Chapter Text
Link was used to blood. He was used to violence, to betrayal and sorrow. He was used to the darkest pits of the world and crawling into them with a sharp blade and a will to fight against it all-
He doubted that he was rarely surprised anymore. He faced too much to be surprised. Fought beast and monsters alike, taller than the mountains. Brought gods to their knees and willed himself a champion to be used. Stories he created by sweat and blood melded into legends he forged by his own hands too young. Scars laced up his arms but were covered by fabric to hide the shame. He wore pendants that weren’t his own by fallen brothers he couldn’t be strong enough to save. He had the burden of agony on his shoulders he couldn't ever shake.
He was used to tragedy and cruelness from the goddesses.
Perhaps he was twisted too. From the events that snapped him into something hardened and grounded compared to what he had once been. No longer naive, pure, or gentle. No, something dark was rooted in his bones as it clawed its way into him. Like a warm burying itself and contaminating the whole apple. The apple that Eve fell to.
But being childish could only last you so long. Lasted until the moment of the breath gasped out from scarlet lips and the chest stilled again. He had cried then, broken as his world went dark and he realized he couldn’t be the same. Knew that it was his own fault for what had happened.
But he was held by chains to keep living. To keep a vow of his once leader and his brothers that he would live for them. So he survived. In the shadows and the wildness. Surviving as they taught him too before they left once more.
(He didn't think about how it edged into him. Like a cutting blade, rusted and slow as it pressed harder into his skin. Waiting until the end would come. For the swing of the Lynal that he wasn’t quick enough to avoid. The silence that rang in his ears. The yearning for soft touches that he could sink into. The longing for someone to listen to him. Someone to stay .
But he never got his wishes. Only curses and adventures that left him shaking hands and homeless in a landlocked place he didn’t know. Where he was banned from the sea he wanted so badly but the crimson stains on him were warning to all. The trail of blood he left in every step that no wise person would follow.
He was alone, and every silent morning. Every nightmare he would wake up on his own. Every day he ran a finger over the ridges in his arms of the eight lines and lives he missed. He was reminded every time of what he lost. And he would mourn over again. Waiting a lifetime for his curse to be removed and join those awaiting him.
Hylia was never so kind as to grant the wish he longed to have, so he strove to keep the promises he took weakly and stepped forwards. The weight on his shoulders is heavier.)
He was down clearing out enemies that had gotten in his way. He cleaned off his blade mindlessly as his ears pricked. The wind was shifting. Something was coming.
Link was used to being abandoned. Alone. It ached in his bones as it sunk cold fingers into his arms and lungs. Taking what he so desperately wanted to keep and holding at arm's length or being destroyed completely. He was used to it now as his feet ached and his hands stung, he was used to it.
Or so he told himself.
Link wouldn’t say he was surprised anymore.
But that wasn’t true when Link stumbled to a halt when on a path he recognized something in the distance. Something that stilled his beating heart into a frozen stance as he looked at the black moving orb in silence. Let his limbs act like a statue, stone crawling up his fingers as he looked at the portal with too much emotion to put a stop to. Memories of old come up quicker than he could think. He stared until his eyes ached for realization in something Link almost convinced himself was a hallucination.
It took his breath away. Stolen right from his lips and out from his lungs. Like he hadn’t even been there at all. Like years of pain only a blink of time as Link stared down at what he saw.
‘ Sailor, come on-‘ A voice whispered in his ears of the past. Of a warm touch on his shoulder as one of his brothers held onto him as they passed. When he had been so much younger.
He could almost imagine a group of young boys with striking bright eyes and blond hair and browns. Sharing the common color of green and blues. Their smiles so easily picture in his head but their faces are disordered from memory and too much thought. Almost fearfully blank as they looked at him.
Link stumbled back as he breathed heavily. Hands shaking as he looked in horror as the twisting portal. Feeling the dark magic reading off of it as it beckons him closer. Offer a hand in return for an arm. It called, in the voice of many of the past long buried in a clearing that Link wouldn’t ever set foot in.
It called for a man who once was dubbed the Hero of the Winds.
It called Link, blinking back tears, and he answered. So tired, so lonely, so different. But he had never denied it before. He didn’t think he could this time either. Tightening his bags and hiding his slate momentarily as he prepared himself for a ride and for once more the travel of which he thought was long lost.
(Perhaps there was something else that lurked in the back of his mind. The piece of him that just didn’t care . Couldn’t afford to anymore with so much taken. Almost hoping that this could be the end. The peace Hylia offered him. Something twisting in him that was dark and crippling as beckoned him into the unknown. With a chance of freedom, or more suffering. It wasn’t like Link had anything to lose, not when he had already lost it all so long before this.)
