Chapter Text
The man with ink on his face and a wolf pelt around his wide shoulders slowly approached. His hands were raised in a show of peace as Link untangled himself from his cloak and shot to his feet. He quickly backed up until he was at the base of another tree, but didn’t jump back up into the branches.
His arm was going numb and his shoulder felt wrong. The sharp pain was subsiding but a bone deep ache told him it was likely dislocated. How the hell was he gonna climb back up like this?
“It’s okay,” the boy with dark skin said softly, like he was trying to convince a skittish cat not to run away. “We just want to talk to you.” Well, Link felt like a wild animal right about now, slowly being backed into a corner. He snarled as loudly as he could to buy time while his left hand tapped across his slate.
The two boys froze for just a second and Link felt a thunderblade materialize in his grasp. Teeth bared, he raised it up in front of himself. The other men were catching up to them now and the odds of this ending without bloodshed was growing slimmer by the second.
Ice cold panic slowly crept up his spine. Link had hoped they would just be simple travelers, if a bit overly equipped for the monsters that roamed this forest.
But then he heard them whispering about the ‘hero’ right before they decided chasing him through the forest would be a fantastic way to spend their day. He hated killing Yiga, but it seemed like that might be his only way out of this.
The younger one kept spouting off pointless platitudes likely meant to trick him into lowering his guard. Link turned to snarl at him again when he noticed the cloudy sheen to the boy’s eyes. They shimmered slightly in the light but clearly couldn’t see him, instead focusing around his general direction. His sword arm faltered for a moment and the wolf pelt guy took that as an invitation to move closer.
He instantly shut that notion down with the lowest growl he could muster, the numb tingles running through his right arm making it a bit hard to focus. He needed a plan and he needed it now.
“Holy Zephos, yer a fast one aren’t ya?” Wheezed out one of the boys leaning with his hands on his knees, a bright blue shirt with what appeared to be a… lobster on it heaving with each breath.
“Wind.” The man with the scarf said in a chiding tone and the kid rolled his eyes before straightening up.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Sorry for knockin ya out of yer tree, swabbie.” The kid, apparently named Wind, said with a surprisingly genuine note of guilt. His freckled face also seemed pretty honest. And what was that about him knocking Link over? How could he have done that? A korok leaf?
Link shook his head but kept his thundersword up, bright sparks flying off the metal edge every few seconds.
He watched as the one of the headband walked up next to the foggy eyed boy and said in a calm but precise voice, “We didn’t mean to harm you, and I promise no one here wants to. In fact,” He gestured next to him with a little grin, “Hyrule here should be able to fix your arm up good as new.”
Suspicion still filled his mind like warm honey with every word they said, but he let his blade drop slightly and looked over at the one named Hyrule. He smiled kindly, and raised his hand in a silly little wave.
“I can heal you if you just let me touch the injury for a moment. All I ask is that you hear my friends out while I do so. Does that sound like a fair exchange?" He asked with a soft voice.
Link dropped his sword down to his side and let his back fall against the tree behind him. The sword vanished into blue strings with a quick tap and was replaced by a bundle of mighty bananas. He looked around at the group, taking note of their reactions, and tossed the fruit into the center of the group.
“Are those… bananas?” asked the one with pink hair incredulously. Most of his hair was obscured by his long blue hat, but it looked like the top half might be blonde and just the ends of it were a soft shade of rosey pink.
The headband kid shrugged and whispered something to him that made the guy snort and elbow him in retaliation.
Another boy with a strange hat and coveralls cautiously poked the bundle of bananas with a stick and then jumped behind Wind when they tipped over. He laughed and smacked the boy's hat off with a lop-sided grin.
“Aw, did the fruit try ta get cha?” Wind teased and was flipped off by a leather gloved hand while the boy grumbled and brushed the dirt of his hat. The two looked frighteningly similar. Were they brothers?
None of the rest were trying to grab the forbidden bananas, so they likely weren’t going to kill him as soon as they got close enough. Probably. Link clicked his tongue once before nodding to the boy that wanted to heal him.
Pink haired guy murmured something quietly to Hyrule. His eyes glittered green for a second before his face brightened and he slowly approached him.
Despite his kind demeanor, Link still eyed the boy warily as he stepped closer. One hand hovered above his slate while Hyrule gently held up the other, poking and prodding at his shoulder to feel the injury.
“May I explain now?” The man with one eye asked. Link raised an eyebrow and then nodded again. The feeling of his arm being moved made him want to grimace, but he kept his face as even as possible. Showing weakness in front of strangers was never a good idea.
“Very well then.” His eyes roamed over the scars covering the left side of Link’s face and the corner of his mouth twisted into a small frown. “We are here to find the hero of this land. A darkness has been spreading through our worlds and the goddess Hylia has gathered us together to fight it”.
He paused to gauge Link’s reaction. He got nothing in return except a slow blink as Hyrule’s hands began to warm against his shoulder. He glanced down to watch his small hands begin to glow a soft green while the warmth melted into his bones.
The boy’s eyes reflected the light strangely, the cloudy color speckled with little green sparks that looked almost like stars in an otherwise stormy sky. He looked away and instead focused on the one speaking.
“The monsters we battle bleed black and are much stronger than they should be. Have you encountered this as well?” Link furrowed his brow but nodded. “Then I believe Hylia wishes for another hero to join our adventure. Would your name happen to be Link?”
He hesitated for a second and then clicked his tongue. The man with ink frowned thoughtfully and then stepped forward just as Hyrule stepped back. Link cautiously rolled his shoulder and was mildly surprised to find it good as new, just as promised.
”Do you prefer not to speak?” The man signed to him, his motions slow and clear. Link tipped his head curiously and raised his hands in return.
”My voice doesn’t work well. Speaking is hard. You use sign too?”
He smiled with unnaturally sharp teeth and knocked his hand in the motion for ”Yes.”
”My name’s Twilight, glad to meet you.” The signs were a little different from the ones he knew, the movements flowing together slowly and seeming to almost drawl a bit, but it was easy enough to figure out.
He could feel the tension slowly slipping from his shoulders but made sure to stay on guard as the others silently watched their conversation. ”You too. My name is-” his thumbs and pointer fingers loop through each other in two loose circles, ”Link”. For a moment he paused, and then continued much slower, ”But I’m not the hero.”