Chapter Text
Link could feel the townsfolk stare into his back as he docked the Spirit Train at the Castle Town platform, maneuvering his way out of the conductor's cabin and stepping foot onto solid ground.
The boy nervously brushed his palms on his trousers, cleaning the soot from his hands yet again. He glanced around the crowd of people trying to discreetly observe him, ducking behind counters, doors, and walls. Unusual..
Reworking his stance, Link stood tall and took a deep breath in. He began to make his way over to the castle gates. They loomed over his small stature. Few guards looked at him, surprised. Footsteps hit the ground in an even manner, the short distance seemingly stretching on for miles. Whispers echoed through the streets, until finally Link found himself standing in front of the tall gates, guards already prepared to allow him passage.
Link held up the yellow parchment with a royal seal, “I have been requested to sit into an audience with Princess Zelda.” His voice bounced off the walls, instantly clearing out the hushed voices. He nodded to the guards respectfully as they stamped their spears into the ground and opened the gates.
Slowly, Link made his way through the castle gates, glancing around at the familiarity of the gardens before his gaze reached the doors. The guards stood to the sides, sparing him a glance. Link sighed, wiping his hands yet again before opening the doors.
Inside, The engineer made his way to the top of the stairs. Not finding Zelda there, he swiftly turned his head from side to side. Link held the bridge of his nose as he noticed a bit of chatter in the dining hall. With haste, he threw the doors open and was met with eight sets of eyes on him.
Link was taken aback for a moment, his eyes wandering to their faces, garb, and finally their weapons. His hand itched as he flexed it, holding back the urge to grab for the sword strapped on his back. His eyes met one of the men, hair a surprising tint of pink. Slowing down, he cleared his throat.
“Where’s Princess Zelda?” Link croaked, noticing the girl was nowhere in his line of vision.
The Pink-haired one rolled his eyes, scoffing. “She’s been in that room,” He pointed to the door that led to Zelda’s study. “With our Sailor for the whole day.” He smirked, “If you want to try your luck with them, go right ahead.”
Link swiveled his head to the study door, baffled. She barely let Link ever go in there after the time he had left the window open unattended, her papers nowhere to be found afterwards. Link turned his head over to the pink-haired man, as if to ask, really? Waiting a few moments, he turned back towards the door with a huff, wiping his hands yet again and began to make his way towards the study.
Link’s movements were stiff, his body was tense with a weird sense of anticipation. As he grew closer and closer to the door, it built up more and more, causing his movements to shake. Before he could even reach for the handle, the door opened.
“Such a humorous tale!” Princess Zelda hummed, smiling wide at the figure by her side. The figure laughed, and the familiarity of it struck Link right down to his core. The feeling of anticipation rushed out of Link as the figure now stood face to face with him. The figure’s eyes widened as the princess gasped from beside them. “Link! You’ve finally arrived!”
Link was frozen stiff, he couldn’t help but shake slightly as he gazed upon the boy in front of him. Said boy was also frozen, wide eyes analyzing his face. The other men shifted behind the trio, but Link could barely pay them any mind as he realized who was standing before his eyes.
“You’re.. The Hero of Winds..” Link squeaks out, taking a step back and tightly wrapping his arms around himself. He couldn’t believe it, all the stories that Niko and Alfonso told him were real. This was the hero who Link himself idolized for a brief moment in childhood, who was spoken of so highly around the land.
The Hero of Winds smiled at him and extended his hand. “Nice to meet ya’.”
Link glanced down at the hand, then back at The Hero of Wind's face. His smile seemed genuine, so Link slowly reached to grasp the extension. The Hero smiled wider, bringing up his other hand to clasp Link ‘s single one between both of his own. Link blinked as The Hero slightly squeezed his hand, shaking it firmly.
“I- Uhm..” Link stuttered, but heard a giggle and straightened out. He whipped his head over to the source and found Zelda cupping her mouth, a smile peaking just over her hand. Link flustered, embarrassed. He turned back to The Hero and smiled cheekily, rubbing the back of his head with his other hand. “Nice to meet you as well, Hero of the Winds.”
The Hero released his hand, suddenly noticing something behind Link and glaring for a moment. He huffed and rested a hand on his hip. “Please, no need for the full title,” He flapped his hand. “Call me Wind.”
Link smiled, wiping his hands on his tunic. “Wind then, a pleasure. My name’s Link, but I figure you know that already..” He grimaced, and began to play with his hands. “I was told your name was Link as well by a good friend of mine, so that may be a bit awkward.. Sorry.”
Wind laughed, scratching his face cheekily. “No no, I don’t mind. I’m more than used to it already.” He suddenly had a short realization. “Oh wait! You don’t know yet, right?”
“Know what?” Link tilted his head, but followed Wind’s gaze to the eight other visitors sitting around the Royal Dining table.
The Pink-Haired smirked, leaning back in his chair. “And so there were ten.” He tilted the chair back, much to the worry of the man beside him.
“Legend! Stop doing that, you could fall!” He squeaked in a scolding manor to the newly dubbed Legend.
Link couldn’t help but scoff. “Legend? Sounds a bit narcissistic, don’t you think?”
