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Link was eight years old when he found his uncle guardian bleeding out in the sewers, was given a sword and shield far too big for his arm and hand, and told to save the princess.
Link was eight years old when he met Fi, the kind spirit of the Master Sword, who took one look at him and promised him that she would ensure that he will be strong enough to kill Ganon and save the princess. That promise was everything to Link, Zelda had asked him in a dream to save her and he had to, he had to. Something in his blood thrummed and he knew that it was his duty to protect the girl, even if she was two years his senior. Fi would tell him that she couldn't do that, however, unless he reforged her. She was weakened, her metal rusted and dull from centuries left soaked in the blood of her last wielder.
Fi told him about the boy who wielded her before, that he had died, how Ganon had crushed the boy, how his tusks had tore open the boy's stomach, how Fi had been driven into his chest and pierced his heart. Fi explained in graphic detail, and Link asked if the same would happen to him.
"If it does, would you still try and fight him?"
Link had nodded. "I would... I have to. Nobody else will."
"Then as long as you do as I tell you, then no, it won't."
Link was ten when his anger got Din captured and Fi told him to never let himself get emotional during battle.
He was ten when he met a dodongo that didn't immediately try to kill him, it was young and nice and Link thought it was a friend. Fi reminded him that monsters were monsters. Despite the way Dimitri the dodongo begged, Link killed it.
He was eleven when he let his guard down and had a bit of fun with Sir Raven, only for an attack to strike and he was caught off guard enough that Roperi was almost hurt. Fi told him to never let his guard down.
He was fourteen when he was wrecked on an island, met Marin, fell in love with her and lost her when he woke the Wind Fish. After he told Fi, she told him that emotions like that would only be a detriment and he shouldn't allow it to happen again.
He was fifteen when Fi told him he was doing well, right after he killed Octavo--who had begged for clemency and insisted he had tried to kill Ganon--without an ounce of remorse or hesitation, just a notice that Octavo was a threat and he eliminated him.
Link was nineteen when he met the heroes of times past and future.
Fi hadn't said much the past four years, she only spoke three times and it was, in moments of weakness, to remind him to keep his emotions in check, never to let his guard down, and to eliminate whatever threats he was met with, even if it didn't act like other threats.
He almost killed the other heroes on sight when he ran into the group of highly armed men, especially the one with thick darkness around him, but Fi had stopped him with a word. They were heroes, her other masters, he was to never do them harm.
Twilight was a bit concerned.
Since this whole time travel thing started, he had gotten to know his fellow heroes. He got to know Wild, who he would see again even when this all ended. He even got to meet the hero of time, his predecessor and ancestor.
It was incredible, and sure, some of the heroes weren't... what he would've expected as heroes. A pompous knight, a soft and kindhearted woodcarver, two literal children who also were the ones most prone to cursing, and an almost child who was incredibly paranoid and definitely scared of blood.
But the oddest one was the cold and quiet adventuring veteran. Just overall, Legend was sharp, dismissive, and incredibly distant. He didn't talk with them, didn't get to know them beyond their names and skill sets, didn't seem to care at all. He never let his guard down, even in inns or the castle, Warriors had tried to tease him for it all but Legend's quick response was a far sharper jab that necessary for the tease Warriors had given. Wind would try to chat with him, and Legend seemed to listen, but he never actually engaged in conversation.
At least, at first that's how it was. As time went on, Twilight learned that Warriors was so obsessed with his appearance out of a fear of being judged and looked down on, of being unworthy of his station and not as 'noble' as he was expected to be. He learned that Sky could be a vicious fighter and protector, he was the first one to step up and face off a horde of monsters alone. Wind and Four were both incredibly emotionally intelligent, Wind was also very good at calculating their location and once he had a map he could get them anywhere, then Four was just intelligent on the overall, he would provide rationale and the pragmatic approach. Then Hyrule turned out to be a total powerhouse with his magic, and his fear of blood stemmed from a curse being placed on his own blood, he was also the only one who willingly stuffed his hand into a gaping wound to slow the bleeding.
Legend took the longest to figure out. Slowly, even slower than Hyrule who won their unofficial bet of "most paranoid", Legend relaxed around them. He eventually would tease Warriors, throw insults as easily as he turned on his heel, which turned out to be very quickly because he ended up telling them about how he had been a dancer for a bit! He told them a few stories rather unrelated to his quests, talked about people they reminded him of. Twilight could see Legend grow protective over Hyrule and Wind, watched him almost turn to Sky in search of approval.
It was odd, how much his personality just changed.
Then after a particularly bad battle, it flipped again.
Twilight took some time to get all the details. Legend had been fighting with Wild when a monster--nobody could agree on what, a daira, moblin, or lizalfos--had tried to attack Legend. Legend had been distracted by Wind's yelp when he barely dodged a flaming ball sent by a Wizzrobe, and Wild shoved him out of the way. Wild was fine now, but he had needed a fairy.
Twilight didn't know what it was, but Legend hadn't let go of his sword, staring down at it with a small frown, eyebrows knit, and pain in his eyes. Then it was like a switch was flipped and his expression mellowed out and went blank.
It had been two weeks since, and Legend hadn't let his guard down once, he hadn't indulged Wind with stories, hadn't chided Wild gently over his form, hadn't argued jokingly with Warriors, he was just cold and sharp all over again.
Twilight was worried. What caused the... relapse?
They found the Shadow.
