wind’s direction.

No one moved. Sky could feel his lungs demand air and forced himself to breathe normally- a gasp at a time like this could spell disaster. After what felt like an eternity, but was actually only a few minutes, the lynel lost interest and moved away, and Sky and the others relaxed. The lynel moved further ahead, turning away, and the pattern was repeated. The heroes would move, the lynel would turn, and the heroes would be hidden behind trees or the big rock. It worked surprisingly well, although Sky was sure the monster was catching on to their scheme, but it never saw or heard anything to confirm it.

He just had to keep it that way, since it was his turn now.

He watched, and as the Lynel turned around he carefully made his way down the slope, before crouching to hide behind the rock. He was hardly the best at being stealthy, but he was pretty sure he had gone unnoticed. Especially with the rain- it helped hide his footsteps and the rustling of his clothes and gear.

He thought he was fine, until he saw the terrified faces of his fellow heroes hidden behind trees further along, and heard the tell-tale thump of hooves against the ground coming closer.

Hylia help me, he quickly prayed, before getting ready to fight if need be. The hoof steps got louder, and Sky felt his whole body practically vibrate with the pounding of his heart. It was like he was back in the silent realm again.

One more hoofstep and he would be in the monster’s sight, he could tell. He tensed up, waiting for it, ready to spring aside if it swung, but nothing happened.

Instead, from the other side of the rock, Sky heard… another monster? It was a terrible cry, a sort of warbling scream, and it didn’t stop, something was creating as much racket as possible on the other side of the forest. Sky listened in astonishment as the hoofsteps moved away from his rock and towards the sound. Maybe another monster had invaded the lynel’s territory? Must be a courageous monster, to do something so foolhardy.

Sky risked a peek around the rock, and seeing that the lynel was distracted by- some sort of orange creature? It was making all the racket, jumping up and down and lithely running around, clearly to get the lynel’s attention. Sky thanked whatever deity was apparently watching over him and sending their animals to help him out, and quickly moved to the next hiding spot. The other heroes moved up, Wind actually out of sight of the lynel and waiting patiently for the rest of the group. Four joined him, Hyrule was close behind with Legend practically pushing him along behind him. They all took shelter again as the sounds began to quieten somewhat. Sky hoped the creature hadn’t been hurt, he owed it his life. He looked over to the remaining heroes, and Time sent him a thumbs up. They were still all good. They would wait a little for the lynel’s suspicion to die down again, and then continue as planned. Hopefully without the need for a god to intervene this time.

When Sky finally reached the small area Wind had claimed as safe since it was so far from the lynel, he sat down and took a moment just to catch his breath. He felt like he’d lost years of his life suffering through the stress of sneaking past a lynel, but at least it had miraculously worked. Somehow.

Sky thought of the animal. Why had it acted like that? Distracting such a monster? Surely it would have been afraid? He had limited experience with surface animals, sure, but he was pretty sure that had been unusual. Whatever had happened, Sky was glad it did, otherwise he might’ve been fighting off a lynel right about now.

Or worse.

Chapter Text

As Time watched his protege make his way to the next tree, he felt a small sense of pride in his group- they worked well together and even though they were hiding from this fight they were doing a damn good job of it and for that he was proud of them. Now, he just had to follow in their shoes and sneak past the lynel before this rain stopped.

If the rain hadn’t started before, Time had been thinking of playing his ocarina to summon some for them. It was invaluable for helping to hide their footsteps and presence from the lynel. It was a perceptive beast, at least in other Hyrules it was, and he didn't want to risk anything or anyone until they knew where and when they were. The quicker they got more information, the better.

As the lynel moved to look behind some trees, Time took his chance and moved down the slope to hide behind the rock. It was harder for him to move stealthily, with all his armour and his bigger stature, but he'd like to imagine he was at least okay at it after all these years of adventuring.

When he was sure the lynel was facing the other way again, he carefully moved from the rock to a nearby tree. His protege was already well ahead, almost to the safe space with the rest of the group.

Time leaned to glance around the tree, and then made direct eye contact with the lynel.

Neither of them moved.

They didn’t get their weapons, or try to run, or do anything. In that moment, Time understood that while this was a monster, it was a monster of honour. It would not attack unless he was ready to fight, or if he lingered on its land. He slowly started to back away, towards the others, when out of the bushes the crazy fox appeared again. Time had only heard it the first time, and had thought it to be some kind of strange monster unique to this land. No, it was just a bright orange fox, who was very loud and demanding of the lynel's attention. The lynel turned and looked down at it, clearly annoyed by its behaviour, and Time took the opportunity to swiftly leave.

As Time jogged up to the others, he gave them all a scan and did a quick headcount. It seemed no one had suffered any injuries, and everyone was present. Even Hyrule, who had a penchant to investigate things off the path, had stayed with the group. They were likely all nervous about the lynel, and several shifted on their feet, ready to leave. He was very glad no one had seen him make direct eye contact with the beast they’d just spent almost an hour sneaking past.

"Well done everyone." Time congratulated them, raising his voice to be heard over the rain. It was probably one of their more insane plans, but it had worked. "Now, any signs of civilisation?"

They shook their heads mournfully, and Wind brought out his telescope and compass. His compass actually pointed north instead of locating treasure chests in dungeons- the others thought it was a bit odd but Wind insisted they were the weird ones. He gestured around them. “I looked, but in the rain it’s hard to see anything. I’ll have another look when we’re out of the forest. We’re currently heading South. Ish.”

Time nodded, thinking. The rain had been steady, and it was slowly soaking through everything. The quicker they found shelter the better, but it was best if they found some sort of civilisation instead of sheltering somewhere random.

They continued in their Southern direction, following the forest’s edge and staying in formation. Hyrule picked up a few mushrooms and plants, planning to check with the locals if they were safe to eat. If they found any locals that is. The others seemed relatively upbeat, so Time hoped they would all have enough energy to keep walking until they found either a town or a good spot to camp.

As they neared the edge of the forest the trees thinned and they could see as it opened up into a field, and even in the rain it looked impressive. Wind took out his telescope, and the group stopped as he scanned their surroundings. There were slopes to their left dotted with trees, but Twilight got his attention and pointed to their right. There was a mountain path up towards the volcano, and Twilight looked back at him questioningly. There would probably be gorons there but Time shook his head. There was no guarantee that the path would be safe, or even lead to the goron settlement. He didn’t want to gamble on a path that may be just as likely to lead them to a lava pool than a safe haven. Plus, it looked steep and he didn’t think the group had the energy for it.

“Guys!” Wind called out, and they all immediately gathered around him. He was looking out to the centre of the field. “We’ve got company!” He took the telescope from his eye and pointed at the shadows moving through the rain that quickly revealed themselves to be monsters on horseback. Twilight immediately had his bow out and shot one of the monsters, easily dismounting it. The other one attacked Sky, who had managed to raise his shield just in time, making a swipe as it rode by and away from the group- presumably to come back for another go. There were more shapes in the rain approaching them, and the monster that had been shot off its horse was slowly struggling to its feet.

Warriors took control, shouting orders quickly and the others rushed to follow. “Twi, Wind, on bows! Knock them off their horses before they can get close. Everyone else, use your swords to take them out and defend the archers!” A simple plan, but effective. Twi and Wind ended up competing somewhat, trying to shoot more monsters than the other. With the rest of the group on sword duty, quick work was made of the monsters, since there were only 7 of them in the end- all uninfected thankfully. Twi and Wind had both tried to shoot the last monster off its horse at the same time, and had ended up killing it instantly. They reluctantly conceded to a draw.

The horses the monsters were riding took a moment to collect themselves, before quickly running away from the heroes despite Twilight’s best efforts to try and sooth them. Time gave him a consolatory pat, and Twilight laughed. “They’re probably fed up of being used by others, best that they’re running free I guess. It just would’ve been nice to speed things up a bit.” Time smiled, glad his protege was wiser than he acted sometimes.

“I’m sure they can look after themselves, pup.” Time consoled him, and Twilight tried to pretend like it didn’t mean the world to him when Time put one hand on his shoulder. Time loved Twilight, he loved all of the chain, they were his boys no matter what weird soul thing they all shared. But actually mentoring Twilight, teaching him more sword techniques, giving him advice, helping him grow? It felt a little more special with him. Especially since Twilight had apparently already received advice from his future self.

With the monsters dead, Wind took another look around the rainy field, before grinning. "Ahoy!! There's something weird up that hill, looks like a horse or something. Definitely built, couldn't say who by but whoever made it has weird taste." No one else knew what that meant, but Time nodded.

“Lead the way, Wind.” Time smiled, and Wind grinned back- he always liked navigating, probably because he missed navigating the Great Sea.

Wind set off towards the structure across the field, and the chain followed, on the lookout for more monsters riding horses, but it seemed they’d taken care of the biggest group in the area. A few more smaller groups showed up, but they were quickly dispatched by the Chain.

As they reached the bottom of the slope up to the strange structure, they fought off another group of three. Time shot a monster off its horse, and it landed near a tree. After the horse had scarpered, Time walked over to finish it off, biggoron sword in hand. The monster lay near the tree, but it was already dead. Not from Time’s arrow, he’d just caught it in the chest, and he knew that wouldn’t be enough to kill it. No, the monster’s throat had been ripped out, clear teeth marks on its skin.

It wasn’t his pup. Twilight was behind him, fighting off the other two monsters, and he wouldn’t transform mid-fight. No one else knew his secret apart from Time, and that was because his pup had slipped up early on into their adventure together. Plus, the jaw size was all wrong for a wolf.

Time caught a flash of orange, disappearing into a bush up the hill. The fox? Was it the same one that had distracted the lynel? Was it following them? Time was suspicious of it, but it seemed to want to help. But it wasn’t ready to be seen by them either, since it kept hiding.

Hmm. He would have to keep an eye out for it. No pun intended. 

Chapter Text

Twilight found this new Hyrule incredible. It was strange, full of life and wonder he’d never seen before, but that also made it beautiful. An untamed land, filled with smells and sights yet unknown to him. He wanted to explore the forests and meet the native animals, and the wolf in him longed to lope along the fields for hours to see everything there was to see.

And the horses. He wanted to pet the horses so much. He’d never seen so many before, even in the castle town stables there were usually at least a few people out travelling, so they were never full when he was around. However, the monsters of this Hyrule did ride the horses, which didn’t seem fun for them. They could take care of themselves though- Twilight knocked a monster off its horse and watched as the horse immediately kicked when it knew its rider was behind it. The monster had burst into smoke instantly. The horses all ran off when they were freed, and Twilight could see them go towards another field over a hill, presumably to seek peace away from them and the fighting, which was understandable.

So, Twilight was confident when he said he liked horses. He did. He loved Epona and he loved helping to take care of the other horses on Lon Lon ranch. But as they followed Wind closer to where he had seen a structure, and finally got to see said structure through the rain for themselves?

Even for Twilight, building a horse head into a tent was a bit much.

“What the fuck is this?” Legend yelled to them through the rain as he gestured towards the odd tent, clearly at a loss.

“It’ll be dry. Move it!” Time kept walking, following Wind as they moved towards the tent. The rain had been steadily getting heavier, and the sounds of thunder that had started far away were now getting uncomfortably close. The group rushed after them, no one wanting to stay in the rain any longer than they had to.

They rounded the tent to find its opening facing the road. A pot obviously used for cooking sat to the side, fire gone out after being drenched by rain. There was an odd glowing building at the other side of the road, but they ignored it in favour of getting out of the rain. The tent’s entire front was open, and there was a counter in the centre where a hylian stood, giving them a curious look. He noticed their weapons and armour, and the look got a bit sharper. Twilight frowned. They would have to be careful not to draw too much attention.

They made their way inside, crowding the entrance. The desk extended back into the tent, and the hylian simply turned and walked to the other side, waiting for them at the other desk.

Twilight saw Time turn and do a headcount, Warriors doing the same, so he approached the desk. There were several people around the tables at the back, probably waiting out the rain, and at the other side of the tent were several beds. Hopefully they could take some, they were used to sharing at this point.

“Hello there strangers, funny story! I bought some produce the other day, but I accidentally got too much, so I’m looking to sell some. Could I interest you in some bananas at all?” The hylian behind the counter smiled, but there was no genuinity. What a weird guy.

“Uh, no, but I was wondering if we could rent some beds for the night?” Twilight knew how much rupees he had without looking, having started to run dangerously low with this adventure not giving him much time for treasure hunting.

The hylian behind the counter blinked, clearly shocked, before smiling more warmly this time. “Sure thing. We only have three left I’m afraid, but we have spare blankets and pillows we can give you too.”

Twilight nodded, thankful, and with the fee paid they divvied up the beds and set up for the night. Most of the other patrons were already asleep or busy with things, so they agreed to leave the info-gathering for tomorrow and busied themselves for the moment. An hour later and the rain stopped and, although it was quite late, the group took advantage of the cooking pot outside to make dinner. They drew lots, and Hyrule was the one to get the short stick. Then it was swiftly snatched from his hands as everyone agreed they’d rather not have Hyrule give them all food poisoning again.

That night everyone slept, not putting a watch on when they were being looked after by the stable, who had their own system to keep watch. Everyone, except Twilight.

He knew it was a bit selfish, but he wanted to go explore. Who knows, maybe he would find something interesting, no? At least, that’s how he justified it to himself as he snuck out of the tent and headed for the nearby forest. The stable master, Rudi, was busy marking things down in a huge ledger at the front desk, and paid him no mind. Roz was the guard of the stables and was doing regular laps of the perimeter. Twilight timed it right and slipped out without him seeing. He didn’t want to be stopped and questioned.

He went into the nearby forest, and the moment he was definitely out of view, he shifted, all the new and delightful smells coming into sharp focus. He had been right- this Hyrule was wonderful.

He sprinted through the forest, marvelling at all the new sights and sounds, and quickly took to exploring. He sniffed several mushrooms and plants, able to tell which ones he could eat and which he couldn’t. He would have to double check, but it would help sort out Hyrule’s collected items. There was so much more life than he was used to- sure, there was no civilisation, but the plants and animals were thriving in a way he hadn’t seen before.

He eventually stumbled onto a path, and noted it must be the path that led back down to the stable. However, the other direction seemed to lead to an old broken down windmill. He sniffed. There was an odd scent coming down from there, one he didn’t like. He’d have to mention this place to Time. He walked down the path, when a nearby boulder came to life.

It started to glow, before shaking and coming to life, and then the beeping started. A red line stretched from it to him, dancing around before settling on his chest. That was odd. He should run.

Just as that thought occurred, the beeping got faster and suddenly he was on the ground, having been tackled by something half his size at high speeds. Behind them the ground had exploded, the nearby grasses having caught on fire and the path having a new small crater.

What was that? Twilight stared in horror as the thing that had just blown up half the path locked onto him again, and then registered that he was being half-dragged by a fox away from the machine and behind a rock where it couldn’t see them. Twilight managed to get his paws under him and sprung behind cover with the fox.

The moment they were out of that thing’s view, the beeping stopped. A few moments passed with Twilight just panting from the shock, and then they heard the sounds of it powering down.

‘What that?’ He asked the fox, still shaking from the shock. He could’ve died. Been blown to pieces before he even knew what was happening. If it hadn’t been for this fox… Twilight didn’t want to think about it.

‘Danger. Death.’ The fox replied, before giving a fully bodied shake. It spoke oddly, for an animal.

Twilight realised he’d yet to take a good look at his saviour, and started to appraise it. The fox was slightly smaller than average, a bright orange coat with blue eyes, which seemed odd. It had the usual marking for a fox, dark brown ears and legs, and a white-tipped tail, but the brown fur on his left ear stretched to cover half his body, the fur there seemed to be coarser than the rest of it, more brittle and sparse.

The fox tilted its head, the universal sign of curiosity, and Twilight tilted his right back.

‘You traveller. Came from there.’ The fox pointed with its nose to where the chain had come into this Hyrule, and Twilight realised this was the same fox that had distracted the lynel. He hadn’t gotten a good look at it before but he doubted there was more than one insane fox in the area. He could be wrong though, he hadn’t met any other foxes yet.

‘Yes.’ He communicated back. It was all done through body language and subtle things only animals picked up on, which made it a little difficult to get any complicated ideas across but he usually didn’t need to. ‘Thank you for help.’

The fox gave no clear reply, but looked very pleased and danced around in a circle, lifting its snout triumphantly. Twilight found it a very endearing gesture.

‘Who you?' Twilight nudged the fox, getting a good sniff to ensure he'd always recognise this fox.

'Me?' The fox tilted its head again, but before Twilight could answer again, they heard a shout.

"Ah! A wolf!" Roz had come up the path, probably due to the explosion that had occurred. Twilight braced himself for an attack, knowing Hylians generally didn't react well to wolves.

Roz stared at him, and Twilight wondered why he hadn't attacked yet. "You look pretty big, you must be a pretty rare species! If I let you get blown up by a guardian the stable system's gonna be on my ass about conservation and genetic diversity again. C'mon wolf, you gotta get outta here!" Roz circled him and started waving his weapon, trying to look intimidating. He was trying… to shoo them away from the guardian? Twilight hadn't expected that. Thank the goddess for conservation, whatever that was.

He trotted off in the direction Roz was gesturing, and the man looked quite glad when he slipped away through the trees away from the guardian. Roz went back the path, and when Twilight was sure he wasn't going to whirl around and try to attack him, he turned his attention back to the fox.

It was gone. It must've slipped away during the exchange. Twilight knew its scent, and could follow it but it was getting late and he needed some sleep before they inevitably spent all day travelling again.

He started trotting back towards the stable, staying out of sight of Roz, with his thoughts still lingering on the fox. It had saved his life. Helped the chain. Maybe it was associated with the hero? A companion of sorts? Maybe it was a beast associated with the goddess? Or maybe it was just a really weird fox. What if it was trying to lure him into a false sense of security in order to attack, or lead them into danger? His wolf senses immediately protested the thought, his wolf side already growing attached to the little fox. However, Twilight's hylian side decided to keep his guard up, just in case. There was only one thing for sure- it was not a normal fox.

Chapter Text

Hyrule wasn't a huge fan of horses, but he thought the horse head tent was kind of cute. I mean, it had its charm, and it helped the stable stand out in the landscape. It was well built and didn't let the rain in. What was there to complain about?

The others seemed less enthused about seeing the odd structure in the daylight when they woke up, but everyone quickly took to their tasks instead of questioning the stable design.

They sat around the campfire for breakfast, while Sky made porridge for them. The rest of the stable was starting to stir as well, the people of the stable going about their business with a few odd looks thrown their way. They did seem to stand out a bit in this hyrule, with their armour, weapons and equipment. The only other one with armour was the guard of the stable, Roz.

Breakfast was edible, better than their usual near-foul meals, and once everyone was finished Sky took the pot and cutlery to go wash it. Time stood, and they all paid attention.

"We're gonna get information, pack up and start travelling when we have a destination. Warriors, you talk to the people around the stable. Wind, talk to Beedle. Legend, investigate the thing on the other side of the road. Twilight, with me to talk to Rudi and Roz. Everyone else pack up your gear and get ready for travelling."

Then they were all busy with their assigned jobs. Hyrule took no time to pack up, and ended up wandering around to listen to the other's investigations since he had nothing else to do. Twilight and Time were talking with the stablemaster, Rudi, and the stable guard Roz. They looked like they were having a serious discussion so he approached Wind instead. Wind was having a very animated conversation with a man wearing a giant beetle shaped rucksack, and Hyrule wanted to know more about the odd merchant.

"-well, do you have any hyoi pears at least?" Wind asked, and Beedle shook his head.

"Those died out I'm afraid! Many many years ago, my grandfather used to tell me stories of them! How does a young boy like you know of them?" Beedle raised one eyebrow, and Wind laughed.

"I've been around!” Wind noticed Hyrule had joined them, and Hyrule could see his guilty look as he changed subject to what he should actually be asking about. “By the way, me an' my brothers are looking for someone, do you know where the hero is?" Wind asked, and Beedle gave him an unsure look.

"Hero? The hero that died 100 years ago?" Beedle asked, and they both went silent.

"Died?" Hyrule repeated in a small voice, and Wind looked shocked.

"Yes. 100 years ago when the calamity first appeared, the hero was killed and the princess was trapped in the castle attempting to hold the calamity back from destroying the rest of Hyrule. Everyone knows the story!” Beedle told them as he fiddled with some of the wares he had on display.

Neither Wind nor himself spoke, Beedle looking increasingly worried- Hyrule assumed it was because he looked as horrified as he felt.

“Of course, the story is slightly happier now, the calamity was destroyed some months ago now, and I hear that the princess is still alive and has settled down in Hateno! People are wondering if she’s going to re-establish the kingdom, although it’s a bit soon considering everyone’s still recovering. Link hasn’t taken out all of the guardians near the castle too, so it’s still far too dangerous to travel near there.” Beedle explained, getting a little more frantic as he tried to reassure his customers.

“Wait, you said Link?” Hyrule and Wind ask at the same time, leaning forward.

“Who’s Link? Blonde guy? Saves people? Generally helpful and defeated the calamity, whatever that is?” Wind asked, looking determined as Beedle wilted in his fiery stare.

“Yes? You know Link? He’s one of my best customers! He’s the Hylian champion, so he helps to protect Zelda after her, well, after the end of the calamity. They also say he may be related to the hero of old, a grandson or something, although he hasn’t said anything about that to me. He stays with the princess in Hateno sometimes, although I meet him a lot while he’s out travelling. Never can stay still that one!” Beedle smiled, and Hyrule could tell that he cared for Link.

Wind was taking his job surprisingly seriously. “Can you tell us where he might be right now?”

Beedle laughed. “No, not even slightly. He moves around even faster than me! You’d be best asking in Hateno, the princess might help you out. Just make sure and not bother her, she’s been through a lot and the village won’t tolerate it.”

Hyrule nodded. “Of course, we will treat the princess with the utmost respect.”

Beedle smiled again. “Great! Well, now you’re here, can I interest you in some of my fine wares?” He gestured to the range of arrows, carrots- was that a lizard?- and fruit he had. Hyrule took note of what he had to sell, but didn’t have the rupees to be buying anything. He shook his head politely, before turning and finding that Wind had already gone outside to where the rest of the chain was meeting standing in a small circle. Hyrule went to join them, getting a sinking feeling that they were going to set off soon and be camping in the wilds before long. He had liked sleeping in a bed- he had shared with Legend last night and even sharing the bed had been infinitely more comfy than sleeping on the ground.

Time had everyone gathered, clearly doing a quick headcount before he began. “So, this world was ravaged by something called the calamity over 100 years ago, and Hyrule is still recovering. However, the calamity was defeated 3 months ago and has since ceased to be a problem. The princess is alive, and lives South of here in a place called Hateno, apparently about a week away or more depending on travel time. This stable is part of a network that connects the land, and we should be able to stop at other stables along the way- I bought a map off the stablemaster but it only covers the Akkala region. We should be able to get another one at South Akkala stable. I’ve gotten directions to Hateno to see the princess. I couldn’t find anything about a hero. Wind?”

Wind perked up, clearly having enjoyed talking to Beedle. Hyrule remembered there had been someone called that on his journey on the Great Sea. There was no way it was the same person, right? Or a descendent? “The hero died 100 years ago.” The group went pale. Hyrule watched Time’s eye widen, looking shocked. “However~” Wind got all their attention again. “There is someone named Link who probably defeated the calamity thing, and seems to fit our description. He stays with the princess, although travels a lot so he may be hard to track down. They call him Hyrule’s champion, which sounds a bit like a hero.”

Warrior stepped forward, coughing slightly to get everyone’s attention. “I think I have more evidence of this. Link’s been around here a lot, helped out Roz and the lady over there. I also asked about getting horses, and it’s all done through this horse god, Maylana? Anyway, I ended up talking to Rudi and he took a little blood and apparently I’m related to Link, cause I got access to his horses. I’m not sure how it works, magic stuff, but it’s probably him. Problem is, he hasn’t taken out a horse in about a month according to his records, which Rudi said was unusual. Best case scenario, he’s just staying in Hateno for a while.”

“Worst case scenario?” Legend asked, and Warriors cringed.

“He could be dead, missing, he could be so injured he isn’t able to ride, trapped, it could be anything! But Rudi seemed adamant that it was unusual, Link apparently takes all his horses out very regularly. Rudi was willing to let us take them since we’re related, but he only has 3." Warriors explained, expression tight in a way that betrayed his anxiety over what could have happened. Hyrule saw him take a breath and force himself to stop working himself up.

Time nodded. "It may be rude to take the horses without permission as well. We still haven't met him. Legend?"

Legend looked up, and realised Time was asking for his report now. "Oh yeah. The thing across the street's called a shrine apparently. The champion uses em. He can appear at them according to the locals, just comes out of thin air. The shine itself is magical, but it needs a key to get in and refuses any other magic. It's complicated stuff, more advanced than anything else I've seen. It popped up out of the ground a while ago, they’re not sure why."

Time nods. "Interesting, but not useful for us. We should keep an eye out for anything else like it, in case Link shows up at one."

Time and Twilight share a look- Hyrule was unable to decipher all of the meaning behind it. It wasn’t unusual, Twilight was Time’s protege, and Time taught him more regularly than the rest of them. Apparently they had trained together before, and Time wanted to make sure Twilight learnt everything he knew. They turned back to the group, their silent communication lasting only a moment. "There is a tower up the hill, it seems to house a researcher. We're not planning to investigate further, since it's going to take so long to travel to Hateno as is. The locals don't seem to know anything about the tower, and along the pathway is a guardian- a machine that can shoot lasers that explode. Rudi says they're very hard to kill, and best to be avoided. So, we're going to travel South to South Akkala stable today. Any questions, complaints or suggestions?"

The group looked around. Spirit raised his hand. "You said researcher right? Researcher of what?"

"Rudi didn't know, and neither did Roz." Time explained. "Apparently he keeps very much to himself, and since the pathway is dangerous they don't go that way just in case."

Spirit nodded, accepting this. Everyone else looked around. Nothing. Hyrule didn't have anything to say, happy that they had a clear goal at least. Hateno. The princess was alive, and she should know where Link was. Hyrule hoped he was on holiday or something, but the fact Link hadn't taken out any horses seemed like a bad sign.

They got organised to leave and set off while it was still fairly early in the morning, waving the stable crew goodbye after their hospitality. They set off down a rough dirt path, Wind holding the map and making sure they didn't stray off course. He was in front with Time and Warriors, who were discussing things over his head since he was in between them. Spirit and Four were right behind him, talking about some kind of steam powered weapon Spirit was working on and what materials would be best for it. Twilight and Sky walked together, but were enjoying the silence. Hyrule and Legend walked in the back, which meant that they had to look behind themselves every so often to make sure nothing and no one was coming unexpectedly.

They had only been on the path for a half an hour when Hyrule noticed something odd. There was something following them, he was sure. He barely saw it, but he could sense it, a presence steadily coming from behind them, never getting closer or further away. He turned to face forward before turning suddenly, and managed to glimpse as a bright orange fox with a patch of brown jumped through the grass before hiding in the long grass again, effectively disappearing from view as it laid down. Hyrule snorted. He turned back to face forward, and found Legend leaning over.

"You okay? What was that?" He raised one eyebrow and looked behind them, but clearly didn't see anything.

"Ah, nothing, just a cute fox." Hyrule explained, knowing Legend had a tendency to be overprotective of him. Not to mention a bit suspicious in general.

"Fox?" Twilight turned around, looking for it.

"Yeah, I think it's trying to follow us. It's not very good at it though. Do you think it's a threat?" Hyrule worried he'd been underestimating the danger it could pose.

"I don't think so?" Twilight laughed. "When did we become so paranoid that a fox seems like a lethal threat?"

"You never know." Legend growled, glaring behind them. "Where is it?"

Hyrule sighed. "Face forward. We're going to surprise it." They all faced forward, and Hyrule counted aloud for them. "3. 2. 1. Now!" They all spun around, making eye contact with a now very flustered fox, who took one look at them all and promptly ran over a nearby hill and out of view.

"I'm assuming that's a fox?" Sky joined in, having turned around with them to catch a glimpse.

"I forget that you still don't know surface animals as well. Yeah that's a fox, although definitely not a normal one." Twilight commented drily.

"Definitely not normal." Legend glared at where it had disappeared, clearly very suspicious of it. "We'll have to make sure it doesn't get the jump on us."

"The fox??" Hyrule questioned, wondering how that tiny fox would ever manage to get the jump on 9 hylians who were heroes of legend, very well armed, and inclined to pyromania.

"Yes. Don't trust everything you see. Some things are more dangerous than they seem." Legend mumbled, clearly thinking of past experiences, and the conversation came to an end.

Hyrule went back to scanning for threats occasionally, still thinking about the fox. It was a little sad- it kind of felt like he had been playing with it as he chased them. Still, Legend had a point. They had no idea what their enemies would throw at them.

The fox jumped through Hyrule's mind as they continued to travel, bounding and bouncing through his thoughts.

Chapter Text

Wind loved to navigate. It reminded him of what he wished he was doing- travelling the Great Sea with Tetra. He already knew that they managed to found a new Hyrule- Spirit was proof of that- and he loved travelling with the chain, but he was a sea-faring lad. All this walking about wasn't fun at all. So navigating took the edge off, made it a little more bearable.

They reached a small copse of trees and took a break. Time wanted to collect some of the wild mushrooms and plants they could forage and carry them to the next stable to check what was edible. Their food supplies were starting to run low and Time said he didn't want to get caught out.

The chain spread out to collect items and have a little rest before they continued walking. They had confirmed that the small group of trees seemed to be safe, there were no enemies nearby, but they still had to keep within shouting distance of each other for obvious reasons. Who knows what they could encounter in this new Hyrule?

Wind managed to find a weird pale blue mushroom- it didn't seem edible but he was going to check if it was anyway- and was nearing the edge of the woods when he decided to look under a bush. There could be more mushrooms hidden underneath, right?

He parted the branches and found bright blue eyes staring up at him, and both creatures froze in surprise. Wind, because he didn't expect to find a fox, and the fox presumably froze because it didn't expect Wind to find him. They stood and stared at each other before Wind realised he should be careful.

"Hi! I'm Wind! You're a cute fox." Wind toned down the volume from his default of Loud. The fox flicked one ear and looked up at him curiously.

"I'm looking for mushrooms. I'm pretty bad at it though. I wasn't expecting to find you under this bush though! Are you looking for mushrooms too?" Wind asked, and the fox visibly started to relax a bit.

The fox slowly made its way out of the bush, never looking away from Wind, but he didn't really mind the clear caution. He remembered Aryll taming her seagulls, and tried to remember all the tricks she used. She tended to feed them and praise them when they did things she wanted. Then again, she always had a natural sort of talent that Wind only got through hyoi pears. Wind missed Hyoi pears. It sucked that this Hyrule didn't have them.

"You want a piece of this?" Wind offered, showing the fox the mushroom. He was sure the others wouldn't mind one less mushroom. "You can probably tell if it's edible, right?"

The fox stepped over to the offered mushroom, and after a moment's hesitation sniffed it. It then turned away and trotted away into the undergrowth.

Wind slumped a little. It had been really cute, and he wanted to tame it and show it off to the others. Whatever, it probably wouldn't like sailing with him anyway.

Rustling interrupted his thoughts and he put his hand on the phantom sword on his belt, ready to pull his blade on the landlubber that dared to challenge him, but it was the fox coming back with… mushrooms?

It gently laid them at his feet then looked up at him, still cautiously curious. Had it got these… for him? He raised one hand, and ever so carefully moved it forward, being very slow and obvious. The fox looked at him with apprehension but didn't move. Wind gently laid his hand on its head and it flinched, but didn't bite.

"Thank you for the mushrooms!" He pet its head, and then crouched down to pick them all up. There was three more of the same kind he was holding. Hopefully it was actually edible. The fox had clearly tried to be very gentle with them, and Wind smiled at it. "These are actually edible right? You didn't just gather up poisonous mushrooms for me?"

The fox tilted its head and looked up, almost as if to say 'I don't know'. Then it shook out its coat and turned around before settling down on its back legs again, looking up at Wind. It let out a little yip, and Wind’s eyes widened.

"I don't care what anyone says, I'm gonna make you love the ocean so much you're gonna travel with me forever." Wind whispered, fully enamored by the fox and its open and curious nature. The fox tilted its head again, and Wind reached forward to scratch it behind its ear. It still flinched, a little wary, but as Wind scratched the fox leaned against his hand, closing its eyes. Yeah, Wind was keeping them.

“Hey!” A shout from behind them and the fox was startled, immediately fleeing from the scene.

Wind took a step but the fox was already gone. He turned and glared at Legend, who was glaring at him in return. “Why’d you have t’ shout?! I was taming them!”

“You weren’t taming shit. It’s a weird fox, you shouldn’t be trying to pet it. You don’t know if it's a weird kind of monster or something.” Legend reasoned, before going back to join the group on the path.

Wind tried to burn a hole through his back with his eyes, but obviously didn’t get anywhere. He picked up all the mushrooms the fox had collected with a sigh and carried them back. Hopefully it would show up again, and then he’d train it to attack others on his command. Then he’d get revenge on Legend! It was the perfect plan.

When he got back to the group, they’d managed to gather up quite a few different things. Twilight was examining them closely and discarding a couple of odd looking mushrooms while shoving the others into Legend's magic bag.

“We’ll double check what we have at the stable, but we have to get moving again to make good time.” Time reassured, sweeping the rest of the mushrooms into Legend’s bag without bothering to take out any weird ones. He spotted Wind with his and gestured to the bag. Wind dumped the mushrooms he and the fox had collected into the bag, and they set off again. Wind glared at Legend whenever he had the opportunity.

They kept walking, stopping to have a break a couple of times. In the afternoon they followed the road past an odd structure with monsters guarding it. It was cobbled together with wood and scrap metal, and monsters patrolled the stairs and stood on the three levels of floors it had. The monsters didn’t seem to notice the chain standing there, and while they were debating whether they should attack for the safety of the area a traveller walked by.

“Sav’aaq!” The gerudo greeted them, smiling as she walked by both their group and the monster camp.

“Guess that answers that. The locals don’t seem bothered and we don’t have the time. Let’s move on.” Time concluded, Twilight and Warriors nodding in agreement as his unofficial deputies.

Past the camp the path wound through a forest. Wind checked the map and found it actually had a name. It was getting late in the afternoon, and the group was tired from the sheer amount of walking they had done, so Wind figured they could do with a little encouragement. He was a little ahead of the others, so turned to face them as they stood further down the path. “We’re in a place called Shadow Pass- South Akkala stable should be just up ahead when we get out the other side.”

Wind saw the expressions of his companions change from relieved to horrified in a second. “Calm down guys, it’s not that far.” Wind started to reason, before he heard a screech from behind him.

Wind turned just in time to see a monster jump towards him, club in hand. Fuck. He was too far from the group for them to help. He raised his arms to defend, when Fox was suddenly there. It bit the monster’s arm holding the club- it had jumped up and its momentum was enough to ensure that the monster wasn’t able to land its swing on Wind.

The monster waved its arm, Fox holding on stubbornly as it continued to bite down. The monster reeled back to punch it with its other arm and Fox dropped off, darting away.

The monster was focused on the fox now, and didn’t see as Wind quickly unsheathed his sword and stabbed it in the back, the monster turning to dust easily. Wind sheathed his sword and held out a hand, trying to coax the fox to come to him. It shook its coat, before glancing at his outstretched hand.

“C’mon, be my fox.” Wind asked, before trying ‘pspspspspspspspspsps’.

The fox’s ear twitched, and Wind thought his plan had worked before the fox darted off, up the path. Wind realised he could hear something else in the distance and followed after the fox. He heard his companions uttering curses and complaints behind him before he heard the telltale clunking of Time running in his armour, and many pairs of feet running after him. He would laugh at them but he was barely keeping up with Fox, just catching glimpses of their red fur through the bushes. As they ran it became clearer that someone was being attacked, and Wind burst through the underbrush to a traveller trying to fend off a monster. They were handling themselves fine, but there was another Hylian on the ground unconscious and it was clear that it was becoming harder to defend.

Wind rushed in, attacking the monster from the side, and it screeched in pain. It swung back towards Wind with a short sword, but instead of connecting a blur of red leapt once again, biting the monster's wrist and making it drop the weapon. It screeched, but before Wind could raise his sword to kill it the worst came to pass. The monster threw Fox, and they hit a nearby tree with a yelp before falling to its base.

Wind yelled, before finally skewering the monster through the heart just as he heard the rest of the chain finally catch up to them. Wind ignored them and the monster turning to dust in favour of running over to Fox and kneeling down beside them. Fox was too still. In the short time Wind had known them Fox had always been moving. He gently put a hand to Fox’s chest, feeling for a heartbeat, and accidentally elicited a whine from Fox. Alive, they were still alive. Wind sighed in relief as Fox raised their head, recognising Wind before getting to their feet and nosing at his cheeks. Wind realised they were wiping away his tears, and nearly hugged them.

He turned as Time approached. He realised Legend was being held back by Sky and Twilight in the background, as Warriors checked in with the two travellers who’d been attacked.

“Are they okay?” Time asked, bringing Wind’s attention back to him. “The fox I mean.”

“I don’t know.” Wind replied. Fox had hidden from Time behind Wind, and was now trying to peer at Time without being seen. Time gave a little wave, and Fox ducked down further to hide.

“Well, can you convince them to let Hyrule take a look? They’ve helped us quite a few times now, it would be rude not to help them back. Hyrule says he knows a bit about helping with wounded animals, since red potions don’t work on them.” Time explained, trying not to pay attention to Fox so they didn’t get nervous.

“Yeah, I can try.” Wind turned to Fox, who looked up at him with his weird blue eyes. “We’re gonna try and help, okay Fox?”

Fox laid his head on Wind's lap, and Wind took it as permission. Time gestured for Hyrule to come over and he kneeled down in front of Wind.

"Hi Fox, I'm gonna see how badly you're hurt, okay?" Hyrule held his hand up for Fox to sniff, before gently running his hand down Fox's side. He felt around, wincing every time Fox let out a little whine of pain. Once his examination was done, he turned to Time.

