Chapter Text
They’d hardly gotten a corridor away before Warriors cracked.
“So, Twi and Midna, huh?”
“I know right!” Artemis practically squealed, her hands raising to fan herself, “That was soooooo intense.”
Legend gave a longsuffering sigh.
“Did you two just drag me here to gossip about Twilight after hooking him up with his ex?”
Warriors looked at him aghast.
“I… never considered that option…”
“Yes,” Artemis cut in, “but, you’ve only heard the way he talks about her. I’ve heard how she talks about him. There’s no chance.”
Legend heaved an even heavier sigh and crossed his arms with a scowl.
“You absolutely did, didn’t you. I had shit I was trying to do tonight, Wars!”
“No, I didn’t bring you here baselessly,” Warriors said, suddenly looking a little nervous. Legend narrowed his eyes expectantly. The Captain hesitated.
“Link said there were two of you with unknown, missing companions,” Artemis revealed delicately. A pang went through Legend’s chest, his pace stuttering to a stop. They waited for him.
She continued, “We didn’t want to facilitate any heartbreak, so I simply requested your presence.”
Legend rubbed his face with both hands and groaned loudly. Nothing like a sucker punch to end your day. Wars might owe him a drink as well as library access.
“I’m sorry,” the man winced when Legend glared at him, “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
The idea was there to snap at him, for being an insensitive, nosy idiot. But… the look on Twilight’s face when he saw his lingering heartbreak and apparent Queen of the Twilight Realm flashed through his mind. If that had been him?
Legend scoffed bitterly and locked his hands behind his head as he resumed walking, “Whatever. Which way are we headed?”
The Captain’s mask slipped back on at the dismissal, smirk firmly in place. Sometimes Legend couldn’t stand how easily Warriors did that. He’d never been a good liar himself.
“Are you telling me that you, Legend, The One True Critic Incarnate, have no opinions on the Twilight and Midna situation?” the Captain leaned in conspiratorially as he and Artemis caught up. She turned the next corner, tilting her head in agreement. Beneath their combined stares, Legend finally crumbled.
“I didn’t expect the rancher’s missing love interest to be the Twilight Queen. Though the title makes more sense.”
“And the dark magic, actually,” Warriors added on, “He’d have to be familiar with it. Midna grew up in shadows and it shows.”
“Yes,” Artemis jumped in shamelessly, reacting to Legend’s judgmental disbelief, “When she fought with us, she had a powerful mastery of dark magic and some ancient artifacts called Fused Shadows. Dangerous stuff, but she wielded it all with the skill and care of a great leader. It was the dark artifacts used for a good cause that led us to putting the pieces together.”
Legend knew he’d never be comfortable with dark magic. But he also knew Twilight, trusted him at his back, and worked under the premise that he’d defend every last one of them with his life. It still made him uneasy.
“Do you remember that time Midna started crying over a rare fish. I wonder if that’s related to Twi. I don’t know if the Twilight Realm has fish… or water…” Warriors trailed off.
“What?!” Legend sputtered, pointing at both of them in quick succession, “What the hell kind of place doesn’t have water? I thought the Twilight realm was like Lorule, but weirder.”
The Princess and her Captain exchanged a sharp glance before Warriors turned to him.
“Do… you happen to know someone named Ravio?”
Legend tripped, foot catching on air hard enough that he flailed his arms to balance, almost knocking into Warriors. He grabbed the man by his shoulders and yanked him down the inch it took to be at his level. He could feel his eye twitching.
“Are you telling me that Ravio was here?!”
Wars winced at his volume, but he had the look of someone on the brink of solving a puzzle.
“Oh, there is no bloody way, are you—?”
The Captain’s eyes shot wide and in a swift motion, he knocked Legend’s hands off his shoulders by grabbing him on his upper arms.
“Are you the Brave, Kind, Generous, Mr. Hero he wouldn’t shut up about?”
Legend felt his face flush and he kicked at the other's ankle, using the sidestep as the soldier dodged to twist out of his grasp.
“Shut the hell up, dumbass. He’s a salesman, of course he plays shit up for the audience.”
Artemis tittered, covering her mouth with her hand.
“Oh, it wasn’t for anyone but himself. He sounded like a lovestruck fool half the time.”
Legend hadn’t thought he could get more flustered, but it was suddenly like he’d been hit by his own Fire Rod. He snarled at their speculative glances.
“Don’t you fucking start! Ravio is… a trusted friend of mine. That’s all.”
Warriors snickered.
“Funny how I’ve never heard you call anyone else a friend before. I wasn’t sure you had any.”
“I do. Now drop it!”
Artemis turned, a wide grin and nerve-wracking glint in her eyes.
“Well, if you’d rather return to the original topic at hand…”
She opened a hidden door and led him through a servants’ corridor. The narrow walls were making it extremely cramped as Wars followed behind. Artemis spun around, still walking easily backward, with an intense stare. Legend found himself leaning in as she whispered.
