Chapter Text
Legend fell out of the portal and landed in the water with a splash.
The stupid fucking portal had dropped them over a lake again, hadn’t it? He hated when it did that. Not only did no part of him enjoy being wet and cold, especially when his joints decided to get in on the complaints, but holding back his transformation also took a lot more energy and magic than he was comfortable with. He swam to the surface, ready to look for the nearest path to land (and also maybe to check on the others to make sure they weren’t drowning; he wasn’t heartless), and…
Water stretched as far as the eye could see, and further still, on to the edges of the world. This was an ocean, not a lake. Wind’s world, maybe?
The sky above enclosed the world, bright blue dotted with fluffy white. It thankfully didn’t look like it would storm soon, but Legend knew how quickly that could change on the water.
Notably, none of the other heroes dotted the waves. The portal above that had dumped him here had disappeared. Great, a separation portal. Legend loved those.
He rolled his eyes, and then ducked under the water to let the transformation take hold. He’d need it to traverse the water. It shuddered through him. Bones scraped past each other. His skin stretched and snapped and split, legs forming one appendage and gills opening along his sides and neck. Scales pushed their way to the surface. His nails lengthened into piercing claws, and his teeth sharpened into deadly fangs. His clothes disappeared with the transformation, leaving him with only his jewellery and bag.
When it was over, Legend picked a direction at random and swam off. Hopefully, he’d find a current that would lead him to land soon.
---
It had been a week since the portal had dropped him in the ocean. He was yet to find land. Fish had, unfortunately, been rare to come across. Even more unfortunate, monsters had been far less rare. A steady trail of iron-red leaked from his side, where one of the shark-monster things he’d encountered had gotten lucky. He had a whole pack of them, black-blooded, chasing him now.
Between the bad hunting and how difficult it was to use actual weapons under the water, Legend was a bit surprised the encounter hadn’t gone worse. Sure, he’d passed hunger into ‘dizzy and ready to black out at a moment’s notice’ five hours ago, his arm was broken, half his body was bruised, he was pretty sure the bite mark on his side had fucked something up with his gills because he felt like he wasn’t getting enough oxygen, and it had started storming 2 hours ago, but he’d managed to escape from that pack first. He could tell from the currents that land was up ahead closely. This wasn’t as bad as it could be.
Land meant that he could get out of the water. He wouldn’t be able to transform back until the rain stopped, but he also was less likely to be eaten by monsters that didn’t look like they could leave the ocean.
He raised his head out of the water to check again how far out he was. The coastline was visible this time, and hope swelled in his chest. It was a tiny island, barely large enough to support the small grove of palms growing on it, but Legend much preferred not being eaten.
He ducked back under the water. He could tell that he was slowing down. The small vibrations the shark-things made as they moved through the water told Legend they were gaining on him. He’d have to hurry.
---
He started running on autopilot.
Lift his head out of the water to check he was still going the right way.
Dive back down where the storm swells didn’t bother him as much.
Swim a ways.
Get distracted by small fish that were too little and too fast to be worth chasing.
Remember that he himself was being chased by monsters.
Lift his head out of the water to check he was still going the right way.
Dive back down where the storm swells didn’t bother him as much.
Swim a ways.
Get distracted by small fish that were too little and too fast to be worth chasing.
Remember that he himself was being chased by monsters.
Lift his head out of the water to check he was still going the right way.
Dive back down where the storm swells didn’t bother him as much.
Swim a ways.
Get distracted by small fish that were too little and too fast to be worth chasing.
Run into a sand bar.
…Hold on.
Legend blinked and realised that the ocean had gotten shallow enough that the floor was just beneath him. He lifted his head up out of the water and, yes, the island was right there!
He got as close as he could, sand scraping along his underside and getting caught in his scales. It didn’t take long for there to not be enough room to swim, and then he was pulling himself along with his one working forearm, the other tucked close to his side so that the waves wouldn’t bother the break as much. It still hurt every time the waves pushed past him, and he had to bite down moans of pain.
He was almost there when blinding pain raced up his body. He screamed as razor-sharp teeth bit into the very sensitive flesh of his tail fin. He didn’t want them to tear through, but he couldn’t stop the instinctual thrash.
The teeth let go, but Legend didn’t have time to orient himself before a second bite landed just a bit further up his tail. He screamed again. His arm gave out, and his vision faded.
The teeth let go. A third bite was coming. Would it tear off his caudal fin? Would it bite higher instead, going for the gills to cut off his air supply? Would-
A hand grabbed Legend’s forearm and tugged. His vision faded back in, and he blinked blurry eyes at the dark hand pulling him to shore.