The man who bore a blue scarf sat up, “That’s what I said at first!” He sighed and crossed his arms. Link noticed now that the man was clad fully in a set of armor.
“We all agreed that the name fit 'em best.” The pelted man spoke up. “He has loads more experience than the lot of us.”
The multi-colored boy looked up from the book in his hands, “It arguably could have been given to Sky.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Or even the Old Man for that matter.”
“I second that notion, all in favor of renaming the Old Man to Legend say ‘I’.” The scarred man slammed his hands into the table, startling the sleeping man awake.
“I!” Wind yelled with the scarred man. Silence for a while, until the supposed ‘Old Man’ spoke up.
“We are not renaming anyone right now.” The man sighed, rubbing his eyes and turned to look at Link. “Please call me Time.”
Link smiled wearily, nodding. He looked over at Zelda, eyes pleading. He had no idea what was going on. Zelda giggled, making the men around the table pause and turn to her.
The Princess held up her hand, “Please inform Link of who you all are and why you’re here.” She side-eyed him, smirking. “He seems pretty lost..”
Link scoffed, hands on his hips. “Am not!” He sputtered, the fight in him leaving swiftly. Wind swung an arm around his shoulder, surprising Link.
“I think that sounds like a glorious idea, Princess.” He smiled, but glared at the men. The group felt sweat running as they straightened out. Wind led Link to the seat beside his own, settling him down before plopping into the seat beside him. Zelda sat politely at the head of the table, crossing her palms in her lap.
There was a short silence, before Time cleared his throat and spoke. “As I said before, you can call me Time. But my full title is The Hero of Time.”
Link fell into a stunned silence, before the scarfed one spoke, “My name is Warriors or Wars, ‘nd my title is The Hero of Warriors.”
“Twilight, Hero of Twilight.” The pelted one spoke.
“I’m Legend, The Hero of Legend and so on.” Legend waved his hand in a ‘so on’ motion.
“Please call me Hyrule, or Rule if it’s too confusing. I’m The Hero of Hyrule.”
“I’m called Wild! Hero of the Wilds!” The scarred one bared his teeth in a smile.
“Four, Hero of the Four Sword and Hero of Men.” The other boy spoke.
“‘M Sky, Hero of the Sky.” The man was still waking up.
“And I’m Wind! The Hero of Winds! But you know me already.”
Silence..
Link had no words. Heroes? He’s only heard of the Hero of Winds before.
His gaze drifted from each of the men to the other, picking out features in their faces that seemed to connect with each other. It was not logical- no, not possible.. And yet..
Gripping his tunic, Link took a deep breath in. His eyes flicked over to the Princess, then to Time.
“Heroes, the lot of you?” His breath was shaky. “I can see the resemblance, but it’s just not possible.”
“I can assure you that it is, in fact, possible.” It was Wind who spoke this time, he was still smiling, but it seemed a bit strained. “How else would I be here, flesh and blood?”
The thought made Link pause for a moment. “Yeah.. How are ya’ here anyways?” He placed a hand under his chin, looking around the table.
“It was Hylia’s doin’, no doubt there.” Twilight spoke, “We were all dropped together one day, forced to seek out this evil spreading across all of our lands.”
Link’s eyes brightened in recognition. “The black blooded monsters.” Twilight nodded as Link spoke.
“A monster from my realm, Dark Link,” The Old Man spoke up. “He’s the one spreading this curse.”
Legend huffed, crossing his arms. “The Lizard is spreading all of our monsters across different lands.”
A memory drifted across Link’s mind. On his way over, a weird rock-like creature was roaming about. The craziest thing is that it had a bunch of monsters on its back.
“Hylia brought us together to fight these monsters and stop Dark Link, or at least, that’s what we put together.” Sky spoke, he looked awake enough now. Link spotted a purple sword hilt on his back, a royal color.
Zelda sighed, gaining Link’s attention. He looked at her and saw the pain in her face. He didn’t like that look.
“Link, my brave engineer.” Zelda spoke lightly, her voice wavered. “They have come for you, to bring you along with them.”
Link jolted, sitting up quickly. “What? That can’t be the reason.” He frantically looked to all of the heroes, finding all of their faces downturn. “I’m not a hero, not like them!” This caught Wind’s attention.
“What do you mean?” Wind was confused. “Zelda told me all about your adventure with her.”
Link sputtered. “It was necessary, nothing else. I'm an engineer! I can’t- I can’t!” He spiraled, hands lifted to his head.
Zelda quickly hopped out of her seat, making her way over to him. “Link, calm down! You’re okay!” Her words didn’t help much.
Link jumped out of his chair, making a loud THUMP as it hit the ground. “I can’t go with you! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He yelped out as he ran out the dining room doors.
Wind shot up, “Wait! Link!” But it was already too late. Link was gone.
Zelda could hear the townspeople shout as he ran out of the castle gates. A few seconds later, a train whistle was heard.
Time furrowed his brow, shooting out of his chair. “What was that?”
The chain stood around the table, seats abandoned. Zelda hugged her arms tightly, hesitating for a moment before slowly turning to the group. “He left..”
Wind piped up, “Where would he go?” Zelda’s answer was short, obvious.
“Home.”