"A couple of ribs are broken. They'll be fine, but they need rest. Could they be carried?” Hyrule looked to Wind, who looked down to Fox. Fox had their eyes closed, and Wind could tell it wasn’t because they trusted Wind. They were just too tired to keep them open. Wind carefully moved his hands underneath Fox’s back paws and picked them up easily. Fox opened their eyes again, watching warily as Wind stood and they were now cradled in his arms.

They looked around warily at the other heroes, clearly unsure about the situation, but Wind just made sure to hold him carefully. “C’mon Fox, we’re headed to the stable. I’m gonna carry you there, okay? You need rest.” Wind spoke low and comforting, Fox’s ears twitching as they listened. Wind took this as a good sign.

“Are we seriously helping a fucking fox.” Legend deadpanned, the only one of the chain looking angry about the situation.

“They did help to distract the lynel.” Sky pointed out, accepting the situation easily.

“I think they helped fight off some monsters.” Time added. “They also probably just saved Wind’s life.”

Twilight shifted on his feet, but didn’t say anything. Four had come back from talking with the travellers, who had been sent safely on their way. He didn’t seem to have anything to say although Wind could see his eye colour shifting as the setting sun drifted through the trees. Spirit was fiddling with a few tiny cogs, and Wind wasn’t sure if he even knew what they were discussing. Warriors sighed. “There’s no reason to not help. We’re not spending any resources, and the stable’s close by. We can make sure it survives the night and see it off in the morning.”

It was a sensible answer, although no one was very happy about it. For the people who liked Fox, they wanted them to stay. For the people who didn’t, they wanted them to go now. However, neither side could really argue, and Warriors had them back on the road quickly.

“In formation this time.” He glared at Wind, who had gotten too far ahead before and almost been hurt. Wind and Hyrule walked together in the middle of their formation as they followed the path out of the Shadow Pass, so it was easier to protect Wind who had his hands full with Fox.

Fox looked around a lot, ears pricking up at every sound, but they seemed content to stay in Wind’s arms for the most part, which Wind was grateful for.

“Wow, what the fuck is that?” Legend gasped, and the group looked to see what had him so awed.

They were just exiting the trees, and to the left of the path was some kind of… Wind had no idea what that was. It kind of reminded him of Spirit’s train in his Hyrule. Was it some kind of machine? It had a big central body, and weird legs, more than five of them. It was grey and overgrown with moss- Wind was pretty sure it had been there for decades at least.

Spirit scampered over and looked through the remains, Twilight taking his bow out and looking around in case a monster came out of nowhere and attacked. Spirit was a minute, reached his hand through cracks and thoroughly investigating the strange thing. He practically skipped back, and Wind saw his arms were full of cogs and bits that almost looked brand new. Of course. More parts for his tinkering, that’s why he looked so happy.

“Okay, so that thing? Insane. Technology that my kingdom hasn’t even started to think of yet. It’s definitely some kind of weapon, and it’s insides are surprisingly in good condition, it’s just the body is in too bad shape and its missing a couple of components in order to function.” Spirit explained, and Time hummed.

"I think this is what's called a guardian." Time looked over to Twilight, who gave an inperceptible nod. Wind internally sighed- those two always seemed to know a little more than they let on.

“Could you reactivate it?” Warriors asked, and Spirit laughed.

“I don’t think I’d want to. We have no idea how this thing’s programmed or who made it. I could maybe figure it out but I just want the parts for-”

“For your train, yes. I’m glad you think that way. I hope there’s none of these ... guardians active, I get the feeling they would be a pain.” Four commented, and the chain felt pits open up in their stomachs at what this strange machine could do.

“We’re almost there, we should keep moving.” Time got them all back on track, mentally and physically, and soon the stable was in sight. It was evening now, they’d spent all day travelling, and Wind hoped Hateno wasn’t too far away. He was a sailor! A pirate! He wasn’t built for walking like this.

The stable was the same as the previous one- a weird horse tent with a few people and beds to rent. Time paid for four beds but refused to let anyone rest yet. Instead they went on a quest for dinner- one of the stable staff helped show them which mushrooms were fine to eat, and they gathered around the cookpot to try and cook dinner.

It was a bit of a disaster, as always- Time had cooked the mushrooms on skewers, but hadn’t cut them up at all so some mushrooms ended up burnt, and some ended up a little undercooked. Fox was offered some, and gave Wind a look as if to say ‘really? You call this food?’. Wind couldn’t really argue with the look. Fox ended up eating some mushrooms, and the chain ate fast so they could go to sleep quicker. No one had the energy to stay up late at all.

Wind, Four and Spirit shared a bed, as did Legend and Hyrule, Twilight and Time, and Warriors and Sky. It was funny, seeing everyone share but with the aches of travel and exhaustion it was hard to really care. Four and Spirit laid on their bed like normal and Wind curled up on the space that was left at the end of the bed due to their short stature, Fox beside him. The stable staff had given Fox a bit of an odd look, and Wind who was carrying them an even odder one. However, they hadn’t stopped him from taking Fox inside so they would sleep with Wind.

Sleep came easily, but during the night Wind found himself half-awake, eyes still mostly closed as he heard talking.

“You’re still in some pain, aren’t you? Don’t worry, potions don’t work but I know a little trick that will instead. Here.” That was Hyrule, wasn’t it?

Fox let out a breath, and stretched on the bed. Wind was going to actually wake up and see what was happening, but then Fox curled up against him, and the warmth lulled him back to sleep.

“Yeah, that’s better isn’t it? Thank you for protecting my friend.”

Wind drifted off to sleep, the memory barely more than a fuzzy dream in the morning.

Chapter Text

Four was obviously a little conflicted about the situation. He sat near the pot stirring their breakfast- porridge again- as Fox and Wind ran about the clearing in a game of tag. The others were scattered around cleaning weapons, packing up, and doing their normal preparations for the day. He stared at the Fox as it jumped and rolled around, showing no signs of pain at all. Fox made wheezing laughs and churring sounds, very obviously happy as they dashed between Wind and around the clearing.

‘There’s absolutely no way that Fox should be up and about right now.’ Vio declared firmly. ‘Not after it got hurt yesterday.’

‘Who cares? We’re going to leave it today anyway and it can go back to the wild where it belongs.’ Blue scoffed, pulling away from the purple curiosity.

‘But it’s so cute, and fluffy.’ Red wanted to pet it. Deeply. It made Four’s hands twitch with the urge.

‘It helped save Wind, and apparently it's helped us before. It could be good to have a companion from this world to help us along with things.’ Green reasoned. ‘Anyone who helps us keep our brothers safe is good.’

‘A fox though?’ Blue argued. ‘It’s not like it’s great at fighting.’

‘It helped get some mushrooms for us. It could help in other ways.’ Vio was already thinking of various tasks the Fox could help with, and after a scenario where Fox helps find missing companions, Blue cuts in again.

‘But it is just a fox. It would be hard to train. This is a stupid idea.’

‘Is it just a fox?’ Vio challenged them, and the other three couldn’t answer confidently. It certainly was an odd animal.

Four put their arguments to the side and finished up breakfast. They called for the heroes, and half an hour later they were finished and ready to leave. Time was eager to get going early- he had gotten a new map that showed the entire eastern side of Hyrule and had shown them the distance they’d travelled so far. It was barely anything. It really was going to take them days to travel to Hateno, even at the exhausting speed they were going at. Time also got directions and advised on a shortcut to take. Four had overheard it as he was packing up his stuff.

“If you go South way through the dueling peaks, take many days. You go around the wetlands, and up here to Kakariko- path is gone, but is safe and easy to climb. You go through Kakariko, through Fort Hateno before you see Hateno. Shortest route there. Trust me!” The stable master, apparently a new hire from a different region, had pointed the route out to Time and Wind on the map. Now they were following her recommended route, leaving the stables behind and taking up formation. Four hoped they could trust the locals- they seemed nice enough at least. Nicer than the townspeople in his Hyrule.

As they left the stable Fox skipped alongside them, seemingly more comfortable with the group now. They jumped at sudden movements or sounds, and still backed away when anyone other than Wind reached for them. They did seem curious about Twilight, although he made no attempt to interact with Fox. Four found this curious- usually Twilight was fond of animals in other Hyrules. He’d taken to greeting all of the animals kept at each stable. Maybe he wasn’t a fan of foxes?

No, Four thought, eyes flashing purple. He’s avoiding eye contact, looks nervous. He’s hiding something to do with the fox.

Legend stepped out from the group, in front of Fox. “Alright, it’s time. You have to go.” Legend glared at Fox and pointed back to the forest. “Enough. No more following us.”

Fox seemed to understand, their ears drooping and their tail coming between their legs as they backed away from Legend. No, it was more of a fear response. Legend could be a kind of scary guy Four would admit. But it was all an act, Legend was just trying to look out for the group.

“Are we really going to scare them away?” Twilight asked, sounding surprised. Four couldn’t blame him, most of the others had accepted Fox, too used to weird stuff to really question it at this point. They were travelling through time. So what if a fox helped them out?

Time hummed. “It seems the group needs to decide. Right, everyone.” Time stood at the front, and everyone faced him. “If you want to keep Fox, to my right. If you want to try and scare them away, to my left.”

Legend stepped to the left. Twilight, Wind and Hyrule stepped to the right. Sky followed them once his half-asleep brain caught up to what was happening. That left Warriors, Spirit, and himself.

‘We can’t chase them away! That’s so cruel!’ Red sobbed.

‘It’s a wild animal! It should be in the wild where it belongs!’ Blue roared, radiating fire.

‘It’s too weird. What if it’s a spy or something?’ Vio cautioned, thinking through the possibilities.

‘It helped us, and helped our friends. We should keep our allies close.’ Green argued.

None of the people in the middle had moved. Warriors was thinking, Spirit was working on something- Four knew he wasn’t paying attention- and Four himself hadn’t managed to come to an agreement.

Warriors managed to distract from his own hesitation. “Fox!” He called out, and after a moment’s hesitation the fox trotted over to Warriors. “Sit.” He ordered, and Fox sat. “Heel.” Fox tilted their head. After a moment, Warriors tried again. “Heel.” Fox let out a small rumble, before going around and nudging their nose against Warriors heel through his boot.

“That’s not what I-” Warriors sighed. “Probably a bit much for a Fox. Alright, fetch!” Warriors ordered, and Fox’s ears perked up. He dashed off, much to the amusement of Time.

“You didn’t tell them what to fetch.” Time told Warriors, and Warriors had the decency to look embarrassed.

“I didn’t think they would know that one.”

“This is ridiculous. You’re testing a fox.” Legend complained, and Warriors turned to him.

“Look, I understand that it's a security concern, but they could also be a great asset, and they seem friendly. But of course, if we keep it, we should continue to keep an eye on them.”

Time nodded, but before Legend could speak Fox burst from the bushes, carrying a plant in their mouth with an odd reddish vegetable hanging from the end of the leaves. Fox sat in front of Warriors and deposited the radish in front of him, looking up at him expectantly. “Uh, thank you?” Warriors tried, and Fox looked very pleased with themselves, tail wagging. Four noted that their paws were notably more muddy than before.

“Right, did they pass your test, captain?” Wind asked, sounding frustrated. He had taken a shine to Fox, and was clearly itching to keep them.

Warriors sighed. “Yes, I guess so.” He stuffed the vegetable in his bag and went to Wind's side. Fox approached easily and Wind raised his hand for a high five. Fox headbutted it enthusiastically, and Four tried not to find the action incredibly endearing.

Four and Spirit were still in the middle, but Time looked at them both and seemed to understand they weren’t going to vote anytime soon. Four because he had four people in his head fighting over it (not that Time knew that of course), and Spirit because he was deeply engrossed in a new odd contraption no one else understood. “Alright.” Time looked at them all. “Legend, I’m afraid we’re going to keep the fox.”

Legend glowered, and Time held up a hand. “However, we will not be feeding them, and we will continue to keep an eye on them. Will that satisfy your concerns?”

Legend was still frowning, but nodded, accepting it.

The rest of the group relaxed, and Fox tilted their head curiously at their odd behaviour. Fours eyes flashed scarlet and he walked over and gently petted it on the head. Fox flinched, but leaned into their hand, giving them a good sniff. ‘Aww, they’re so cute!’ Red exclaimed, bursting with happiness.

‘Enough!’ Blue complained, and Four got back into formation for travelling. Fox continued to walk around them, dashing around and flitting to walk beside different people as and when they wished. They even brought more random fruit and vegetables to them. They brought a cog over to Spirit, and he grinned, actually paying attention to Fox for once and giving them a pat for their troubles. He turned back to fiddling with the few parts he had in his hands, and Four sidled up.

“So, made any progress?” Four asked, eyes flashing purple.

“A little. The train is obviously a lot more bulky, so trying to condense that kind of power down into a weapon has its limits. I think I have a few more ideas though, so I can be more helpful in combat. Spirits know I’m not very proficient with this.” Spirit tapped the lokomo sword that hung on his belt. Spirit, like Four, hadn’t actually used the master sword before. Wind had buried it into Ganondorf’s head in their timeline, so it was lost at the bottom of the Great Sea.

“You’re proficient enough, don’t doubt your own skills.” Warriors, walking in front of them, turned to level him with a stare, and Spirit stared back.

“I’m not as proficient as I need to be. I’m playing to my strengths, shouldn’t you like that, captain?” Spirit raised one eyebrow, and Warriors sighed and turned back around.

“Try to give a guy a compliment and he throws it back at you, how rude.” Warriors sighed, and Sky beside him laughed.

The chain continued walking, and Time and Legend up ahead stopped next to some old ruined stairs that lead off to the left. A little further, and Four could see that the stairs led up to a ruin that was surrounded by sharp cliffs. On top of the cliffs sat a strange tower, glowing blue. What was more concerning were the flying machines that circled the area, their bodies glowing with a dangerous pink energy.

“Keep moving.” Twilight was at the back, and spoke quietly, but they all heard. “We don’t wanna get close to those things. They're probably guardians, or something like them.” Almost as if to back him up Fox stood between the stairs and them, before darting over to wind and tugging at his tunic away from the ruin.

Time nodded, and the group continued on much to Fox’s obvious relief. They kept a nervous eye on the potential hazards not even a mile away. The machines stayed close to the tower at least, and once the chain was well past the area they started to relax a little more.

“So those were guardians?” Sky looked afraid. “They were flying? They looked dangerous.”

“Remember that weird shell I ransacked?” Spirit spoke up. “I think it would look the same if it was still active, all glowing. Those ones just happened to still work and can fly, for some awful reason.”

“Great. Flying guardians that are probably gonna kill us.” Legend sighed, clearly already done with this place.

Four hummed, not having anything to add despite the colourful discussion in his mind.

“Those are the biggest threat we were warned about. If you see one of those things, make sure not to engage. Obviously there are times when it can’t be helped, but do your best to avoid it.” Time advised, and the chain seemed to be more than willing to follow that advice.

They continued to walk, the group falling into light conversation as they constantly scanned their surroundings and kept their ears out for danger.

Hyrule let out a surprised sound, and everyone was on high alert. Four had his hand on his sword before they realised Hyrule was looking forward to a bridge. The group rushed forward and there were several gasps as they took in the sights.

This Hyrule was too fucking big.

The land stretched on in rolling hills and fields, and they could see Death Mountain in all its glory to their right. There were more mountains in the distance, and all Four could do was gape at the land. And, right at the top of what must be Hyrule field, the castle sat. It looked empty, dead. There were odd pillar-like structures around the castle, but it was hard to see any details.

“Fucking… FUCK!” Legend glowered at the land. “Why is it so big?! No one needs this much land.”

Four refrained from telling Legend that they probably didn’t choose the size of Hyrule, knowing he was just angry at having to travel so much.

“The castle looks odd.” Sky commented, and Time hummed.

“It’s certainly strange. I did wonder why the princess didn’t stay in Hyrule castle. It looks abandoned.” Warriors commented, and the atmosphere got heavy. What had happened to this Hyrule?

Fox stood on their hind legs to peer over the wall at what everyone else was looking at, but didn’t seem too interested. Wind made sure they didn’t jump up on the wall- it was a long way if someone fell off the side.

Four turned and realised they had bigger problems. “Time, there’s a monster camp ahead.”

Time hummed, clearly already aware. “It’s too close to the road, there’s no way we can pass by. We’re going to have to fight this one for sure.”

Warriors took that as his cue, borrowing Wind’s telescope and having a good look up ahead. “Right, There doesn’t seem to be too many of them. We can come up with a strategy and defeat them with minimal fuss and injuries.”

Four liked the sound of that, although their plans very rarely went that smoothly. He was about to open his mouth to say so when he noticed Wind looking around frantically. “Wind?” He asked, and Wind looked at them.

Wind looked a little anxious, an unusual expression on the young hero. “Erm, I think Fox just ran off?”

Legend, ever the bastard, laughed. “Told ya!” He cackled, and the others glared at him

Warriors sighed. “We still have to fight the monsters, ignore Fox for now.”

“What if it alerts the monsters dumbass? That little shit could’ve just made this a whole lot fucking harder.” Legend hissed, not unlike a feral cat. His expression changed and he blinked in surprise, and Four turned to see Fox had returned with… a club in their mouth?

They dragged it over to Warriors, and laid it at his feet, looking up at him for approval.

“That’s a monster’s weapon. Where did it get the monster’s weapon?” Hyrule blanched, and Legend snarled.

“From the fucking monster camp of course! It fucking led them right to us!” He yelled, and Four sighed as two parts of him rejoiced in being right and the other two sulked.

“Actually, I think Fox just stole a weapon without them realising. They haven’t moved. I’m not even sure they’ve noticed it’s missing.” Wind was looking at the camp through his telescope that he had stolen back off Warriors. It was his sister’s telescope, so he generally didn’t like leaving it in other people’s hands for very long.

Warriors looked down at Fox, and grinned, before petting their head. “Good job Fox!! That was fetch.” Fox looked pleased, but Four knew they probably didn’t really understand fully. There was a slightly clouded look to their eyes that spoke of a lack of deeper understanding.

Four paused. Why did their eyes look so odd? Did fox eyes usually look like that?

Purple curiosity was lost as Warriors picked up the monster’s weapon and pointed to it for Fox. “Fetch!” He ordered, and Fox ran off again. Warriors looked pleased with himself, and Four just resigned himself to his shenanigans.

Plus, all four of him wanted to see how many weapons Fox could actually steal before being caught.

Chapter Text

As Fox came back for the seventh time, dragging a large, spiked bat behind them, Warriors felt his inner tactician cackle. They’d disarmed their enemies before even walking into the camp! They couldn’t take the archers’ bows, not without being seen, but Fox had taken every other weapon that had been lying around.

The rest of the chain were simply waiting for Warriors to give the all-clear to go fight. They had all dumped their packs and taken out their weapons and shields, patiently waiting. Apart from Legend, he hadn’t stopped grumbling since Fox had come back with the first weapon, stalking back and forth on the bridge.

Time hadn’t objected to Warriors’ odd plan, simply letting him do what he thought was best. Warriors had been deemed the tactician of the group, which was ironic considering he used to think he was able to do everything himself. After his overzealous behaviour had ended with utter failure, he had studied up a lot on tactics, formations, strategies, even playing a lot of chess with his Zelda to practise thinking ahead, and war games with some of his commanders. It had certainly helped when he’d been suddenly thrown into this adventure, and he was now helping to lead the group somewhat. He was glad Time was the unofficial leader- he was used to having someone higher up than him, and he didn’t think he would be able to handle being the actual leader. But thinking up battle tactics for the group? That he could do.

Fox dragged a shield back to them, heavy metal carving a line into the floor, and Warriors wondered how on Hylia the monsters hadn’t noticed them yet. Hopefully this meant the monsters weren’t blackblooded- he didn’t want anyone to get injured while they still had so far to travel.

“Alright, I think that’s enough, we should go take out the camp now.” Warriors declared, since they couldn’t see anything else for Fox to steal beforehand.

The others got ready, looking relieved at the wait ending, and Legend grumbled as he got ready to fight.

Warriors started to walk forwards, and realised Fox was following him (he’s doing ‘heel’! Warriors thought excitedly). “Uh, no Fox, you’re not coming. Stay here.” Warriors ordered, pointing to their stuff.

Fox kept following, and Warriors glowered at the small animal. “No. Stay. Protect our stuff.”

Fox’s ears twitched at the command, and they glanced back to the packs left vulnerable on the bridge. “Yes! Stay with the packs and protect them.”

The Fox gave him one last glance before trotting off, sniffing at each of the packs he was now assigned to protect. Warriors wasn't expecting them to do any actual protection, but Fox wasn't sturdy enough for battle. They had proven it already after they took a hit from the bokoblin before. Warriors didn’t want to put the little guy into danger. They were too sweet!

The rest of the chain continued on, sneaking up to the camp and hiding behind nearby bushes to avoid alerting the monsters early. Warriors glanced backwards and saw Fox sitting on top of Legend’s bag, surveying the area intently. ‘Legend’s gonna be so mad when he finds fox hair on his bag later.’ Warriors held in a snort, and as he turned back he forced his brain into fight mode, any unnecessary thoughts and feelings were abandoned to make room for calculations and predictions.

Twilight and Wind were going to be on bow duty again- neither of them were great at shooting, but they were mildly better than the rest. They were to take out the monsters on the towers before everyone else rushed in to deal with the ones on the ground.

In the morning Warriors had managed to speak with some of the stable staff, and now he knew that they were looking at bokoblins and moblins. There were two blue bokoblins on archer duty, three blue bokoblins on the ground, a white bokoblin, a black moblin, and a white moblin. The staff had also told Warriors about the colour system- red was the weakest, and there was increasing difficulty with blue, black, white and then gold monsters were the strongest. There was no gold, so Warriors took that as a small win. The white moblin might be a problem though. They should take out everything first, and then take down the moblins together. He communicated this to Time through some battle signs, and Time nodded understanding him well after working together for so long.

Warriors and Four would distract the moblins while the others took down the rest of the monsters- Time would take on the white bokoblin and Sky, Legend, Hyrule and Warriors sure to make quick work of the other monsters.

The sounds of arrows leaving a bow were like music to Warrior's ears, and he was glad to see Twilight's found his mark right on the bokoblins head. However, Wind's buried itself in the bokoblin's chest, and apparently it wasn't enough to kill it. It pulled out a horn and sounded the alarm, the rest of the monster's standing up to attention.

"Attack!" Yelled Warriors, and they all rushed forward according to the plan. Warriors swiped at the white moblin, before quickly dashing to the side out of range. The moblin brought its hands together and tried to smash him into the ground but Warriors dodged and got a stab into its exposed side. That was enough for him to draw the full attention of the monster and he led it away from the camp, Four doing something similar with the black moblin a small distance away.

Warriors didn't have the luxury of checking with the others who were fighting in the camp, but the sounds he heard were promising. He put all his focus into the moblin. Don't take any risks, just keep it distracted until the others come and then they can take it down as a group which would be much safer.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Four using his height to his advantage during the fight, rolling through his moblin's legs and avoiding its tall swipes. Warriors was glad he seemed to be dealing fine with it, hoping the others would hurry up before something went wrong.

Just as he thought that, the moblin he was fighting roared, and Warriors saw a pair of feet behind it. Someone was attacking it from behind, so this was his chance. He ran forward and slashed twice at the monster's chest, leaving deep gashes that began to bleed heavily. It wouldn't survive for long with those, but that just seemed to drive it into more of a frenzy. It lunged at Warriors and he deflected it's hand away from him with his sword, trying to retreat. The moblin growled and reached for him again- Warriors was ready this time and sliced its hand off, causing the beast to scream. The scream was abruptly cut off as an arrow pierced its throat, cries turning into choked gurgles. The monster fell, revealing a lot more slashes in its back, and turned into dust within a few moments.

Only after the moblin was dust did Warriors actually let himself look around. Sky had been the one to strike the moblin from behind, and gave Warriors a triumphant look. "These things take a beating before they're done." Legend groaned, poking at the white bokoblin he'd helped Time defeat, before it burst into dust. Four looked relieved with Wind nearby looking pleased. Spirit was already rummaging around the chest the monsters had been guarding with Hyrule standing on the ground nearby looking up at the chest curiously, Twilight was putting away his bow and Time was cleaning his sword to put away. It didn't look like anyone had any major injuries, apart from cuts or scrapes. All in all, a very successful mission.

Warriors sighed with relief, and cleaned his sword before sheathing it again. "Better go make sure Fox hasn't made it into our jerky." He joked, but Legend's head shot up before he raced away to make sure his snacks were safe. He really didn't trust Fox, huh?

The others were making sure the camp was cleared and looted, when an odd growling yips started up, and then they heard Legend yelling.

Shit, they shouldn't have left Legend alone with Fox! Warriors rushed up the hill and onto the bridge along with Twilight- the others close behind. Warriors had assumed that even if Legend wasn't a fan of Fox he would've still respected the group's decision and not hurt them. As much as the guy tried to seem like an asshole, Warriors didn't think he'd actually be capable of hurting the lil' fluffball.

When Warriors actually arrived on the scene of the crime, he watched as Legend continued his yelling, threatening two strangers on the bridge. "Back the fuck up! Touch our stuff again and you're gonna get burnt to a fucking crisp! You fucking hear me? I've been through hell! I've met Hylia and she was weak! LOOK AT ME! I'LL KILL YOU ASSHOLES!" By this point the strangers had sensibly run away from the screaming Hylian, looking more than a little scared as they did so. Legend's screaming was accompanied by little growls and yips from Fox, who was clearly doing their best to look fearsome although it very much paled in comparison to Legend's tirade.

As the strangers sprinted out of view far enough along the path, Legend turned to glare at Fox. "You are a terrible guard." He grumbled, although it didn't have enough venom to sound as vicious as usual. Still, Fox lowered their ears, tail and head in shame, looking very apologetic. Legend just huffed, shooing them away so he could grab his bag and heave it onto his shoulder.

As he turned to go, he realised that Warriors, Twilight and the rest of the chain were two steps behind him. "Could've used your help a minute ago, some bastards were trying to steal from us. Fox is brave but they're not built for fighting big Hylians." He didn't elaborate any further, simply stalking off back towards the monster camp- they had to follow the road past it down the hill.

Warriors turned to Twilight, but he was already kneeling down to investigate Fox and ensure they didn't have any injuries.

"It's not your fault, can't help being small." Twilight told Fox quietly, and Warriors thought his voice sounded quite protective. He was going to remember this; he was sure there was a good teasing opportunity somewhere here. He turned to the rest of the group and tried for a smile. It felt a little weak after whatever that was.

"Grab your bags. It's time to go, you can ask Legend yourself if you want to know what happened but respect it if he doesn't want to talk." Time gestured towards the packs and everyone quickly got ready. Warriors was glad his battle leadership time was now over and grabbed his own pack too.

Legend was up ahead, and Warriors could see the metaphorical storm cloud over his head. He hoped the lightning he produced wouldn't strike too often- their group had a long way to travel still.

Chapter Text

Spirit was near the back of the group as they walked, following the path down the slope. They fell into an easy formation, with everyone keeping an eye out for trouble and trusting the others to do the same. Four was to his left, and Fox to his right. Four was silent, looking around occasionally but content with the peace. Fox had looked despondent ever since he was belittled by Legend. Spirit was busy tinkering with his latest project and didn't know how he'd actually cheer up a fox but he wanted to try anyway.

He remembered Fox had brought parts before, and figured he could do with a distraction. "Fox, fetch!" He requested, holding up a cog, and Fox yipped once before dashing off the path to look for parts.

Four gave him a look as if to say 'really?' before resuming his silent contemplation. Spirit ignored him in favour of the parts he was working on.

Spirit had worked out a particular method of tinkering on the go. He'd keep several small parts handy, with extras in his pouch, and work on smaller mechanisms that were part of what he actually wanted to build. Eventually when he had all of the mechanisms working as he wanted he'd put them all together, usually when they were staying at Lon Lon ranch or at Wind's house for a few days.

His first few attempts at building a steam powered weapon had been… semi-successful. He'd incorporated more magic power into his inventions ever since he’d started this second adventure, powered by fairy dust or by magic gems he had gathered in the various Hyrules they'd visited. He'd managed to create a hammer that would propel itself whatever way you swung. It was incredibly powerful, but hard to control- the only one who had the strength for it for Time, and he hadn't wanted to give up his sword. So now Spirit was working on a miniature cannon to see how powerful he could make one while still keeping it small. It was inspired by his train’s cannon- he thought it might be useful in some fights, especially with the black-blooded monsters popping up more often. Wind was always very interested when he saw his prototypes, and always willing to test them, but Spirit had yet to get it as powerful as he wanted it to be.

Spirit was deeply aware he wasn't the best fighter among them. But most of all, he knew what he was best at was driving his train- that skill set only became useful in his own Hyrule. It wasn't really transferable to anything else. It made him feel like the weakest link in the team- the one most likely to let them down. If his skills, if his sword fighting wasn't enough, if he ended up being responsible for one of his brothers getting hurt or worse? Spirit didn’t want to consider the possibility. So, Spirit had to come up with something, anything, a weapon that would make all this easier for them, something that would help them no matter where they went. He had to. The fights were getting harder. Injuries were more common now. They hadn't encountered any black-blooded monsters in this Hyrule yet, but it was only a matter of time. He never wanted to see any of his new brothers hurt, as annoying as they could be sometimes. They were family, like Niko and Zelda. Spirit had found that he’d do anything to protect his family, but he was worried nothing he could do would be enough to help them with the oncoming adventure.

'Spirits help us.' Spirit sent up a silent prayer. He hadn't mentioned to the others that he had no idea who Hylia was and didn't plan on telling them anytime soon. Especially Sky, he might be quite displeased. He liked praying to the spirits, and if Hylia wanted to be prayed to she could've done more to persist in his time. It was the spirits that kept his world safe, so it was to them he prayed.

He returned to his work, the slight pause going unnoticed by Four. Fox trotted back up beside him with a small ball in their mouth. Spirit held out a hand and Fox dropped it- it was small, metal intricately laid on top of a yellow power source. Spirit couldn't tell what it was for the moment, but it seemed important and, more than that, useful. He grinned at Fox. "Thank you, this is good."

Fox brightened up at Spirit's smile, and Spirit wanted to laugh at the creature's short attention span. They had seemingly forgotten all about their earlier sadness, going off into the bushes to look for more things. Four gave Fox an odd look, like he was trying to puzzle the creature out. His eyes glinted, a deep purple in the afternoon sun. Spirit left him to it, Four would tell him eventually if he figured out something of importance.

Spirit tapped the power source Fox had brought him, and experimentally wired it up to a small mechanism he'd built to test the energy supplied by certain items. He'd use it to power a simple engine, and estimate rotations per minute as a represent power supply, although it wasn't perfect it gave him a good idea of how much power something held.

He'd never had it go this fast before.

The moment the little engine doubled his previous record of rpm he grabbed the power core out before the mechanism broke and flung cogs everywhere. Four seemed interested in the core too, after seeing it in action, and Spirit let him see it when he reached for it. "Well, Fox certainly knows what to bring for me." Spirit joked.

"Let's not have a repeat of the punching incident." Four said with a smirk, and Spirit flushed. He'd built a machine that punched a while ago on Warriors’ request for something to train with. It had been unstoppable, knocking several people out before being kicked off a cliff by Time. As far as Spirit knew it could still be punching away wherever it landed. Time had told him not to build anything Warriors asked for again. Spirit hadn’t argued.

They continued to travel downhill, the rough stone path they were on has a steep decline. There were a few trees to either side, and they passed a path that branched off to the right, but for the most part it was a fairly boring path with a rocky cliff face to their left, and a steep drop to their right. Spirit didn’t need to pay attention as they travelled because he wasn’t on watch, so he focussed on trying to use the core (which is what he’d decided to call the power source Fox had brought him) without bringing out its full power all the time. It was hard to try and regulate, but he had a few more tricks up his sleeve he still had to try.

His work was interrupted as Fox ran by, faster than he usually went, and Spirit leaned to the side to see Time was talking to a traveller by the roadside. They stood alone, they looked like every other traveller they’d seen so far, but Fox ran up and leapt for them, teeth tearing into their arm.

Time and the rest of the group balked. Time went to wrestle Fox away, when there was a puff of smoke, and the seemingly ordinary traveller was dressed in red and holding a viscous-looking sickle. They yelled and went to attack Fox, but Time blocked with his armoured arm. The stranger jumped back, and Spirit could sense their glare even if he couldn’t see their eyes past their strange mask.

“Heroes of old travelling through time. You shall be killed, just as the hero of this land will be!” The assassin rushed forward and before anyone could stop them Fox dashed forward and bit the arm wielding their weapon. The attacker cried out, and Time silenced them with a sword through the heart. They burst into smoke and papers, the same magic they had changed clothes with, and then they were gone. Vanished into thin air. And leaving behind their sickle weapon and… bananas? And some rupees, which Wind immediately pocketed.

The chain were unsettled, but Time cleaned off his sword and sheathed it. “C’mon. We need to get to our camp spot before nightfall, apparently there’s more monsters at night.”

“We aren’t staying at another stable?” Wind complained, and Time shook his head.

“There wasn’t one close enough. Keep an eye out for strange travellers as well- we don’t want to encounter anymore thieves or would-be assassins.” Time turned to Fox, who was delicately cleaning their muzzle in a little more of a cat-like manner than Spirit would’ve expected. It was kind of cute. “Fox, thank you. More of an advance warning next time would be good.”

Fox tilted their head, obviously not quite understanding what advance warning was, but Time gave them a pat anyway before turning and continuing to lead the group with Wind beside him reading the map and Twilight wearing his eagle goggle things to look ahead on the path.

“I’m just saying, we don’t know if the fox knew that stranger was an assassin. What if that guy hadn’t known who we were, and Fox gave us away?” Legend was complaining to Hyrule, but loud enough so that everyone heard it.

Warriors was at the other side of Hyrule, they were walking in middle of the group, and spoke up. “Legend, what if that assassin had been about to draw their blade on Time, and Fox was the only one to stop Time from getting hurt? We don’t know how they knew who we were, or what they were planning. We just have to be more careful from now on.”

Legend huffed, clearly still not pleased, and Spirit could see Hyrule reach over a hand to gently poke his predecessor, trying to give comfort to the prickly Hylian. Hyrule and Legend were closer than some of the others, Legend only really opened up to Hyrule, and he tended to fuss over him too. It was sweet, although Spirit had learned to never acknowledge it for fear of Legend’s wrath.

Sky was blocking his view of them, he was walking along in a sort of daze, and Spirit was pretty sure he was half-asleep. He was almost always tired, some sort of chronic illness Sky had yet to diagnose, so the group always kept an eye out to make sure he got the rest he needed and didn’t ‘power on through the pain’ like he was always expected to during his adventure. Time had mentioned that working like that during his first adventure might’ve worsened whatever Sky was afflicted with, so they were doing their best as a group to ensure this adventure didn’t make it even worse. Still, it wasn’t easy in some scenarios. In this case though, it was easy. And it meant he would distract Legend.

Spirit tucked away his current workings in his belt pouches and stepped up beside Warriors. “I think Sky is falling asleep while walking again, is anyone up for carrying him?”

The heroes, already tired from walking two days in a row and fighting a monster camp, obviously looked upset.

“Why don’t you carry him?” Legend scowled, and Spirit nodded.

“I’ll do my best.” He was the second shortest hero. He was the youngest, having only been thirteen when he took the exam to be a royal engineer. He spent most of his time working on trains, and while that did give you some muscles, it didn’t give you much stamina. Spirit estimated it was about ten minutes until he broke something. Still, he went to go pick up Sky. He had learned a rule from Zelda- never ask someone else to do something you wouldn’t be willing to do yourself (unless it involved rats, then Zelda would happily throw anyone else into the job).

He had managed to get sleepy Sky to put one arm around his shoulders when Legend growled again. “Don’t be stupid! You won’t be able to carry him anywhere, pipsqueak.”

“But it’s unfair for me to ask you if I won’t do it myself.” Spirit went to pick up Sky, already fearing the weight, and Legend sighed, loudly.

“Damned fucking idiots.” He grumbled, pushing Spirit out of the way and picking up Sky himself before going back to walk beside Hyrule. Sky accepted this, already asleep. The group had discussed this previously, and after a lot of reassurance that it wasn’t a problem, they had managed to convince Sky to let them carry him if he needed it. Sky had agreed, as long as they didn’t strain themselves.

Nice, less than five minutes. Legend was getting worse at pretending he didn’t care about them. That was an improvement in Spirit’s book. Sky was fully asleep on Legend’s shoulder now, body limp on his back. Spirit hoped whatever placed Time had picked for camp wouldn’t be too far- he didn’t want to exhaust Legend.

Luckily, Camp wasn’t too far at all, only half an hour and Hyrule insisted on helping Legend anyway, taking Sky after twenty minutes to give Legend a break. They were making camp in a small indent in the cliff face to the left. It had more trees and grass, but also some old ruins that might’ve been a house once. The heroes made their way to the back so they’d have the most protection of the natural rock formation which would guard their back and side. They built up a fire, laid out their stuff and dragged over logs to sit on or lean against as they relaxed for the evening.

Spirit enjoyed the relaxing air, tinkering with the core and a new engine set-up. He wanted to try and use the core to create projectiles of pure energy, and fire them like a cannon, but it required a very durable set up and a lot more magical engineering, a very new and underdeveloped area of science in his opinion. Legend was always interested in what he came up with when he was messing with magic, although he was very hard to impress. Four was also interested, although more with the mechanical side, and he was always willing to make things for spirit. He had created his own magical sword, so he was the best at making whatever Spirit couldn’t find or make himself. Spirit would show everyone his progress later, when he had something more developed made. He liked giving little presentations, the chain always gave a variety of feedback that was often helpful for fixing problems before they’d even occurred.

For now, he steeped in the company of his friends, letting the gentle waves of conversation roll over him as he worked. Hyrule was making dinner with some of the things they found, and Fox was continually bringing more ingredients he needed, complaining if Hyrule put something he shouldn't into the pot. At one point, Hyrule threw in an entire fist sized brick of rock salt, and Fox dropped to the ground and covered their head with their paws as they whined. Time carefully fished out the rock quickly and put it to the side.

"I think they meant for you to add a little salt Hyrule, not the entire thing. You don't need that much salt." Time explained, sitting back down to continue his sword maintenance.