Someone, somewhere, yelled. His arm was dropped. Time skipped, and Legend was on the beach, peering through the rain as a dark figure fought off the sharks in the water.
He blinked, and then the figure was kneeling next to him and shaking him. They were talking, but Legend couldn’t hear what they were saying. They were little more than a dark smudge against the stormy sky.
Lightning flashed overhead, and the thunder rumbled through him like an earthquake. Pain echoed throughout his body, becoming louder and louder.
Legend succumbed to the darkness.
---
Consciousness came to him slowly.
The world was cool but not cold, and seemed to swirl around him lightly. His side and tail ached, but no where near as bad as he remembered.
He remembered a dark figure pulling him to safety, but nothing after that. Who was that? What had happened?
He hadn’t gotten eaten, at least. That was always a benefit.
Legend opened his eyes. Grey stone had been carved into a deep pool, which he laid at the bottom of. The pool had been filled with water — fresh water, much to the relief of his gills; sure, he was built to handle oceans, but the one he’d been in had been a bit too saline for his comfort. His throat still felt sore from it.
Moving his tail gently so as to not jostle his injuries, he swam up to the surface of the pool. The entire room was made out of the same carved grey stone. It was lit dimly by lights Legend couldn’t see. The pool water overflowed the edges and slightly flooded the floor of the room. Watery echoes bounced off the walls, but it was otherwise quiet. The architecture didn't really look like any of the others’ eras, but he also hadn’t spent enough time in any particular era, save his own, to say for sure.
As he studied the room, a door that Legend hadn’t noticed opened, and a shadowed figure stepped through. They seemed to jump at the sight of him.
“Oh, you’re awake! Here, let’s turn on some lights so that you can see.”
The figure made a motion with their hands, and the room became blindingly bright for a minute before Legend’s eyes adjusted. He still couldn’t tell where the light was coming from.
Able to see, he realised that the figure wasn’t hidden in shadow but instead had skin so dark it looked black. They were actually fully monochrome apart from their red eyes, their clothes mostly dark grey and hair a shock of white like the Sheikah. Underneath the odd colouring, they looked a bit like Sir Raven, if maybe a few years younger, and Legend couldn’t help finding himself trusting them, just a bit.
“Who-?” he tried to say, but the salt irritation in his throat stopped his words dead.
Thankfully, it seemed the person knew what he was trying to ask. “My name’s Link, but you can call me Dark. I’m from a different realm, which is why I look like this.” Dark gestered to himself. “I rescued you from the gyorgs and brought you here, where it’s safe. Your name is also Link, but you go by Legend, right?”
Legend nodded. How did he know that? He tilted his head, trying to portray his confusion without irritating his throat further.
Dark’s eyes widened, and then he looked contrite. “Oh, sorry. I’ve overheard you speaking with the other heroes before. I… I was too shy to say hi. I know I’m supposed to be a hero of courage, but I’m really not very brave.”
Legend was now reminded of Ravio, his housemate who was simultaneously both the most annoying man in the world and also incredibly endearing.
Legend raised his hands to sign. His claws got in the way a bit, but hopefully it’d be at least somewhat intelligible. ‘I need to get back to them, but I could introduce you?’
Dark recoiled in horror. “Go back? To them?”
Legend frowned but nodded. What was so weird about his request? Obviously he needed to go back to the other heroes, they had a quest to complete.
“But they hurt you! They said all those mean things! Why would you want to go back?!”
Hurt him? Mean things?
Twilight's annoyed glare flashed through his mind, quickly followed by Warriors’ many insults and Time’s disappointed frown. He slumped slightly in the water. Even Hyrule had been drifting away more and more recently despite his best efforts.
Okay, maybe Dark did have a point. Why was he staying with people that hated him? Still…
‘I need to finish the quest,’ Legend signed.
Dark sighed. “Okay, but you need to heal first! You’re still injured.”
Legend couldn’t help his scowl at the thought, but he was forced to agree. He’d be much more effective if he was healed first. Besides, Hyrule was always telling him to wait and heal, and, even if his successor had started to hate him, Legend could at least try to listen.
“I don’t have any red potions — they don’t really work on me — and I checked in your bag and you don’t have any either.”
Legend abruptly realised that he no longer had his bag with him. Dark must have taken it at some point. He was a bit concerned about that point, but he consoled himself with the knowledge that Dark had just wanted to make sure he didn’t have any healing supplies that could be used on him. Besides, surely Dark would give him his bag back soon, now that he was awake.