“The Twilight Realm is a long-forgotten prison for ancient heretics, from what I understand.”
Legend’s mind blanked for a long moment. The only sound was their shoes scuffing on the stonework.
“And you trusted her when she told you that?!” he exploded, waving his hands around, wincing as he knocked his knuckles into a beam, “Are you seriously telling me that a possibly immortal sorceress with very dangerous magic and a grudge against the forces you represent just appeared and you… let her in ?”
Warriors coughed as Artemis shook her head serenely, turning forward and cutting out into a main hall again.
“Well, when she first arrived, she’d been cursed into the form of an imp, apparently for the second time. We had no idea how powerful she was until later, just that she had information on our enemy, Zant, and was willing to share in return for her safety.”
“And this Zant guy was worth the risk of basically trusting a monster during the war?”
“Yes.”
He snapped his head over to Wars at the serious reply. His expression looked a little haunted. Artemis nodded solemnly and stopped them at a guarded set of doors with quills and fluttering pages carved in the arch. And some spellwork too, it looked like. The resonance was high quality… and subtly familiar.
Legend narrowed his eyes and stepped up to study the wood. He traced a finger down the curve of a letter hidden in the engravings, feeling it resonate under his touch in a very specific way.
“Did you commission this from Rav?”
Warrior’s frowned, looking at Artemis.
“No,” she replied slowly, “not that I’m aware of anyway. Is something wrong?”
“…Nope.”
No other answer forthcoming, Legend rubbed his budding headache and shoved open the doors. The massive room was several stories tall, bigger than any collection he’d ever seen. He took a moment to absorb the sheer amount of knowledge gathered here. His eyes flicked over to the librarian at the desk in the center, the only other staff.
He spotted a map of the library laid into the wall and headed that way, scanning the area. The lack of guards on the inside was very conspicuous.
“Have you seen Ravio since the war? Had any contact? I’ve never heard him mention anything about this place.”
Warriors and Artemis were trailing behind him, seeming intent on sticking around until he chased them off. The Princess replied as he studied the map, then headed to the stairs. The section with rare artifacts was in the back, near another door.
“Yes, he is one of the easiest ones to find actually. From what I understand, he seems to be running a delivery business. We’ve gotten a few rare supplies from him, though his prices are pretty steep.”
“You're telling me ?” Legend snorted.
Placing a hand on another carved door frame, he swung his head around the corner. He clocked at least three forgeries off the bat, one of which looked like a necklace from his own house. Transportation magic buzzed under his fingertips. It was keyed to be inactive except for a single person. Or, two, technically, since they were one and the same.
“Goddesses damn it, you moronic, reckless, rabbit-headed, fluff-for-brains! When I get aholda you I oughta—”
Legend went for a while, getting really creative, even for him, until he ran out of air. He sucked in a deep breath to cuss his roommate some more, only for Warriors to grab his shoulder, face concerned.
“Dare I know what Ravio has done here?”
Legend hissed out a long sound through his teeth. He couldn’t let that idiot get arrested here of all places.
“No,” he ground out, “I’ll fix this myself, don’t worry about it.”
“Well, now I am.”
Legend rolled his eyes.
“It’s nothing ,” he stressed, “just Ravio being stupid. I wasn’t really interested in this area anyway.”
He could feel Artemis and Warriors staring at him as he stomped back towards the first floor. They followed again, though he could hear them murmuring to each other just out of reach. Clenching his jaw, his frustration found an outlet. He whipped around, glaring.
“Either you two need to share with the class or fuck off. I am not in the mood.”
The Captain’s brows furrowed, and he actually looked wary long enough to notice. Artemis was the one who spoke up.
“It’s just that we know very little of Lorule, beyond it being a mirror of Hyrule. And he has always been vague with his… allegiances.”
Legend pinched the bridge of his nose. He was going to evict that bastard. Burn his precious hat. Throw his shit out on the lawn. Organize his own loot…
Well, maybe not.
“Ravio is trustworthy,” he said firmly, looking into Artemis’s eyes, then the Captain’s, “I don’t know why he… did what he did up there, but I know that if I talk to him, he’ll let me fix it. And it’s nothing dangerous.”
They both studied him, then each other. Artemis nodded at Wars and he turned back, squaring his shoulders.
“Alright, Legend. I’m trusting you. But I want you to let me know when it’s resolved. At that point he can’t get in trouble for something there isn’t evidence for, right?”
Legend shot Warriors an annoyed look of gratitude.
“Deal.”
Artemis clapped abruptly, making both Heroes jump.
“Well, now that shady bargains have been made to preserve Ravio’s reputation. We have to head to the Greeting Hall.”
She shot Warriors a regretful look and he grimaced and straightened his scarf.
“Right, I’m with you. Let’s see what he wants.”
Who even had meetings this late? The sun had already set. Legend had half a mind to ask them. But, if he had Rav to watch out for, he better not push too hard. He waved them off, finding the map again and looking for the section with magical records. He had some research to do.