"Ah, you could have told me that!" Hyrule turned to Fox, his tone jokingly scolding.

Fox just rolled their eyes, looking deeply unimpressed. It reminded Spirit of Wolfie, the wolf that would join them sometimes. Maybe Fox was a friend of his, or maybe Fox was this world's wolfie. After all, Wolfie had been Twilight's wolf supposedly, although Spirit never really saw them interact.

The stew they managed to make was honestly passable, which was a huge feat for Hyrule. Everyone massively complimented him, but also Fox since they had helped quite a bit. Hyrule blushed redder than a 20 rupee, and sat next to Legend to hide from the overabundance of praise. Fox laid near the fire and was happy to eat some leftovers, to Legend’s chagrin.

“We’re not feeding them!” Warriors argued. “They fed us! They fetched half the ingredients!” Legend wasn’t able to argue against that, and the rest of the chain migrated to bed as Time, Warriors and Twilight organised their watch rotations.

Time took the first watch for the night, Warriors would take second and Twilight would take the last watch. Spirit laid his sleeping bag out beside Wind's and settled down for the night, exhausted from the fight and dealing with Legend today. It would be his turn on watch the next night but for tonight? It was blissful sleep.

Chapter Text

~Not long ago~

They have named themself Redfur. It was what the deer call them, and they still cannot pull their name from the Fog, so it will have to do. Maybe they didn’t have a name before the Fog? They do not know, and cannot remember.

Redfur traveled, but does not find what they need, nor do they find answers. People are bad. Monsters are bad. Other animals are sometimes bad. It is a struggle to remember where they've been already, landscapes sometimes getting fused together by the Fog. Things that happened a while ago seem to slowly fade into the Fog, and after long enough they know they have forgotten things. More things anyway. They think. The Fog takes all, and leaves nothing behind.

Redfur tries once. They truly truly try to remember something, anything at all, reaching deep into the fog and pulling at anything they grasp onto.

They wake up with blood covering their snout and the ground, and a vague awareness that almost two days have passed.

They do not try again.

They travel, and follow a gut feeling they have. It's the one thing the Fog can't obscure- their odd sixth sense, their instinct. They follow it, as it's the only thing they have left they can follow. It didn’t lead them anywhere very important for a while, just useful things like holes to hide from monsters. It tells them not that way, this way. It shows them where tasty food is, and how to avoid danger. Then, it got stronger, leading them to a specific spot in the woods. They followed it, as it was the only direction they had.

It had been a bit surprising, obviously, when a giant swirling portal had then appeared out of nowhere. But maybe that was just normal. Redfur didn’t really know any better. They had been drawn here by their instinct, so surely this was meant to be?

People had come out of it, in small groups. The people were odd- smelled different to the few other people they had encountered before. But they smelled familiar. Like family. They knew there was something special about these people. Instinct told them so. Redfur would stay close- it was the best way to figure out who they were, and what they wanted. It was the best idea they had so far. Well, at least the best idea they could remember.

So, when an octorok tried to position to fire upon the strangers, they did the only thing to do, and killed it before it could fire. The strangers must not be very good at noticing danger, Redfur pondered. They should make sure and help if they see the people in trouble, since their instincts said they were important. They would have to keep them safe, since they clearly weren’t very good at protecting themselves. They would have to make sure and bring them food too. Redfur would keep the strange family-people safe.

The strangers started their journey, and Redfur followed.

Chapter Text

Time, for the most part, enjoyed being on watch. It was usually peaceful- sometimes he got to star gaze between rounds of the area, he got to watch over his boys as they slept, make sure they were safe as they got some well-deserved rest. Sometimes he played his ocarina, thinking about his old adventures and missing his lovely wife back home. He missed her, but he knew that she understood why he had to go. Every time they landed back in his Hyrule he spent as much time on the ranch as he could, and his wife loved the boys when they visited. He thought on those memories when he was on watch, the happy glow keeping him warm throughout the night.

Of course, the peaceful nights were before they were joined by an over-energetic fox. They had wandered off when the group was getting ready for nighttime, and half an hour into Time's watch they started to bring back things. More mushrooms, of course. Eggs. Another hunk of rock salt. Plants that Time assumed were edible. A sickle that looked suspiciously like the one that the assassin wearing red had used earlier that day. An unusually large truffle. More mushrooms. A magical rod that sparked with electricity. A dead bird.

Time had grown increasingly weary of trying to decide what to do with these items and ended up leaving them in a large pile to the side of camp. Fox always looked to him for approval for what they had brought, and Time wasn't sure what Fox was looking for, but Fox had never seemed content with his reaction, always going back out to return with something new.

When Time heard disturbance in the trees, he quickly made his way to the source of the sound, weapon at the ready in case it was a monster, or another assassin. What he found instead was a ridiculously huge boar, dead on the ground. Dragging it towards camp was Fox, a fifth of the size of their monstrous catch. Fox looked up at him, and Time swore they grinned.

Well. Looks like they'd have a feast for breakfast. Although Time wasn't sure how they could use all this meat effectively. It's not like they had time to dry it or anything. They'd just have to eat as much of it as possible. Time leaned down, Fox skittering away from him, and picked up the boar. It was as heavy as it looked, although Fox had cleanly killed it by tearing out its throat, rather than attacking the body- there was minimal meat loss, although Time doubted that would've made much of a difference with a beast this big.

Fox followed him as he carried the boar back to camp, putting it with the rest of Fox's spoils. Time sat back down and Fox looked up to him. Fox stared for a moment, before trotting off into the woods with a small huff. Time made a clicking sound with his mouth, like he did when riding Epona, and Fox turned their attention back to him. Time patted the log beside him. If Fox ran off and brought back more Time was afraid for the biodiversity of the area. There were probably other travellers relying on the resources here, they shouldn't take any more than they already have.

Fox took a step towards him, eyeing him warily, and Time let them take their time. They need to acclimate more to his presence. They seemed to like the group, but they were still very skittish- Time wanted to change that.

"Here, sit with me. You've already brought more than enough for breakfast, thank you." Time murmured quietly, and Fox's ears pricked up. Their tail flicked from side to side, and Time smiled at the sight. Maybe Fox just wanted to help, and by showing his appreciation Time had satisfied them. He went back to watching, pretending not to notice as Fox carefully crept closer. They sat by the log he was sitting on and peered at him around it. Time turned slightly to look at them and they hid more behind the log. Time turned back and they stuck their head out again.

Time realised he would be here for a while- he didn't want to go get his ocarina but wanted music to pass the time. So, he started to hum, low and soft, waiting for Fox to get more comfortable.

Fox, the curious creature, inevitably got closer, softly padding their way to his feet. They nosed around his leg guards, and played with a cricket that was near his boot, before carefully jumping up onto the log beside him. He raised one arm slowly, and gently scratched behind their ear. They looked up at him, and Time finally got a good look at their eyes.

They were blue, but a pastel kind of colour, shaded over with a soft grey which made them look muted. They were duller than Time expected, considering the sharpness of Wolfie's eyes. Of course, Wolfie was Twilight, so maybe Fox really was just a fox and nothing more. Still, they were an unusual creature for an unusual Hyrule.

Fox seemingly decided just then, only after days of travelling together, that Time was okay, and flopped down on the log to rest, their head on Time's leg. Time was surprised but let them. It reminded him of how Wolfie sometimes joined him for watch, leaning close to him but pretending he wasn't. He'd never asked Twilight about it, always just accepting that his unofficial protege had needed company. And now he gently pushed back Fox's ears, as they fell asleep quicker than Time could blink. They had collected a lot for the chain in the last few hours, they were probably exhausted from running around.

As Fox rested, their tail twitching in their sleep, Time looked them over. They didn't seem to have any injuries, which was good. Time had been worried after their confrontation with the travellers on the bridge, the assassin and collecting all the odd items, but Fox was more durable than expected. Their markings were odd- the coarse brown fur that ran over the left half of their body marked them out as unique- Time hadn't seen any of the other wild foxes look anything like them, so he wasn't sure why this one in particular was practically half brown. The brown fur on their ears seemed odd as well, and Time tried to smooth it down to have a closer look but Fox's ears kept twitching when he tried, leaving the fur on them a fluffed mess.

Fox snuffled in their sleep, nuzzling against Time's leg, and Time was surprised they could even sleep against the chainmail that hung around his thighs. He sighed, and resigned himself to keeping watch with his small fluffy companion at his side.

When it came time to wake Warriors for second watch, Time was faced with a predicament- how to get up, wake Warriors and go to bed, without waking Fox? They could do with a more comfy nap spot anyway, and Time wanted to try and push to see how much Fox would tolerate. So, gently, he scooped up Fox, startling them awake, and paused to see how they would react. Surprisingly, Fox looked around before settling down into his arms again, seemingly content with being carried. Time hadn't been expecting Fox to accept it so easily, but it made it easier for him. He shook Warriors awake for second watch, took off his main pieces of armour, and ignored Warrior's stare when he laid down and Fox immediately curled up next to him.

Time was sure Fox was a good natured creature, if a little uneasy and skittish. They wanted to help the chain, and Time was willing to accept their help. Now, it was his boys turn to gain Fox's trust and integrate them into the group, if they wanted to. He was sure they would make their own decisions soon, and they would see how it was travelling with Fox.

Time fell asleep with a small comforting warmth at his back, and a sense of peace knowing whatever happened, he was confident they could handle it.

Chapter Text

Twilight was shaken awake by a clearly tired Warriors. The moment Wars saw Twilight awake he went over to his sleeping bag and practically passed out, dead to the world in minutes.

Twilight sighed, before getting up and ready for the last watch of the night. He packed up all his things and got dressed, before looking around camp to see what was happening.

Everyone was asleep in their sleeping bags and calm. Nothing amiss. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, but in doing so someone's ears pricked up. Twilight was surprised to see Fox sleeping next to Time but wasn't surprised when they immediately trotted up to him looking as happy as can be. Ever since he had met Fox as Wolfie they'd been very curious of him. They kept approaching him while he was Twilight, and he was trying to play it off so that the other’s didn’’t suspect anything. He probably smelled like Wolfie to Fox, so they could tell there was something odd about him.

Fox curled around his legs, looking up at him with big blue eyes, and Twilight sighed, before leading them out into the woods. When they were out of sight of the camp he transformed into Wolfie, and Fox immediately bumped heads with him.

'How? Now wolf? Mystical?' Fox asked, sniffing at him while they tried to figure it out. They circled him several times, full of energy Twilight couldn’t match.

'I just am.' Twilight answered, unable to explain twilli magic with animal language.

Fox looked at him with reverence, and Twilight sighed. This was going to be interesting. 'Need to patrol. Guard others.' He explained, before bounding towards the edge of camp and beginning a sweeping search of the nearby area for trouble. Fox followed him about, but often got distracted by things and wandered off. They came back quickly enough, often gently butting Twilight’s side and greeting him playfully before wandering off again.

They followed the path, going down the hill and keeping an eye out for trouble. Twilight appreciated having some company, the rest of the chain were still slightly wary of Wolfie, despite accepting him into the group. However, Twilight realised quite quickly that the Fox didn't have a great sense of self-preservation and had to pull them from stupid ideas multiple times.

'We could scout ahead, kill threats! Protect friends!' Fox suggested, before scampering further down the path they would travel tomorrow. Twilight had to drag them back by the scruff of the neck as they protested they were good enough to fight anything that cropped up.

'Too small.' Twilight tried to explain, even though he knew Fox made up for it with their ferociousness. 'Just a kit.' Twilight insisted and refused to let them try to attack any nearby monsters on their own. The kit in question pouted and hung their head in disappointment.

Five minutes later Twilight had to fetch them again, as the kit had started to scramble up a nearby rock face. 'Kits don't climb cliffs.' He insisted, grabbing them by the scruff before they got too high and carrying them away as they insisted that they were great at climbing cliffs.

Less than ten minutes later, Twilight had to pounce before the kit could sneak up to attack some monsters. 'Kits don't try to hunt skeletons.' Twilight pinned them down before they could attack the stalfos- it was far enough away from camp that it wasn't a problem to their group. The kit huffed, but followed Twilight as he led them back to safety.

'Kits don't give me heart attacks!' Twilight complained, as Fox almost got buried by a boulder they dislodged by accident while sniffing around the bottom of a cliff.

In their defense, Fox was very apologetic after each incident, but it didn't stop them from attempting something else, often just as or more dangerous as the activity they'd abandoned. They were eager to explore and searched every log, rock and hollow they came across while they were scouting. They even brought Twilight food, and he had to tell them gently each time that they had enough food already and to please put the squirrel down. The squirrels were especially grateful to hear that.

Eventually, Twilight had enough. He grabbed Fox by their scruff, and took them back to camp to sleep next to Time again. Twilight took his place on Fox's other side, effectively trapping them where they couldn't make trouble. ‘Kits need their sleep!’ Twilight insisted, as Fox made complaining sounds.

'Not kit! I'm old!' They grumbled, being quiet so as to not wake the others.

Twilight huffed, his poor heart having to work overtime to recover from all of the kit’s scares. 'Oh?' He asked calmly. 'How old?' Fox looked up at him, and Twilight watched something odd happen. Their eyes clouded over a bit as they tried to answer, their usually grey-blue colour darkening til it was almost completely grey, before Fox shook their head and their eyes were back to normal. Twilight had no idea what it was, but it was the latest item on a long list of odd things about Fox.

'Are you okay?' He asked, worried about them.

'Fine.' Fox yawned, apparently none the worse off for their eye-colour change. Maybe Four would know something. His eyes changed colour a bunch, right? Whatever it was, the kit seemed fine, drooping as they tried to fight off sleep.

Twilight huffed. 'It's late. Sleep now kit.'

Fox made a sound of complaint, but they already had their eyes closed and were resting their head on Twilight's paw. They were out like a light, and Twilight held back a chuckle at the scene.

Oh damn. The kit had his paw now. How was he supposed to get up and patrol without waking them?

Chapter Text

Hyrule could not handle this.

Fox was so cute. Especially when Hyrule asked them to do something and they tilted their head to the side as if to say ‘huh?’. But this? Their cute little Fox had taken down this?

Hyrule stared at the massive boar. He couldn't carve this up. No one could. He was generally fine eating vegetarian meals anyway, but he didn't want to disappoint his teammates, who were looking forward to meat so badly.

"There's no way we can cook it here, or eat it between the 9 of us." Legend complained, before looking down at Fox. "You don't even count cause you're so small. You could eat your tiny bodyweight in boar and not make a dent in this thing." Legend spoke to Fox, but Fox tilted their head in that manner that meant they did not understand a thing Legend was saying.

"But-" Hyrule started, not wanting to waste the meat, or the life of the boar, or dash their teammate's hopes.

"That's ridiculous!" Warriors growled. "Why would we waste food?"

"Fox caught it for us, you could show a little appreciation." Twilight added, sitting by the campfire help organise the pile of items Fox had brought last night. They needed to leave most of it before they started traveling.

"It's a good morale boost." Time murmured, although everyone always listened to Time, so no one missed it. He was sitting and letting the others sort out the situation while he looked at the map.

"I'm not saying we throw it away you idiots. We're gonna stop at Kakariko aren't we? We should take it there, they'll have equipment, and they can eat extras. But my bag doesn't have enough space, so either we dump out all these stupid fucking mushrooms you've been shoving in or we leave the boar here." Legend explained, keeping up his angry demeanour although Hyrule was pretty sure no one was really fooled by it at this point.

Legend was pretty good at acting tough, and seeming furious, but once people stopped paying attention to his acting and realised that while he'd been yelling he'd also helped them out? It was easy to see through the poor facade and understand he was a bit of a softie really. It was part of the reason Hyrule liked him so much. Of course, he would never tell him that. Legend could be truly vicious when he wanted to be.

Warriors didn't take long to decide. "We're leaving the mushrooms."

"Ditch the mushrooms, take the boar!" Wind yelled as he headed for the path, where most of the chain were heading over- they had already packed up leaving Warriors, Legend and Hyrule to deal with the boar problem. Time was showing Wind the map, and Hyrule could see Wind pulling out his compass so they could discuss their route for the day.

No one raised any objections to dumping the mushrooms before they left, so Legend rifled through his bag and pulled out about 50 mushrooms of various species.

"Where did you even get all of those?" Warriors asked, mystified.

Legend, looking like he was on the verge of exploding, simply pointed downwards. At the end of his accusing finger Fox was rolling around in the dirt. They looked up at the attention, and despite Legend's obvious frustrations gave him a happy grin, letting out a cheerful yip.

"...they're going to single-pawedly destroy the local ecosystem." Legend grumbled, and Hyrule giggled at Fox’s clueless expression.

As Legend put aside the mushrooms and got Warriors to help stuff the boar into his bag, Fox sniffed around them, curious as to what they were doing. After Legend attempted to wave them away and Fox persisted, Hyrule stepped in to carefully pick them up.

Fox went stock still for a moment, in which Hyrule managed to get them away from the two wrestling for their lives with the giant boar, before desperately wiggling. Hyrule carefully let them go on the ground, and they jumped behind a stump and warily peered out at him.

Hyrule held up both hands. "Sorry, but you can't bother them while they're working on it. I didn't mean to startle you." Hyrule knew it could feel terrible to be touched without giving permission or getting warning, and internally kicked himself for not being more thoughtful of Fox. They were, well, a fox, but that didn't mean they weren't intelligent.

Fox's ears flicked up at Hyrule's statement, and they trotted out from behind the stump to nose at his hands. They sat with a plop in front of Hyrule, who was amazed that he'd been forgiven so easily by such a skittish animal. Hyrule reached out, watched by Fox, and carefully petted Fox's fluffy ears. They sat, their tail swishing side to side contently, and Hyrule smiled.

"If I ever need to pick you up again, I'll warn you, okay? And you can come ask me for help if you need it. And I'll only pick you up if I need to. If I ask you to come, would you come?" Hyrule stood up and walked away. "Come?" He asked again, and Fox, after a moment's consideration, padded their way over.

"Yes! Good!" Hyrule smiled, and Fox curled around his legs. "And we know you know fetch."

Fox stood to attention before scampering off into the woods. Hyrule felt a little guilty, but he was also confused. "I didn't tell them what to fetch?"

"They'll come back with another fucking mushroom." Legend complained, as he and Warriors finally shoved the last of the boar into his bag. "No idea how the magic's gonna handle that coming out." Legend sighed, as he closed his bag and pulled it onto his shoulders.

"It's not too heavy, is it?" Hyrule knew Legend had joint problems, it was something he couldn't fix with his magic, no matter how hard he tried. He worried constantly that Legend was pushing himself too hard, but he had a few tricks up his sleeve to help deal with it. Legend had never told Hyrule about it anyway, and Hyrule only knew because of his fairy lineage that he was also keeping a secret. It would be odd to declare out of the blue that he knew Legend had joint problems with no evidence. So, until Hyrule found the courage to reveal his secret, he would just have to help Legend in any way he could without being overt about it.

"Nah, as long as the spacial magic can contain it the bag always weighs the same. I only keep the essentials out of the pocket, so I'm really only carrying those, the pocket and everything in it doesn't weigh too much." Legend explained, letting Hyrule hold the bag for himself.

Warriors got a glint in his eye, and Hyrule got a bad feeling about it. "Hey Legend, once that boar's out, you wanna-"

"I'm not carrying your bag for you." Legend cut him off, tone dark from the mere suggestion.

Warriors pouted. "But if you have magic it wouldn't take anything to carry my stuff too."

"If I put too much in, the magic can't handle it and the bag starts to get really heavy." Legend explained. "Now drop it." He growled, and Hyrule could hear the change in his voice that meant Warriors had crossed a line.

Unfortunately, Warriors didn't seem to have as fine hearing. "But-"

"He said drop it, Wars." Hyrule tried to sound as disapproving as possible, and while he was sure it wasn't as intimidating as he liked, it shocked Warriors.

"Yep. Sorry…" He fiddled with his scarf, recognising he'd messed up, and while Hyrule instantly wanted to forgive him he knew Legend would want to leave it at this.

Hyrule was going to explain how it was unfair for Legend to carry anyone's bag for them, both for the rest of the group and Legend, and frame it as a matter of principle rather than revealing he had bad joints, when with the worst timing in the world Fox burst back onto the scene.

They didn't have anything in their mouth but they did have-

"Is that a fucking FAIRY?!" Legend stared at the pink light that was indeed sitting on top of Fox's head like it was riding him. Fox trotted up to Hyrule, and the fairy fluttered up and around him.

Hyrule listened as his ears twitched with the fairy's voice, not quite talking but speaking in a way his fae blood understood. They sounded like forest leaves and blood pumping through veins, as they started yelling at Fox. 'This one isn't injured, why were you looking for a fairy?! Stupid weird Fox and your stupid request.'

The fae flew up to the canopy, clearly looking to leave and Hyrule cringed at the fairy's understandable frustration. "Sorry little fairy! It was my fault, I asked them to fetch by accident." Hyrule explained as they left.

'How do you ask that on accident?!' They complained as they flew back in the direction Fox had run in from.

Hyrule looked down to Fox, and they looked up to him. Hyrule kneeled down, and Fox flicked an ear, clearly listening. "Look, you can only ask a fairy for help if someone's hurt, okay? Like really hurt. You need to be considerate of their time and their feelings, and you can't get them to help you whenever you want to, okay?"

Fox drooped, looking very guilty, but Hyrule saw them nod slightly. "Right, so you know not to do it again."

Fox trotted off, tail hanging low, to join the rest of the group who were clearly getting impatient as they waited for their last three members.

"Did they just nod?" Warriors whispered, looking aghast.

"Is that not normal for foxes?" Hyrule wasn't sure how smart Fox should be, especially since he felt like they had something odd about them.

"Fox is not normal! We all know this, you've already decided to accept them. Too late to back out now bitch!" Legend clapped Warriors on his back with a laugh. Warriors looked a bit pale, but Hyrule knew he could be dramatic at times, so he didn't pay him much mind.

After all, Fox was just a bit odd. Nothing more there. Right?

Chapter Text

Four was sure Fox was some sort of spy.

Fox was odd. They were incredibly odd. It was borderline bizarre. How they acted. Their eyes. The weird smattering of intelligence that spoke of some thoughts in their brain, but not a consistent presence. There were times where Fox didn't seem to think at all, Four had once watched as they explored next to the path, sniffing along the ground, before accidentally running headfirst into a tree. They hadn't moved, barely registering it and staying in the same position until Hyrule called them and they bounded away. However, Four could swear he saw them nod and shake their head sometimes. He even understood more complicated instructions! There was something weird about Fox.

Of course, they all knew it. The moment Fox had shown up they'd been weird. They'd decided to accept them anyway. But Vio couldn't. There was just too many discrepancies, and not enough explanations. Vio was determined to figure out what Fox was, and what their intentions were.

Every time Fox moved, or interacted with someone, Four's eyes were watching as Vio took everything in, noting everything down with as much detail as he could manage.

Twilight seemed closer to Fox than he let on- Fox liked coming over to him just to walk beside him, or nosy up for pats. Fox tended to bring plants and food to Hyrule, while they brought cogs and parts to Spirit. They even brought a rusted weapon over for Warriors, who wasn't too pleased about it. He left it in the ground, and Fox never brought another rusted weapon. They had brought other unusual weapons, including one that electrocuted people. Time had confiscated that pretty quickly. Time had taken to whistling a short note, and whenever he did Fox came running to him. Time sometimes asked them to look for things, or just whistled to make sure they were still nearby. Fox also liked Wind, but since he had the map and was making sure they were still on track, Fox could only walk beside him, or cosy up to his legs when they were stopped.

Vio had several observations. Fox was easily distracted. If they were asked to do something, but got interrupted, or got asked to do something else, they usually ended up getting confused and doing neither. They also liked following everything that interested them. They followed a butterfly and Twilight had to stop them from following its fluttering wings off a cliff edge. Fox was also not incredibly intelligent, struggling to follow more complicated orders with more than two steps. No, Vio wouldn't say not intelligent. Fox was smart. But there was something odd that meant Fox couldn't remember long orders, got easily distracted from tasks, and was liable to being overwhelmed.

Four had no idea why Vio was so intent on figuring this out, but one thing was for certain- there was more to Fox, and they were going to figure it out. Green, Blue and Red were just along for the ride, unable to discourage Vio from his task.

After the group had managed to get the boar into Legend's magic bag and had set off for the day, they travelled the rest of the way down the path until they hit a junction. One path led to the left, following the river up into a mountainous region. The other led right, following the river downstream. Fox had scampered ahead, watching the river for a moment before darting to the right.

"Which way Wind?" Time asked, and Wind gestured to the right.

"The map says up to the left is Zora's domain, but considering how long it took us to get here it would take days to travel up and back down before going to Hateno." Wind explained, and Time looked to the left with a hum. Four could see the Zora architecture up ahead, a bright unmistakable blue metal making up delicate looking arches and bridges.

"I do wonder what Zora's domain is like in this era, but we probably don't have the time. To the right then."

The chain went to the right, Fox already exploring the path ahead. 'Did they know we were going right?' Green wondered, as Vio watched intently.

'No way. They don't, right?' Red was clearly unsure, and Vio didn't say anything.

They had only walked a few paces, when Fox veered away from the path and to the left, heading across a bridge.

Time whistled, and Fox immediately scampered back. "Wind, what's this bridge?" He asked, and Wind frowned. "I- I'm not sure, it's not marked on this map."

"It looks like a monster hideout on the other side. It has the same kind of structure as those bokoblin camps we saw, although these ones are over the water." Warriors noted, as they gazed across the river to the odd structures adorned with giant spines and what looked like fish skulls. 'Gross.' Blue remarked, and none of the other colours disagreed. "There could be a fight on the other side."

Wind made a sound of exclamation. "This might be a shortcut! See this area on the other side of the monster camp?" Wind pointed at the map. "It's all marked down as wetland! We could cut off a day's travel if we used this bridge and cut straight through like this." Wind traced a line right through the area to the bottom of the hill that led to Kakariko. "We could be in Kakariko by tonight." He looked up at Time hopefully, willing to do anything to shorten the time spent traveling. And also ensure that they slept in actual beds tonight.

Four saw Time frown, obviously not liking the lack of info about their choices. He turned to the group. "Alright, we have to decide. We take the shorter route, and probably have a lot more fighting and also travel through the wetland, or we take the longer route and avoid that but spend another day on the road."

The chain, the impatient, battle-ready, death-defying adventurers that they were, unsurprisingly voted unanimously. Shorter route it was. Four felt himself sigh as Vio pointed out all the dangers taking this shortcut could entail, but Blue, Green and Red were all happy to cut down their travel time, as were the rest of the chain.

Fox waited for them, sitting near the entrance of the bridge, but when the group started to walk across they ran off towards the camp.

"Should we give them a moment to steal things?" Wind asked, and Warriors shook his head before taking charge.

"Wind, Twilight, you're on bow duty again. Time, we're in front. Sky's on the rear, and we don't move off the bridge until the area ahead is clear, we won't give up the advantage of a narrow entrance." Warriors dictated, and the others fell into position.

They advanced on the strange structure, and Fox ran by chasing a weird lizard with its own weapon. It came to a halt in front of the group, making a strange noise of surprise before Time cleaved it in two. The monster turned to dust, and the chain were relieved to see red blood once again.

"Not black. Why? What determines the black blood's presence?" Four muttered under his breath, as he held his sword in front of him. He was in between Wind and Twilight, able to lunge out between Time and Warriors if he wanted to.

Fox dropped the weapon in front of them, an old spear, and Four saw Warriors' mouth upturn just a little. "Good Fox. Now, search!"

"You're giving them a new command now?" Twilight sighed, letting an arrow loose on a lizard in the water.

"This must be a lizalfos camp. Try to chase them this way." Warriors continued, ignoring Twi in favour of continuing to search the area for more enemies.

Fox yipped once and ran off. Four desperately hoped they understood that command. The rest of the group stayed as Lizalfos slowly noticed them and the chain picked them off one by one. Twilight and Wind were constantly firing arrows into the water around them as the lizalfos tried to spit water at them. One of them caught Hyrule and by the cry of pain it was more dangerous than it appeared. By the time they had killed five of them, Fox brought back two more, one that already had a spear through its shoulder somehow, and one that was very determinedly chasing Fox with a sword shaped like a boomerang.

Fox darted between Four's legs, and Time and Warriors made quick work of the lizalfos Fox had brought. The structure was now empty, and the group couldn't spot any more in the water so they finally moved off the bridge and through the structure towards the other side. Fox trotted beside Warriors, who was still looking for danger as they moved.

Four noticed that the monster's hideout was connected to another hideout with a wooden walkway. He saw a lizalfos pull itself out of the water onto a ramp at the other hideour and spot him, before sprinting at high speeds across the walkway towards him.

Fox growled, and Four frowned. "Stay." He ordered, eyes tinted red in the morning sun, and Four held up his shield as the lizalfos leapt and swung down at him. Four took the blow, and thrust with his sword. It scraped off a piece of armour and Four stepped back as the lizalfos reeled back and tried to swing at him again. Sky came in swinging, and the lizalfos leapt back onto the walkway to avoid it. It bounced back and forth as Twilight and Wind tried to aim at it.

"WHY'S IT SO FUCKING FAST?!" Wind yelled in frustration, after his fifth missed arrow.

Four stepped forward, but Sky was faster, and once again Four was reminded that Sky the sleepyhead was one of their best sword fighters. He was like a dancer, movements well-coordinated and practiced a million times, dodge, parry, thrust, slash, the lizalfos was quickly trying to defend against the flurry of blows, before its heart was pierced clean, and it was dust before Sky even removed his sword.

Four made a conscious effort to shut his mouth and focus back on his surroundings, all four colours inside him cheering for Sky in his brain.

Sky rejoined the group, and Four smiled at him. "That was really cool." The smithy remarked, before following after Warriors like he hadn't just seen Sky blush up to the tips of his ears.

The sweet sentiments were quickly forgotten as they made their way through the rest of the giant monster camp. They even had to deflect shots from octoroks in the water, but with good coordination from Warriors soon they were standing on solid ground with the monster camp behind them. They could see more monsters ahead, but Fox was nearby and led them off to the right on a wild goose chase away from the group.

"When did you teach him that?" Spirit asked, and Four was almost surprised to see him with his sword and shield out rather than tinkering like usual.

"I didn't." Warriors answered, and they watched as Fox led the monsters over a hill and they disappeared from view. A minute later Fox leapt from the grass alone and rejoined the group.

There was a moment's silence, before Warriors looked around. "Well, no time to question, we have to go. Which direction, Wind?"

Wind put away his bow and pulled out his compass and map. "Cast off, this way! There's not much detail on this map, so we might go off path at some points, just trust me that we're going the right way."

The group nodded, Warriors and Time flanking Wind with Four and Twilight behind. Legend and Spirit were guarding Hyrule who held his broken arm to his chest, and Sky brought up the rear alone. Fox ran beside Wind, they seemed surprisingly adept at keeping out from under people's feet.

They crossed wooden walkways that were half sunken in the mud, following Wind as he led them from island to island in the wetlands. They were lucky enough to not run into any enemies until they ran onto an island housing the ruins of old houses.

"Wizzrobe!" Warriors yelled out, as a grinning fiend in yellow and white robes saw them, and then waved.

"Fucking waving, this bitch-" Legend started on a tirade of insults Four blocked out.

The wizzrobe waved their wand then vanished into midair and they could only see some flickers of magic as it danced around. It reappeared a few meters closer, before it waved its weapon and sent out a small ball of energy. Four didn't know what it was, but Fox's whines and barks didn't do anything to reassure him. Vio still didn't trust Fox but they hadn't been wrong about what was dangerous yet. Four quickly jumped out of the way.

The Wizzrobe got an arrow to the side from Twi, but it only disappeared again, bound to cause more trouble soon.

As it threw another magic ball, Time pushed him to the side, and Four watched as the rest of the chain coordinated to avoid another magic attack. However, now their formation was in shambles, and they were vulnerable to attacks from several places. Focus on the current battle, Four scolded himself, the thoughts tinted green. Cobalt streaked ‘we’re gonna kill this annoying fucker’ bounced through his brain. As they stepped out of the way, Four noticed the Wizzrobe doing what seemed to be a little dance, before it raised its magic rod and shot towards the sky, which quickly blackened with clouds. Rumbling thunder threatened the heroes, while rain started to pour.

"Great. Just fucking great." Legend grumbled, but Four was watching in horror as Warriors' blade sparked. Wars hadn't noticed, but Fox had and they jumped up and bit his hand, and Wars dropped his sword.

"Fox!" Warriors admonished, but before he could pick up his sword lightning struck it, searing Four's vision with light for an instant. "Sweet hylia!" Four heard Warriors swear as they tried to recover their vision.

Four felt as a magic attack hit his back and he convulsed, dropping the four sword as he shook from the lightning coursing through his veins. He managed to recover after a few moments, bending down to pick up the four sword as soon as his trembling muscles would allow. He didn't like not having the four sword with him, all four of him being reassured when they had the grip back in his hand.

Wind and Twilight were constantly sending arrows after the wizzrobe which danced out of reach of their melee weapons, before a lucky shot hit it in the face and sent it out of the sky. Time skewered it to the ground and it turned to dust, leaving nothing but the lightning rod it had been wielding.

The magic that sustained the storm vanished, the threat of lightning striking their metal weapons going with it, and everyone took a moment to breathe. The rain continued, drizzling down lightly over the group.

Four looked up just as a lizalfos ran up behind Time and slashed him from behind. Time let out a pained grunt, before heaving his sword from where it was stuck in the ground out and swung it around to hit the damn thing. He managed to catch it in its side, and Sky swooped in and finished it off. Four could see blood, and worried how bad the damage was.

Wind pointed ahead, towards the next wooden walkway. "C'mon, before something else finds us!" The heroes ran, the formation in tatters as Sky and Warriors helped to support Time, and Legend, Hyrule, Twilight and Spirit taking up the rear as Four and Wind led. They needed to get out of the wetlands, it was clearly lizalfos territory. Fox ran ahead as they stepped onto the wooden walkway at the end of the small island, but instead of following it as it curved to the right Fox went in a straight line through the wetlands, splashing their way through the shallow water.

"It's the quickest way!" Wind explained as he followed, and the group just had to hurry behind as more lizalfos took chase. The water slowed their progress, but they kept going, following Wind in a straight line towards the shore.

Wind took the lead and Four saw Fox attack more than a few lizalfos, leading them away from the fleeing group. It had been a long day without any breaks, and Four could tell the group was getting exhausted, so he was glad of the battles that were avoided. Still, running through the water was an ordeal on its own at this point.

Four and Legend helped fend off the few lizalfos that still remained in their way, and they scrambled out of the bog and onto dry land quicker than Four dared hope for. They stumbled over a small slope and onto a rough path, before the group all but collapsed.

Sky was panting for his life, Hyrule was holding his broken arm, Twilight had clearly been shocked at some point and was looking frazzled, Warriors was nursing his bitten hand and trying to check on Time, who was clearly hurt badly. Four was barely better off himself, his thoughts in disarray after being hit by the lightning attack, at least Wind seemed okay, Spirit looked fine, and Legend seemed fine. Four breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone was okay for now. They could see to Time, and make sure he was okay here.

Fox wandered over after giving the monsters the slip, shambling over to the group and nudging Time as Twilight and Warriors were wrapping his back.

"Do you think you can walk up to Kakariko?" Twilight asked, and Time nodded.

"I can, the sooner we get up there the sooner we can properly tend to things. Get everyone patched up and we'll travel to Kakariko." Time ordered, unwilling to rest when they were so close.

Four looked up the slope that led to Kakariko, feeling the exhaustion weighing down his bones. He was beginning to hate this Hyrule. And that damned love of shortcuts all the heroes seemed to share, himself included.

Chapter Text

Sky absolutely hated this Hyrule.

There were just too many hills. Too much land. Too much travel was needed, and he didn't have the lungs for it. Where was Crimson when you needed him? How would you traverse this Hyrule without the help of a loftwing? Sky shuddered just thinking about it.

They stayed where they were for a short while to recover after the ordeal that was the shortcut across the wetlands. Wind ended up trying to apologise, but no one let him get a word out.

"We all voted for the stupid shortcut pipsqueak, no need to try and take responsibility for our own mistakes." Legend ruffled the sailors' hair into a mess, and that had been the end of it.

Everyone was worried about Time. Even Fox, who stayed by his side instead of running around like usual.

Twilight turned to the rest of the group, and Sky noticed with no small amusement that his hair was all wild from the static electricity still left in the air. From the muffled laughs and snorts he could tell the rest of the chain found it funny as well. Twilight just glared at them. Of all people, Time was smiling from where he was sitting on the ground. He had his armour removed in order to bandage his back- the lizalfos had sliced through the thin gap in his armour and down his side. He had chainmail on underneath but the lizalfos had managed to cause quite a bit of bruising despite that and had broken through a couple of weak links to give Time a gash in his side. It wasn't great, but Time seemed determined to move on despite that. Sky knew that if he hadn’t been wearing armour, the blow might’ve killed him.

Fox continued to sniff around, bothering Time for attention or out of some odd curiosity for his injuries. "You're not allowed to bother the old man while he's injured." Legend berated, moving them aside with his boot.

"Be gentle with them. They probably aren't sure what's happening." Time attempted to get to his feet, and Fox was forgotten as Legend and Warriors immediately went to help.

"It’s not that bad." Time declared, ignoring the many disbelieving looks of his companions. "I would like support walking. Warriors, I'm sure you already have a formation in mind?" Time turned to Warriors, who nodded.

"Sky, Wind, in front. Twilight, support and protect Time next in line. Spirit, on the opposite side of Time to Twilight. Legend and Four, you're with Hyrule behind them. I'll be at the back. Sky, look out for anything dangerous up ahead, the sailor will be distracted with the map."

"It's pretty much a straight line up as far as I can see." Wind protested. "We might need to adjust course a bit since it just looks like a grass field with no way markers, but we should be fine."

"It's your job to make sure it's fine. We can't afford to go off-course now." Warriors explained, and Wind nodded.

"Aye aye capn'." He saluted teasingly, and Warriors rolled his eyes. While he was a captain, he deeply hated being called ‘capn’, a fact that everyone took advantage of when trying to rile him up.