“I do, however, have this herb mixture that I can put into the water filters. They’re magical, so they’ll make you a bit tired, but you should be good in about a week.”
A week?!
Seeing his shock, Dark pointed out, “Without the herbs, you’d likely be recovering for a month. Those bites were bad. I had to give you stitches while you were out — don’t tear those, by the way.”
Legend stared down at his tail, and, sure enough, there were indeed neat stitches running along his side near his gills and on his tail near his left fluke. The tan colour of the thread blended in with the pink of his scales.
“I would have put the herbs in the filters to begin with, but I wasn’t sure how receptive you would be if you woke up with their magic in the water.” That had probably been a good call; Legend would definitely have freaked out. “I’ll go put them in now. The filters are next door. I’ll grab you some food while I’m out. You just relax.”
Dark left the room, Legend sunk back beneath the surface of the water and tried to do as he’d been told. After a few minutes, he started being able to taste the herbs. They were strange, but not unpleasant. The tiredness Dark had mentioned hit him almost immediately.
Legend sank to the floor of the pool, already fast asleep.
---
The first few days of his recovery, Legend spent a lot of time asleep. He felt almost weak, like all of his energy had been drained. Dark said it was normal. Most of the time he was awake, he floated at the surface of the pool, listening to Dark ramble on. The other hero didn’t mind if Legend didn’t sign a response — didn’t think him weird or antisocial for just wanting to listen — and he also had no issues if Legend just wanted to be left alone.
The first time Legend had snapped at Dark to shut up, he’d been overridden with guilt and had mourned yet another lost friend, until Dark had smiled and apologised. Legend had stared in shock as Dark walked away, and he’d been even more amazed when he’d returned the next day like nothing had happened.
The fourth day, however, Legend noticed that his scales were dulling. The pink that normally covered him — the one that matched his rabbit form and the streak in his hair — had faded to an off-white colour. It was strange. He was eating well; Dark kept bringing him fish and vegetables that nearly matched Wild’s prowess in the kitchen. The water was constantly cycled and filtered — he hadn’t had any issues breathing stale water nor had he noticed algae growing. He really couldn’t think of what the issue could be.
When Dark brought him his breakfast, Legend leaned to the side so that his tail floated to the surface and gestured at it with a confused-concerned hum.
Dark stared at his tail for a second. “Is something wrong, Legend?”
“It’s all pale and shit,” Legend said, finding, with great relief, that the salt-irritation in his throat had finally faded.
Dark tilted his head with a concerned frown, and then he knelt at the edge of the water and placed the tray to the side. He reached out and put a hand on Legend’s forehead.
Legend had to stop himself from instinctively recoiling at his friend’s touch.
Dark removed his hand after a moment. “You aren’t running a temperature. Are you feeling okay?”
Fear made itself known behind Legend’s sternum. Apart from the expected weakness from the medicine… “I feel fine, the scales just look pale.”
Dark shot him a pitying look that grated on his nerves. He pushed it down for the time being. “Legend, they’re not pale. If anything, they’re more vibrant than when you arrived. You’ve been healing really nicely…. Do you have a history with hallucinations?”
The last bit was said hesitantly, like it would help any with the ice the trickled down Legend’s spine at the words. Yes, he had a history with hallucinations. He had a present with hallucinations. He’d had them since the island and maybe even before; it was hard to know if something wasn’t real without someone there to confirm or deny.
Legend didn't know what his face was doing, but the answer to Dark’s question must have been obvious because he quickly brought his hands up into a placating gesture. “It’s okay! I can help. You just ask me what’s real, and I can tell you.”
It was a tactic he’d used before, when with people he could trust. Ravio had helped him identify hallucinations multiple times. Gulley had helped a few times, too. He… hadn’t told the other heroes about having hallucinations.
Still, it required Legend to identify that there might be something wrong to ask about in the first place, and thus wasn’t a perfect solution. Nonetheless, it was the best one he had, and so he nodded at Dark.
Dark gave him a sweet smile in return and then handed him his breakfast. As Legend began to eat, he started his usual ramble. Legend was relieved at the return to normalcy.
---
A hand splashing the surface of the water awoke Legend from his nap. A quick flick of his tail — almost better, although the hallucination that it was faded to a sickly colour was still going strong — brought him to the surface, though it took a lot more energy than he was used to.
Standing over his pool was Wind, who beamed at Legend. “We found you! We were so worried about you.”
