Archive of Our Own ^beta

Link sits, staring into the fire. The sound of stal monsters sounds from nearby, but link pays no mind. He’s wearing his radiant set, so they won’t attack. Instead he focuses on his breathing, closing his eyes as he listens to the sound of the wilds around him. 

Wild. That was his name, once, a long, long time ago. Even now, all these years later, it still hurts. But it does no good to linger on such things. They were gone, and at some point in between almost dying and learning to live without impeding doom, he had accepted that. He missed them, obviously, missed them with all his heart, but they would have wanted him to move on. So he had. 

Now he sits, tapping into his magic, just like Zelda taught him. Just like Rauru and Mineru taught him. 

Their spirits had finally moved on, after all these years, and though he was sad to lose them, he was glad they were finally at peace. But they left behind one gift each. From Rauru, link was able to keep the Zonai arm, allowing him to fight normally. And from Mineru, he received her Secret Stone. 

For Zelda, they turned her Hylian again- or at least mostly. Link had also received some overflow dragon magic, making them 

Hylian-dragon hybrids. He was still learning to live with the effects of the transformation, namely the unclear lifespan. 

Dragons were immortal, and can’t die. Link and Zelda were theoretically immortal, unless killed in combat, according to Mineru, and So far, all the evidence pointed towards it. 

But, that was a problem for future him. Right now he needed to get control of his newly amplified magic. Where Mineru had been the sage if spirit, link was the sage of cycle, meaning the cycle of life and death, a fitting name for the hylian who’s spirit was reincarnated in an endless cycle. 

His ears twitched, bringing him back to the present. He grabbed his bow, looking around for the source of whatever alerted him, eyes locking in on a patch of shadow. 

“Show yourself,” he growled, and it was a real growl, his vocal cords having been altered slightly during his transformation. Out of the darkness a cloaked figure stepped tentatively forward. Link’s eyes narrowed as he drew back the bowstring, an arrow already in hand. 

“Give me one reason to not shoot you.” The person took off their hood.

“It’s me, Cub.” 

Link stood frozen, watching the person with wide eyes as the information sunk in. He stepped forward, tears brimming in his eyes, when he came to his senses. 

‘Twilight’s’ voice was just slightly off, like an echo of someone- something- else layered in top, so subtle that no one else would have noticed. 

Link noticed. 

“How dare you wear his face.” And then he charged.