"Positions." Time ordered, and they got into formation again. They started up the hill, keeping to the right to avoid a monster camp off to the left of their path. Sky could hear Time breathing heavily behind him, almost as bad as his own, and felt a pang of pity- it was a long way until the top of the hill. The pity was quickly turned to himself, as Wind seemed determined to set a relentless pace despite his short legs.

"Plea-" Sky panted in between words. "Please go slower." He tugged on the back of Wind's tunic, and Wind realised their group wasn't up for quick travel, and nodded, adopting a more sedate pace for the wounded, winded and weary.

They continued on, passing a giant tree on their right, and Wind kept them beelining for the entrance to Kakariko still out of sight. It was like a sea of grass, and Sky thought it was ideal that Wind was navigating for them. There really were very few landmarks to reassure them that they were on track.

"Has anyone seen Fox?" Hyrule shouted from the middle of the group, and everyone scanned their surroundings.

Sky last saw them near Time. Then? He had no idea where they had gone next. "Not recently." He replied, and the rest of the group murmured similar agreements. Sky was surprised Legend didn't shout something akin to 'I knew it!' And explain what dastardly deed Fox was up to now, but he stayed quiet. As Sky looked over the group, it was Four that had the most suspicious expression, eyes shining with a violet colour in the setting sun as he frowned.

"Fox is a creature of the forest and of this land. They're well-suited to look after themselves. I would be more worried about the nine idiots who took a shortcut through a monster-infested bog." Time sounded serious, but Sky saw the mischievous twinkle in his eye. Time, while their unofficial leader (and Dad), was just as inclined to pranks and mayhem as the rest of them.

Twilight laughed at the call-out of the group, and nodded. "Yeah, they're more likely to find us in a pickle than the other way around. C'mon, let's git up this hill before we look for another shortcut."

They got back on track, when a screaming white bokoblin on horseback approached from the right. Sky immediately jumped to the front to defend the group as the bokoblin took a swing with its spear. Sky used his shield to block, although the sheer force behind it with the horse's momentum and monster's strength threw him off balance. The monster swerved away, aiming to turn back and take another swipe with the same force.

He was still slightly winded from climbing, but got back into a battle-stance as two more mounted monsters, blue and black, joined the first in its charge towards the group. Sky could hear rather than see Wind scramble to drop his map and equip his bow, and Twilight had to struggle to hand over Time before he could get his own. None of the others were great shots, which is why they never used their bows much, and they were feeling the gap of a good archer in their group with the battles in this Hyrule. Archery would be great for taking down enemies before they could reach you in this open world.

As Sky prepared to defend another blow and try to attempt a swipe at the monster as it rode by, he was surprised as suddenly Time was at his side.

Time helped defend with his giant sword, knocking the black one off its horse before it could swoop by. It was odd, seeing Time fighting without his armour on, but Sky put aside his emotions and focused on the battle. They quickly had ranged support as the others found their bows and the bokoblins were knocked off and dealt with by the rest of the chain. When all of the monsters were dead a few minutes later, Sky turned to Time.

Sky stormed over, going to check his back wound. "What the hell are you doing fighting in your condition?! Surely you of all people should know better, you'll be lucky if you haven't ripped half of you back open- oh Hylia you're healed?! I thought we were all out of red potions and fairys?" Sky's tone turned from scolding to confused in an instant as he saw Time's unblemished skin under his ripped tunic he usually wore under his armour.

"Fox came back." Time explained, as he sheathed his sword and went back to their abandoned items to pull his armour back on. Fox was sitting on top of Time's bag, and quickly hopped off as Time started pulling out the main armour pieces to pull on quickly before shouldering his bag once more.

"What?" Sky asked weakly, as Warriors patted him on the shoulder.

"Fox brought a fairy. Came from Kakariko with a fairy and headed straight for Time, it healed him in a flash before zipping off as usual." The captain explained, looking as tired as Sky felt.

"Back into formation!" Time called out, hurrying the members from their confusion and back into their defensive positions. "Feel free to ask Fox how they brought the fairy later." He joked, and got a smattering of eye rolls and sighs from the tired group. Wind found their bearings and they set off once again up the grassy hill.

They passed by another random stone, getting onto some flatter ground and then suddenly they were facing a cleft through the hills where a path wound through the mountain.

"I think this is it! This is the path to Kakariko!" Wind exclaimed with excitement, and Sky smiled at his happiness.

"Sure is, kid! Make sure about check out the pumpkins while you're here, yeah?" The chain all practically jumped out of their boots, several people pulling weapons on the traveler passing them by. The traveller immediately raised their hands. "Right! Yep! Sorry, the yiga are about and all that. I swear I don't like bananas! Just Kakariko's famous pumpkins!" The traveler practically yelled, and Warriors sheathed his sword.

"Sorry about that, it's been a bit of a journey." Warriors smiled, his usual charming smile to disarm strangers. "We didn't mean to scare you. This is definitely the entrance to Kakariko?"

"Yep, it's just through the pass. Just talk to the farmers if you want to buy pumpkins. Although there is a weird feud between the pumpkin and carrot farmers?"

"Right." Warriors clearly didn't know what to do with that information. "We'll check out the pumpkins and the carrots then. Have a good day!"

Sky gave his own disarming smile as the traveler passed them by, giving them a slightly fearful wave before he entered the pass towards Kakariko.

"Let's go before we scare another random traveler half to death." Hyrule moaned, and Sky winced as he remembered his arm was still broken.

"At least they weren't another assassin." Time remarked, and the group moved to follow the traveler into the pass.

As they got closer, a familiar orange fluff ball came running to greet them. They zipped past Sky to- yep that was a fairy on their head huh- to Hyrule, skidding to a halt in front of him and his very broken arm.

"Oh no you should help someone else, this isn't too bad. Legend already set it!" Hyrule weakly resisted, although he winced when he tried to raise his broken arm.

The fairy flew up and sprinkled its healing magic over Hyrule, before flying back down and resting on Fox's head. Odd, Sky thought. Didn't they usually fly away? Fox spun around and headed back towards Kakariko, fairy riding their head once again, and Wind ran after him.

"Not more running!" Sky complained, before following after Wind. They would not be separated this close to possible safety. He wouldn't allow it. He could hear as everyone else complained and followed after them, the chain on the run once again.

Sky followed the winding path, barely keeping track of Wind, nevermind Fox. It wasn't long before he started to flag with his terrible stamina, Twilight being one of the first to pass him and run after Wind, Warriors and Time following close behind. Sky gave up and just focused on breathing when he realised he had pushed himself too hard, leaning against the rock wall as the rest of his team passed him. The only one who didn't was Spirit, who was fiddling with something next to the wall about twenty meters behind him.

Spirit ran away from the wall, and Sky realised he'd left a bomb behind. An explosion, and then Spirit darted into the smoke and dust blown into the air by the explosion before coming out with a hunk of shiny rock. "Four will probably find this more useful than me. Love to see that chests can still be found in random places though!" He said as if that explained his actions. "Need help getting up? I can help support you on the way back." He offered a hand, and Sky took it gratefully.

Hylia help them. Why did the hero's spirit always seem to come with an innate desire for chaos?

Chapter Text

Wind fucking loved Fox. They were so weird. Everytime they were traveling he was navigating and could only watch Fox dart around doing fox things. He so badly wanted to join them and see all the interesting things they'd uncover.

So, when they brought a second fairy to heal Hyrule's arm, and then seemingly started to give the fairy a ride somewhere, Wind just had to follow to see what they were doing, navigation be damned. They were so close anyway, he was sure they couldn't possibly get lost this close to the village they were headed to.

Except for Hyrule. He loved exploring, but never seemed to find his way back very easily.

Wind tore after Fox, who dashed along the canyon trail and through archways of lanterns and charms, before finally Wind followed Fox into the village. It was filled with traditional looking housing, and it had a calm atmosphere that Wind thought was cool. However, Fox was still running fast down the street and Wind didn't want to lose sight of them. He ran past people who made sounds of surprise and he heard people raising the alarm as he ran through but paid them no mind as he turned to the right where Fox had and saw their bushy tail disappear between housing.

He sprinted past the sheikah and made a sharp left up a mountain path, seeing Fox rounding a corner at the top to the right. Wind followed and found another one of those weird shrine things, and ignored it in favour of his orange friend. Fox ran into a forest and Wind didn't have to go very far in before he found them sitting by a very odd-looking place. A giant flower surrounded by mushrooms and glowing with magic sat in a small clearing, and many fairies fluttered around a huge woman who sat in a pond in the center of the flower.

This must be this Hyrule's version of a fairy fountain, obviously! Wind concluded, as he stepped up to meet the woman.

"Thank you for bringing her back, good fox." The great fairy leaned down to pet but Fox had already noticed Wind and ran back in favour of sitting by his feet. "Ah, are you one of the fox's friends? They were very adamant about bringing you healing, you must be pleased to have such a loyal animal companion! Ah, of course. My name is Cotera, lovely to meet you…?"

Wind gave a slight bow. "Link, hero of winds, at your service. But you can just call me Wind. Don't suppose another guy called Link comes by here often? Hero-type?"

Cotera paused. "I know Link. But you're another hero?" She leaned closer, and studied him carefully. "Ah, time travel. Such a bother. Yes, I know Link, a fine young hero he is. He helped me and my sisters regain our powers and we helped him in return. I haven't seen him in some months, he came by after he defeated the calamity with Zelda. He's a bit busy, trying to clear out the monsters and what not. I assume you're looking for him due to your… time-traveling?"

Footsteps approached and Twilight appeared at Wind's side, having finally caught up with them both. He panted slightly as he knelt to give Fox a customary pat, which Fox let out a churring noise. They curled around Wind and Twilight’s feet, before settling between them. "We're traveling through time as a group- heroes of Hyrule across time teaming together in order to defeat a great evil we have yet to understand. We're assuming this world's Link will join us, if he chooses to." Twilight explained, as Fox covered his calves with orange fur. Wind snorted knowing the hair would get everywhere soon. They would never be able to fully get rid of it, like Aryll's glitter.

"Ah, I see. I'm afraid I cannot help you with finding him, Link travels all over Hyrule regularly." Cotera sighed, and Twilight nodded.

"That's okay, we're headed to see Zelda anyway, she may have more of an idea." Twilight pulled Wind's shoulder. "C'mon, we need to go find a place for the night and regroup with the others. We may have caused some panic running through town so we're probably gonna need to do some damage control."

Wind let out a gleeful giggle. "It was funny watching a fairy ride Fox through the town like they were going into battle though."

Fox looked pleased with themselves as they sat at their feet, but if it was due to the chaos they probably caused, or just because they were with the two heroes, Wind couldn't tell. He was happy to be with them either way.

"Your Fox, where did you get it? They feel… odd. Their soul is unreadable to me, like its been smothered in fog." Cotera asked, daintily reaching out a finger to prod at Fox.

"We just found him." Wind explained unhelpfully.

"We think they may have been touched by the goddess. Did the hero ever have a fox companion?" Twilight asked, and Cotera shook her head.

"Never that I saw. Sorry about that young man."

Twilight sagged. "It's okay, it was a long-shot. We're not sure where Fox comes from, they just seem determined to help us."

Cotera looked down at Fox, who stared up at her in return. "Well, they don't seem to radiate any bad intentions, but I can't tell what they are or what magic might be contained within. They're certainly an odd one."

"That they are, but they're ours now. C'mon Fox, c'mon Wind. We've got sheikah we need to placate." Twilight gestured for them to follow as he left, and Wind gave Cotera a quick bow before leaving.

"Bye boys! Come back anytime you want!" Cotera called after them.

Wind and Twilight came back into town to see most of the chain being detained by very flustered sheikah warriors. Most of them had been taken to the area in front of the biggest house and were being questioned by the guards stationed there. Wind could see Sky and Spirit near the entrance walking in like calm people and being treated as such. Meanwhile Legend was yelling at the guards and making it worse as they tried to keep him contained.

"Legend! Stop insulting them!" Wind could hear Time yelling at him, and figured it was probably time he and Twilight got down there to help sort things out. However, before they could move from their position at the top of the cliff overlooking the village, someone else entered the scene.

She slammed the door open of the large house and strode out. She raised herself up, the full stature of a young woman filled with anger, and the guards paused.

"Impa would like to meet with the strangers." She gestured inside. The guards looked at each other. "Now." She repeated forcefully. The group was let go and the chain took great care in dusting themselves off, Legend giving the guards indignant glares before they all went up the stairs to meet with this world's Impa. Wind had heard stories from the captain about his Impa, and hoped this one was slightly less prone to violence as a solution for everything.

"Well, they're going to be busy. We may as well look for a place to stay. I think I saw a cookpot earlier we can try to borrow for the boar we still have to cook." Twilight looked to Wind. "Sound good?"

"I noticed the inn when I was running through. Do you have rupees?" Wind knew the gang was running low. There wasn't much time for earning money on this quest, what with the portals and constant fighting or traveling.

From the look on Twilight's face, he could tell he had no rupees. "Well, we can either go join everyone or wait around for them to be done." Wind eyed the building their companions had entered. He could probably sneak in if need be.

"We could look for stuff to cook with the boar tonight? We'll need firewood anyway." Twilight mused. Wind looked down to see Fox leaning against his leg. He picked Fox up and found that the animal was surprisingly light in his arms. Fox accepted this with little more than an ear twitch, and Twilight gave them a pat while Wind was holding them.

"You're right, we should go and get the cooking pot ready for the boar." Wind decided, and Twilight did a double take.

"You're agreeing with me? You don't wanna sneak in and see what they're talking about?"

"They'll tell us later, we may as well be useful. Plus, Fox is with us, they can help. Fox, fetch?" Wind requested, letting Fox go as they shot off back into the woods.

Twilight chuckled, but followed them back. "You just want to play with Fox. And you still haven't gotten the hang of telling them what to fetch!"

"They'll bring us something interesting, it's the Fox way." Wind grinned. "Maybe they'll even bring treasure!"

Twilight simply sighed. “Pirate.” He muttered fondly, and they followed Fox into the woods.

Chapter Text

Warriors missed his Impa. missed her dearly. It was always odd to meet Impas in other Hyrules, especially seeing how much they differed or didn't. This one was a small lady way older than she appeared, but she had the same sharpness in her eyes, the same self-assured air of holding herself. Warriors quite liked her so far.

She wove a story of the calamity, how it had been fought and won 10,000 years earlier, and then how it wasn't 100 years ago. And then of a young man who came to finish the beast and freed Zelda in the process. She was sparse on the details, but Wars knew everyone in the room would appreciate that. It wasn't her story to tell, and they would hear it from Link or they would not hear it at all.

After she finished speaking, everyone was silent.

"And you have not seen your Link in some time?" Sky asked, and Impa shook her head.

"He's a wild one, loves to travel, but his lack of communication has been… troubling. Zelda has sent some messages already asking if I'd seen him. It's been over a month since I last laid eyes on Link, and he likes to visit regularly. You should continue to the princess- she was working on a new rune to try and establish communication with his sheikah slate. It will be your best bet of finding him."

Time nodded. "Thank you for your time."

"It was the least I could do for the heroes of old. Forgive my guards as well- they are not used to people other than Link running around like a wild cuccoo." She smirked, and Warriors smiled. She really was like his Impa.

Time chuckled. "Of course. Our apologies for our rushed entrance, our youngest ran off and we were anxious as to not be separated."

Impa looked to Four, who was too used to the misunderstanding to look put out. "Our youngest isn't here, your guards didn't catch him, or our rancher. They're probably waiting for us, rather than trying to convince the guard they're part of our group." He explained, and Impa nodded.

"I see. I hope I have not kept you for too long then. Paya, will you get the door please?"

The young girl who'd stopped the guards earlier opened the door for them with a smile, and Warriors smiled back. She seemed lovely, if a little nervous.

"Thank you." He smiled at her again as he left, and he felt Legend's elbow in his back as he got outside.

"Stop flirting!"

"This is not flirting! This is being polite!" Warriors countered, as they squabbled on their way down the stairs.

The group ended up at the inn, and Time attempted to pay for beds. They were rebuffed, and managed to stay there for free to the relief of the heroes. It was on Impa's orders of course.

Warriors left his stuff near the bed he was sharing with Sky before making his way across the road to the cooking pot where Twilight and Wind had situated themselves on a log. Legend had dragged his bag over and Time was attempting to help him extract the boar from it. Sky and Hyrule were sitting at one of the tables and Four and Spirit had sat at the other table, working on their individual projects and covering the entire available surface with parts and cogs.

Warriors then noticed Fox, curled up between Twilight and Wind, Fox had their tail over Twilight's leg and their muzzle resting on Wind's, fully asleep. "Tired themselves out, eh?" Warriors joked as he approached, and Twilight chuckled, in surprisingly good humour.

"They've been running around all day. I'm surprised they lasted this long, especially since they were awake during my watch last night." Twilight explained. Warriors took note of that, since he knew Fox had been awake during Time's shift as well. Did they have preferences? Favourites? Warriors had the sudden desire to feed Fox to try and bribe them to like him more.

Time and Legend finally got the boar out of Legend's bag, and they dumped it nearby. Warriors sat down next to Time and helped him with the preparation work. They took as much meat as they could possibly eat as a group, and sold the rest to a young girl- Koko she said her name was- nearby who wanted some meat for cooking. She also ended up insulting Time's cooking, and Time paid her back the money she paid for the boar meat so she would cook a meal for them. It was better than anything they'd made on their journey so far, and many of the chain thanked her graciously for cooking for them.

"If you want great cooking you should talk to Link! He's amazing at it!" She told them, before taking the big pot of boar curry she had made with the meat they had given her and carrying it off back to her home.

"...he can cook?" Several members of the chain held certain reservations about the whole recruitment process, but for the first time they were all in agreement. We need a Link that can cook.

"I don't care if he doesn't get dragged through the portal- I'll bribe him with every treasure I own if it means we never get food poisoning again." Wind groaned, and Hyrule looked ashamed.

"I'm sor-" Hyrule began.

"Don't apologise again. It's not like you're the only one." Legend quickly interrupted before looking at the captain. Warriors flushed but couldn't argue against it. He was truly terrible at cooking.

The group settled into their usual evening routine- relaxing and working on their individual hobbies as they rested. Warriors took the time to grab a couple of things from his bag, and approached Fox with an extra bowl of food and a scrap of fabric. Twilight was off wrestling with Time, and Wind was searching all of the nearby pots, so Fox was alone for the moment, asleep on the log.

The moment Wars put down the bowl of food Fox shot awake, immediately investigating and starting to eat. Warriors took the opportunity to brush down their fur and take out some of the twigs and mud- he finished by tying a small blue bandana around their neck.

"Bribing them with food, eh? You're learning!" Sky greeted him, sitting down next to him.

"Everyone else seems to be able to get them to do things, I feel like I should do that. Especially for getting them to follow orders in emergencies." Warriors tried to explain, although it came out weak.

"Right, and that's what the bandana's for?" Sky teased, and Wars blushed.

"They deserve to look nice."

Fox finished and immediately started to investigate what they had around their neck. Sky laughed as they managed to spin around in an attempt to catch sight of the blue material around their neck, and Warriors sighed.

"Here, Fox, let me help." Warriors pulled the scrap of fabric from their neck- it was something he used to patch holes in his scarf- and showed it to them. "You want to wear it again? Or do you not like it?" Warriors didn't want to make Fox uncomfortable, that wouldn't earn him any favouritism.

Fox tilted their head, before simply curling up for another nap instead, their back against Warriors. "Right. I'm not sure why I expected an answer." Warriors admitted, and Sky nearly fell off the log laughing.

"You expected Fox to what? Tell you they liked the scarf?" Sky giggled at the absurd situation, and Warriors lightly punched his arm.

"You know Fox is weird!! I wouldn't put it past them." Warriors defended himself, while Sky leaned against him.

"It's also the fact that you tried to give them a tiny version of your scarf! That's so adorable!" Sky teased him more and Warriors felt his face flush.

"This was the only thing I had to act as a collar." He explained, he needed Sky to know his logic for this. "I wanted to make sure no one thought they were wild and tried to hunt them down or something."

Sky sobered up at that and nodded. "Right, that makes sense. Then ask them. It's for their safety."

Warriors felt a bit more validated with Sky's acceptance, and gently nudged Fox, who looked up at him. "I'm putting this on you so everyone knows you're not wild, okay?" Warriors gently tied the bandana back around their neck, making sure it was a good knot. "Don't get it stuck on anything, yeah?"

Fox pawed at it but seemed to accept it, going back to sleeping. "They've really relaxed around us huh?" Sky noted, and Warriors agreed.

"It's insane. I didn't realise you could tame foxes like this."

"I didn't know foxes were a thing until a few days ago. There's none up on skyloft and I didn't see any in my time exploring."

The two idiots who knew nothing about foxes continued to accept the fox that was incredibly un-fox-like.

The chain slept well, although the inn didn't have enough beds as usual, so they paired up to their usual sharings apart from Time, who got a bed alone at the group's behest, and Twilight who also got a bed but ended up sharing it with Fox. He refused to leave Fox outside to Warriors' amusement, and Wars took great delight in watching the innkeeper as Twilight carried a fox inside and let it wander around.

Fox, for their part, was surprisingly shy, staying close to the group and outright refusing to come close to the sheikah. It reaffirmed Warriors' belief that Fox was somehow associated with the hero's spirit, and so liked them more. Since Fox had the scarf on strangers tended to be a bit more forgiving of their presence as well. As soon as everyone went to bed though, Fox was with Twilight, curling up next to him.

Warriors was not jealous. Not even slightly.

Chapter Text

Spirit, for once, woke up a bit earlier than the others. But it was for something important. The core Fox had given him had turned out to be quite the find and Spirit was on the verge of figuring out how to use it. It was hard to use it as a power source, as it needed extreme regulation, but he was realising that using other materials from this world helped to reduce the overall power output and helped regulate the energy being used. So he was in the midst of using components from this Hyrule to rebuild the mechanisms he had before, with some components that he couldn't get here, and he was feeling himself getting closer and closer to his goal.

He had managed to get quite a lot done before it was time to leave, Time getting them ready to go as early as always. He shoved some parts into his satchel and the pockets of his overalls, and as they left Kakariko he began the trials of putting together mechanisms while on the road. He managed to slip into that headspace where he could concentrate on only the mechanisms in his hands, trusting the others to look out for threats.

They went through a path that carved its way through the cliffs, and by mid morning came out into another expansive landscape, fields and forests spread out before them. There were cliffs and more mountains towering in the distance, some of them capped with snow.

"THIS HYRULE IS TOO BIG." Legend complained once again. Considering the land they'd seen before, and this was only the Eastern side? Yeah, Spirit agreed. This place was too big to get around without trains. I mean seriously, how could anyone be expected to walk around this place?

They continued on anyway, passing over a bridge and dealing with another assassin that Fox warned them about before they could strike. They took a left after the bridge, following the road to Hateno. By mid-afternoon they were walking through a field that was covered with the corpses of guardians.

Wind went to pick some apples that were growing by the road, but he was quickly chased back to the path by Fox. They kept everyone on the path, nipping at their heels and herding them like sheep to keep going along the path. Their ears were flat against their head, and they looked around feverently, clearly on the lookout for danger.

Spirit couldn't blame them. The guardians were terrifying, even when inert. The legs. The eyes. The threat that some of them looked intact enough to wake up at any moment. It was pretty horrifying.

The group was pretty quiet as they walked through the field. Fox looked to be on the verge of howling if anyone stepped off the path. They wouldn't even let anyone pick them up as they tried to hurry them along the path. Time sighed, but just encouraged everyone to hurry along rather than reprimand Fox. It wasn't hard to imagine the danger that could be lurking off the beaten path, if just one of those machines were still active…

You would be dead before you could run. That's what Spirit thought. It was hard to imagine otherwise, with what he had seen of the corpses they'd seen so far. Spirit wanted to root through the shells for parts, but Fox was very insistent about not going off the path. They led them right along, until they encountered a wall where guardians were practically piled up the side, frozen in death as they clearly were trying to get past it. As if to add to the sober atmosphere, it started to rain, obscuring the field with a grey drizzle.

The heroes walked by quickly. It was almost evening anyway, and high time they were looking for a place to rest for the night. No one wanted to linger in this graveyard. Not even Spirit, and he was desperate to get parts for his tinkering.

As they passed through the open gate a hylian greeted them. He was a historian of sorts, or something, Spirit wasn't really paying attention, but he let them use a nearby house. Apparently its owner was out researching near Hebra, and wouldn't be back anytime soon. He had full permission to lend it out, so Time thanked him and the group graciously took the offer of a roof over their heads with glee. They got in and out of the rain, Fox oh so graciously shaking off their coat and soaking the heroes a bit more.

Spirit sat in the corner and took out more parts. He was so close to a functioning prototype, he was sure. He just had to keep working on it…

Chapter Text

The chain had settled down in a small log cabin in the forest for the evening, and Legend was glad to be by the fireplace and warming up his dumb aching old bones. His joints always complained during the rain, and he hated the feeling- he hurt to move any limb in the rain. What a stupid thing to have as a hero, arthritis. Legend was going to kill Hylia one of these days for putting him through this.

They had all squeezed into the place, several of them sitting on the single bed with their packs stuffed into a corner and bedrolls covering every other surface. They'd already had dinner- more boar- and now were enjoying the warmth of the fireplace.

Well, most of them. It didn't seem to be warm enough for Fox, by the way they kept throwing on logs. They had a shine in their eyes everytime the flames rose higher that Legend wasn't a fan of- he liked pyromania as much as the next Link, but in a small fox with no impulse control it had bad consequences.

"You need to calm down." He told Fox crossly after they added a log. He was still aching, but there was no amount of fire that would fix that. Still, Fox let out an unhappy whine.

"Go outside and run around, you'll get all your energy out that way." Legend pointed to the door, and Sky gasped.

"In the rain? Legend, you have no heart!"

"The rain doesn't matter when you have a thick coat of fur. They'd probably enjoy it!" He defended, having the personal experience to back it up.

Fox seemed happy enough to get out anyway, slipping outside the door and dashing into the bushes immediately. Legend could see that the rain was still drizzling down before Wars shut the door again so he could return to his card game with Four and Wind. They were all cheating, but were coming up with increasingly creative ways of doing so. It was impressive, but Legend wasn't interested in joining in.

Legend turned back to the fire and tried to soak up as much of the heat as possible. The fire was a bit of an inferno now thanks to Fox, but Twilight just made sure the spark guard was up and that none of the logs would fall out of the fireplace. Legend was glad. Maybe he was wrong, and eventually the warmth would sooth his angry bones.

Hours later, when half of them were asleep and the group was discussing whether or not to set up a watch, there was a scratch at the door.

Twilight stood and opened the door before anyone else could argue, and Fox slunk in fully soaked with something in their mouth. Twilight carefully took it from them and put it on the floor, making a clicking sound with his mouth before they could complain, and dried them off before they could shake and get water everywhere. Again.

Once Fox was free from being dried, they picked their item off the floor and trotted up the Legend. The fire had died down a bit and he was feeling the loss of heat. The thought of a damp fox curling up to him made him bristle, so he spoke sharply. "What do you want now?"

Fox carefully dropped the item beside him, and Legend picked it up. It was covered in dirt, but as he wiped away the mud it revealed a deep shining red. "Oh what the fuck?" Legend whispered, as he grabbed a rag and wiped away the dirt to reveal the biggest ruby he'd ever seen. More than that, this ruby was magical. It had innate fire magic. Warmth. This dumbass fox was trying to warm him up.

"What is it?" Twilight asked, the only other one paying attention to the situation.

"A gift I think. Thanks, dumbass." Legend laid his hand on Fox's head, and wondered how the hell a little fox had managed to dig up a ruby.

It was only then Legend noticed the small red marks on the floor, and the way Fox shifted awkwardly on their paws. "This dumb-" his insults were cut off as he carefully picked Fox up and secured them in his lap. "Twilight, disinfectant. Now. And bandages. This dumbass has cut up their paws and trekked them who knows where for a stupid ruby. How could you be so stupid, huh?" Legend growled, and Fox whined.

"They might not understand Legend, try to be nicer." Twilight warned, bringing over the requested items.

"What happened?" Wind rubbed the sleep from his eyes, poking his head up from the corner to see what the fuss was about.

"Is Fox okay?" Time stood at the window with Warriors, still discussing the watch question.

"They will be if I have anything to say about it." Legend growled. Fox squirmed a little in his lap. "Fox, this is gonna get a whole lot worse before it gets better."

Fox looked up at him uncomprehendingly, and Legend sighed. "Twilight."

"Right." Twilights mouth was set in a grim line. "Sorry folks, this is gonna get loud."

Legend held Fox still, keeping their front paws so Twilight could clean them thoroughly. Twilight carefully took out the dirt and stones, washing them with plain water. Fox didn't mind this, but as soon as he started to disinfect them, Fox reminded them all that they had an incredible banshee impression in their repertoire.

"Are you torturing them?!" Wars ended up asking. "I've never heard anything make so much noise over getting their wounds cleaned!"

Legend furrowed his brows, but kept Fox still. After a few moments he leant forward and whispered empty reassurances into their ear, quiet murmurings that it was to help them, they weren't doing this for fun or to hurt them. Fox quietened down after a while, although every member of the chain (apart from Sky) were now awake and waiting for the final consensus.

"They'll be fine. We'll keep them wrapped up and maybe have to keep them off their feet tomorrow, but I got them pretty clean and none of the cuts run too deep." Twilight explained, as Legend glared at their newest troublemaker.

"Don't go hurting yourself on my account again, okay? Do something stupid like this again and I'll chuck the ruby in a river. Got it?!" Legend whispered angrily to Fox, although they seemed content to cosy up to him despite his prickly demeanor and their recent medical emergency.

When Legend went to bed, curling up in his bedroll, it was Fox who trotted over and laid down next to him. Legend sighed but accepted it. Fox liked to move throughout the night anyway, checking on everyone and changing who they slept beside. However, when morning came Fox was still there, and they even curled up on his lap for breakfast. They were like a small heater, and Legend was glad of it.

His bones weren't aching as much now.

Chapter Text

Twilight ended up being on the last watch, and transformed outside before coming back inside to fetch his kit.

Fox however, refused to leave Legend. 'Friend cold.' They insisted, and Twilight refused to feel jealous of Legend. Fox was taking care of him! That was good!

He spent the rest of the shift missing the chaos kit usually caused. It was a boring shift, nothing would attack the cabin anyway, so Twilight mostly scouted around for breakfast and looked at the path they would be taking today.

When the sky started to lighten Twilight made his way back to the cabin as a hylian, and soon enough the chain were packed up and ready to go. They were all moving bit faster than usual- they knew they would reach Hateno today barring any complications, and they were eager to finish this long trip and finally meet Zelda. With any luck, they'd find their new Link too. They were still unsure what all had happened in this Hyrule, and eager to find out more from the princess herself.

As they started up a small hill there was a woman by the side of the road, making distressed noises and cowering. Warriors, ever the gentleman, rushed forward to see what was wrong when Fox pulled him back, tugging at his scarf to make sure he couldn’t walk towards her. Twilight could smell bananas- was it another strange assassin?

The assassin looked up, sensing her ruse had failed, and in a puff of smoke she transformed and immediately rushed in with a sickle. The chain unsheathed their weapons with a sigh. 

Within minutes all that was left was a bunch of bananas and some rupees. Fox picked a red one up for Wind, before picking the other red rupee and trotting over to Twilight.

"Damned favouritism." Legend grumbled, and Time laughed.

"Favouritism? From Fox? Never." Sky commented with a chuckle. 

Twilight sighed."There's nine of us and only one of them." Twilight tried to reason. "They can't give everyone everything."

"Yeah, and they gave me a rupee first." Wind grinned. "Fox! Here!" Wind patted his leg, and Fox bounded over.

Twilight barely held back a growl from the wolf. "Kit can go where they like." He mumbled, more to himself than anyone else.

Legend scowled at Wind, before smirking. “Fox! To me!” Legend called, and Fox did an about turn to dash over.

Fox, unaware of the custody battle occuring overhead, dashed to whoever called for them. Soon it was an all out shouting match, with Fox acting as a ping pong ball bouncing back and forth.

"Kit!" Twilight called out, and as soon as Fox was within reach they were scooped up. "Enough of this. Remember they messed up their paws."

Wind, Legend and Warriors, who were doing most of the calling, had the decency to be embarrassed. "Sorry Fox." Wind came over to check on them, as Legend furrowed his brows.

"You called them kit." Legend noted aloud, and Warriors gasped.

"You have a nickname for them? That's so unfair!" Wars moaned, way too worked up about earning Fox's affection.

"Kit like a fox cub? Why call them that?" Legend kept questioning, needing to know.

"I don't know, it just slipped out." Twilight could feel himself blush a bit, and he saw as Time turned around up ahead and gave him a Look. Then, Time smirked.

My damn mentor. Betraying me when it matters most. Twilight groaned internally.

"Wait, doesn't Time call you pup?!" Wind practically yelled, and the entire gang rioted.

"If Time is your mentor, that means you're mentoring Fox?!"

"YOU'RE MENTORING A FOX?!"

"Since Wolfie's your wolf, does that mean you're gaining another animal companion?! That's so fucking unfair!"

"Why doesn't Crimson travel with me like Wolfie does… I know he's never around but this is blatant favouritism… Maybe I should put a complaint in with Sun..."

"YOU'RE MENTORING A FUCKING FOX?!"

"Fox, blink twice if you don't want Twilight to be your mentor."

Fox was, for their part, looking incredibly confused and increasingly distressed by the noise, and they attempted to bury themselves in Twilight's pelt. It wasn't very successful.

Twilight frowned, smelling Fox's unease and fear as the chain kept chattering over one another. "Enough!" Twilight glared at them. "Pay attention and don't yell so much. Fox is gonna think we're under attack." Twilight clicked to let Fox know everything was okay, and as the noise died down Fox calmed down too.

"Er, Twilight? You know how you have Wolfie? People say pets are like their owners, and I think you're living proof." Wind stated, looking a bit nervous.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked. He looked around and realised everyone was staring.

"You do realise you just growled right?" Legend raised one eyebrow.

Oh shit. Twilight started to panic a little bit.

"Pretty sure that was Fox. You're all jumping to lynels before horses." Time reprimanded them, and the statement was odd enough to distract the conversation.

"Old man, what the fuck does that mean?" Wind questioned, and Time gave him a Look.

"Language." Time refused to say anything else, starting to walk ahead, and everyone naturally fell into formation once again.

"Remember we need to reach Hateno tonight, and we just wasted time. We may need to push to get there before nightfall. Make sure and speak up if you need anything or see anything unusual." After that announcement Time and Wind led the way, and Twilight kept a hold of Fox and stayed in the back. Their paws were bandaged up but they still shouldn't be pushing it, so Twilight was content to carry them the rest of the way.

They had a few encounters with monsters, but nothing serious. The sun was getting too low in the sky for Twilight's liking, but thankfully they reached Hateno before night truly fell. They approached the archway into town, and Time was stopped by what looked like a farmer wielding a pitchfork.

Twilight knew Time would handle it, but as he went to walk forward, Fox went still in his arms.

"Are you okay, kit?" He asked, worried. They stared at the town, before wriggling out of his arms and dashing off in a flash. Twilight ran after them, as the farmer yelled at them both. Twilight ignored him in favour of following Fox as they ran into town and to the right, uphill between odd blocky houses, across a rickety old bridge and into the house that sat on the other side. Fox slipped through a tiny crack at the bottom of the door.

Two people were sat at the cookpot to the left, staring at him with slight suspicion, but Twilight ignored them and went to knock on the door.

"I told Link I should've fixed that break in the door. I still can't believe he dropped a lynel spear and broke it…" One of the hylians by the fire muttered, quite angrily Twilight would've said. Was this Link's house? Then Fox may have entered to find-

A scream came from inside, and Twilight threw open the door without thinking, rushing inside only to be tackled by Fox, who scrambled up onto his shoulders and crouched down to hide behind his head. It barely worked, but they were a small fox so they managed to pull it off. They had come from upstairs, where there was now a blonde hylian woman in sensible traveling clothes wearing a furious expression. "I told Link to fix that door!"

Twilight coughed. So not Link then. Perhaps Fox had been expecting so, and this other hylian had surprised them? From her looks, Twilight would've guessed-

"I don't suppose you're princess Zelda?" Twilight asked, hoping their journey was over for now.

She looked down at him with suspicion, before her eyes widened. "You… you're a hero, why are… how can you be here? Is Link…?"

An expression of horror overtook her features. "Are you a replacement for Link?" Her eyes brimmed with tears, and Twilight started to panic.

"No, of course not! Heroes aren't replaced, not like that! I'm traveling through time on a quest with other heroes to try and defeat a huge evil that none of us can defeat on our own. I don't know where this Hyrule's Link is but we're not replacing him. We were under the impression we were here to ask him to join our quest." Twilight explained, and she calmed down at his explanation.

"Ah, that's certainly a story. But, with the goddess’ mark so clearly on you I suppose I have no choice but to believe you. Is that your fox as well?"

Before Twilight could answer there was a sword to his throat.

"Step away from the princess." The man who had been sitting by the fire, Twilight could now see his pink headband, now had a sword to his throat. Twilight stepped back and the man circled to put himself between him and the princess.

"Are you alright princess?" He called out, and she nodded, before realising he couldn't see her from his position.

"I'm fine Bolson, put the sword down? This is a hero from another time, we should treat him with respect." The princess, Twilight found it safe to assume Zelda at this point, came down the stairs and Bolson put the sword away.

"Another time?" He questioned, and now that she was closer Twilight could see that this Zelda looked exhausted. A tiredness pulled down at her body, and in her eyes a great weariness sat there like boulders. Still, there was a spark in there, a fire burned, small but still persisting.

"Yes, another time. I'm not sure how, but I know he's a hero."

"Princess! Intruders!" Someone ran up to the house. "There's a group of strange people at the front gate! Apparently one of them already escaped into town!" The townsperson cried, and Twilight felt Bolson and Zelda's eyes on him.

"That would be my companions." Twilight admitted. "I would be most grateful if you would make sure they could be let into town, princess?"

Twilight looked over at her, and she rolled her eyes. "Of course. If you are all like Link, I'm surprised the town's still standing at this point."