“You were?” Legend asked incredulously. He’d expected the rest to want him back because he’d been assigned as part of the quest and his knowledge was useful, but he hadn’t actually expected them to care.
Wind nodded. “The portal scattered us, but almost everyone was on the same island. I portaled in on my boat, and Wild was able to direct me to them with his slate, but we couldn’t find you. I was scared you’d been dropped in the middle of the ocean somewhere and drowned!”
Legend elected not to reveal that he had, in fact, been dropped in the middle of the ocean. “Well, I didn’t drown, as you can see.”
“Yeah! The tail’s cool, by the way. How’d you get it?”
“Long story. Anyway, I found a new hero. His name’s Dark-”
Like he’d been summoned, the door opened and Dark walked in. Legend waved at him to let him know that Wind, who he might not recognise, was okay to be around, and then turned back to the kid…
…who wasn’t there.
Legend looked around for a second, before realisation hit him so hard he almost slipped back beneath the surface of the water.
“Are you okay?” Dark asked.
Legend shivered and shook his head, blinking hard. He wrapped his arms around himself. “Happened again. Shit.”
“The hallucinations are getting worse, aren’t they?”
Legend could only nod.
“I’ll bring you some things to do for when I’m not here. Maybe that will help. I'll also ask around for if anyone I know has any other ideas to help.”
Dark left, and Legend sunk back into the water, feeling miserable.
---
Dark had brought him some hand-held puzzle box things. They were glass cubes with mazes inside of them. In the mazes were tiny metal balls, which Legend had to navigate through. They were actually sort of fun.
Also, the glass meant that he could bring them under water, which helped him twist them around properly.
Today, however, he was working at the surface, arms keeping him at the pool’s edge. With how tired he was all of the time, it was often easier to have the anchor point. He’d have pulled himself out of the pool, except he wouldn’t be able to transform back to hylian with all the water on the floor, and it wouldn’t have mattered if he could because this was the only room in the building suited for hylians. The outside world was similar to the dark world, Dark had said, and Legend wasn’t very interested in becoming a cute pink bunny rabbit right now.
So, he floated at the surface, played with the puzzles, and ignored the fake spiders wriggling at the edges of his vision and the faux yelling coming from somewhere in the distance.
The door slammed open, bouncing off the wall with the force. Behind it was Hyrule, chest heaving like he’d run a long way.
“Legend! You’re okay! Thank Hylia, Vet!”
Hyrule ran up to him, though he visibly paused at the sight of his tail. Legend wished his predecessor was real.
“Come on, we’ve got to go. Time and Twilight can only keep Dark occupied for so long…. You can change back, right?”
Legend sighed and refocused on the puzzle cube he’d been working on. It had two different mazes curled around each other, which he had to solve at the same time. It was slow-going.
“Ledge. Come on. I’m sorry we were late. We would’ve been here sooner if we could.”
One of the balls rolled into the next part of the maze, but the other moved backwards and Legend growled at it slightly.
“Please don’t ignore me, Legend,” Hyrule said quietly. He sounded like he was crying.
Legend couldn’t help but look up at him. Tears were welling in Hyrule’s eyes. Fuck, Legend hated seeing him cry.
“You’re not real, Hyrule,” Legend said, and then immediately cursed himself for acknowledging the hallucination.
“Wha- Of course I’m real. Here, let me prove it.” Hyrule grabbed onto Legend’s hand.
Legend nearly recoiled in surprise. His hand was warm. Legend could feel Hyrule’s hand! He stared up into Hyrule’s face, searching for any sign that this might be a lie.
“See?” Hyrule smiled warmly at him. “I’m real. Now, come on. Let’s get out of here.”
Hyrule helped Legend pull himself out of the pool and onto the floor. He took a minute to just breathe. It was nice to be on solid ground for once. A hand pet his hair, and Legend opened his eyes to Hyrule peering down at him with another warm smile. Legend smiled back up at him.
And then, between one blink and the next, Hyrule disappeared.
Legend sat up so fast his head spun. Hyrule wasn’t anywhere. There was no sign he’d been there at all. How-?
…Legend had fallen for it again. He’d believed the hallucination. Fuck! Of course the other heroes hadn’t come. Why would they come?
A sob wrenched its way out of his mouth, closely followed by another.
Legend curled up on the floor and began to cry.
---
Legend was still crying when Dark came to visit him a few hours later.
“What’s wrong, Legend?” Dark asked, sitting next to him and petting his hair in an imitation of hallucination-Hyrule.