After a long battle with a lot of running, Legend managed to get the Shadow at the other end of his blade. Hyrule and Wild behind him and moving quickly to join him. The rest were either injured or stayed behind with the injured, and were hallways or rooms behind them.
Legend moved to kill.
"Wait!" The Shadow--a Dark Link--exclaimed. "You wouldn't want to do that."
Legend did pause, only because he sensed dark magic flare behind him and a brief glance showed Wild stumbling back.
"Kill me and I kill them both."
Hyrule yelped as Wild--eyes blazing black--lunged at the other hero. The traveler barely deflected the first attack.
"Champion! Snap out of it!"
Legend internally cursed. The Shadow was still at his mercy, his sword at his throat, but he could feel the magic in the room. He may be fast with a blade, but the Shadow would have plenty of time to snap the cords that kept Wild alive, dark magic was powerful like that. It only really required intent once the power backed it up.
If he made on wrong move, Wild would be dead. But if he didn't move, Hyrule would die.
Except, the Shadow was a threat, it was the threat and the entire timeline hung in the balance. He had to kill it.
The Shadow grinned at him, its face uncannily like Wind's at the moment. "Let me go, and I'll let them live."
In a moment of weakness, Legend found himself saying, "Let them go permanently, and we can have this fight to ourselves another day."
He wasn't supposed to spare the enemy, under any circumstances with the sole exception of the goddess' blood being in the balance. He served the goddess, he protected her daughters, he didn't spare the greatest threat Hyrule has yet faced for the sake of some of her heroes.
But... he didn't want them to get hurt.
"Only you?" The Shadow countered.
"Wild, please!" Hyrule begged. Legend knew Wild would win their spars on a normal day, if Hyrule was holding back and Wild wasn't, there was no doubt of who would win.
Then everything froze.
"Have you forgotten what I have taught you?" Fi questioned, crystalline face somehow conveying her disappointment.
"F-Fi--"
"Have you forgotten to turn off your heart, this is not you." She shook her head. "I see you changing from how I've designed you."
Link clenched his jaw, staring at the immobile form of the Shadow.
"Have you forgotten your purpose? Let me remind you."
Memories slammed into his mind, the dozen times he went against Fi's guidance and how every single time it failed. His battles with Ganon, with Veran and Onyx, with Agahnim and Yuga, the Wind Fish, Lady Maud, Octavo-- His duty was protecting Hyrule, the goddesses bloodline, and her people. Not some heroes.
"Don’t forget that you’re a hero of a very special kind," Fi warned him. "You are the legendary hero, the greatest of them all. Don’t disappoint me."
Link didn't respond. When time clicked back into place, he met those eyes but heard Hyrule begging Wild to come back, to snap out of it.
He's still a threat until he's dead, Fi reminded him. Finish it.
No. "Only me," Legend told the Shadow.
No?
He would not let the other heroes be killed. Not on his watch.
"Not even that sword?" The Shadow challenged.
"No other spirit or soul will interfere in our fight--From either side. Deal?"
The Shadow grinned. "Deal."
Legend lowered his blade and The Shadow ran. Wild fell like a puppet with his strings cut.
He felt Fi pulse. She was upset.
He resigned himself to burned hands until the quest was over.
"That was reckless."
I know.
"You were too sentimental."
Yes.
"That is not a teaching of mine." Fi hovered before him, he had slipped away from the group in the aftermath at Fi's order and she stood there to lecture him. Like every other time he screwed up and wasn't her perfect little hero. "You've grown too soft, your dead friends will attest."
"They--"
"Put your emotions aside," she snapped. "You’re the legend, meant to teach the rest! I don’t know where I went wrong, but I warned you."
"You wanted me to get them killed!" He argued.
"In time, they'll all be gone."
"But this way I can fight him!"
"You need to learn your place."
"I can kill him without anyone else interfering!"
"Without me you won't be able to."
"I will keep my word. A fight alone and I'll win," he insisted.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You forget. You are mine."
He froze. Her crystal cracked as she drew close, no longer hiding herself.
"Listen close. In this fight, you will not disappoint me. You won't waste the time I've spent molding and designing you into a proper hero. Consider this my final warning."
He looked down, clenching his hand into a fist. "You don't own me."
She startled.
"Why are you surprised? We are the same. Used, broken, and doing our best, but unlike you, every time I screw up, I fix it myself while you put it on a child to mend."
"You’ll be killed."
"Get out of my head now."
"There is a 0% chance you'll succeed."
"I'll control my own life."
She floated back. "What a waste of energy spent."
"At least I'm out here fighting for my goddess," he retorted. "While you forged someone else into the weapon."
"Since you claim you’re so much better, why have I saved your life time and time again?"
"Leave me alone!"
They both went silent, Legend panting and shaking. He didn't know what he was doing, he didn't, but all he knew was that... damnit, he just wanted to be himself. He had that for a while there, he hadn't realized it at the time but then he realized he had been happy... He just wanted that, but he didn't want to lose Fi.
"One day, you'll hear what I'm saying. One day, you may understand. One day... but not today, for after all you’re still human."
Legend flinched, then he forced out a shaky, "Leave."
She did not respond for a long moment. "Yes, Master."
She disappeared into her sword. Legend could feel her spirit go dormant.
He closed his eyes, dropped the blade, and released a shaky breath... He just wanted to be himself with these heroes, he wanted to know them, to protect them... so why did it suddenly feel like nothing mattered at all? Not the heroes, not their safety, nor who he was.
Why was he so broken?