Twilight chuckled, not being able to argue in the slightest.

With several talks, many reassurances and some introductions they were all now situated in Link's house, in which Zelda now resided as well.

"After we beat the calamity, Link brought me here to recover. After a while we visited all of the kingdoms, but I have made no moves currently to reinstate Hyrule kingdom. For now, I'm researching and trying to plan. Link was helping me, together we were making sure that the lands were safe again, and attempting to ensure that no traces of ganon's malice remain. He went up to investigate near Tarrey town, and hasn't been seen since. His horse went back to the stable on its own after two days, as they're trained to do. It means he went on foot somewhere. But no one's seen or heard from him. He's an adventurer, and he likes going off the grid sometimes, but never for this long. Never." Zelda explained, as the chain had tea around the slightly cramped kitchen. Well, cramped for ten people.

"So how's best to try and look for him? Is there anywhere he frequents?" Warriors asked, and Zelda laughed.

"You don't understand. It's impossible to physically search for him. We looked for clues in Akkala but there were no signs of him. If we tried to search the entirety of Hyrule? Even trying to search his favourite places would be hard without the sheikah slate."

"The sheikah slate?"

"It's a piece of tech. It allows Link to teleport between one location and another, as he can warp to shrines and towers. He can travel from one end of Hyrule to the next in an instant. You understand?"

Time hummed. "So if he didn't want to be found, it would be impossible to ever track him down."

"Exactly. If he wanted to come home, he would've done so already. So either he doesn't want to…"

"Or he can't. Is it possible he lost the slate thing?"

Zelda pursed her lips. "Potentially. It's keyed so that only he can use it, which is why he kept it. He wanted to work out a way to give it over to me, but we hadn't gotten that far in our research. He's usually good at keeping it with him, but I suppose it's possible he lost it."

There was a moment's silence as the group thought over things, and then there was a sound from upstairs.

Zelda looked around. "Don't tell me your fox has gotten into Link's things!" She cursed, running upstairs and Twilight quickly followed.

Fox was buried in a chest, tail waving about, and Twilight quickly scooped them up and tucked them under an arm as Zelda opened the chest and looked at the mess Fox had made of some clothes and equipment that belonged to Link.

She glared at Fox, who's ears immediately drooped under the withering stare. "Will you please control your fox." She directed this to Twilight, who felt his expression turn sheepish.

"Sorry, they're not really trained." Twilight weakly explained, and Zelda rolled her eyes before leaving.

Well, that rules out the fox belonging to the hero Twilight assumed. Surely Link would've told Zelda about Fox if they were his? Then again, maybe not?

Twilight felt he was missing something important, but with the princess here and a missing hero, it was hard to pick out the information he needed. A ruined kingdom. A calamity. A hero unaccounted for. Twilight was missing something, he was sure. Maybe Link had already gone through a portal and been lost in a different Hyrule?

Zelda let them stay there for the night. "Link would have let you stay himself if he were here, but he isn't so I ask that you stay out of his things." She glared at Fox. "Tomorrow morning I would like if you would visit me at the lab at the top of the hill. Purah and I will be testing a new piece of technology to try and contact Link's slate. It's one of our best ideas to find him. I hope you have a restful night." She left without much further ado, and the chain settled themselves on the ground floor.

Twilight made sure Fox didn't escape again, although they seemed oddly eager to explore the house. Maybe they really were Link's fox, and he'd simply never introduced them to Zelda. She had seemed rather angry at their presence.

Whatever it was, Fox was content to sleep next to Twilight the whole night, and he was relieved in the morning when they were still there and hadn't started rummaging around again.

Fox's paws were healing up quickly, but Twilight still rewrapped them. Red potions only worked on Hylians, which he'd found after trying to drink one as Wolfie. He wasn't sure why, Legend had given a long explanation that Twilight hadn't understood, but it meant that anything that happened to Fox would have to be fixed the traditional way- with time.

The chain were up and ready unusually early- Twilight out this down to everyone being eager to see what had become of this world's Link. The princess had seemed fairly confident last night that they could contact him. Twilight couldn't think of any alternatives, considering how long it had taken them to trek here in the first place.

As soon as they were ready they left with Fox on Twilight's shoulders once again. They seem to have taken a liking to it, and Twilight was content as long as they didn't fall off.

Hateno was fairly quiet this early in the morning, and as they went up the hill following the signs that pointed to the lab, the chain could see the village slowly wake up with the sun, farmers out to tend to their crops and shopkeepers opening up for the day. Despite such a huge land with destruction and ruins everywhere, life still went one. The land was still alive.

They reached the lab and Time knocked. For a moment it seemed they'd come too early, before they heard voices inside and then Zelda practically threw the door open. "Finally!" She let out a frustrated sigh. "Come in, come in, but don't crowd the table. This is Purah by the way, she's my great aunt."

The little girl smiled and waved, and nobody had the energy to question it. Wind did stare, and when Purah turned her back to him he looked to the others and mouthed ‘what the fuck’. Time pulled him back and ruffled his hair silently telling him to watch his language. 

Twilight stayed near the door, with Fox in his arms. Fox seemed pretty interested in looking around, but content to stay in Twilight’s arms. Warriors stood beside him, leaning against the wall. The others fanned out so they could watch, as Zelda fiddled with an odd stone looking object on the table.  

"This is the slate we have made ourselves, so it barely has any of the functions that the original slate does. However, we have finally managed to create a new rune for communication. So, with the only other slate on the network being Link's, we should be able to connect with it and see his location. Hopefully."

Zelda made eye contact with Purah at the other side of the table, who simply grinned. "Snap!" She struck a pose, and Zelda reached for a button on the slate.

"Snap." Zelda repeated faintly, and when she pressed on the slate, nothing happened.

Then, the slate gave one small beep.

Zelda grabbed it. "What do you mean no signal found?! The slate is always putting out a signal! There's no way that the slate's off the grid! Either it's broken or…" Zelda paused, looking horrified.

"Or Linky's connection to the slate is broken. And if that's the case, the most likely conclusion would be that he's not alive." Purah finished.

The room went silent.

"Not necessarily. Our adventures include portals, yes? Portals through space and time. It's possible that Link's already gone through one, and that is why you can't access his slate at the moment." Time explained, soothing everyone's anxieties. "We shouldn't rush into conclusions, although I know this looks bad."

Zelda slumped, and Twilight could tell she was missing her Link.

"He's right, Zel. We can't give up hope yet. Link's too stubborn to die like that." Purah reassured her, and Zelda nodded, once, then twice, then drew herself up to her full height again, looking determined.

"Right. We'll have to set up a system to constantly look for a signal, and start on a slate that can transport us across Hyrule to investigate more easily. My apologies, it seems I can't give you any more information than I already have." Zelda turned to the chain, and Sky waved his hands.

"Please don't apologise, if anything we're sorry for being unable to help you find him." Sky had his eyebrows furrowed together in concern, clearly worried for the princess. He opened his mouth to speak again when all the heroes felt a tug, and Twilight turned as a portal finished opening up outside. Fox jumped off his shoulders and lightly landed on the floor, clearly curious of the odd swirling mass.

"These things have the darndest of timings." Time muttered, and the chain slowly filed outside to say goodbye before they left.

"Princess, we will keep an eye out for him, we swear. I wish you the best of luck in your efforts." Sky gave her a small bow. Zelda nodded back, looking regal despite her researching attire. She waited at the lab door with Purah to see them off as they gathered themselves.

"Right, Fox, I suppose this is where we say goodbye for now." Warriors gave them a scratch behind the ear.

"They're not coming with us?" Hyrule questioned, and Warriors shrugged.

"Wolfie never does."

"Wolfie always shows up when he wants to, I'm pretty sure he always ends up in the world we're in by design. I'm not sure if the same could be said for Fox." Twilight explained, attempting to skirt around his secret deftly.

"Is it fair to take Fox along? Surely we should leave them, since they come from this world and we don't know where their hero is." Legend argued.

"Fox should stay in their home. We don't know why they're here, they may have just been a guide." Time agreed, and the chain slumped a little.

"Well this sucks." Wind huffed, and Time patted his back consolingly.

"We'll all be sad to not have Fox anymore, but we'll see them again. Would you really want to drag them with us, if they could stay safe at home?"

Wind refused to make eye contact. "...no."

"Exactly. Princess," Time picked up Fox and walked over to her. "Would you mind making sure they don't jump in after us? They can be a bit mischievous." Time let Fox jump down to the ground, and Princess Zelda nodded.

The princess crouched down to hold Fox's bandana while they were on the ground. She clearly wasn't too happy with it, but Twilight could feel the portal tugging and knew they didn't have long before it dragged them in by force.

They made their goodbyes to the princess quick, and ignored the quiet whines Fox made as they watched the chain leave. Twilight, one of the last to go through, cast one look back at Fox. They looked utterly dejected, abandoned with the unhappy princess and the elderly child.

Twilight waved, and Fox just drooped. When they came back to this Hyrule Twilight doubted Fox would be in a very good mood with them. Still, it was better to leave them in relative safety than make them travel with the chain on their quest.

Time tugged at him, and they both stepped through the portal. Twilight tried to forget Fox's betrayed expression. It was for their own good.

~~~

Zelda watched the heroes leave with a small sense of relief. She didn't need people to see as she lost her mind over her missing best friend. She and Link were each other's closest companions. It wasn't romantic, but there was no one else who would understand them apart from each other, and she felt his missing presence like a knife in between her ribs.

Now she had been visited by heroes of the past, who had left her with a fox of all things. It even had a little scarf. As much as she wanted to find it cute, she still remembered the way it had dug into Link's chest and surprised her to start with. Messing with Link's things was a bad idea on any day. While he was missing? Zelda would be lying if she said she didn't hold a grudge.

Now the fox was just here, staring at the portal with droopy ears. It must really miss the heroes already. Zelda let the bandana go, pretty sure the fox wouldn't run off now, and sure enough it just sat on the ground, looking despondent.

All of a sudden it looked up at her with those big weirdly grey eyes, and Zelda realised they were in fact blue with grey streaks. They clouded over as she watched them, but the fox closed its eyes and shook its head, letting out a huff. Huh. Well, that was odd. Incredibly odd…

As Zelda began to contemplate the fox, it moved. It didn't step or jump, it was like it was dragged across the ground by an unseen force, leaving tracks behind it. It yelped and stood up, but it didn’t stop whatever was dragging it across the ground. Towards the portal. What was it the hero of Time had said? 'The portals tend to get grumpy if we don't go through quick enough. Needs all the heroes to be accounted for too.'

And then the hero of Twilight. 'Fox? We kind of just found them when we first came here.'

'We landed up North,' The hero of Winds had explained to her. 'Near here.' Where Link had been investigating. Where Link had disappeared. Where Fox was from. The sheikah slate was unable to be contacted because it was out of range. The pieces were lining up to something practically unbelievable, but Zelda knew it was true.

Fox had been dragged all the way across the ground by now. Purah tried to hold him back but the portal pulled him away. Zelda could only watch in horror as the fox was practically lifted off the ground as he was dragged towards the portal. The fox looked back at her, panic in their- his eyes.

She let out one final desperate scream.

"LINK!"

~~~

The chain were all staring at the portal.

"Shouldn't it have closed by now?" Legend remarked, staring at the magical gate.

"Usually. Did we forget something?" Time looked around.

"Everyone's here. Maybe the new Link really was still in Hyrule, and we needed to find him?" Wars proposed, and everyone hoped that was not the problem. Searching that Hyrule would be nigh impossible.

"Maybe Fox needs to come? Maybe they'll help us find the new hero?" Wind asked hopefully, and Twilight squashed his urge to agree. His wolf side was upset that they'd left Fox behind, and he was surprised at how much of an effect it was having on him.

"We've already done a headcount. Did anyone leave any equipment-?" Time had barely finished the sentence before an orange fluff ball shot out of the portal and collided with him, actually staggering Time before he regained his feet and managed to hold Fox in his arms.

The portal shuddered and then closed, and everyone relaxed.

"Well, I guess that answers that. Welcome to the chain, Fox." Time put them down as they rushed around to regreet everyone, clearly happy to be back with the group. They stopped next to Twilight, who did his best not to look too smug. By Wind and Warriors' giggles, he doubted he managed to look as casual as he wanted.

They set off, in Twilight's Hyrule now, and Twilight smiled. It felt right to have Fox with them, as weird as they were. His kit, with them as they should be.

Chapter Text

It was fun, travelling with Fox. Since they had been dragged through the portal too the chain had accepted that they were a new companion. Although, Sky outright refused to let them touch the master sword.

"I don't know what it would do! I don't want to burn them. Plus," Sky's tone turned a bit more serious. "They would get slobber all over her."

Twilight felt himself losing patience like sand blowing away in a strong wind, but ultimately left the matter alone. He wasn’t sure how it worked, but he didn’t want to burn Fox either, even if his instincts were telling him there was something up.

They were in his Hyrule now, his home turf, so he directed them across Hyrule field to Castletown, and they checked in with Dusk as usual. She had reports of odd sightings to the South, a large group of monsters in Hyrule field, and so the chain got moving. It almost felt like things were back to normal again.

When they got to the reported location, none of them were prepared for what was there.

"That's from the previous Hyrule. That structure, those bokoblins and moblins? They shouldn't be here!" Twilight stared in astonishment. He shouldn't be surprised- they'd had monsters from other worlds show up before, but it was concerning that it was so many of them- had they built the structure, or had it come with them? It was hard to tell.

"Well, nothing to do but take out the camp. Warriors, any strategies?" Time turned to Wars, who was contemplating the scene through Wind's telescope again.

"There's about fifteen bokoblins and five moblins. There's several of them in the structure with bows, and one of the moblins is a white pelt, and three of the bokoblins are a white pelt. Wait, hold on…" Wars stared through the telescope. "There's a yellow bokoblin. A golden one? Shit. This might be tricky." Warriors gave the telescope back to Wind. "I wish we had better archery skills." Warriors mumbled.

Twilight could smell something odd. Before he could identify it, Fox let out a yelp of alarm. Suddenly there were bokoblins bursting from the trees, and they were surrounded and fighting for their lives.

Thankfully, most of the heroes had taken out their swords and other items in preparation for their ambush, so they weren't outright slaughtered before they could move. Twilight parried a giant club and slashed down at the black bokoblin, sending it a few steps back. He stood in front of Spirit and defended him from another bokoblin as the train driver pulled his sword from its sheath. "I'm good!" He yelled out and Twilight returned to his own prey and let Spirit fight the other monster.

It was chaos. Twilight tried to look around when his opponent was distracted, but it was too hard to figure out who was okay and who wasn't. He finished off his monster as soon as he could, but two more burst from the bushes and became his problems. Fighting off one? Easy enough. Two? Became more of a problem. Another burst from the trees to leap at Twilight, and he found himself struggling for his life.

He parried, blocked, defended then parried again because it was all he could do to make sure he didn't get skewered on the white one's spear. The monster let out a scream and started swinging the spear around. Twilight let out a yell of alarm and jumped backwards, unfortunately into a tree. He ducked and the spear thunked into the wood, the monster's strength burying it deep in the tree. Twilight took advantage to stab the bokoblin in the guts, slicing it open. The monster was still attempting to free its weapon so Twilight kept slashing until it finally turned to dust. From behind it the other two leapt, and Twilight was back to fending off two monsters instead of three, which was an improvement.

After a few more minutes of brutal battle they were both dead, and Twilight breathed a sigh of relief before looking around. His comrades had either finished up their own battles or were taking care of the dregs. He could see Time, Warriors, Sky, Spirit, Wind and Legend. Shit. Where was Fox? Hyrule? Four?

Twilight shared a look with Time, and saw him nod. With that as permission he slunk off into the woods and transformed, sprinting through the trees in wolf form in search of their missing comrades.

He burst out into a clearing to discover Hyrule, having just defeated a stray bokoblin that was clearly running to alert the camp. He turned warily but relaxed as he saw Wolfie.

"Hey boy, good to see ya. You've got a little brother now, make sure and be nice to Fox, yeah?" Hyrule smiled, and Wolfie restrained himself from rolling his eyes. Fox was his kit. His protege. And they already knew each other fine enough, thank you.

Wow, the odd parental instincts he felt were much more pronounced in wolf form. That made sense, probably. Right? Twilight hoped it wouldn't become a problem.

Wolfie led Hyrule back to camp, and made sure he was safe before looking for Fox and Four.

A lot of the monsters had either been killed, or had fled back to the structure, so the woods were a lot calmer now. Still, Twilight was surprised when Fox dashed by him without stopping, chasing a bokoblin back to the camp. Twilight was proud of how the small fluffball had managed to terrrify the monster. Wolfie could also see a small something on Fox’s head. Was it a person? It looked like a tiny colourful person. But then Fox was in the undergrowth again and Wolfie could no longer see them. They had passed by in a flash, but Fox had the bokoblin running so Wolfie was sure they’d be back soon.

He trotted back to the clearing where everyone else was, one of the last to arrive. It only took a few moments more before Fox burst out of the forest, Four close behind them. Time was clearly relieved when everyone was back together.

Fox dashed over to Twilight to greet him excitedly. ‘You're back!! Why change? Okay? Fight? Safe?’ They circled him, looking for wounds and only relaxing when they didn't find any.

Wolfie huffed, letting Fox do as they wished. ‘Fine. Fought. Won. You safe?’

Fox nodded. ‘Horse.’ They said without explanation, and Twilight struggled to figure out how to interpret that.

"Good on managing to react to that everyone. Is anyone seriously injured? No, scratch that, is anyone injured at all? We can decide how serious each injury is and prioritise. Based on past experience, everyone here would rather help someone else than be helped, so you're bound to say it's not bad even if something's broken." Time looked around, and no one was able to refute it.

Twilight took charge of patrolling as the chain licked their wounds and got patched up before they attacked the camp. Fox joined him, helping to sniff around for monsters and leading him to more than a few strays.

When the area was clear they went back to the group, Fox running around to check on everyone while Twilight flopped down on the ground and relaxed for a moment. After they had seen everyone Fox flopped down beside him, their bushy tail lazily flicking back and forth.

"They must have met before. It's sweet that Wolfie seems to tolerate Fox." Sky commented.

Time smirked. "Yeah. Like they're wolfie's cub."

Wind came over to sit beside them. "I'm here for Fox, not you Wolfie so don't get your tail in a twist." Wind warned. Wolfie was known for not being fond of physical affection, and had been lovingly labelled a grump by the group. Twilight ignored Wind, and the sailor pet the much more tolerant Fox.

Warriors was back to surveying the camp, and seemed to come to a decision. "Right. Here's the plan. We take out their ground scouts and their archers first, before making our way up the structure. Right handers go first, the spiral direction will make it easier for you to attack. We'll split up into groups and you have to stick with and protect your group. Er, should Twilight really be missing for this?"

Time turned to Wolfie. "Would you fetch him for us please?" Wolfie, none too pleased with having to leave Fox, shook his coat out in a huff before trotting out into the woods. ‘Stay.’ He told Fox, who reluctantly shuffled their feet but stayed with the chain.

Twilight came out of the bushes from a slightly different direction a few minutes later. Fox was on him in a minute, making him laugh. "Calm down, kit." He said quietly enough that no one else would hear, and they rejoined the group.

"So, we're attacking?"

Warriors mouth pressed into a thin line. "Afraid so."

The fight was long, and brutal, but with their teamwork and determination, they managed to see it through. It wasn't without its cost though. Hyrule got pushed off the first platform of the monster structure and had been knocked out cold. Legend has suffered a gash on his back from protecting Hyrule when he was unconscious. Warriors had a cut on his side and his face. Time was bruised, and had probably broken a couple of ribs. Sky had a black eye and twisted ankle. Spirit had been sliced near the top of his arm. Four had nearly been decapitated, but was saved last minute by a tackle from Fox. He had only suffered minor bruising. Wind was relatively unscathed, having been deft enough to dodge a lot of attacks. He also had Fox in a team with him, Four and Twilight, and Fox had tried to help them all at every turn. As for Twilight, he had unexpectedly had his foot crushed, but was okay everywhere else. He was pretty sure there were broken bones in there though, especially if Fox's whining was anything to go by.

"We should travel to Ordon spring. It would be easier than going back to the castle. My house is that way too, we can stay there afterwards." Twilight proposed, and everyone was more than happy to do just that. The spirit in Ordon spring was fond of Twilight, so it was bound to help them.

Four was carrying Sky, which was a sight, Legend was carrying Hyrule, and despite his protests Twilight was being carried by Wind. It made sense, his foot was in pieces and Fox kept whining at him, but it still felt odd to be carried by their second youngest. At least he could comfort himself with the fact that it wasn't far to go, and soon he'd be fully healed up and at home.

As they walked through Hyrule field, Time led the way with the rest trailing just behind him. Sky was on the verge of falling asleep, Hyrule was constantly apologising to Legend- Twilight could hear him say “Are you sure I’m not too heavy?” at least 7 times- and Wind was upset that they weren’t racing. Apparently he was sure he could win, and no one else was willing to test his theory since they were exhausted. Spirit was bringing up the rear, ensuring no one fell behind. Twilight often twisted round to check he was still there and hadn’t fainted from blood loss. All in all, certainly not the worst they’d come out of a fight, but definitely not the best outcome.

“We need to train in archery- we need the advantage of more range if we’re going to keep fighting big groups like that. Next time we’re in my Hyrule I can ask Zelda to give us an archery range for the day to train.” Warriors frowned, obviously upset at their glaring weakness. “I’m sorry, I should have picked up on that sooner. But not to worry, I’ll make sure and get everyone’s archery skills up to snuff as soon as I can.” Warriors brightened up, clearly determined to help the chain as much as he could.

The rest of the group fixed him with tired stares. “That sounds lovely, Warriors, thank you.” Time smiled, while the rest of the chain were clearly less than enthused. Twilight even saw Hyrule drooping at the thought, and usually he was enthusiastic about any group activity.

They were quiet for the rest of the trudge to the spring, but the moment the group were through the gates everyone put on a last-minute burst in speed, taking off their equipment and most of their clothes before clambering into the waters with some giggling and a lot of tossing smaller Links into the deeper part of the spring.

After a lot of splashing and shenanigans, they were all relaxing in the water. With a bit of time, the spring water started to heal their wounds, cuts closing and their bodies being restored as they floated in the water. As they relaxed Fox splashed around in the water excitedly, swimming around in the deeper parts with a flailing doggy paddle that splashed everyone in their immediate vicinity. After ten minutes, the spirit of the spring even made an appearance to greet the heroes, and Twilight was excited as always to see the spirit that guarded his home. He often made offerings and came to visit when he had free time at home.

However, Ordon wasn't entirely happy.

"You call it Fox?" It squinted, staring at the small wet rag of a creature that had seemed to half in size when soaked. Apparently their fur accounted for a lot more of its size than Twilight expected.

"Yes, we picked them up in the last Hyrule." Twilight explained, as Fox splashed Wind. "We're not entirely sure what they are, but they're friendly."

The spirit stared at Fox, before shaking its head. "This beast… something is wrong. But I cannot tell what. Be careful, Heroes…" With that ominous warning the spirit faded, and all eyes turned to Fox.

They were fully soaked and panting happily, oblivious to the spirit's analysis as Wind soaked them yet again.

Time huffed with amusement as Fox pranced away from Wind’s splashing and right into his back. "Twilight, where's your home? It would be best to dry off and rest soon.”

Twilight nodded in agreement, as he got some of the spray from Fox as he tried to retaliate against Wind's splashing. He couldn't help the pit of fear that opened up with Faron's words though.

How could they figure out what Fox was, if even Faron couldn't figure it out? Or Cotera for that matter? They should travel back to the castle, and ask Dusk- with any luck she'd have some answers.

They managed to eventually get everyone out of the water and grab their stuff. Twilight led the group back to his house and everyone took off their clothes to get properly dry and got comfortable in his treehouse. Fox had to be carried up the ladder, but once inside they thoroughly explored the place, nosing into every nook and cranny. Time grabbed them and dried them with an old shirt, which Twilight noticed was actually his only after it had been used to dry Fox. He made sure it ended up in the pile of clothes to be washed.

Twilight heard the other's hushed conversations as he got stuff out from his loft.

"-spirit talked about Fox?-"

"-don't know-"

"-still weird how they appeared-"

"-don't know anything-"

"-maybe we were wrong to trust-"

"-still ours. I don't want to lose-"

It made sense. As Twilight looked down, the only one not phased was Time. He sat with Fox securely in his lap, stopping the inquisitive beast from getting into all of Twilight cupboards. Twilight sent him a grateful look, before grabbing the blankets he was looking for and climbing back down. He looked over at Fox, and handed out everything and made sure everyone was settled before sitting next to Time on the floor.

Fox immediately nuzzled him, always clearly happy to be near him. Time smiled, and Twilight tried to smile too although it felt strained.

"You're worried." Time stated. His voice was low, only meant for Twilight. They were in the corner, as far away from the others as they could get in the tree trunk house.

"Yeah." Twilight spoke quietly, practically whispering to Time. "What if I'm wrong about them? The kit? The wolf's gotten so attached to them, and I feel so sure that they're good. But the great fairy and Faron both seem to be wary of them."

"They're confused by Fox. They can't see what's inside. That doesn't mean they're evil or anything. Just means that something's wrong." Time closed his eye, thinking. "We should go to see your Zelda. Quickly. She may be able to discern what Cotera and Faron could not."

Twilight nodded, trying not to immediately get his hopes up. "With the monster camp gone we should be able to make good time tomorrow."

They looked around the room, pretending not to notice the many suspicious glances thrown at Fox. No one did anything even remotely hostile, but everyone was contemplating the problem with worry and cautiousness.

Time scratches under their chin, and Fox rolled over to let Time pet their soft underbelly- the cream coloured fur was softer than their more coarse orange coat. Time laughed quietly, Fox letting out a wheezing laugh of their own, and the rest of the chain relaxed seeing their leader accept Fox. Still, the air was too tense for Twilight's liking.

It was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

Redfur still isn't sure why everyone got so tense after the bath, and they can't seem to figure it out. Wolfie and One-eye seem to still like them, but the others smell stressed. They aren’t sure why. They don't like the change, but at least they still have Wolfie. They stay close, and nose him occasionally for comfort as they walk.

They get to a giant tree, and Redfur is picked up and carried up into it. The whole place smells like Wolfie, so they run around trying to explore. Is this his den? Home? Are they staying here? One-eye grabs them and almost drowns them with cloth, and they voice their protests. They do end up feeling a bit more dry, and get to curl up between one-eye and Wolfie. The others smell nervous, so Redfur avoids them. Something has happened, and it’s upsetting the group. Did they do something wrong?

Redfur sleeps beside One-eye and Wolfie, and hopes everyone will be back to normal in the morning.

In the morning, they don’t act the same as usual. They discuss, with most of them avoiding Redfur, before they pack up and get back on the road to head back the way they came. They pass by the pond where they took a bath and end up in the open field again. It's nice out here, more similar to home although not quite as vibrant. Redfur sticks close to Wolfie, who gives him a reassuring nudge or ruffle every now and then.

The group has only gotten halfway across the field when it happens.

Monster. It crests a nearby hill and immediately starts to target the group, its spider-like legs darting this and that way as it changes trajectory towards them. Redfur yells, hoping to alert all the sleepy-heads of the dangers, not sure how they can fend off the long legged machine. They know something, but they can’t reach into their Fog to figure out what to do, not now! They have to act!

It targets one of the short ones, and they have to push them aside. The beam hits the ground anyway, and the group is scattered. They recover quickly, adrenaline rushing through their veins- they can't let friends get hurt. Protect friends. No matter the cost.

That's the only thought running through their head as they sprint and leap onto the guardian, blocking its eye and attempting to scratch it out. The machine's eye is like sturdy glass, and their claws don't leave any marks at all. The machine jolts up, but instead of shooting spins rapidly, throwing Redfur off its body.

They roll in the grass and takes a moment for them to pull themself together. Another blast, and they see Sleepy dive out of the way just in time, his white cape getting dirty. Everyone's panicking. They have to save them! They don’t know how to fight the guardian, so they have to fight it for them.

Sleepy's sword goes flying from the blast- even without a direct hit, the small explosion has an effect on the area. The sword can be used against the machine. How do they know that? They run for it, they need it quickly before it shoots again. Their fur burns on their left side. They need to cut off its legs. How do they-

Fox finally reaches the sword (her?), and grabs its purple and green pommel-

They are bigger? No time to think, need to FIGHT-

They cut off one leg, then another, a slash at the machine, the Fog is trying to take over their brain but they can't, the others can't, they just have to keep swinging-

They stab it in the eye, the sword sinking in up to her hilt. The machine shudders, groans, and collapses, the malice finally fading from it.

Malice? What's that? Why are they big now? How did they know how to fight? Why is the sword a she? What have they forgotten?

They cannot hold the Fog back any longer, and it rolls over them like a wave and pulls them deep into its depths in seconds.

They are lost.

Chapter Text

"KIT!" Twilight yelled as his orange puffball goes flying, but he could not in his wildest dreams expect what happened next.

The kit had been tossed and the guardian was advancing again, trying to aim at Sky now, and everyone was trying to figure out how to attack it. Warriors was yelling and Four was trying to take out a magic staff to attack it.

It fired and Sky jumped aside to avoid it. The shock from the blast sent Fi flying, and too late Twilight saw as his kit dashed towards it.

"Kit, no!" He shouted, trying to make sure they didn't get burned on top of the chaos as the Guardian took aim again at Wind this time.

Then there was someone else, wielding the master sword and attacking the guardian with all the ferocity of a wild animal, chopping off limbs and taking all of its attention off the chain. They could only stand and watch as the newcomer single handedly defeated the machine within minutes, plunging Fi into its eye and stepping back as the machine died in front of them.

Twilight is sprinting towards them even before they start to fall, and manages to catch them as their knees give in and they crumple. Their eyes are closed, but they still have the master sword in one hand. It looks old- it has scratches Twilight has never seen before. He didn’t even know she could get scratched.

Twilight tries to process everything at once. New hero. The kit. Sword. Old. The clothes. The sheikah slate on their belt. The scars. The dead guardian. Why had- Where- What happened with the-

None of his thoughts could finish, all of them running into one another before they could reach a conclusion.

Twilight looked up to the rest of the chain, who were looking as lost as he felt. Everyone stood shocked, before Time ran over and knelt beside him, looking over their new hero. He gently eased Fi from their hand, and pushed the kit more into Twilight's grasp, so he was actually carrying them now.

"Come, we must go to Dusk and see what she thinks of-"

Before Time could finish Twilight felt the pull in his gut as they were all stolen from his world, snatched by dark magic they'd yet to find the source of. All he could do was clutch his kit tight to his chest, and hope for a soft landing. Unfortunately, Hylia didn’t seem to be listening.

Twilight felt himself falling, dropped into another realm by the dark magic that they were fighting. This method of transport was always harsher than the portals. He twisted so his kit was on top, and landed on the ground hard. The air was driven out from his lungs and he simply lay there, struggling to breathe.

He heard the faint sounds of the rest of the chain slowly gathering their wits, and once he had caught his breath he looked down to the Hylian in his arms.

All he could see was their golden hair to start with, but he could feel their heartbeat, and knew they were alive at least. He carefully sat up, and checked them over for injuries.

As he looked around he could immediately place the spirit tracks they had landed near. Spirit would be happy at least, and it looked like nothing too dangerous was nearby. They were on the side of a mountain, with no plants in sight. Although Twilight was pretty sure he could see lava near the top of the mountain. A volcano then. Spirit would probably be able to figure you exactly where they were in his Hyrule.

A small groan and Twilight's attention was pulled back to his kit, as they pulled themselves up and shook out their head like they could shake off the effects of the portal. They looked up and as soon as they saw Twilight their face broke into a grin, blindingly happy. The left side of their face had burn scars, they looked like they extended down and Twilight could see some on their left hand- he hoped it wasn't as bad as it looked. They were obviously Hylian, with slightly dull blue eyes and sun-bleached blonde hair. They were wearing a blue tunic with embroidery of a sword, and he had what he assumed to be the Sheikah slate on his belt. It was similar to what Zelda had shown them at least.

The kit then noticed their own hands and their eyebrows knitted together in obvious confusion, as they stared at their hands in wonder.

"What? Are you okay?" Twilight sat up and they untangled themselves, his kit standing and exploring their own body with obvious astonishment.

Twilight stood, and got their attention. "You're Link, right? Why were you a fox? Why didn't you say anything?" He noticed Sky rushing forward to pick up Fi where she lay on the ground, the blade restoring to her newly made self in the first hero's hands.

Twilight knew that touching the master sword would reverse any Twilli curse, that's how it had been for him. But why hadn't Fox said anything when they'd been together as animals? 'Sorry, I'm normally a Hylian.' It would've expedited this process by days. It was a bit of a shame- Midna had collected his curse to make his crystal so he could always turn back. She hadn't been here, so the kit's curse was gone for good.

The kit seemed very confused. They hadn't said a word yet, nor tried to sign. It was worrying.

"So, we had our new hero all along." Time was smiling, somehow seeing the amusement in everything. At his voice, the kit scrambled to hide behind Twilight, peeking out at the rest of the group.

Time raised one eyebrow. "Anyone have any idea what kind of curse that was? Twilight, have they spoken to you?"

Twilight shook his head. "No, I'm worried they can't. There's something wrong, Time." Twillight could hear the own fear in his voice, as he obligingly used his body to shield his kit.

Time frowned, and the rest of the group gathered together- off the spirit track lest they get run over. Spirit had yelled at them a lot last time when they'd walked over tracks without looking. Spirit had then given the chain an hour-long lecture on train track safety. Twilight never wanted to be subjected to torture like that again.

"They've been cursed." Sky spoke up, staring at the blade as he examined her for changes.

Legend rolled his eyes. "Fucking duh."

"I don't mean the fox thing- that's a Twilli spell apparently. They've been cursed by Dark, Fi says they've got Fog, whatever that means. She wasn't able to break it, or get any info on how to break it, but she says they're the Hero of the Wilds." Sky explained, sheathing the master sword on his back once more.

"By Dark you say?" Time mumbled, as the rest of the group muttered their obvious displeasure at knowing one of their own was harmed.

"Of course he ends up being the hero of the bloody wilds." Legend laughs. "Wild's a good name. It suits them."

Four steps forward to interact with Wild first, who's still clearly unsure on what's going on.

"Hey Wild, can I see your eyes for a second?" Four asks as gently as possible, and Wild stares at them, unblinking. Twilight nudges them to go forward but Wild’s clearly still uneasy.

“It’s okay. What’s your name?” Four asks, and Twilight notes his red eyes. It’s always been weird that Four’s eyes change colour all the time, but no one acknowledges it- they’ve all got something weird that they hope no one else notices. Least Twilight can do is pretend he isn’t curious. “How old are you? Where are you from?”

Wild furrows his eyebrows as Four starts asking questions, and then Twilight watches in surprise as his eyes go cloudy, almost turning white before Wild shakes his head and then they’re back to their normal blue.

“What the hell was that?!” Wind exclaims, everyone staring at Wild now.

“That was the Fog I’m assuming.” Four steps back from Wild, who still watches him warily. “I don’t think he remembers anything. This isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before.”

From the silence that follows that statement, it’s clear that no one else in the chain has either.

“Alright. Spirit, I’m assuming you can get us to Hyrule castle?” Time looked to their train engineer, who nodded before walking over to the tracks. He pulled out a pan flute and played a short tune next to the tracks, before stepping back.

“My train will be here as quick as it can, until then don’t even think about going near the tracks.” Spirit glares at them, and the others pale as they remember the lecture Spirit had given them before.

“Right, well. Does anyone know of any ways to break curses? Fi said this Fog was a curse, correct? But she could not break it?” Time turned to Sky, who nodded.

“Yeah, she seemed sorry that she couldn’t. Too strong for her. If we were in my Hyrule I would suggest going to the sacred springs. Do you have something like that Spirit?”

Spirit shook his head. “Not really. All the sages are gone, they passed on when Malladus was defeated. We can ask my Zelda, and see if anyone in the castle has any ideas.” He sighed for a moment, his eyes darkening with memories.

“We may need to see what we have access to in the next switch, whenever that may be. We will have to learn as much as we can about this curse.” Time looked over to Wild, who was starting to calm down a little again. He still watched them warily if anyone moved, but mostly seemed interested in the fact that he had fingers now.

“If he lost all his memories, did he forget he was a hylian? Did he… Did he think he was a real fox?” Wind voiced his concerns, and the chain looked through all their memories of their time with Fox.

“Probably. He acted like a fox, most of the time. Well. Not a normal fox, but. Y’know.” Twilight finished awkwardly, and Time rose an eyebrow at his terrible explanation. Twilight hoped no one questioned him on the statement- he’d been thinking about how Fox had talked, and to explain that he’d have to reveal his wolfy side. He wouldn’t be opposed to telling everyone, they’d travelled together for months after all, but he wanted to do it on his own terms.

“He did seem a little odd…” Four frowned. “We may be should have picked up on it sooner.”

“We picked up on it alright, we just didn’t care.” Legend huffed. “We all knew Fox was weird as hell.”

Warriors and Sky shared a look, remembering their conversation about how weirdly easy it had been to tame Fox. They silently agreed to not bring it up.

“Well, it certainly explains a few things.” Time hummed. “I’m sure we’ll find a way to break this curse, and then we can find out what happened to Wild. For now, make sure he doesn’t wander off, and don’t crowd him. Twilight?”

Twilight stood up straighter, alerting Wild who was digging up rocks from the ground.

“I expect you to keep an eye on Wild, okay?” Time gave him a serious look, and Twilight nodded.

Wild, for his part, had somehow managed to dig up a very pretty rock, and offered it to Twilight when he looked at him. Twilight accepted it, brushing off more dirt to reveal that it was in fact very pretty, and he was fairly sure it was precious too. “Thanks, kit.”

Wild had stood up and brushed himself off, but still looked abashed and unbelievably pleased with his work.

Time had a smug look on his face, and was about to say something when a thundering sound approached them- Spirit’s train had finally arrived. Wild understandably jumped as it came to a halt with a screech, but rather than hide behind Twilight he hurriedly put himself between Twilight and the giant metal beast, like he could defend his mentor if needed.