“I need to go,” Legend said numbly. “I need to get out of here. Please tell me I’m healed enough that we can leave.” He was pretty sure, if he stayed in this room for even one more day, he’d scream.
Dark pursed his lips. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, Legend.”
“What-?!” Legend started, but Dark interrupted him.
“You’re getting worse! Your hallucinations are getting worse, and I’m worried if you go out there you’ll be hurt.”
“I can fight just fucking fine!” Legend protested. “I don’t need you to baby me!”
“I’m not trying to baby you, I just don’t want to see you killed!” Dark sighed. “How about I help you back to your pool for now, and we can discuss this tomorrow.”
Legend growled low in his throat. “Fine,” he spat, “but I’m staying out here for now. I’m tired of being in the water.”
“Legend,” Dark’s voice was almost patronising, “you need to be in the water or your gills will dry out.”
“Ugh! Can you at least remove whatever fucking herbs you added?”
Dark frowned deeply. “Why?”
“Because I want fresh water, dumbass?” Even with his trust that the other understood that Legend didn’t always mean what he said, he wouldn’t normally be so rude. Right now, though, he was frustrated enough that he didn’t care. “My tail’s fucking healed, already! It’s not like I need it.”
Something flashed by Dark’s face that Legend almost would have classified as anger, but it was quickly replaced by concern. “Legend, your tail isn’t healed. We talked about this yesterday. Don’t you remember? You have an infection.”
Legend did not remember, but he could see his tail. It didn’t look injured in the slightest anymore, though it did still look like it had steadily grown paler throughout his stay. He raised his eyebrows at Dark.
“It doesn’t hurt when you move? Here,” Dark moved his hand over Legend’s tail. “Does it hurt when I touch it?”
It didn’t. It felt the exact way it should — pressure and warmth leaking through his tough scales. If he didn’t know better, he’d think Dark was the one hallucinating, except…
‘Time and Twilight can only keep Dark occupied for so long,’ Hyrule had told him. Why had Legend’s subconscious thought that Dark was someone they’d be fighting?
“What herbs are you using, exactly?”
This time, Legend was looking for it. Dark’s face twisted in anger. It was only for a fraction of a second, but Legend caught it. Before his expression could transform into something else, Legend lashed out with his claws.
Dark easily caught his hand, and Legend abruptly realised just how fucked he was. He didn’t have any weapons apart from his teeth and claws, he didn’t have his strength bracelets or gauntlets, and Dark was strong. He was easily overpowered.
Dark forced Legend onto his back and straddled his waist. One hand encircled both of Legend’s wrists, keeping them above his head. He leaned above Legend’s face, smile manic. “Okay, you can get your wish. I can remove the herbs. I was wondering what would happen if I doubled the poison, anyway.”
Horror and revulsion slid down Legend's spine in a shiver.
“And, if you try to hide up here, I’ll just wait for your gills to dry out, Then, I might be kind enough to pull you back into your pool so you don’t die. I have all the time in the world to wait, after all.”
“The others will come,” Legend said, desperately, clinging onto hope. “They’ll find me-”
“You really think they’re looking for you?” Dark chuckled darkly and then grabbed Legend’s chin and forced him to look at him. “Oh, dear sweet hero of Legend. Why on earth would they be searching for you? You abandoned them, for me!”
The horror curdled in his gut. He could barely breathe. What had he done?
“Besides, it’s not like they wanted you there anyway. You should have heard the sighs of relief when you didn’t show up after that last portal!”
“Liar!” Legend shrieked, and attempted to hit Dark with his tail. What should have been a powerful strike, even at that angle, with the large muscles that ran down it, was little more than a wet slap from how weak he’d grown.
Dark growled at him and lifted one leg and slammed his foot down against his tail. Legend couldn’t stop the wince at the pain. Unlike when Dark was trying to convince him his tail was still injured, that had hurt.
“Oh, I’m a liar?” Dark said threateningly. “Let’s see how long it takes before you can no longer tell reality from dreams.”
Legend recoiled in horror. Dark abruptly let go and shoved away from him, getting leverage to grab on just above his caudal fin and swing him back into the pool.
Legend dipped under the surface as he fought to reorient himself. When he emerged, Dark was heading towards the exit. “Ta-ta! I’ll see you tomorrow with breakfast,” he called, voice filled with dark delight.
The door slammed shut behind him.
Legend stared sightlessly, watching his freedom crumble before his very eyes.
On the walls, spiders wriggled past each other. A seagull cawed right next to his ear. He startled slightly at the sound, but was unsurprised to find nothing there.
Legend sank to the bottom of the pool and wept.