Legend laughed, finding the whole situation was more funny than he ought to, if Twilight was honest. “He’s protecting you from the train! Ha!”

“It is kind of sweet. Wild seems good.” Hyrule smiled, trying to reassure Wild with his relaxed posture that everything was okay.

“He also seems reckless and self-sacrificing.” Warriors frowned, and Time rolled his eyes.

“Wonder where I’ve seen that before.” Time looked each of them in the eye, and they all felt like children being scolded for a moment.

“All aboard! Next stop, Hyrule castle.” Spirit usually pulled the whistle, but he clearly didn’t want to spook Wild again. He was leaning out of the front carriage, already ready to go. Sky stepped forward and pulled open the carriage door to let the others in first, Wind bounding ahead to claim his favourite seat before Legend could get there first. Legend didn’t even like the seat, he just liked to be annoying.

The rest boarded, with Twilight carefully leading Wild onto the train, and soon they were on their way, the train speeding along the spirit tracks that lay across the land. Wild was sitting at a window seat, opposite Wind, taking in everything he could see with reverence. Wind was bouncing in his seat, pointing out some things he recognised, and trying to explain how the train worked. The others were sitting in their own booths, relaxing. Nobody had liked the train to start with, but after getting used to it they had become fond of the easy travel. Spirit was highly competent at keeping them safe as they travelled. There was the odd train fight where the others would shoot bomb arrows out the doors to help if there were an overwhelming number of enemies, but it was usually very calm. It was especially nice to see the landscape flit by, after the many months of travelling by foot. It made Twilight wish there were spirit tracks in every Hyrule. Especially in Wild’s, after travelling through it for days.

Wild seemed captivated by Wind’s energy, taking it in stride when he tried to explain who they all were and what they were doing.

“So most of us have fought Ganon, or Ganondorf, you’ve fought the calamity, whatever that is, so we’re assuming that makes you one of us! We’re trying to save the world? I think?”

“Wind, I don’t think he’d understanding you.” Twilight gently interrupted, seeing Wild cock his head to the side slightly. It reminded him of Fox, it was a little funny to see on a Hylian.

“I was doing such a good job of the explanation as well. We’re gonna have to break this curse before we can explain it properly.” Wind sighed, and Sky chuckled from where he sat beside Wind.

“You were certainly trying to explain it. I think I’m more confused now than when you started. Did you say something about flying pigs in the middle there?” Sky yawned, fighting his usual exhaustion now that they were safe and comfy in the spirit train.

“I just wanted to see how far I could toss them…” Wind mumbled, and Twilight really didn’t want to know what had happened to those poor pigs.

Wild watched them all with wide eyes, giving him a slightly awed look about him, but he was constantly looking at the newest movement- Wind’s hands, the landscape outside, Time tending to his sword at another table, a bit of dust floating through the air. He clearly didn't process anything Wind had said about their journey.

Twilight tried to think of what Fox was like, how they acted, and how that might translate now that Wild was Hylian again. Watching him, Twi was beginning to think Wild would act the exact same. He would have to keep an eye on his kit, in case he tried anything stupid.

They travelled through the mountainous region before entering the tower of spirits. Spirit had to stop the train for a moment in the tower, before the section of track underneath the train spun around. It settled back down into place and Spirit pushed on through a different exit and into rolling green hills. Twilight watched the process with interest. Spirit had mentioned the tower before, and it had a presence like the temple of time- it was a holy place, to be sure.

They sped along and quickly arrived at Hyrule castle, the small bustling city exactly as Twilight remembered it from their last visit. Spirit stopped the train with a small screeching sound that Wild and Twilight winced at, and the others began to get ready to go into town. Hopefully Pan- Spirit’s Zelda- would have some insight into Wild, right?

As Spirit opened the carriage door, Time got up and looked around for everyone's attention. "Me, Spirit, Twilight and Wild will go to Pan and see if she can sense anything about Wild or his curse. I want the rest of you to go into town and grab supplies. More arrows, dried meat, a bedroll for Wild, potions if they're available, and anything else we're low on. We'll meet back here in an hour."

Everyone nodded and Time followed Spirit off the train. Twilight gently tugged at Wild, getting his attention from staring at the city. "Follow me, okay? Stay close." Wild nodded, and Twilight led him off the train to join Spirit and Time. Twilight glanced back to see that the others were a little disappointed at not being able to go see Spirit’s Zelda, but Time was right in splitting up- they wouldn't gain anything from everyone traipsing up to the castle, and they badly needed supplies.

Twilight followed Time and Spirit through the crowds of castle town, and he had to tug on Wild’s sleeve several times to ensure he didn’t wander off. Twilight ended up holding Wild’s hand, as Wild pointed at things he wanted to investigate. Twilight had to stop him from climbing several buildings, shooting a suspiciously placed acorn, and trying to steal everything a stall had to offer. By the time they reached the castle Twilight was already exhausted, and Wild was pointing to the very top of the castle like he wanted to climb up there.

“Wild, Twilight, come on.” Time waved them on, and Wild sagged, clearly distraught at not being able to scout the area entirely.

"Maybe later, kit." Twilight tugged him along into the castle, where they climbed the steps and caught up with Time and Spirit.

Pan was standing near her throne, and Twilight heard as Time finished summarising their situation to the princess. Pan turned her eyes to Wild, who was gazing up at the giant stained glass windows with awe.

"So he doesn't speak, and his eyes go white? It does sound like a curse, although not one I've seen before." She raised one hand and golden power radiated out as she used her abilities on Wild, who accepted it without question. After a minute she lowered her hand and shook her head. "I can't break this, whatever it is. If I understood how it worked, or knew exactly what kind of energy controlled it I could maybe do more. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more use." She bowed her head, a regal apology, and Time sighed.

"Thank you for trying anyway. Is there anything unusual in the area while we're here? Anything that could be related to our quest?"

"There has been trouble in the forest temple. People have been reporting spider webs covering the tracks and stopping trains from passing through. I'm sorry to ask you to help after being unable to do so myself-"

"We'll take care of it. Don't worry." Spirit cut in, and Time nodded in agreement.

"If there's a problem, we'll always help while our circumstances allow. Since you couldn't help Wild, we'll look for someone in the next Hyrule, and the one after that, until we can break his curse. Until then, we still have our roles as heroes of Hyrule." Time reassured, and Pan smiled.

"Thank you. May spirits guide you." She blessed, and everyone bar Spirit left- the train driver spoke a little more with his Zelda while Twilight and Time left.

"Where'd Wild go?" Time asked, and Twilight realised he'd slipped away and cursed, making Time laugh.

After a quick search (and a five minute chase down the hallways) Twilight had Wild back on track heading towards the train. Wild had somehow acquired some flowers, two swords, and a cool looking rock. Twilight went to look for where the swords belonged, but when he turned back to Wild all his items were gone. Twilight just hoped they had been returned to their rightful place, and took Wild by the shoulders.

"Right, back to the train with you before you try to steal the windows." Time steered Wild back through castletown with Twilight right behind them, and they got onboard the train to find everyone else already finished with their errands.

"She wasn't able to help then?" Warriors frowned, in the middle of a card game with Four and Wind.

"No, unfortunately not." Time shook his head. "We'll keep asking, it seems to be a very unique kind of curse."

The mood of the carriage dropped, the other heroes obviously disappointed that they still weren't able to help their newest member.

"Everyone's onboard." Spirit declared, clearly having finished a headcount. "We're headed to the forest to deal with a problem while we wait for the next shift. Please take a seat and keep all of your limbs inside the carriage." This last sentence Spirit directed at Wild, who had stuck his arm out of the window and was trying to grab a butterfly that was flying by the train.

"Kit, please." Twilight chastised him, pulling him away from the window and into a seat as Spirit shut the door and went to get the train moving again.

Time took a seat next to Wild and Twilight sat across from him. Legend came and sat beside Twilight before anyone else could claim the seat, and was nonplussed by the angry glares from everyone else who wanted to sit at Wild's table.

"I get the feeling that he's going to be just as much of a handful when he gets his memories back." Twilight mumbled, and Time smirked.

"Now you get to know how it feels." Time said without sympathy, and Twilight groaned.

Legend leaned across to look at Wild's eyes, using his magic to feel what was wrong with him. It was like Wild was a cloud- nothing but mist. Legend couldn't glean any information at all. He sat back with a sigh, and Wild looked at him, a worried expression furrowing his eyebrows and turning his mouth downwards.

"I have no idea how we're going to fix this." Legend mumbled, and Twilight felt his heart sink.

"We can try all of the Zeldas- some have greater powers than others, remember? We can also try village elders. The great deku tree might know something." Time's voice was reassuring, but he had one hand wrapped around Wild's wrist to stop him from lighting a campfire on the table. Twilight didn't even know where he had gotten the wood from, it had just appeared. He quickly grabbed it and dumped it on the floor nearby.

"No fires on the train!" Twilight reprimanded, and Wild looked suitably guilty.

"Maybe my great fairy would be able to help? But Cotera wasn't able to, so I'm not sure." Wind frowned, tapping his fingers on the table as he thought.

"We could also try the sacred springs in my Hyrule? They’re known for their healing and sacred properties." Sky suggested.

"I can ask around in my world, my friends have a variety of skills so I'm sure one of them may have an idea." Warriors smiled, obviously confident in his companions.

The others stayed silent. "If it can be cast, it can be broken. We can find something or someone to help us." Four spoke up, his eyes flashing green with determination. The others nodded- no matter how many worlds or people they had to ask, it would be worth it to save one of their own.

They travelled across the land accompanied by the steady rhythm of the train, Spirit occasionally making turns as they travelled to the forest. Sky, despite his best efforts, fell asleep and Wind had to be physically restrained from drawing on his face.

After half an hour, a voice rang through the carriage, disturbing the peace. "We've found the problem! Left side of the train!" Spirit's voice sprang from the metal cone in the corner of the carriage that was used to communicate with the driver's carriage during travel. There were two cones connected by a tube to allow sound to travel back and forth.

At Spirit's warning, the heroes rushed to the left side of the carriage and Twilight grimaced at what he saw. Giant spider webs draped from tree to tree, sparkling threads spun into an intricate web spanning from tree to tree, covering all of the forest they could see.

"Well shit. That is a bit of a problem."

Spirit slowly made the turning into the forest, and had to immediately stop as there were webs blocking the tracks. The train creaked and hissed as it came to a complete stop, and in the quiet that followed the heroes became aware of the unnatural silence that hung around the forest. Spirit opened the door and stepped in.

"The forest is never like this. Nothing that's usually here can make webs of this size, so I think we're dealing with some kind of invader. Any ideas on how to get rid of the webs?" Spirit asked hopefully, and was met with silence.

"Let's see how strong it is first. We may be able to cut our way through." Time suggested. They piled off the train (apart from Sky, who was now snoring lightly) and to the front, where thick webs were stretched between the trees to block the tracks.

Warriors took out his sword and attempted to swipe through the webs. He managed to cut some of them, but had to make several swipes before they could see some of the track had been cleared.

"This is going to take forever. How big is this forest again?" Warriors turned to Spirit, who grimaced.

"Big enough. How else could we do this? Without bombs. Bombs will be too destructive." Spirit glared at Wind, who reluctantly put his bomb bag back away.

Before Twilight could suggest anything, the webs in front of them burst into flames, and the webs burned quickly into dust as the fire spread, before the fire abruptly went out after less than ten seconds.

"What the fuck!" Wind spun around to find Wild with an empty bow in hand. Wild looked fully unperturbed by the fire, but as the entire group turned to stare at the pyromaniac his ears drooped sadly.

"Okay, he clearly was just trying to help." Twilight defended weakly, considering Spirit's eyebrows had almost been fully singed off.

"It was an effective solution, although I would have appreciated a bit of warning." Spirit looked at Wild, and he lowered his head, looking chastised. Legend just laughed, clearly endeared by Wild no matter what he did. Hyrule had his head in his hands. Twilight could relate.

"Right, well if everyone stands back, perhaps we can get someone else to shoot fire arrows at the webs?" Time herded everyone nearer to the front of the train and Wild was left standing on his own. He tilted his head, clearly slightly confused, and Twilight grimaced as he realised Wild had probably forgotten what he was supposed to be doing.

"Kit, come here, where it's safe." Twilight gestured, and Wild scampered forward to join them. Warriors, standing beside Twilight, gave a small chuckle as Wild attached himself to Twilight's side like a barnacle. Twilight ignored him and the embarrassment in his cheeks, giving Wild a once over to make sure he was unhurt. Wild was still holding his bow, and Twilight wondered where he'd gotten it.

"Using fire is risky- this forest is centuries old- but I don't think we have much choice." Spirit sighed. Wind pulled out his fire arrows with a laugh that contained a bit too much glee considering the risks to the forest.

"Please don't burn down the entire forest, Sailor." Hyrule begged, and Wind only gave a grin in response.

"It would be better if we had some sort of fire stick, maybe we could just set a branch on fire? No, that wouldn't be effective. We'd wanted something that can cut and burn at the same time…" Spirit pulled out a notebook to sketch whatever idea was in his head, but Twilight felt Wild stiffen next to him. As Four walked over to help Spirit with his idea, Twilight turned to Wild.

Before he could ask Wild what was wrong, he watched as Wild reached down to the odd thing on his belt, and his bow vanished in a bunch of blue sparks. With a few taps he brought out a sword that ignited itself in a moment, flashing orange with heat.

"Oh damn." Wind's jaw dropped, as Time just looked fondly amused. The others looked similarly stunned, but Twilight ignored them as he noticed Wild's eyes clouding over. The kit shook his head, but the mist in his eyes just grew, his eyelids fluttering. Twilight jumped to catch him, his newly summoned fire sword clattering on the spirit tracks as Wild collapsed.

"Oh shit." Wind swore again, as the group gathered round to see if their newest addition was okay.

Wild was completely unconscious. Twilight handed the sword to Time, before gently scooping up his kit to carry him onto the train. "I think the sword triggered his curse. Maybe he tried to remember something?" Twilight theorised, and Time nodded.

"I think so, it seems using his skills triggers it as well. Maybe remembering whatever this sword is was too much. Hyrule, help Twilight with Wild. Legend, with me. Spirit, you get back to driving. Take her forward slowly as we move ahead. Everyone else, onboard." Time ordered, taking the sword from the ground and walking forward to the webs. Everyone else followed the plan, Twilight all too happy to get Hyrule's help in looking after Wild. Wind, Warriors, and Four followed Twilight as he and Hyrule carried Wild back onto the train and got him lying down on the floor near the back of the carriage. Sky was still snoring softly on one of the seats, and Twilight wasn't sure how he'd managed to sleep through the train stopping so suddenly, but he was glad the hero was getting some rest. Hyrule started his various medical checks on Wild as Twilight sat and worried. Wild was pale, and when Hyrule pulled open his eyes they were clouded over.

'What if the curse gets worse?' Twilight couldn't help but think. 'We need to break it before this gets worse. He can't help fight in this condition, and if we were to get caught in an ambush he could get seriously hurt…' Twilight bit his lip, worrying about everything that could go wrong, but unwilling to voice his negativity out loud.

The train slowly started to move forward, and Twilight and Hyrule sat either side of Wild, watching over him. It would be a long journey through the forest.

Chapter Text

Time wasn't used to wielding one-handed swords these days, but the techniques came back to him quickly as he moved forward.

The sword glowed bright when it was charged, but after a few swipes it went dull and needed time to build its power back up before it grew bright and could produce fire again. With Legend using his fire rod- VERY sparingly, at both Time and Spirit's behest- to help burn the webs in their way, they were making good progress.

After a few meters of cutting through the thick webbing across the tracks, they broke through to the other side of the web wall. They made sure the webs wouldn't pose a problem and got back on the train, Spirit going forward slowly in case they ran into more webs. Time and Legend stood in the driver's cart with him, looking out into the trees for any trouble.

"He's running out of time." Legend commented, and Time didn't have to ask who he was talking about. Neither of them moved from their positions watching the forest.

"I know. We'll help him. No matter what." Time hoped that the goddess would show some mercy this once. Just once. Surely she wouldn't give them another hero just to let him die? Some part of Time's brain whispered she would, just to show them how easily they could fall. Time wished, not for the first or last time, that he could talk to Hylia to figure out what she was thinking. Did she even care?

Time forcefully stopped his spiral and shoved his thoughts into a box to be sorted later. He had to focus on the situation at hand.

"We're headed for the forest temple at the centre of the forest. The source of the problem might be there." Spirit took yet another turn that Time didn't understand- Spirit had been turning so often that he was pretty disoriented at this point. The forest reminded him of his birthplace, oddly enough. Except with way more webs.

Spirit let out a sound of surprise, and Time turned to see a dark shadow on the tracks ahead. He expected Spirit to slow down and they would see what it was, but instead Spirit switched up a gear to go faster.

"Uh, Spirit? Are you sure-" Legend start to question him, but Spirit just let out an annoyed huff.

"Don't underestimate my train." He practically growled, an unusual sound for the train engineer, and Time and Legend could do nothing but watch as Spirit increased the speed even further until WHACK.

"Well. It's no longer on the tracks, whatever it was." Legend frowned, looking backwards out the window.

Time sighed. "Spirit, take it easy. Safety is prioritised over speed." Spirit nodded, looking a little sullen. "Still, it was a good move." Spirit brightened at that, and Time was viciously reminded that Spirit was in fact the youngest hero of the group. He needed a little more praise and reassurance. Time should spend some time with him soon to see what project he's working on now- as long as it isn't another punching machine, Time's sure they'll have fun together.

Spirit slowed them down as they approached a stone structure, the entire thing covered in webs. The train slowed to a stop next to the platform, and Time looked around. It was unsettling that they still hadn't found whatever was making these webs, and Time was feeling more unnerved as they got to the temple.

Legend sent out a couple of fireballs along the stone platform, burning the sticky webs coating the ground. Spirit jumped out and looked like he was going to walk over to the front entrance, when some weird slime dripped onto his hair. Legend froze, and Time was already running as Spirit looked up to see whatever had dripped on him. Time tackled the train engineer out of the way, as a giant spider crashed into the ground where Spirit had been not two seconds earlier.

"Fucking spider!" Legend tried to set the spider on fire with his fire rod immediately, as Time raised his fire sword from Wild to mount a defence. He wasn't sure if these spiders would be as flammable as their webs, but it was better than wasting precious second drawing his sword.

Legend's fireballs bounced off the spider's back shell, which oddly looked like a skull. The spider, taking no notice of Legend, immediately lunged at Time, who had to go on the defensive as Spirit unsheathed his sword and got his shield out.

Time managed to parry and then slice off a leg, the spider screeching as the wound was cauterised instantly, and the slice managed to set fire to the spider as well.

It retreated before shaking its body to put out the flames. Another shriek, and Time and Spirit found themselves surrounded by spiders as more of them dropped down from the roof.

"Well fuck." Time mumbled under his breath, glad Wind was still in the train car so he wouldn't complain about his hypocrisy. Adults were allowed to swear! Time was allowed to swear when fighting five bloody giant spiders, Wind was not allowed to swear when the sweet shop doesn't have his favourites in stock. There was a difference!

Time and Spirit went back to back, trying to defend as the spiders surrounded them. The others managed to come out of the train, but the spiders were invulnerable from behind, easily deflecting any attacks as they concentrated their attacks on Time and Spirit. Twilight went on bow duty, attempting to fire on the spiders as Warriors directed everyone else to surround the spiders and look for opportunities to attack.

Time could see Twilight through the open window of the train as yet another arrow bounced off the spider's hard shells. He had a desperate expression, loading another arrow and taking aim. Time then noticed Wild coming up beside him, and taking aim himself. The arrow was odd, a blue one. Ice, perhaps? Time was distracted as one of the spiders reared up to attack again, but all of a sudden it froze solid. Time watched as Wild loaded up another arrow, the same odd bright blue head on the arrow. He fired and it hit one of the spiders on its back. Despite that, ice spread from where it hit, spreading over the spider and freezing the monster solid in a few seconds. Nice.

Time and Spirit had considerably less to keep an eye on now, thankfully, but Time saw Wild struggle to pull back on a third arrow, before Twilight took it from him and fired in his place, freezing a third spider. Twilight then turned to help Wild, and then Time was swept back into the fight and couldn't afford to pay attention to them anymore.

Time took one of the spiders and Spirit took the other. He thrust, slashed and pushed the spider back, barely doing any damage to the spider but managing to push the spider back and out of the circle the monsters had formed around him and Spirit. As he wielded the fire sword he saw water form on the nearest spider. He quickly pushed against the unfrozen spider, trying to get it well away from the other spiders. Warriors flanked the spider, distracting it from the side as Time tossed the fire sword far away from the frozen spiders so it wouldn't melt them quicker. They needed as much time as possible to form a strategy.

Sky came to the other side from Warriors, and managed to swipe up with his sword, sending the spider swiftly onto its back. Sky leapt, stabbing the monster through a purple organ on its underside. It turned to dust instantly, and Warriors quickly cast his gaze back towards the others.

Time unsheathed his sword and turned to find Four with some odd rod out and the other spider on its back already. Hyrule leapt and stabbed it in the same spot, killing the monster.

Time looked around but none of the other spiders seemed to immediately be in danger of breaking the ice.

"Is everyone okay? Anyone with major injuries on the train now. Flipping them over seems to be the key to revealing their weak spot." Time looked around, but couldn't see anything worse than Spirit's scratch to his side. "Hyrule, take Spirit onboard. Everyone else, pair up against the spiders. Wind, with me. Legend, with Sky. Warriors, with Four." Hyrule practically picked Spirit up and took him onto the train to patch him up. The others scrambled to flank different spiders, as the ice covering them started to crack. Time felt better with his biggoron sword in hand, and took a large upwards arc before the spider got the chance to attack, breaking the ice and sending the spider up onto its back in one move. Wind had to take a running start before he leapt, pointing his hourglass sword down and burying it in the belly of the monster, turning it to dust easily.

Two similar deaths later and the entrance to the temple was now free of spiders. Time checked that everyone was okay, ushering them all back onto the train to regroup and bandage their wounds. He looked around the platform but couldn't see any more spiders approaching, so he climbed up onto the train as well.

"Those were skulltulas, they're from my Hyrule. Their upper half is invulnerable to attack, but as we've just experienced they're fairly easy to flip and stab." Sky explained, his bedhead barely ruffled by the battle. He had an impressive cowlick up the side of his head from where he was leaning against the train seat for his nap earlier, and judging by the barely restrained giggles no one was planning to inform him.

"Do you think there's more in the temple? Five doesn't feel like enough spiders to cover this whole place in webs." Warriors asked, having a cut on his face cleaned by Hyrule.

"Depends how long they've been here." Sky shrugged, clearly unsure.

"Spirit, how long would it take to search the temple?" Time looked to the train engineer, who had already been given a potion to fix up his side.

"It depends, maybe a couple of hours? I should have already solved most of the puzzles and unlocked the doors, but we'll need to traverse every room anyway to make sure we're thorough." Spirit went to the front of the passenger carriage, and pulled out a drawer. He sifted through the papers until he pulled out a map, laying it on one of the tables.

Warriors stepped forward, his eyes scanning over the map as he analysed the entrances and potential blind points when travelling through the temple; Time was glad to have Warriors in the group for this sort of thing. He had more of a mind for strategy for fighting as a group, while everyone else was used to fighting alone. As Warriors started to form a plan, Time turned to the others.

“Hyrule, I’d like if you could stay here with Wild to keep an eye on him I’d be grateful. Everyone else, we’re going into the temple to get rid of any other spiders there might be. Spirit, how long might it take to search the entire temple?”

“With an unknown number of battles? It’s hard to say. We could set an ETA of 3 hours to the centre of the temple, that’s quite a bit longer than it will take to search the whole area but we are expecting more fights.” Spirit organised himself for exploring the temple, leaving his travelling gear in the train. The others followed suit, and Time made sure everyone was ready and okay before they left.

Just as Time was about to follow everyone out the door, he looked over to Hyrule. “Don’t do anything stupid, Hyrule. Keep yourself and Wild safe first and foremost, okay?”

Hyrule nodded, but Time still felt the worry sit heavy in his gut. Still, he joined the others and followed Spirit and Warriors into the temple. He saw Twilight glance back several times, and elbowed him. “C’mon. Hyrule will look after him.”

Twilight looked over, slightly startled, before sagging. “I know. But still…”

Twilight didn’t elaborate, and Time didn’t need him to. They could all feel that Wild would only get worse- they had to find a cure. And fast.

Chapter Text

Wild stays half lucid for a while, before slowly coming back to himself, the white fog fading from his eyes and his movements becoming more intentional and coordinated. Hyrule barely let himself look away from Wild, only looking around to double check more spiders hadn’t come before looking back to make sure the new hero hadn’t deteriorated while he wasn’t looking.

When Wild was finally a bit more awake, he sat up with a start and looked around for everyone else. He whined and pulled on Hyrule’s sleeve, and Hyrule wondered if this was a Fox thing or just a Wild thing. Either way Hyrule would’ve given Wild anything he wanted when he was giving him those big baby fairy eyes.

“it’s okay, they’re getting rid of the spiders in the temple, they’ll be back soon.”

Wild stood up and headed towards the door, and Hyrule had to wrestle him away. “No, you’re not going after them! Don’t you dare! We’re supposed to sit here and wait for them to come back. I know you want to help them, I do too, but the best thing to do is stay here and stay safe. Okay?”

Wild’s ears drooped, and he slumped, but he nodded in agreement. Hyrule led him back to his seat, and sat in the aisle seat to make sure he didn’t make a run for it.

“I understand you’re feeling… anxious.” Hyrule started, Wild’s ears perking up as he paid attention. “You must understand that we’re all heroes, connected in some way. Maybe you have an instinct for it. But it’s clear that whatever curse is on you, it’s not good. You can’t use your skills, you can’t talk, and I don’t think you remember anything.” Hyrule stared at Wild, considering it. “You don’t remember. You can’t tell us anything. And everytime you try to help us with your weapons, your curse activates. Maybe trying to fight means you try to remember, and your curse activates that way, or maybe you can’t fight either.”

Wild’s nose twitched, but he paid attention, seemingly understanding that Hyrule needed to talk through this. “You’ve saved us so many times. Helped us. We will help you in return, I swear. Even if you hadn’t helped us, you are one of us. We will break this curse on you, and help you recover. And then we’ll explain what’s going on. We can finally get to know you properly. That would be nice.” Hyrule smiles, suppressing his fear and temptation to cry.

There was quiet, as Wild fiddled with a loose thread on his trousers. Hyrule took a breath.

“I’ve got fae blood.” Wild looked up at the statement, and Hyrule knew this wouldn’t mean much to him, but Hyrule wanted to tell the others, and this almost felt like practice. “I can heal people, a little. I healed you, when you got hurt as a fox.”

Wild tilted his head to the side. “Of course,” Hyrule wanted to sob. “You don’t remember, do you?” He sighed. “I healed you, with fae magic. No one else knows, not yet. I think I want to tell them, but I’m afraid. I’m not sure how they’ll react, but I trust them. So, keep my secret, yeah?” Hyrule smiled at Wild, and he smiled back. Hyrule shuffled forward and finally took a good look at Wild with his powers.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Wild was just full of oblivion. Hyrule tried poking around but the fog absorbed all attempts to disperse it without looking any worse for wear. At least Wild was fine physically, as much as it seemed like a small hollow victory.

Hyrule slumped. He can’t help Wild, he can’t help the others, all he can do is sit there and wait for them to finish and come back. “This is awful.” He mumbled, more to himself than anything. Still, Wild shuffled closer to him and pulled him down to lean on him, arranging them so Hyrule could be comfy. “Thanks.” He managed, settling in to wait with Wild. At least he seemed okay for now. Time passed, but Wild stayed right by Hyrule, and Hyrule realised he’s probably trying to comfort him. The attempt is endearing. Hyrule is also slightly glad he’s not trying to run after the others. Maybe he’s already forgotten that they left. Hylia-damned curse.

An hour later, Hyrule feels the portal open outside, and Wild stiffens in the seat beside him. That probably meant that the others had been successful, and that the spiders were the only problem to deal with in this world. For now at least.

“It’s odd that the portal opened so quickly. Made we’re needed quickly somewhere?” Hyrule voiced, and Wild shrugged, obviously not having much experience, and probably not able to remember what he had experienced due to his curse.

“We should get everything ready to go, make sure nothing is left behind. The others will make their way back here quickly.” Hyrule decided, as he gathered items and bags and got everything outside and ready to grab by the others. Wild trotted after him, helping to carry as much as he could.

Within minutes the rest of the chain returned, running and grabbing their respective bags to line up at the portal. Spirit went to his train immediately, tinkering with something near the front. Hyrule saw him close up the front, making sure that the train could still travel where it wanted when they were gone. Spirit had explained that it liked to travel by itself sometimes. Time wandered over as everyone else prepared in the background.

“Sorry you didn’t get to say goodbye to your Zelda, Spirit.” Time walked over to comfort him, but stopped short at the scene.

“I will give you a great run along the sea tracks, and I’ll clean your gears, oil the hinges, polish everything, I swear. I’m so sorry I don’t have more time…” Spirit mumbled to the spirit train, patting the wooden door, and Time quickly decided he didn’t need any comfort from him, turning around and heading back to the others.

“...Did he just kiss his train?” Legend asked, staring in bewilderment at the young engineer, and Hyrule quickly pulled him away from the strange scene and towards the portal.

The heroes got into their assigned groups to go through. Wild went last with Twilight, Sky and Time. Time had to drag Spirit away from his train and towards the portal with Legend and Warriors. “Goodbye!” Spirit cried, waving emotionally at the train. Everyone else rolled their eyes and Legend pushed Spirit headfirst into the swirling vortex, following behind quickly.

Hyrule braced himself. He knew that without knowing more about what Wild was cursed with, it was hard to judge how bad he was getting. Still, it was easy to see he was getting worse. His 'episodes' were happening quicker, and he was taking longer to recover from them. They needed answers.

In this world, they would find a cure for Wild. They had to.

Chapter Text

The moment Sky was falling through the air, he knew he was home before he even hit the water. He let himself sink, not bothering to thrash but holding his breath, rising back up to the surface in a few moments. He broke the surface and took a breath, quickly looking around to check on his companions.

There was no time to celebrate the fact they had landed in Skyloft, since they had somehow managed to land in the small lake of all places. Hylia sure had a sense of humour. Legend, Spirit and Warriors were already on the shore a short swim away, explaining themselves to a couple of bewildered looking knights. Wind wasn’t even trying to get to shore, having a grand time swimming around, while Hyrule was helping Four into the shallows. Time was already struggling with his heavy armour, heading directly for dry land. Twilight and Wild landed beside Sky, and Sky looked up to see the vortex vanish into thin air, having appeared a few metres above the water’s surface.

Twilight was calm as he burst from the water, but Wild was like an animal, immediately panicking and clinging onto Twilight, refusing to let his head near the water. “Woah, hey, kit calm down!” Twilight struggled to keep them both afloat with Wild doing none of the work, and Sky helped support Wild from the other side, kicking hard to help keep Wild above water. “Just breathe kit, it’s okay we’ve got you.” Twilight soothed, able to keep Wild up with Sky’s help.

Wild took a few moments to pant, looking at them both before relaxing and starting to swim himself. He kept his head well above water at all times, seemingly anxious if the water even lapped his chin. Twilight and Sky escorted him to shore, where everyone else was distracted with the sight of Time having to drain his armour of water, and pouring water out of his boots.

“I’m surprised you haven’t lowered the water level with how much you’ve taken out, old man.” Legend teased, as time loosened one of his leg straps and somehow released water that had pooled in the piece of plate.

Time just grunted, finding even more water in his gauntlets.

“Greetings! We’re back for another visit from our quest!” Sky waved to the guards, who looked very relieved to see a more familiar face. “Could you please send word to Zelda and Gaepora?” Sky requested, and one of them immediately rushed off.

“We should have space in the academy to house everyone for the night. We’ve had quite the day, and even though it’s afternoon here I believe some rest is in order.” Sky looked to Time hopefully, who nodded.

“I agree. Is anyone injured or otherwise in need of attention?” Time asked, looking intently at each of his wards for any signs of discomfort or pain. No one came forward, although there had been several cases in the past of people hiding injuries, so Time didn’t really trust them unfortunately. “We’ll clean up and get dry at the academy, and see about getting some food. Sky, could you lead the way? We can catch up with your Zelda when she comes.” Time reassured, and Sky nodded gratefully. It had been too long since he had seen his Zelda.

The group trudged along to the academy, garnering many weird looks since they were still soaking wet.

“Take a dip, did’ja, Link?” Groose came up to Sky, pulling off his hat and ruffling his hair as he put him in a headlock. “You can’t be gettin’ colds when you’re off on hero business, sleepyhead!” Groose laughs good-heartedly. “Heading to the academy to dry off?” He nodded in greeting to the rest of the group, and Sky noted that Legend looked ready to fight Groose if he laid hands on Sky again. He gave Legend a subtle shake of his head, before turning back to Groose.

“We are! Is my room still…?” Sky asked, and Groose nodded.

“Of course of course! The new building work on the surface is still ongoing but the academy is still in use and you know your room will always be kept clean and ready for you. Come on now, before you all end up snivelling for days!” Groose waved them to follow and practically dragged Sky towards the academy faster than they were walking before.

Groose greeted everyone they walked by with the same graceless yet well-meaning demeanor, effectively escorting Sky and the heroes straight to the dorms at top speed. He deposited Sky right in front of the fire and quickly organised for baths and rooms made up for the heroes, as well as pumpkin soup for dinner. Twilight had to lead Wild to the baths, and Sky pitied whatever he was going to have to go through to get Wild clean. Sky doubted it would be easy.

By the time Zelda, nicknamed Sun by the chain, and her father, Gaepora, arrived, the heroes were well on their way to the long sleep they deeply desired. With the Guardian attack, then meeting Wild, then travelling, then defeating the spiders, then getting dumped in a lake, they were truly worn out. Sky still found the energy to approach Zelda and received a hug for his efforts, finally feeling truly soothed in the arms of his lover.

“Link. How are you?” Zelda asked, her voice like honey to his ears.

“I’m fine. Tired.” Sky replied truthfully. “You?”

Zelda smiled. “Good. Construction is going well.” She spoke quietly, as if to maintain the sleepy air that had fallen over the group as they got ready for rest.

“Good, I’m glad.” Sky smiled back, and they delighted in each other’s company.

“We will talk more tomorrow.” Gaepora rested his hand on Sky’s back. “As always, feel free to ask if you need anything. Although,” He chuckled. “It looks like Groose has already sorted everything.”

Sky looked over to his childhood bully, and smiled as he teased Wind and responded to his stories with his own tale of heroics. Wind seemed especially endeared by the talk of cannons, and they looked to be getting along like a house on fire.

Gaepora took his leave and Zelda had dinner with him at the table as they talked and shared everything that had happened in their lives since they last met. The rest of the chain went to bed when they were ready, Time only going after he had dried and polished his armour to prevent rust. Sky also saw a bedraggled Twilight following Wild out of the baths. As least they looked clean and dry, although Wild seemed to be wearing a random cloak he had undoubtedly stolen, along with a large white shirt, probably also stolen. Sky would make sure the owners were compensated later he promised himself, before turning his attention back to his precious Zelda.

They talked through the night and slept in Zelda’s room since Sky’s had been overtaken by the other Links (there weren’t actually that many rooms occupied in the academy anymore, not since they’d started moving back to the surface).

In the morning there was the usual amount of chaos as 10 heroes of Legend attempted to get breakfast. While everyone wrestled over fried eggs and rice, Twilight took Wild to a quiet corner. Sun took a look at Wild as Twilight and Sky hovered nearby like anxious parents. Her golden power flowed over Wild, before she sat back. She looked over at Sky and shook her head, and the whole room visibly slumped in despair. “The springs-”

“We know. We’re travelling to them today.” Sky kissed her forehead, reassuring her that he knows she did all she could.

Twilight ruffled Wild’s hair and dragged him to the table to eat, as Sky savoured his last moments with his Zelda. “I’ve missed you.” He murmured, and Zelda smiled.

“I’ve missed you too, sleepyhead. But I know you’ll always come back to me.” There was a crash in the background that they both pointedly ignored, sitting down to have a peaceful breakfast together. Well, as peaceful as could be with Legend yelling in the background about mushrooms.

The rest of the chain seemed to conspire to give Sky as much time with his Zelda as possible. “Don’t worry about your bag, I’ll get it. Go have fun with Sun.” Time pushed him out the door, and Sky didn’t argue. “Here, we got more potions.” Wind pushed one into his hands and ran off before Sky could even thank him. He tried to talk to the knights to organise travel down but Legend just glared at him until Sky backed off. Sun laughed at them all, enjoying having the chain around.

Since Sky had been stopped from doing anything else, Zelda told him more about her work as they wandered Skyloft. Zelda had been helping the citizens of Skyloft move to the surface, and she explained more about their recent progress with refurbishing the temple of time to be used as a proper place of worship once more. They were expanding the building, and even trying to build a new statues of the goddess around the regions. They were also having to clear trees to create room for the new surface settlement, currently only known as kakwiro village, named after the kikwi people nearby. The biggest goddess statue of Skyloft, that had fallen down to the surface after fighting Demise, had been risen again due to the chain's quest and the powers that were working against them. There was no imminent threat from the pit, but since it wasn't currently blocked by the statue it was watched constantly in case something stirred.

When the chain were waiting near the plaza, Zelda had to gently push Sky into joining them, giving him a chiding look as he sheepishly started towards his friends. “I’ll be back soon!” He called to her, running backwards as she waved to him.

“You better.” She laughs, and her blinding smile brought joy to Sky’s heart.

Sky joined the chain at the plaza, where they’re organising how to get down to the surface to try find the healing waters of the spring. Sky knows exactly where they should land to get as close to the temple as possible, and the knights that are giving the rest of the links a lift seem happy to drop them off outside the temple.

Sky, practically bursting at the seams with excitement at the impending reunion, whistles sharply and with a sharp cry Crimson bursts from nearby cloud cover and shoots straight for the plaza, barrelling Sky over, nosing at him and crooning embarrassingly loudly.

“Crimson! No! No licking!” Sky giggles when Crimson nudges against a tickily spot and is helpless under the birds ministrations. “Help!” He finally calls out, as Crimson is sitting on him now and definitely not going to move anytime soon.

“Erm, Sky, we’re not sure how to handle a rogue loftwing…” Hyrule tells him, looking at the self-satisfied bird. The other knights held up their hands as if to say ‘not my loftwing, not my problem’.

Wild was fascinated by the giant bird, petting its scarlet feathers with wonder. Crimson preened under the attention, but refused to let Sky get up.

“Look, Crimson.” Sky started, spitting out some red feathers so he could breathe. “We really need to get to the spring to help Wild out, alright? I know you missed me, but we’ve got to get going. Please?” He looked up to Crimson pleadingly, and Crimson huffed in a very put-out manner before finally standing up and allowing Sky to do the same.

Sky vaulted up to sit in the saddle and held a hand out to Wild to help him sit behind. The other knights took their passengers aboard and without further ado they were off.

Wild clung to Sky to start with, but all too soon he was leaning halfway across the saddle to point at interesting things or waving to the other Links. Sky was afraid he’d fall off, but Wild seemed to have no fear as he lurched about the saddle investigating everything that caught his eye.

When they flew below the cloud cover, aiming for the temple housing the sacred spring, Wild gasped loudly behind Sky.

“Are you okay?” Sky asked, turning to see Wild gaping at the world. Wild looked back at him and grinned, clearly ecstatic, before turning his gaze back to the world spread out before them. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Sky laughed, before guiding Crimson over to the temple.

The loftwings refused to stay near the ground for any period of time, simply dropping off or picking up, before soaring back to their home in the sky. Crimson was used to not stopping at all, simply letting Sky jump and quickly flapping back up to the sky where he belonged. Sky was ready to ask Crimson to land for a change to make sure Wild could get down safely as they circled over the temple, when he felt Wild’s weight from behind him disappear.

“Wild!” He screeched, feeling like he was watching his child about to grab a log on the fireplace. Before he could turn Crimson to dive and catch Wild before he ended up a Hylian pancake, Wild had brought out an odd fabric contraption and was floating down to the ground while holding it. He was even able to steer, leaning left and right to take a closer look at anything that took his fancy.

Sky, taking a deep breath to steady himself, thanked Crimson before leaning all the way left and letting himself slip out of the saddle too. He brought out his sailcloth and let it catch the wind, flying after Wild and realising they had very similar items, although his had a wooden frame.

Wild landed near the front of the temple and raced to meet the others as they were dropped off by the knights. Sky saw Twilight run up and quickly berate him for his antics, always very worried over his kit’s lack of self-preservation. Time just laughed.

The chain waved goodbye to the knights, before entering the temple. Sky had cleared it of monsters long ago and there seemed to be no recent activity, so it was an easy journey from the entrance to the spring. Although, Wild had insisted on using his own fabric contraption to cross the canyon instead of balancing on the rope- he had lost some altitude but simply climbed up the other side despite it being quite a sheer rock face. Even Legend had been impressed, although he would never admit it.

As they walked up to the goddess statue in the sacred spring, Sky desperately tried not to fall into memories of Fi. She could no longer talk to him that often- the brief moments after she met a new hero she seemed to be awake enough to speak only for a short while. He missed her company dearly. He could practically hear her singing again, being here in this old temple.

The memories were quickly disturbed as Wild and Wind raced through the water, splashing each other and messing around in the sacred water of the goddess. Sky laughed at the absurdity of it. He imagined the goddess smiling on them, her beloved heroes. He hoped she was.

With Twilight’s helped they coaxed Wild to sit in the spring water, right in front of the statue, but could not get him to fully submerge himself. He outright refused any attempt to get his head under the water, and while they didn’t understand why they didn’t push him. They didn’t want to force him to do anything.

“Right, this isn’t helping either. Any other ideas? Should we try the other springs?” Twilight asked Sky, who frowned. And then had a moment of realisation. And then a deep sense of forboding.

“Actually, there may be someone we can ask.” Sky ventured, already dreading this encounter.

“Who?” Time questioned, as the chain gathered round, Wild still sitting in the water. He was sifting through the silt at the bottom of the spring.

“Her name is Faron, she lives in Lake Floria, I helped her before so she may help us with this. I’m pretty sure she’s quite old, so she might know more. We can also ask the kokiri elder, although I don’t think he can help us.” Sky mused, remembering that he was well-meaning but a bit of a bumbling fellow.

Time nodded. “Alright. Lead on, Sky.”

The chain followed as Sky led them though the forest. It was a bit of a trek, but the forest was lovely and peaceful to walk though at least. They helped each other up the giant log that acted as a shortcut to Lake Floria, and Sky pointed out the entrance to the ancient cistern and described his journey into its depths. They then went through a tunnel, that soon opened up into a underground cavern with a stone platform in the middle. There was a giant pot set off to the side, that Sky remembered from his adventure. And there, in the centre, was Faron, lounging with several of her advisors and talking quietly.

Sky slipped into the water without hesitation, swimming towards the dragon. Surely she could give them some advice on how to solved this curse?

Chapter Text

Warriors was surprised that Faron turned out to be, well. A dragon. Sky had mentioned her so casually so Warriors has been expecting a Hylian or Shekiah. Not, y’know, a deity. As Sky slipped into the water and swam across to the island, the others left their stuff near the entrance and followed him. Twilight was gently coaxing Wild into the water, promising it would be the last time today, while Wind was happily already diving in and looking like he was back in his element.

As Twilight gave him a nod, Warriors left him to it and followed Legend and Hyrule as they swam across and clambered up onto the stone platform to talk to the dragon. She was already talking to Sky, and didn’t seem irate, which Warriors counted as a win. She did seem to be a busy dragon after all.

“So, we were just hoping you could take a look and see if you knew more than anyone else we have already spoken to. We know it’s a curse, something called Fog, but we don’t know how exactly it works, or how to break it.”

Faron hummed. “I see. Well. I suppose you have already proven yourself to me. But, I hate doing favours without something in return.” She sighed, and Warriors pushed down his irritation- he was trained as a soldier, soldiers didn’t show their displeasure with superiors or visiting dignitaries. He saw Legend roll his eyes and Hyrule elbow him in the side quickly.

“Is there anything we can do to pay for this favour? We are all skilled warriors and heroes, and are willing to do many things to ensure our comrade’s safety.” Sky bargained, and Faron looked contemplative.

“We will see, I suppose.” She mused, and Warriors set his jaw and swallowed his remarks. Calm. Dignified. A good soldier does not insult assests. Faron can help break the curse, therefore she is an assest, albeit an annoying one.

“There, that wasn’t so bad now was it?” Twilight helped Wild scramble up onto the platform, and he immediately started looking around with interest, investigating the platform.

“This is the one who has been cursed?” Faron asked, peering down at Wild as Twilight climbed up after him.

“Yes, that’s him.” Sky confirmed, clearly upset. He wore his concern plainly on his face- Warriors quite liked it. It was refreshing, even after all this time travelling together, how different the other heroes were from his world of politics.

Faron leaned closer, investigating Wild and he looked up at her with cloudy eyes. She sniffed. Her eyes opened wide, and she reared back in surprise.

“Cursed, you say?” She snarled, turning to Sky, who held his hands up in a gesture of peace.

“That is what we were told! Why, do you think otherwise?” Sky asked, his brows furrowing together in confusion.

“This is no mere curse, this is an abomination! A truly twisted joke! I will fix this, for I cannot rest when such a thing exists!”

Faron sucked in a gigantic breath, and it was like time stopped for a moment. Warriors could see Sky’s face morph into one of panic, as Four tried to go for his sword. Time was clearly going to try to push Wild out of the way even though he would never reach him in time, while Twilight pushed forward with a yell. Hyrule, Spirit, and Wind were wide-eyed with shock, confused as to what was even happening, and Legend’s face had twisted into a hateful snarl, directed at Faron.

Then time itself snapped into place and Faron unleashed her fire at Wild, who stood stock still and confused even as the fire enveloped him from head to toe.

“What are you doing?!”

“Stop it! Hylians aren’t fireproof!”

“I’ll kill you for this!” Legend snarled, more animal than hylian, and Warriors was ready to help him all the way, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Faron blew her fire for a solid five seconds before leaning back, and regarding them all with a withering stare. Warriors was terrified of what he’d see, but still looked over, just in time to see Wild, fully unharmed, crumple to the ground. Twilight rushed forward to catch him at the last minute, and the shocked chain watched as Wild slumped in Twilight’s arms.

Then, after barely a moment, white goop trickled down from Wild’s nose. Warriors thought it was blood, or snot, but it was too white, and… goopy. More and more poured out of him all of a sudden before the last of it left him, slipping out of his nose to form a small white… chuchu?

It grew eyes and started to slowly inch away towards safety. It crawled along the ground, its eyes darting about as it fled. With a solid STOMP Time smashed it into paste, and it died in a puff of smoke. Warriors was flabbergasted, then his feelings quickly morphed into revulsion. That was truly a monster, if it had been inside Wild’s brain this whole time...

“Did anyone else just witness that?” Hyrule asked, looking thoroughly flummoxed.

“Was that… a chuchu?” Spirit gagged, staggering away from where the fog chuchu had been sitting moments before.

“I am never going to be able to unsee that.” Legend sounded hoarse, and thoroughly disgusted.

“But you’ve fixed him, right?! That was the fog?” Twilight looked up at Faron, who was looking more and more unimpressed with the scene of nine heroes who were horrified by a frankly tiny chuchu.

“Yes, that was the so-called curse of fog. That was a monster, but an unusual one not born of Ganon. So weak it’s able to go undetected, but even a slug could eat through your small brains if so inclined.”

Warriors desperately tried to erase that image from his mind.

Twilight stood, Wild still held in his arms, and bowed deeply to Faron. “Thank you for your help. Please let us know if there’s anything we can do in return, but for now we should get him home to rest.” And with that Twilight headed back to the entrance, carrying Wild safely above the water.

Warriors was glad Twilight had Wild as his priority. Sky was looking nervous as he regarded Faron- they would have to ensure she wasn’t mad at the brusque treatment.

“We truly are grateful, have you encountered a creature like that before?” Sky asked, and Faron turned to him, thankfully ignoring Twilight’s hasty exit.

“No, like I said it’s a monster not born of Ganon. Very few have been made over the years, which is why none of your friends could help, or even understand what they were looking at. It was an abomination, plain and simple. Go. Make sure your companion is alright. I will simply say you owe me, and call upon you when I can make use of you.” Faron dismissed Sky with a flick of her tail, and he made a hasty bow before following everyone else to beat a speedy retreat.

Warriors still felt Faron had been, well, brash. Setting someone on fire without warning or without consideration was ridiculous, and she hadn’t been concerned for Wild at all, only for destroying whatever that chuchu was. Still, he bowed before following everyone else, taking up the rear to ensure no one or anything got left behind. He could see up ahead as Sky called for Crimson and got Wild handed to him by a clearly upset Twilight. Sky made sure Wild was secure before taking off, Crimson quickly becoming a red blur shooting off towards Skyloft. Warriors could see other sky knights coming towards them, the grounded heroes obviously needing help to get back up to the floating island.

Warriors watched as Time put a hand onto Twilight’s back, reassuring him with quiet words. He looked back up towards the sky, where Crimson wasn’t even visible anymore.

If When Wild woke up, they would be there for him. And if Faron had done any damage?

Warriors would be back, and he would have no intentions of being courteous.

Chapter Text

Wind and Hyrule were playing cards.

To start with, Wind had watched Wild’s every breath like if he blinked Wild would stop. He sat in the little stool beside Sky’s bed (it was the best place for Wild to rest) and leant against the frame to watch his chest rise and fall. Hyrule had eventually coaxed him away from his vigil and down to the floor where they could keep an eye on Wild but also take advantage of the flat floor to set up the cards and play a game to help pass the time. Wind knew it was Hyrule’s tactic to keep him occupied, make sure he didn’t worry obsessively over Wild. Wind knew, but he played along anyway, darting glances to Wild every time he was waiting for Hyrule to play.

Wild had been unconscious ever since the dragon had seemingly cleansed him of the white chuchu. Wind was glad it had been squashed quickly- It reminded him too much of the monster that had possessed Linebeck, albeit a lot smaller. Once they got back to Skyloft, Twilight had spent over an entire day at Wild’s bedside before Time had dragged him away to see the sun for at least five minutes. Time had assigned Hyrule and Wind to look after Wild in the meantime. There wasn’t much space in Sky’s room so the others were milling around outside, in the kitchen or getting supplies in the market.

Wind was so happy when Fox had followed them through to Twilight’s hyrule. And then the spirit had warned them, and everyone had been so cautious of the little creature. And then those terrifying monsters had attacked and Fox had transformed into a Hylian before their very eyes. And then they had dropped into Spirit’s hyrule and found that Wild still wasn’t okay, and they needed to find a cure. And then they had led him to a dragon who had set him on fire.

Needless to say, Wind wasn’t feeling great about everything. But he refused to leave until he was able to see Wild awake and okay. He needed to see him awake.

He and Hyrule played in silence, and Wind was unable to figure out what Hyrule was thinking, too busy keeping his own anxiety at bay. He didn’t want to break this quiet, like their fears didn’t exist as long as they didn’t voice them. The pile of cards inbetween them grew larger, and Wind wasn't even sure what game they were trying to play. Hard to concentrate on anything when all his thoughts were with Wild.

A small groan. The moment Wind heard it his cards were abandoned to flutter to the floor as he scrambled over to the bed to watch as Wild’s eyebrows creased together, and he made another noise of complaint as he slowly came to.

“Wild? Can you hear us? Are you okay?” Wind asked, being quiet in case Wild had a headache. He did have a chuchu in his brain for some time.

“Wind, don’t crowd him, let him gather himself, yeah?” Hyrule gently tugged him back.

Wind reluctantly took a small step back as Hyrule came to stand beside him. “Twilight is gonna be so pissed he missed this.” Wind remarked, and Hyrule huffed, which was as close to laughter as he would get considering Wild was still hurt.

Wild opened his eyes slowly, blinking awake before turning to look over at them. Wind was practically vibrating beside Hyrule, clutching the blanket draped over Wild as he leaned forward. “Wild? Can you hear us? How are you feeling?” He asked, reaching forward to feel his forehead for fever. Hyrule gently swatted his hand aside and did the proper medical checks including checking his pulse.

Wild watched Hyrule work with wide and brilliantly blue eyes. Now that the fog was gone Wind could see that his eyes were sharp and bright, they must have appeared more cloudy due to the fog chuchu.

The next moment Wild was standing on the bed with his back against the wall, breathing heavy and eyes flitting around the room as he took everything in. Hyrule raised his hands, trying to show that he wasn’t a threat. Wind was impressed- he didn’t think he’d seen any of the chain move that quick before. Maybe Wolfie, but he didn’t count.

Wild narrowed his eyes at them, but apart from his chest moving as he recovered from his fright, no one moved. After a few moments Wild raised his hands, and began to sign.

‘Where am I?’ Wild’s hands were fast, and the signs were slightly rough. Wind still understood, his sister sometimes signed very fast and refused to slow down for him.

“Can you hear?” Wind asked, carefully signing at the same time. Wild nodded. “You’re in a place called Skyloft, it’s an island above the clouds, where hylians live. You’re safe. We’re not here to hurt you.” Wind spoke calmly and clearly, hoping to reassure Wild with his hands where he could see them.

Wild watched them both closely, seemingly unsure whether to trust them or not. Wind wondered how much of their adventure Wild actually remembered. Did he remember anything at all? Did he remember them?

Wild watched them carefully, before taking a small step forward. Hyrule and Wind stayed still as Wild leaned forward and…

Sniff.

Wild sniffed them. Both of them. Quite thoroughly, before leaning back to seemingly consider them further. Wind looked to Hyrule. “I thought we turned him back from being a Fox?”

Hyrule nodded, looking back at him. “Maybe there’s side effects…” He mumbled, clearly also caught off guard.

Wind looked back to the bed, to see Wild was gone. The window with a view of the open sky near the head of the bed swung on its hinge- it seemed their newest member had defenestrated himself.

The door swung open and Time ducked into the room. “We’re back from the market, how’s Wild?” He asked, as Twilight followed him.

Wind and Hyrule looked at each other, and then at the open window.

Hyrule sighed. “Well, fuck.”

Chapter Text

As he clambered up the side of the building and onto the roof, he knew for sure he’d never been here before. It smelt too different. He was still piecing together things, but thankfully his memories, the older ones, were mostly intact. He knew there was a long period where he couldn’t remember anything, but he could remember everything now. Well, sort of. Not really. But sort of!

The problem was processing about six months of memories all at the same time. Especially when he had no idea what was important and what wasn’t. He looked at a nearby tree and remembered scrambling in the roots of one, leaping for a hanging fruit, being under one in the rain, looking at one in a field, in a forest, a hundred memories all vying for his attention at once. Those people, the ones he’d woken up beside- they’d smelled familiar, and a million moments popped up in his brain like koroks. He looked down at the ground and his brain short circuited trying to bring up all the times that had happened, whether it was a mundane glance or if he was in a battle or looking for something important.

It was so loud. Too loud. His brain was too busy for its own good. Zelda had tried to teach him about mental health after they defeated the calamity. It was a big part of their recovery, Zelda making sure he didn’t overwork himself, making sure they both were healthy. It had been nice. Made his brain relax more. So what were the steps for dealing with this? He took a breath and tried to remember what Zelda had taught him.

Step one. Find a quiet calm spot that you feel safe.

This rooftop was quiet, but not nearly high enough. He needed somewhere no one could sneak up on him. He leapt, paragliding down to a lower path outside of what seemed to be the grounds for a school. A quick glance around and he found his perfect solution. There was nothing else around taller than it. He dashed up the stairs, only stopping to snap a quick picture of the green fruit growing on the ground. He passed through stone ruins and looked up at the giant goddess statue. It was quite lovely- it reminded him of the giant statue down in the canyon, the one that had a lot of guardians in the way. That had been a pain to get to.

Remembering something from before the six months was almost relieving, a break from the odd thousand-memory dump that his brain was trying to get through. As he reached the statue he climbed the side, heading for the very top. Climbing didn’t bring too many memories- one of trying to clamber up a castle wall, and someone had stopped him. A Hylian with a wolf pelt. He liked him- he could feel the fondness in the memories. He wanted to climb, but if this person didn’t want him to, he would follow them.

But who were they?

He reached the top fairly quick, and made himself comfortable on the goddess’ head. Right, this seemed like a good spot. He should notice if anyone climbed up after him. It was nice and quiet. Breezy. But still calming. What was step 2?

Step 2. Meditate. Find your calm, your centre. Put everything aside and understand that you’re okay.

This always took some time. He let everything in his head run out. Just sat and only focussed on his breathing. In. Out. Nothing else mattered for the moment. Just this. His brain tried to present him with memories to consider, but the longer he did nothing the quieter it got, until his mind was empty. Still.

He spent a few minutes just appreciating it, before he turned to step 3.

Step 3. Find Zelda and tell her about what was wrong.

Obviously this was a step that wasn’t going to work. That was always what he had done in the past, but he had no idea where Zelda was. Zelda had actually said ‘someone who can help you talk through what you’re thinking’, but really that was only her. And sometimes Hetsu and the great deku tree. Or Bolson. The point was, he didn’t know where any of those people were. He didn’t have anyone to talk through everything with.

He sighed, shaking himself like he could shake off his problems. He heard distant shouting, and looked down. There were people running around looking for something. He briefly wondered what for, then noticed someone interesting. They were tall, with a wolf pelt wrapped around their shoulders. His head ached as his brain went over the memory again. Trying to climb something, and then a man with a wolf pet, or maybe a wolf? There were a couple of memories overlapped, but it was definitely them. He took out his scope, and looked at him in more detail. He remembered walking with him, looking up at him from the ground?, giving him gifts, he smiled and it made him feel happy.

This was someone he had trusted during the six months when something was wrong. That’s got to be worth something, right? But what if… He felt his face turn into a frown. What if he somehow caused the memory loss? Maybe he was responsible. Not like he could figure it out at the moment.

Well, the best thing to do would be to talk it out. Zelda said nothing about the participant being willing.

Chapter Text

While he didn’t want Hyrule and Wind to keep apologising, the longer Wild was missing the more Twilight wanted to scream. Everyone was out looking for him- Skyloft wasn’t that big, but it was considerable, so they had split up to cover more ground. After the third time Hyrule had sobbed out a heartfelt apology, Twilight had chosen to go upwards, and told the others to search elsewhere. He didn’t blame them, he wasn’t even actually angry, but he needed a moment to process his emotions and what had happened, and that was always easier to do alone.

He searched the walkways near the academy, ignoring the bazaar in favour of the stone stairs heading upwards. There was no sign of his kit anywhere, but the others were searching in town and further away, so he would try heading to the giant goddess statue. He looked behind the wooden doors, searched the small copse of trees, and looked around the paved stone area in front of the goddess.

He spared a thought for how big the statue was, before continuing on towards a wooden jetty he saw off to the side.

He was walking, then he was in the air. Upside down no less. He wasn’t sure how he had missed the trap, but he could feel the rope around his ankle now, keeping him suspended in the air. But why would someone-

Twilight was interrupted when someone spun him around, and then he was face to face with Wild.

His face was a lot more animated. His eyes were clear and sharp, a brilliant blue colour. Wild squinted down at him, suspicion and distrust written all over his face. “Kit! Are you okay?” Twilight asked, hoping he would answer even if he clearly didn’t recognise him.

Wild cocked his head to the side, and mouthed the word ‘kit?’ to himself. His eyes searched Twilight’s, widening just a fraction.

“It was my nickname for you. We thought you were a fox, back when we first met.” Twilight explained.

Wild raised his hands. ‘When did we meet? How long ago?’ He signed, and Twilight struggled to translate while upside down.

“Erm, a while ago now? At least a week. It feels like a lot longer though.”

Wild thought on this for a moment. ‘...and I was a fox?’

“Yes, at first. You turned back into a hylian when you touched the master sword- apparently you were under a twili spell. It turns us heroes into animals. Pretty cool, but then it turns out you were also cursed. Well, not really cursed. There was a monster in your brain. A small white chuchu- a dragon breathed fire on you to get it out, and then Time stomped it to death. Time’s our leader. We’re heroes, like you, we’re travelling through time to stop a big threat and- yep, sorry that’s too much information all at once.” Twilight trailed off as he realised Wild looked overwhelmed.

It took a lot longer for him to sign anything back. ‘… there was a chuchu in my brain?’

“Only a small one?”

‘Thank you for getting it out.’

“Anytime, kit.”

Wild stood up, Twilight heard a rope cut and then he started to fall. Thankfully the kit caught him before his face hit the stone floor, and set him back on his feet. “Thanks. Do you… do you remember me?” He asked, unsure why else Wild would have let him go.

Wild shrugged. ‘Bits and pieces. It’s coming back slowly, but it’s confusing. I…’ His hands curled up before his signed more assuredly. ‘I think I can trust you. My gut says so.’ He looked determined, and Twilight was so proud.

“Thanks, kit. I’ll prove you right, honest.” Twilight grinned, and Wild grinned back. “Now, we should go back and see the others, they’ll be worried about you.”

Wild tilted his head again, and Twilight realised it was exactly like before. The same motion, just with bright blue eyes sparkling with curiousity, instead of dull grey ones filled with confusion.

“I’m so happy we can finally actually meet you, kit. I hope you like travelling with us.”

‘Travelling with you?’ Wild signed.

“Yeah, it’s a long story. We’ll explain everything, but I should really make sure everyone else knows you’re okay first.”

Wild shrugged, and trotted off back in the direction of the academy. Twilight followed, making sure he didn’t wander off by anything that took his fancy. It seemed, despite everything, that Wild hadn’t changed a bit. He still tried to catch every butterfly that fluttered past, he kicked over every rock and searched underneath, and he still wanted to climb to the highest point of any area he was in. Twilight slowly cajoled, man-handled and chased him the right way until they both burst into the academy laughing and exhausted. Wild was barely breathing heavy, while Twilight was almost doubled over. The moment Twilight recovered enough to look up, Wild signed ‘I win!’ and made Twilight laugh again.

With their noisy entrance they alerted Time and Legend, who were standing outside the kitchen waiting for the others to return.

“You found Wild, then? Should’ve guessed you would’ve.” Legend drawled, eyeing up Wild. He clearly wasn’t sure how to approach Wild now that he was cured.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Wild. Sorry, you gained the nickname while you were cursed, I hope its okay. My name is Time, and this is-” Time gestured towards Legend, but Wild interrupted.

‘Grumpy.’ Wild signed, and Twilight couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter.

Legend looked outraged. ‘Grumpy?!’ He signed furiously. ‘I’m a bloody ray of sunshine!! Not my fault we’re on a mission from Hell! You try walking a mile in my joints, see how cheery you are after that!’

Wild, defying Twilight’s expectations, burst into laughter at the tirade. Legend, soft-hearted bastard that he was, immediately relaxed seeing the kit happy. Then he realised he was showing positive emotions and scowled intently, making the kit laugh even harder. Time struggled to contain his amusement, letting Wild’s laughter die out before stepping forward.

Wild snapped to attention, watching Time carefully as he approached, before he stopped and held out his hand. “It’s lovely to meet you. Again. We’re all relieved that you’re no longer ‘cursed’.” Wild looked at his hand in bewilderment before Time realised he had no idea what he was attempting to do and retracted his hand, clearing his throat like it could rid him of the embarrassment.

Time then ushered them through to the kitchen, where Wild perked up upon seeing the pot and immediately set about trying to use it.

“This isn’t our kitchen, kit, I’m not sure if we’re allowed to-” Twilight started, when Wild took out an absolutely huge piece of flint.

“Ach, that tall-as-shit lad with the stupid red hair told us to make ourselves at home, I’m sure they won’t mind if Wild cooks.” Legend interrupted, waving Wild to go ahead.

Wild took the permission and ran with it, getting a fire started under the pot in no time. He opened and rifled through every cupboard in the kitchen, as Time excused himself to go and fetch the other members of the chain to tell them the good news. Legend sat at the huge table and simply watched the chaos unfold, as Twilight tried to restrain Wild from making the world’s biggest pot of curry.

“There’s not that many of us, Kit! You don’t need to cook for the whole town!” Twilight tried when Wild brought out the seventh hunk of frankly far too big meat.

‘I want to make sure I make enough for all! Isn’t there like 17? My memories aren’t good and they haven’t all-’ Twilight struggled to translate, but it looked something like ‘slot-puzzle-missing-not-quite-complete’.

“There’s me, you, Legend, Time, obviously, Wind and Hyrule were watching over you before you woke up-” Twilight listed.

‘Salty and Fair.’ Wild signed, before going back to chopping the meat into chunks.

“- Then there’s Sky, he wears a sailcloth and rides a crimson bird. Spirit is a train driver, he’s always tinkering with something. Four wears a multicoloured tunic and he’s a blacksmith. Warriors wears a bright blue scarf and is a captain. So there’s 10 of us. Not quite 17.” Twilight reassured. Wild considered this, and then pushed the rest of the ingredients into the pot anyway. Twilight accepted his fate, and hoped they wouldn’t drown in curry.

Wild seemed quite content to cook away, and Twilight offered to help with several things but Wild was happy to do it himself. Twilight sat next to Legend, seeing that this may be something Wild wanted to do while trying to process everything. He and Legend made small talk, enjoying the calm atmosphere for once.

“WILD!” The atmosphere was shattered as Wind burst into the kitchen, startling everyone in the room. The cook in question turned around, as Wind ran around the table to greet him, practically vibrating with energy.

“I’m so sorry if we scared you away, we didn’t mean to, but I’m so glad that you’re okay.” Wind was clearly sorry, practically drooping despite his excited demeanour at finally seeing Wild again. Wild was clutching onto his ladle like he might start swinging, but as he recovered from being startled he put it down so he could sign.

‘It’s alright, thank you for helping to look after me, Salty.’ Wild signed, before returning to stirring his pot, which was smelling more and more delicious with every minute.

“Salty?” Wind questioned, and Wild grinned, before tapping his nose, and making the sign for sea. “Ohh, I smell like the sea?” Wild nodded. “That makes sense! I’m a sailor, so I travelled all over the great sea in my first adventure, and the world of the ocean king in my second! Must still be embedded in my clothes or something.” He sniffed his island lobster shirt in an attempt to smell for himself. Twilight knew without a keen sense of smell Wind wouldn’t be able to tell, but from his time as Wolfie the sailor did indeed smell quite salty.

Others followed Wind into the kitchen with less chaos, Hyrule going over to check Wild was feeling okay as Warriors took a seat next to Legend. “Too many people in this room already, don’t want to overwhelm him.” He explained, relaxing now that their missing comrade was with them. Twilight could tell from the way he sank down into his seat.

Hyrule fussed over Wild for quite some time, making sure that all his reactions and vitals were okay, and Legend ended up having to drag him down to have a seat at the table and stop bothering Wild. Wild assured him that he was fine, and that there was no need to apologise.

Four arrived and sat down immediately without any preamble, nodding acknowledgement towards Wild. Spirit wandered in after him, almost walking into the doorframe due to looking down at the parts in his hands, and only looking up long enough to see Wild was okay before sitting back down and getting right back to work.

A few moments later Sky stumbled in, panting hard, only relaxing when he saw Wild safe and sound, cooking away. He wobbled over to a seat and collapsed, needing a few moments to catch his breath. Time followed after him, taking a seat beside Sky on the bench and looking around the room, clearly counting to ensure everyone had made it back.

Twilight watched Wild tasting the curry for spices before uncorking a bottle and pouring the whole thing in. As the bottle emptied into the pot, he began to worry if they were going to survive dinner.

“Okay everyone, we’ve got a lot to go over and a lot of people to do it- someone can volunteer to explain what’s happening, but you can’t interrupt them or jump in with your own comments. It’s a lot to take in and the clearer it is the easier it is to process. Wild, are you able to leave that to simmer and come take a seat?” Time asked, his deep voice speaking softly.

Wild nodded, putting on the lid and sitting at the head of the table where they could see everyone.

“Okay, I’m sure you’ve caught a few names, but we should go over them again. I’m-” Before Time could finish, Wild held up a hand.

‘I should tell you what I know, and then we can go from there.’ Wild declared, and Time nodded.

“Alright, as you wish.”

‘Salty, obviously.’ Wild pointed to Wind.
‘Fair.’ He gestured to Hyrule, who furrowed his eyebrows before he realised why that was his nickname, and blushed pink.
‘Grumpy.’ Legend huffed, proving his point immediately.
‘Oak.’ Time nodded in acknowledgement.
‘Feathers.’ Legend looked over at Sky with a smirk, and Sky accepted the nickname sheepishly. He tended to have some of his loftwing’s fluff on his person at all times no matter how much he tried to get rid of it.
‘Scarf.’ Wild pointed at Warriors, and Wind snorted at the captain’s mildly affronted look.
‘Soot.’ Four pulled his tunic up to sniff it, confirming that he did indeed smell a little sooty from his forge.
‘Cog.’ Wild pointed at Spirit, who was still fiddling with his contraption.

‘I was investigating strange occurrences in Akkala, when I encountered something? A monster?’ Wild’s brow furrowed as he continued to sign. ‘Someone maybe? The whole thing’s a bit blurry, but then I spent a lot of time in the woods, you guys dropped in out of no where and then I followed you everywhere. It turns out I wasn’t small, cause I got bigger, and then I got set on fire.’ Wild put his hands on his hips, self-satisfied for a minute before frowning. ‘Wait, I got set on fire?’

“It’s a long story. So, you didn’t remember anything this entire time?” Twilight asked, leaning forward on the table.

‘No, and since I didn’t remember I’m pretty sure I just thought I was an actual fox for most of it. Until I forgot I had been a fox. It’s still not really clear.’

“Did none of the other animals tell you that you were strange?” Twilight asked, and the rest of the chain looked at Twilight weird for that question.

“Ignore his question. What was your name for Twilight? You didn’t include it in your list.” Wind interrupted, as Time looked at Twilight as if to say ‘really, pup?’.

“That is a normal question! Normal animals have sharper senses…” Twilight muttered to himself as Wind tried to guess Wild’s name for Twilight, which Wild wasn’t telling.

“No need to pressure him, Wind.” Time chastised, pulling Wind back from Wild. “We should introduce ourselves now, and explain a bit more about what happened. I am Link, also known as the hero of Time, so my nickname is Time.”

As the rest of the chain introduced (or reintroduced) themselves, Twilight watched Wild look around with amazement, awe filling his face as he realised he was among heroes of fate and legend.

“And last but not least we have Twilight.” Wind gestured to Twilight. “So, you’re never going to tell us what your nickname was for Twilight, huh?”

‘Wouldn’t you like to know, sailor boy.’ Wild signed sassily, making Twilight bark with laughter.

“The reason we’ve been travelling through time,” Time started, looking at Wind with disapproval. “is that there’s been some sort of force working against the goddess trying to unravel the timelines and ensure the victory of evil. Since it’s such a powerful force, and since it’s affecting all of the timelines, we’ve been working together- all of the heroes of legend, reincarnations of the first hero.”

Wind turned to Sky. “I thought you were the first hero?” He whispered.

“I was the first reincarnation, there was technically a guy before me.” Sky answered, stifling a yawn. It had been a long day of running after Wild and it was catching up to him.

“That is all of us, and now that includes you.” Time looked to Wild, and he took a small step back. “Link, hero of the Wilds, we would be honoured if you would join us in our quest to help defeat the forces of evil and ensure the timelines remain intact so that our worlds can remain in balance as they are.”

Wild looked shocked, and Twilight smiled. “You don’t need to answer right away. We know it’s a lot, we all had different reactions to first hearing this, some better than others.” Legend huffed as Hyrule looked at him knowingly, and Four shrunk into his seat slightly hoping no one would bring up how he’d threatened them with a hammer when they'd shown up at his door one day. “We’re just happy you’re alright now. How about some of that delicious curry, and we can tell you everything from when we dropped into your world to now?”

Wild seemed to relax at this, and nodded. He dished up the curry, which caused various sounds of contentment and happiness around the table as all of the chain dug in. Twilight praised the cooking immensely, before they told Wild absolutely everything, all of the chain chiming in with more information or things that the others didn’t see or notice. Wild asked some questions but mostly let them talk, absorbing and carefully considering everything they told him up against his pieces of memory.

After the meal, most of the chain went to bed, tired after running around Skyloft for most of the day. Twilight noticed Wild slip away, and followed after him outside.

Twilight saw Wild clamber up the side of the building like it was nothing, and sighed as he resigned himself to finding another way up.

After several minutes (and a terrible encounter with a Remlit), Twilight managed to haul himself onto the roof area. Wild was sitting near the peak, looking up at the stars. He gave Twilight an acknowledging look, before waiting for him to sit beside him. Twilight took a moment to catch his breath and look up as well.

“They’re beautiful.” Twilight remarked, the stars clear as possible since Skyloft was above the clouds.

Wild made a small sound of agreement, before shuffling around to face Twilight more. ‘Most of my nicknames were just rough translations, it’s hard to get it accurate. Fox brain doesn’t really translate into words. But yours, well…’ Wild’s hands stilled, and Twilight tried not to be too eager to hear the answer. Wild would tell him if he was ready, and not before.

“You don’t have to tell me, kit.”

‘No, I want to.’ Wild looked determined, and Twilight felt a swell of pride. ‘It’s not exact, but it’s like beast-father.’ Wild didn’t make eye-contact, stubbornly looking anywhere else, as Twilight stilled.

At beast, he’d grown worried, and at father his mind had emptied. Father?

Wild started to sign frantically, to the point where Twilight could barely understand but got the jist that the cub was trying to take it back. He gently took Wild’s hands, holding them still before looking him in the eyes. “I am honoured, kit, that you thought of me that way. I will always do my best to look after you, and no matter what you will always be my kit.” Twilight smiled, feeling embarrassed, what if Wild didn’t want this? But a moment later his fears were unfounded as Wild hugged him, arms around Twilight as he buried his face in Twilight’s shoulder for a minute. Twilight held him gently, ensuring that Wild could pull away anytime he wanted to.

They stayed like that under the stars for a moment, and Twilight felt something in his chest settle, like it was always meant to be like this. Him and his kit.

Wild pulled away carefully, darting glances up to Twilight like he wouldn’t notice if he did it quickly enough. Twilight smiled encouragingly at him.

‘Thank you.’ Wild signed first, and Twilight’s heart felt full to bursting.

“Anytime, kit.”

Wild looked up at him, more assured, and hesitated for only a split second before asking. ‘So, you’re a wolf?’

“Some of the time.” Twilight began to explain, pulling his stone out from where it hung around his neck at all times. It was the only thing he had left from Midna after all. He was able to control it so that he didn’t change the moment it touched him- he could change more at will, which had come in very useful in the past. Wild looked at it with curiosity, but no recognition. “This contains a twilli curse, which allows me to change into a divine beast. Most people when inflicted with it turn into ghosts, but due to the goddess’ protection, I turn into a wolf. I believe that’s what happened to you as well. I didn’t think about it before, but the other heroes must be able to change into a beast form as well.” Twilight looked at the stone consideringly, not noticing Wild’s hand reaching out until he’d already touched the stone. “Wait-”

Wild, now in fox form once more, was now standing on the roof. He looked down at his paws in surprise, before turning in a circle trying to chase his tail. “Well kit, looks like we’re going to have to sneak into Sky’s room to borrow Fi for a moment.” Twilight sighed, before laughing as Wild managed to do a barrel roll. Wild let out a raspy fox laugh, before snuggling up to Twilight. Twilight gently picked him up so they could jump off the roof. They had a small heist to pull off before they could go to bed, but Twilight wouldn’t have it any other way.

After all, Wild was his kit, now and forever.

Chapter Text

In order to turn Wild back into a hylian, Wild and Twilight had to break unto Sky’s room, ignore the fact that he and Sun were cuddling, carefully take Fi out of her sheath and into the hall, let fox-Wild touch the sword so the twili curse would disperse, then sneak back in, put Fi back into the master sword sheath, and sneak out without waking the happy couple. Obviously the plan went off without a hitch, but the moment Twilight exited the room with a sigh of relief, he tripped over the carpet and Wild had to catch him before he landed loudly and woke the whole chain. The two managed to go back to their room without further incident, although Twilight was thoroughly embarrassed for some time.

In the morning Wild accepted the quest and formally joined the Chain, so there was a general sense of joy and success about the chain. Breaking a curse and gaining a friend would do that to a travelling band of adventurers. However, just because they’d succeeded didn’t mean their quest didn’t continue, and soon enough they were having to say goodbye to Skyloft to enter through another portal. The chain waited as Sky had a teary goodbye with Sun, and Time explained the portals to Wild.

“This is the tamer version. It’ll start pulling at us after a certain amount of time, but usually we just jump through on our own. The more violent one just snatches us out of no where and dumps us in a vague area. This one guarantees we all end up in the same spot when we come out the other side.”

Wild nodded, and they noticed Sky finally jogging over to join the group, who were packed up and ready to go. “We usually get into small groups to jump through.” Time said, and Wild grabbed Twilight’s sleeve. Twilight tried not to let his happiness show, and Wind immediately showed up on Wild’s other side.

Time chuckled, and waved them forward to stand behind Legend, Hyrule and Spirit, who were going in first. With a nod from Time they stepped through together, and vanished into the swirling vortex with little fanfare. After a moment or two, Wild, Twilight and Wind stepped up Wind grinned at Wild, who smiled back happily. Wind tugged on his sleeve and they stepped through, barely hearing Time’s sigh before they were falling through space and time.

It was different to the sheikah teleporting system, Wild thought. With that he could feel himself being torn apart and put together at his destination. It always took a moment for everything to readjust and feel normal again, but this portal was different. It was like he was being compressed, and forced down an impossibly thin tube, before suddenly they were stepping out onto a wooden deck. They had only taken one step, but it felt like they’d journeyed many miles. Wild felt dizzy and slightly sick, but quickly took stock of where they were through the haze.

They’d appeared on the deck of a ship, which was bobbing up and down on the waves and not helping the sick feeling. There were some strange people around staring at them, but the moment they laid eyes on Wind they smiled and seemed more accepting of the strangers appearing on their ship. Legend was helping Hyrule be sick over the side of the ship, and spirit had already sat down with his back to the ship’s mast in order to work on his tinkering.

Twilight gently pulled Wild to the side so they were clear of the portal, and Wind danced over to greet the captain of the ship- a blonde girl who looked tanned and confident. He threw his arms around her, much to her dramatic disgust, and they bickered and play-fought with each other as the rest of the chain made their way though the portal.

“Well, I didn’t expect you lot to show up out of no where! Gonna get my crew involved in your hare-brained quest again?” The captain greeted Time with a firm handshake, despite being a good foot shorter than him.

“Hopefully not Captain Tetra!” Time grinned. He gestured over to Wild. “This is our newest member, Wild.” Tetra gave him a wave, and Wild hesitantly waved back. “Have you seen anything unusual? We’re always called to a location for a reason.” Time asked, and Tetra shook her head.

“I’m afraid not. We’re sailing due South to try and find a treasure island at the moment, not much else in this part of the ocean. Although, there have been more monster pirates in the area?” Tetra tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe you’re here to deal with the blackhook crew.”

Time looked to the others. “Blackhook?” Legend enquired.

“Because the pirate captain has a black hookhand. Very imaginative name, you can tell.” Tetra remarked wryly. “They patrol the Southern coast to the South-East of here, pretty hard to miss their stinking ship. They’ve been annoying the hell out of us for some time- I’d be happy to take you to them. Be warned though- it’s a big ship brimming with those monster fucks.”

“Language.” Time mumbled quietly.

“Sounds like fun.” Legend grinned wickedly. “Even if it’s not what we’re here for, I’m sure it’ll help people to get rid of the monsters for them.”

Time nodded. “We’ll do it. We’ll ask around afterwards to see if anything else is amiss. Will it be far out of your way, captain?”

Tetra shook her head. “Not really. And you’ll be doing us a bit of a favour anyway.” She giggled, before turning around to her crew. “ALL HANDS! CHANGE COURSE FOR SOUTH-SOUTH-EAST, BEARING 168 DEGREES, CHOP CHOP YOU LOUSY-”

Twilight pulled Wild away from Tetra shouting orders and helping her crew get the ship to change course to lead him up the stairs towards the front of the ship, where he could feel the wind on his face. It helped steady him and the salt air was delightfully bracing.

“It’s nice, isn’t it? The first portal’s always the worst, your body seems to get used to it after that. Apart from Four.” Twilight smiled, and Wild nodded.

They both glanced back to where Wind was consoling Four, who was in the fetal position on the ground.

“He seems to take it the hardest, I’m not sure why. You’re doing better than me on my first trip, I can tell you that much. I looked more like Hyrule over there.” Hyrule’s insides were still trying to become outsides, and Legend was even rubbing his back to comfort him. “This must be Wind’s universe, Tetra is actually his Zelda. She just never cared for the princess stuff. They’re looking for a good place to start a new Hyrule. I’m not sure what the timelines even look like at this point, you’d need to ask Time, but it might be that they settle what might eventually become your Hyrule. Or maybe not. The timeline’s are very strange.” Twilight joked, and Wild tried not to worry about how you might go about figuring out what happened when.

‘Feels worse using the s-h-e-k-i-a-h slate to teleport.’ Wild commented, and Twilight hummed.

“And the sheikah slate is that thing on your belt right? You pulled out a bow once, and a sword. You gave that to Time.” Twilight frowned, remembering.

Wild tried to think back, but it was hard to say when that had happened. He brought up his sheikah slate, and right enough there was a missing flame sword. He would need to find a replacement sometime. Although he did also have a lot of swords he didn’t remember picking up. Wild hoped he didn’t steal them from somewhere important.

Wild swiped along, checking his inventory, when he noticed his tab for photos. Clicking on it, he snorted as he realised he had attempted to take some photos in his cursed state. There was one of Time, Twilight and Spirit walking through a town market, Twilight with his arm firmly around Wild’s. There was another of really blurred countryside, and one of spider webs. Those were the only ones, the rest being from before he was attacked. Wild showed the slate’s photos to Twilight, and signed ‘Couldn’t take photos as a fox I suppose.’

“I didn’t even notice you taking these.” Twilight laughed. I suppose you must’ve slipped it out when I wasn’t looking. You were quick getting stuff in and out of that slate, must’ve had a lot of practice.”

Wild hesitated. Twilight hadn’t meant anything by it, hadn’t even asked a question, but it felt close to the truth Wild had yet to tell them. He had saved the kingdom from the calamity, true, but only after a failed attempt. They had barely even asked about his adventure, but Wild could tell from Time’s looks and Hyrule’s cautiousness that they were all aware they didn’t know much. They would wait for him to be ready and to tell them when he wanted to. That meant more to Wild than he thinks he could ever explain. And it made him want to tell them absolutely everything, the good and the bad.

‘It came in handy during my adventure.’ Wild signed. ‘Maybe I can tell you more sometime?’ He was a little slow to finish the sentence, but Twilight still grinned.

“That would be wonderful, kit.” Twilight reached over to ruffle his hair, and some animal instinct in him wanted to roll over and accept all the affection he was offered.

“PIRATES AHOY! LOOK SHARP YOU FUCKING SCALLYWAGS-” Tetra continued to yell at her crew, getting them into position with frightening accuracy and efficiency, as Wind gazed at her with a slightly besotted look.

“I’ve only seen him look at treasure and the sea that way. Our little pirate’s in love.” Twilight chuckled quietly.

‘Tetra is his Zelda you said? Sky loves Sun too. Is it very common for heroes to love their princesses?’ Wild asked, his head tilted slightly.

Twilight smiled at him. “Not really? Time is married to Malon, who’s a rancher, although I think he is still cordial with his princess. I still keep in touch, but I never held feelings for Dusk, as beautiful as she is. Sky and Wind are obviously somewhat enamoured. I believe Legend and his Zelda are not involved, neither is Hyrule. I don’t think Spirit is interested in anyone apart from his train. I remember Warriors told us that if he even tried to seduce his princess she would kick his ass, but I believe they are friends. Four’s not mentioned anything, so I’m not sure. What about you? You’re friends with your Zelda?”

‘I am! She’s my favourite person, and she helps me a lot with things, and we tend to support each other since no one else really understands what we went through.’ Wild noticed Twilight frowning as he signed that, so quickly moved on. ‘I mean of course we have other friends but we like each other and it’s comforting to know the other’s there. But I don’t think it’s romantic.’

“That’s perfectly fine, kit, I think it’s wonderful that you have each other, especially as friends. You don’t need to explain anything to me. Hopefully we’ll end up back in your world soon, so we can explain what happened. She was really worried about you going missing.”

Wild’s eyebrows knitted together. ‘I think I remember seeing her as a fox? She didn’t pay attention to me much, and I think she got angry at me.’

“You tried to go through your own stuff, but we all thought you were a fox, kit. She got a bit upset, seeing as you were missing n all. Didn’t want an animal messing up her best friend’s items.” Twilight explained gently, and Wild understood immediately. Without knowing who he was, Zelda would’ve been deeply upset at anyone or anything ruining the order she had at home.

Wild nodded emphatically. ‘I hope we can see her soon.’

“Me too, kit. That reminds me, do you know what would be good for a nickname for her? Something to differentiate her from all the other Zeldas.”

Wild hummed, and was about to ask what all the other Zeldas nicknames were, when the entire ship took a sharp turn to the left.

“WILL YOU OLD WINDBAGS STOP FUCKING CHATTING AND START FUCKING WORKING.” Tetra yelled, waving a curved sword at them threateningly, and Twilight and Wild immediately scrambled to help the others, who were spread all over the ship preparing for battle with the pirates, who were much closer than they had been two minutes ago. The others cheered as Twilight went to help Time load a cannon, Wild heard Legend say “Enough father-son bonding, we’ve got work to do!” before he leapt onto the nets stretching from the deck to the masts. Wild took to the rigging like he’d been born on a ship, quickly scaling to the very top of the centre mast above the crow’s nest, where he had an excellent vantage point for scouting the incoming pirates.

Tetra’s ship was quickly coming alongside the ship. The monsters had clearly caught sight of them, but Wild could only see them scattering around like bees when their nest dropped. He knew what came next though, they’d coordinate an attack soon enough. It was best to try and take out as many as possible before they got that far. Wild took out one of his best geurudo bows, loading a bomb arrow and aiming for a handy pile of explosives the monsters were keeping near the aft- a sheet had been pulled over but Wild could see the red boxes just peeking out from underneath. He aimed carefully, aware of the swaying ships and the long distance, before letting the arrow loose.

He heard someone shout something from down below, before the arrow hit and half of the monster ship went up in flames. The explosion was loud even from a distance, and Wild could see a lot of monsters dancing around on fire. A few dropped dead immediately, but there were a few moblins and bokoblins who managed to pat the fires out quickly. Wild loaded up another arrow- now the explosive ammunition was no more he would have to be more strategic to ensure effective usage of bomb arrows. He used a normal arrow to take out the bokoblin in the crow’s nest, silencing its stupid horn. He tried to freeze the moblin, but despite its slow lumbering motion it managed to evade his ice arrow. Wild cursed, knowing he needs to get closer.

He stands on top of the mast, and glances down to see some of the chain looking up at him worriedly. Did something happen to the lookout in the crows nest? No he looked fine, if a little scared of Wild. Maybe the chain were looking at something else? Either way, Wild didn’t have time to figure it out. As Tetra’s ship glided past the monster pirates, they set off the cannons and blasted a hole and a half into the monster ship. Both mostly above water, which wouldn’t sink it anytime soon. One of the monsters managed to set off their cannon, but Wild was ready for it, using magnesis to catch the cannon ball and drop it into the water instead of letting it smash into the upper deck.

With that out of the way, Wild leapt off the top of the mast, paragliding down closer to the monster ship. The extra few metres was just enough to let him accurately let off half a dozen arrows into the skulls of monsters. All of them went down, but the black moblin and white bokoblin got back up. Wild didn’t have the stamina or height to keep firing, so he paraglided back towards Tetra’s ship, landing on the side of the hull and having to scramble up to get back onto the deck. The moment he was there he was ambushed by Legend, who bodily dragged him towards Time.

Time had his arms crossed, and Wild suddenly felt very nervous and worried. He remembered getting into trouble with Twilight after he tried to help them as a fox. Was he really bad at this whole helping thing.

“You’re not in trouble.” Time started.

Oh thank Hylia, Wild thought, physically relaxing.

“But you are not supposed to go off on your own, okay? I should’ve explained before we started, but I thought Twilight would have.” Twilight, behind Time, looked terribly sheepish at that statement. “We work as a team. We need to coordinate in order to fight effectively. We use our strengths and cover each other’s weaknesses. You were brilliant, but because you were there Legend couldn’t use any of his items for fear of hitting you, and we were all worried you were going to fall into the ocean. Please, be more careful. We will go over team strategies later, for now just be aware of your surroundings and your teammates. Try to warn others of any wild moves before you jump in front of them.” Time smiled wryly, and Wild nodded enthusiastically.

“Right. Let’s fucking go.” Time declared, and Wind immediately started complaining about hypocrisy and its negative effects on leadership qualities and relationships of trust.

Wild motioned to Legend. ‘I’m going to launch some cannonballs, you use your things?’

“Magical items, and yes I’ll use them. Just don’t go flying into range this time.” Legend grumped, but Wild could tell he was spooked from almost hitting him. Wild would need to be more careful in the future.

Wild picked up a cannonball and set it on the wooden railing, before using stasis. He used one of his guard swords and hit the cannonball til the sword broke, then carefully aimed and did one last strike with an arrow. The cannonball went soaring, crashing into the side of the pirate ship and making a lovely new hole for the ocean current to start filling. The monsters were in a panic now, squeals, grunt and roars echoing across the water. Wild turned to grin at Legend, but Legend was staring at him open-mouthed.

“You have got to show me how to do that.” Legend said in awe, before returning to the fight, sending giant fireballs bouncing across the water and onto the monster ship to add more chaos and destruction to the mix. Between them both, the ship was quickly reducing to firey dark husk that was sinking below the waves.

Legend and Wild high-fived. Nobody else seemed pleased that they were such high spirits after such a terrifyingly destructive case of arson. Not even Wind, but he was more upset that he didn’t get to cause it.

“Please Wild, you have to show me how to shoot cannonballs at will.” Wind begged, as Hyrule stood behind Wind shaking his head fervently.

‘Maybe sometime?’ Wild acquiesced, hoping eventually Wind would forget about it and he wouldn’t have to break Hyrule’s heart. Wind grinned widely, and Wild worried he would not manage to squirrel out of this promise.

The chain all came round to congratulate Legend and Wild for basically taking down the ship single handedly, many of them clearly pleased that Wild was so adept at more long-ranged combat.

“Most of us know how to use a bow, but none of us are nearly as good as you are. Twilight maybe, but no one else.” Warriors explained. “We’ll need to go over strategies and formations when we have some downtime. It’ll be easier to work together after some practice. We’ll also need to go over everything you can do, and we’ll explain our abilities as well so you’re not taken off guard in combat.”

Wild nodded, eager to work with the other heroes. The more time he spent with them the more he remembered things, and could piece together his time as a fox. These people had helped him when he was vulnerable, and he was already considering them part of his ragtag family. They might actually be family, although very distant considering some of their legends happened eons before Wild’s. Either way, Wild cared for them, and wanted to help their quest, but mostly help to keep them safe. ‘Maybe I can help train you all to shoot better?’ Wild signed and Warriors grinned.

“That would be brilliant! Thank you!”

Wild occasionally managed to gain memories clear enough to hear his own reasoning as a fox, and the memories of ‘silly people keep safe look after friends’ reassured him. Animal instincts were often sharper than Hylians, although Wild liked to think he could give some of them a run for their money.

“Well done, both of you.” Time smiled at Wild and Legend, and while Legend looked up and mumbled something dismissive, Wild grinned right back.

“Thanks.” Wild croaked out, voice rough and gravelly. Time looked surprised, but quickly melted into a warm look, while the rest of the chain pressed close. ‘Can’t talk too much, voice hurts. I look forward to fighting with you!’ Wild signed, and everyone cheered.

“How come it took less than a day for Wild to accept all this? I was still ready to blast you all with fireballs two weeks in.” Legend complained, although he was standing too close to Wild to appear indifferent.

‘I already spent weeks with you guys, even if its not all come back to me yet.’ Wild explained. ‘What did you do with the ruby I gave you?’

Legend snorted. “It’s in my bag, I put it in my sleeping roll when I’m cold. Thanks or whatever.”

Wild grinned from ear to ear. ‘Anytime Grumpy. Let me know if you ever want more.’

“How the fuck do you have more?!”

Time clapped his hands, stopping Legend from going on a rant. “Alright. We need to get out of Tetra’s way, and start discussing strategy.” He gestured for everyone to head to an empty part of the deck that the pirates wouldn’t need to access, when Wild felt a lurch.

It was like something grabbed his stomach, and yanked it downwards. It was such a strange sudden feelings, that Wild didn’t even notice he was falling until he was in darkness, flailing for any sort of ledge or item to slow his fall. He tried to pull out his paraglider but before he could he was already on the ground, wheezing with fear and with the fall. Before he could even get up to assess the situation, someone else landed on top of him, and he was even more winded.

After a few minutes of just remembering how to breathe, Wild finally looked down to see Four splayed out on top of him, clearly disorientated and also trying to breathe. Wild managed to look around to see that they’d ended up in some sort of lush forest, with moss everywhere and ancient trees towering over them. Wild just lay there for a few more minutes, ears twitching as he listened out for anything dangerous. There was some birdsong, a couple of rabbits jumping around the undergrowth and a deer in the distance, judging by the careful footsteps. He couldn’t hear anything from the other heroes.

This must be on the of the worse portals the others had been talking about. They would have to scout around and try to find them. Four groaned and carefully pushed himself up, still clearly reeling from the portal. Wild let him slide off to sit on the forest floor before he stood up to look around. He couldn’t see much, they’d landed in a little hollow in the ground, on a soft bed of moss. Four was still recovering from the portal, so Wild left him sitting to scramble up one of the trees instead. It took a minute to navigate the branches in order to get to the top, but soon he was looking out across a sea of green leaves, with a gentle wind making they rustle and sway like a wave. It was beautiful, especially with the sun beginning to set on the horizon, but Wild could see no signs of their teammates.

He brought out his scope and tried to pinpoint any points of interest. He wasn’t sure what the chain would do when this happened. They probably had a point they identified and travelled to to meet up with everyone. Wild was a fool for talking to Twilight for so long, although he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. He should’ve asked more practical questions.

Wild jumped from the tree and paraglided down back beside Four. He seemed to be doing slightly better, in that his eyes were open and his head was somewhat upright, rather than being completely slumped like before. ‘Are you okay?’ Wild asked, signing slowly and clearly. Still, it took a moment and a couple repeats before Four nodded.

‘What do we do when we’re separated?’ Wild asked, and Four furrowed his brows.

“We-” He broke off, swallowing before he continued. “We head for the highest point we can see. If there’s not a high point, we make a smoky fire to attract the others if we’ve found a good spot. If it’s not safe, we leave the area and look for somewhere that is. Only attack monsters you’re sure you can defeat without injury or effort. The most important thing is regrouping.” Four huffed, everything seemingly taking effort from him.

Wild had a lot of memories since he’d recovered, but one of the more interesting ones was of Four. They were in a forest, they’d been attacked. Wild had warned the others, but everyone had been split up. Wild had ended up helping Four, who had shunk down to the size of a pinecone. He hadn’t questioned it at the time, and even after he’d recovered he hadn’t found a chance to talk to Four about it alone. Still, this wasn’t the best time either. He was pretty sure Four had climbed onto his head and he’d given Four a ride through the forest. He was happy to be a horse for Four.

He wondered if Four could turn small now, and Wild could carry him in a pocket or sling, but it probably wasn’t a good time to bring it up. Wild instead got out his slate. He got Four into his climbing harness and adjusted the straps on himself that held his equipment. He would be able to strap Four to him to ensure that Four wouldn’t separate from him, although it meant he would have to store his current weapon shield and bow in his slate, which would make them a little harder to wield at a moment’s notice. But from what Four said, it was best to avoid fights anyway. They would just have to be quick enough to avoid any fight they came across.

Wild made sure everything was secure, and Four wouldn’t fall off and that Wild could still move all his limbs easily. He was giving Four a piggyback essentially, but with extra security. Four had barely moved throughout the whole thing, and Wild was deeply worried, unsure how to best look after him. He thought for a moment and took a waterskin out of his slate, carefully giving Four some to drink in the hopes it would help him recover. He would give him an energizing elixir, but those things tended to have quite a kick, and it wouldn’t do to have Four suffer the aftereffects later on. No, Wild would save those for emergencies.

Wild started off through the forest, heading for the highest point he’d seen from his vantage point, which was a nearby hill. They had to jump over some rotten logs and deep hollows, but they made good progress through the forest. It was odd carrying someone else, and while Four mostly seemed to be sleeping, Wild tried to be considerate of his cargo, avoiding branches and harsh jumps, but some obstacles were harder to circumnavigate.

When they finally made it up the small hill, it was steep enough to not have many trees on its side, giving them a better view of the forest. It was huge, stretching on for quite a few miles in every direction. There was a younger tree at the top, its trunk smooth and only about as thick as Wild was wide, rather than the ancient trees with goron sized trunks they’d been traversing through all day.

Wild gently laid Four down leaning against the trunk, and got to work making a campfire. The sun was fully below the horizon now, the sky slowly darkening, so hopefully their fire would stand out in the forest. Wild quickly got to work making a bigger campfire than normal, and collecting some more wood from nearby to keep it going. He warmed up some broth he had in his slate, enough for him and Four, and gently tried to wake him up.

Four came to slowly, looking around blearily as he pieced together what was going on. He finally looked to Wild. “You brought me along?” He asked, almost sounding befuddled.

‘Yes? Was I not supposed to? I wasn’t going to leave you alone in the forest.’ Wild frowned, not even liking the idea. ‘I have broth, hopefully it will help you feel better. I wasn’t sure how else to help you.’ Wild offered the bowl out to Four, making sure it sat in his lap so he didn’t have to hold it in his hands and potentially spill.

“Why are you doing this?” Four asked, voice smaller than Wild had ever heard it.

‘What do you mean?’ Wild quickly signed, worried at his tone.

“You remember, don’t you? What happened? Are you not…” Four looked up at him, and Wild felt a little like he was playing a game with Zelda and didn’t know any of the rules.

‘Is this about when you turned small?’ Wild asked, gesturing how small with his hands. Four pursed his lips, and Wild took that as a yes. ‘I don’t know how you did it, but it doesn’t change much for me. I have some slightly strange abilities too. You’re still…’ Wild hesitated, feeling embarrassed. What if the Four didn’t feel the same? ‘You’re still family.’

Four immediately teared up and Wild was pulled down into a hug, Four burrowing into his neck. Wild took a moment to process, before wrapping Four in his arms. Zelda had gotten him more used to hugs when she realised how much he liked them, but he was still unsure about getting them from other people. Still, getting a hug from Four? It was nice.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, before Four pulled away, looking a little embarrassed. “Thanks. I always worried that when anyone else would find out, they’d treat me like the villagers treat me. Like I’m some sort of freak.”

Wild snarled, baring his teeth. ‘When we visit your world, just point to whoever says that, I’ll show them some manners.’ Wild promised, and to his surprise Four laughed.

“Thank you, Wild.” Four responded, through the last of his chuckles. “That’s a lovely offer, but you don’t need to.”

Wild smiled, glad to have made him laugh. “Anytime.” His rough voice was like gravel, and Wild quickly chastised himself for talking. However, it was hard to regret when Four looked so happy about it. ‘Now, what’s good for helping you recover? You’ve been pretty out of it since the portal.’ Wild explained, sitting cross legged in front of Four.

“Uh, well.” Four thought for a moment. “Just, don’t freak out?” He requested, and Wild nodded. Four handed him the bowl of broth, reached back for his sword, glowed for a moment, and then all of a sudden there were… well, four Fours.

“This is a terrible idea.” One of them said, and Wild noticed they were in a solid purple tunic. The others were in green, blue and red. Ah, like his original tunic. Wild thought.

“Wild won’t tell, will you?” The one in red looked to him, and Wild immediately shook his head.

‘This is why you’re called Four?’ Wild asked, tilting his head slightly.

“Yep! I’m Green, this is Blue, Red, and Violet.” Green introduced, pointing to each of them in turn.

Blue scowled deeply. “If you tell the others we’ll never forgive you.”

Wild immediately drooped. ‘I will keep your secret!! Both of them!’ He signed, trying to seem as sincere as he could.

Blue looked away, but seemed to accept his promise. “Now that we’re split up, we’ll recover much faster. The portals tend to mix us up a bit when we’re together.” Green explained, and Wild nodded. He looked down at the single bowl of soup, and then up at the newly formed four heroes, and worried about his food supplies. He hadn’t been collecting as many ingredients since his adventure ended- hopefully they would find more so he didn’t run out of food trying to feed all the heroes.

“Don’t worry, we can get our own food.” Green said, reading his mind, and Wild scowled. “Or not?”

‘You will do nothing but sit and wait for food to heat up, you’re still recovering. Don’t think I don’t see you wobbling.’ Wild narrowed his eyes, and Green sat on the ground quickly, to the amusement of Blue.

Wild fed the colours, as they called themselves, and made sure to keep a pot of soup warm in case the others found them before the night was up. Wild stayed on watch, looking out for danger and friends, as the colours slept in a pile next to the fire. No one turned up during the night, as as the dawn broke Wild added more fresh damp logs to the fire, turning it smokey. He also put the pot of soup away and made crepes instead, and as the colours slowly woke they each blearily accepted a plate of pancakes and fruit. Wild fussed over them, until he heard a footstep in the forest.

‘Someone is coming. You may want to recombine.’ Wild signed, and the colours looked at each other, before shaking their heads.

“We’ve kept this secret long enough. We’ll tell everyone else as well.” Green nodded with confidence.

“We trusted them, it’s just a lot to drop on someone, yknow. Hi, nice to meet you, I am a four in one deal, make one friend get four!” Red darted a look to Blue. “Or maybe three and a half.”

Blue snorted. “Who cares. They’ll get over it quickly if they know what’s good for them.” He was savouring his pancakes too much for the others to take his threat seriously.

“We should’ve told them sooner, but trauma will do that to someone. Makes it harder to share. But you helped.” Vio looked to Wild, and he grinned happily.

‘Anytime!’ He happily signed. ‘Just let me know if anyone gives you any issues, I’ll blow them to pieces!’ Wild summoned a bomb to demonstrate, and Vio’s eyes went wide at the sight of the glowing blue ball, the rest of the colours somewhat curious as well.

“You can make bombs on command?!” Vio exclaimed, seeing the usefulness of that function while adventuring.

‘Sort of. I can show you!’ Wild sat down next to them, and showed them his slate and its many functions.

When Hyrule, the first to find their camp, finally made his way up the hill, he found them still huddled together, and after a quick explanation from the colours, he settled down as well to rest and recuperate.

When Sky, the last of the chain to find the camp, stumbled up the hill, Blue started yelling before he could even raise his hand to wave hello. “Yes there’s four of us we know now come sit down and eat some fish!”

Sky sat down and ate some fish.

The chain continued to travel now with Wild’s added enthusiasm, bow skills and love of jumping off cliffs (he claimed paragliding down them was the absolute best experience, but Sky claimed nothing was better than flying on Crimson. Legend told them both to stuff it, because sitting somewhere comfy with a warm fire was clearly better. Time pulled them apart before they could start a brawl) and they were getting on well.

Hyrule approached Wild when it was quiet one night, and asked him to keep his secret. Wild had no idea what Hyrule was talking about, but agreed to all the same. It didn’t matter as later on Time got badly hurt defending Legend, and Hyrule healed him in front of everyone. Wild then learned that Hyrule had fae blood and a little healing ability, which brought back a shadow of a memory of being in pain and being helped by a Fair Folk, the fae magic tickling his fox nose. He thanked Hyrule later on, and Hyrule made sure Wild would make apple pie for him sometime as a reward.

They passed through worlds, homes, caves, dungeons, and Wild learned a lot about the other worlds and the other Links. Still, they had yet to visit his own again, and Wild felt his homesickness like a physical ache in his chest. The others of the chain noticed, and no matter how much he reassured them, they were never fully satisfied with his attempts to dissuade their worries.

They travelled to Spirit’s world, and were travelling back from taking care of some business in Spirit’s desert temple. Some business being forty re-deads that were ever so slowly heading towards the nearest town. It was urgent, but at the same time they took two hours to travel ten paces, so it could have been a lot worse.

They were stopped on one of the train stations, and it had an amazing view of the ocean. Wild liking looking out at the white horses forming on the surface of the water, the breeze, the sun slowly edging towards the horizon and turned the sky a millions different shade of pink and orange. He took out his slate and took a picture, hoping he could show Zelda soon all of the cool places he’d been.

“Hey, Wild, need your help with something.” Spirit poked and prodded until Wild giggled and followed him, knowing it must be important if Spirit was asking him. Wild followed Spirit around as he did a couple of odd things, and then grunted as Spirit hefted a huge weight into his hands. “Hold this.” Spirit said, as if Wild had any other choice than to bear it. It was clearly mechanical, but was covered with a cloth so Wild had no idea what it did.

Spirit led him to one of the train cars behind, a flatbed one meant for carrying things that was currently empty, and gestured for him to put down his burden. Wild tried to carefully put it down, but it was pretty heavy and made a decent thud sound when it hit the floor.

“Now, we’re going to test this bad boy out. I want you to aim out into the water, where you won’t hit anything important, and try firing. I’ll show you how.” Spirit whipped off the sheet, and Wild gaped at what was underneath.

Shining parts and cogs, interlaced with tech he recognised scavenging from the guardians. It looked like some invention Purah would put together, or maybe more likely Robbie with his robot friend. Spirit gestured how to hold it, and soon it was in Wild’s hands, braced against his shoulder with one arm holding the front to adjust aim and the other on the button to fire.

“Take aim, release the safety, and fire!” Spirit sounded more excited than Wild had ever heard him, so, unwilling to make him wait, Wild did just that.

The sound of the weapon firing was so quiet, Wild didn’t realise until a minute later that all sound had simply warped for a moment, but he was busy staring at the ball of energy he shot out whizzed forward and hit the surface before exploding, obliterating everything around it in a five meter radius. The water of the ocean rushed in to fill the cater that had been created, leaving Spirit and Wild staring at it in shock.

Wild quietly put the safety back on, and his hearing returned just in time to hear Legend scream “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!” Spirit looked at him, and Wild looked at Spirit. Maybe they could pretend it was something else. They heard slow clapping from behind and turned to see Time, looking unperturbed.

“Spirit, what did I say about testing inventions?”

“Not to do it without supervision?”

“And what did you do?”

“Wild looked sad and I wanted to help him cheer up!”

Wild was very touched at the gesture, but Time was less enthused by the thought of Wild wielding a weapon that could obliterate all it touched.

After facing discipline for severely disturbing the local ecosystem, Spirit was sent back to driving only (and had all his materials confiscated), while Wild was taught the value of not blinding trusting any invention of Spirit without asking at least five questions.

‘It’s not the only weapon of mass destruction I’ve wielded. Although the one-hit obliterator also let me be killed in one hit…’

“That does not make me feel better, kit.”

They travelled back to Pan’s castle, reporting back to her about the destruction of the redeads, before another portal appeared as they travelled out of town.

The moment Wild was through it, he knew he was home. The smell was familiar, the birdsong, the wild tufts grass, the sunlight and the air. It was all his world, and he turned to Twilight to grin excitedly.

They had appeared South of Rito village, and Wild made sure to leave the chain in good company (Kayasa was very pleased to have so many heroes visit her) before he teleported to Kakariko. Time was understanding, waving him away before he could even ask to go. He had set one of his travel medallions outside of the house he had bought off Bolson, so he arrived there and quickly looked inside the house for her, and when she wasn’t there he teleported to the lab, barely fully formed before there were arms around him, and he was able to finally reunite with his lost friend.

They took a moment just to hold each other, Wild wrapping his arms around her frame and burying his face in her shoulder, ignoring everything else in favour of her safe and sound. “Link, I’m so glad you’re back, I’m sorry I didn’t realise you had been turned into a fox.” Zelda continued to ramble, clutching at Link’s tunic like he might vanish from her arms.

Link made a vaguely reassuring sound, and carefully, gently, moved back so he could pull his arms in front of himself again. ‘It’s okay, I’m okay, just on another adventure. I’m so glad to see you.’ Link smiled, and Zelda smiled back.

“I’m so glad you’re alright. I was so worried about you. Come, you can tell me everything.” Zelda pulled Link into Purah’s lab, where they sat and Link explained everything that had happened. His memories were mostly back, with only a few gaps here and there with what had happened. He’d also written down a lot to try and help put everything back together. Zelda was amazed at his travels, and the other heroes he was now working with.

“I should have known they were legends when they visited, but I was too busy thinking of you. We even tried to communicate with your shekiah slate, but I guess since you were a fox it was obscured by the transformation magic. It has been years, but I did read some books on the twilight realm in the royal library. It would be fascinating to talk to your friends again, and learn more about their worlds and history.” Zelda continued to talk while she fiddled with the slate, checking it was still functioning as Link pointed out all the pictures he’d taken for her.

Zelda snorted with laughter as Link showed her a picture of three of the heroes soaking wet on the beach and wrestling with a less than average sized fish- the fish was jumping out of Sky’s hands, who was lunging forward to try and catch it, Four was facedown on the sand having clearly tripped, and Wind was running forward staring at the fish with a truly determined look on his face. “They seemed rather serious when they visited, but it seems you’ve been having fun.” Zelda giggled.

Link nodded enthusiastically, before showing her the rest of his photos.

By the time he teleported back to the rest of the chain, paragliding down to the fairy fountain, the sun was on the way down to the horizon and the chain looked to be mildly terrified as Kayasa kept flirting with them. Time was the only one immune, as he was both immune to bullshit and married to his favourite person. Legend looked to be ready to use his fire rod at any given moment, so Wild figured it was time to move on.

Wild pulled out his slate and pulled up the map, allowing the chain to gather round. Wild handed the slate to Twilight to hold so he could sign easily. ‘We’re here.’ Wild pointed to the spot next to the fairy fountain. ‘Zelda is here.’ Hateno village. ‘Akkala is here, and we travelled down here to get to Zelda.’ The rest of the chain took a moment to comprehend the sheer size of Hyrule as Wild zoomed in and out and panned around the interactive map. ‘The gorons are here.’ Goron City. ‘The zora are here.’ Zora’s domain. ‘The gerudo are here.’ Gerudo town. ‘The rito are here.’ Rito village. ‘Hyrule castle is ruined, but still stands here, and there’s a few other settlements- Korok forest, Lurelin village, Kakariko and Tarrey town.’ Wild took a moment to fingerspell some things and point out the locations of interest.

The chain were silent for a minute, before Legend threw his hands up. “It took us bloody days just to walk from Akkala to Hateno village!! The fuck you mean that was just one side of the fucking map?! This Hyrule is insane! Is this why you’re so adept at travelling? You haven’t broken a bloody sweat no matter how fast we’ve travelled so far. This is a scam.” He huffed, rubbing his joints like they were already aching.

Wild tapped a few times and brought out his snowquill trousers, throwing them at Legend with little fanfare. When Legend finally got them off his face so he could see, Wild signed ‘Maybe if you wore trousers you wouldn’t get so cold.’

“Trousers are the devil’s work. Tights are the way to go.” Legend claimed, but he made no move to give back the fur lined clothing.

Time hummed thoughtfully while he looked over the map. “Well, if we were summoned here there might be a problem somewhere in the realm. We’ll have to keep an eye out. For the moment, we need somewhere to rest.”

‘The great fairy fountain is a safe place, but it should be mostly safe nearby as well. Although, I’m not sure what might’ve changed since I’ve been here.’ Wild signed.

Time looked at the map again. “Maybe tomorrow we should make our way towards Rito village?”

“It would be good to gain more information, and since the rito can fly they can travel faster than most races. They should know if anything’s gone wrong in the region recently.” Warriors nodded. “But since this place is safe we should set up here, get a fire going and travel in the morning when it’s light out again. I’m assuming the fairy fountain is sacred, so it’s more protected?” Wild nodded, and Warriors gestured to the small space nearby. “There’s a giant rock sort of in the way, but we should be able to fit in a fire and sleep here. The cliffs around help protect us as well. Do you have many flying creatures, Wild?”

As the chain set up camp and Time and Warriors questioned Wild on the dangers of his world, the sun crept ever closer as the sky turned to night. They had dinner (Wild made soup and butter apples for dessert) and settled down for the night around the campfire. As the chain murmured and spoke quietly with each other, Wild gazed around the group.

They were an odd bunch, but they were family, maybe by blood but definitely by choice. They had been thrust together without warning, but Wild would follow any of them to the ends of the timeline if they needed him. He settled down next to Twilight, and nudged him slightly. “Hm? What is it, kit?” Twilight asked, clearly a little sleepy already.

The rest of the chain had explained some things about their adventures, but Wild hadn’t said much yet. None of the chain had mentioned it, which Wild had appreciated, but it was time he explained everything.

‘I would like to tell the story of my adventure, if that’s alright?’ Wild signed, and Twilight took a moment to even register what Wild had signed, blinking before looking up at him.

“Are you sure, kit? You know we don’t need-”

‘I know, I just want to.’ Wild signed, and realised that everyone had already noticed and had gone quiet, patiently waiting for him. ‘I don’t know everything about your journeys, but mine was a little, uh,’ He grinned with too sharp teeth. ‘Wild.’

That worked, Time chuckling as Wind grinned. They all got settled properly to hear Wild’s story, Legend sharing his blanket with Hyrule as Warriors passed Sky some warm milk Wild had made earlier. Four and Spirit shuffled forward so they could sit closer and see Wild clearly as he signed.

‘It was dark, and I was cold, and I when I woke up I was alone.’ Wild signed, feeling the chill of the resurrection chamber even when it was miles away.

Then he looked up at his family, and he didn’t feel so cold anymore.