He took a step in.
The darkness crushed him. Pulled on his hair as it hissed in his ears. It twisted him, throwing him through the void as he dangled at its mercy. Suffocating him as he tried to gasp for air that was contaminated by the blackness that he was submerged into.
It broke his bones, remade him wrong. It screamed in his ears, marked his scars and made them burn with pain all over again. It was agony in hope for peace. Worse than he could ever imagine, but in the years that span into the world faded into seconds as time itself was absent from his misery.
He couldn't get anything-light forsaken as he prayed once for it to end. For once, he was heard.
He fell on the ground. Gasping and trembling as he tried to recover. Eyes blinking at the light as they tried to forget the darkness that clouded them. Dust fell in his mouth as he pushed himself up, dirt that was pulled up too much as it looked like a clearing next to a river. His knees hurt from where he fell, but he pulled himself up again and again. He heard running water nearby, and Link wondered where in Nayru’s name he was just dropped.
The next thing he realized was there was a cry of surprise as he turned around to see something he thought was impossible.
A boy with a bright blue tunic yelled out. Face that showed too many emotions and wore his heart on his sleeve without fail, looked at him with wide eyes. His bleach blond hair blew in the wind as he took a step back, letting the wind fond over him as the breeze ran its fingers through his hair like they owned him. Like they were doing for Link. Eyes wide as the pupil’s were like clear ocean water that sparkled with hope and determination. Cheeks not scared, not hollowed or from, but still round as his age was still low. A child.
He stuttered out words but Link couldn't hear them. Could only stare in shock at the boy.
At the younger version of himself .
“What-? Where did you-?”
Link didn’t even know when his sword got in his hand. It was pure instinct to grab it, it was the old Phantom broken one, shabbily fixed as he dared not hold onto the master sword yet someone recognized it in his location. (Not that he was near that village anymore. Wasn’t like he ever had an Impa to compare the old one he met. Who he had to hide from their observant gaze and leave too quickly. It was one of the only villages that hadn’t been destroyed yet. The only one he could get supplies that wasn't on the edge of ruin he ran from.)
The boy, (Wind was he? Because Link knew too well that it wasn’t him. Not anymore did he bear that title with pride. He couldn’t. He was no longer a Hero, he couldn’t save anyone but his own hide. But now he looked into his younger self and he could only think about his mistakes. Could only think that this boy, this one that stood before him was everything he hated. Was the recantation of what he loathed.) yelped at the sword.
“Woah! Wait, calm down!” He shouted, eyes wide and hands out in surrender. Weak, Link thought.
“Where am I?” Link hissed, glaring at Wind, looking at his own terrible mistakes and failures.
Wind raised his hands as he studied Link. Link wondered if he could even reason who he wasn’t, not with the scars, with his change. He wasn’t the same boy. He wasn’t even a boy at all anymore.
Wind squinted as his dark eyebrows pulled together, “Did… did you happen to go through a dark portal?”
Link froze, from Wind’s perspective he probably thought it was him thinking about what he did. What froze Link to the spot was the thought that Wind didn’t recognize him. Thought that he was another hero that came…But that meant the others were still alive. That meant -
“Are you a hero?”
Link wanted to scoff. Wanted to strangle something and rebuke them for thinking so. To feel scarlet on his arms as he never was the same after. (But he thought of his brothers. Thought about the feeling that swirled in his chest at the thought of seeing them again, of fixing what he caused.)
“What’s it to you?” He stated a bit harshly. Jarring in his words and didn’t feel pity when Wind winced.
He stuttered, “Well-uh, Funny thing is-I’m a hero too! I know I looked young-But I killed Ganon!” He puffed out his chest, “I’m a hero in my time, and there are others hero’s too! And were all from different times-and were all together doing a Quest. So you must be a hero too if you're here and came to help!”
It was a terrible simple explanation but Link took it. Already knowing too well everything, but Wind didn’t need to know that. Not yet and never if he could help it.
“Others?” Link said with too much yearning in his words. The feeling in his chest tightened almost unbearably so. Live a weavers thread pulling his rips taunt,
Wind brightened, “Yeah! They're at camp right now, but I came to get some water for our cook, he’s really good-Oh! What should I call you? We’re-“ Wind rubbed the back of his head a bit, “all kinda named Link? So we go by nicknames. I’m a sailor or pirate.”
Linked nodded as he sourced his mind for a name before settling on something. “My na-my title I was once given was Hero of the Ocean King. You can call me Ocean.”
Wind eyes full open and he gasped, “You’ve met him too?!”
Link- Ocean , he guessed now, nodded. Thinking briefly about some of the memories. About what he and Legend could bond over. Over dreaming too long and having nightmares of people long gone. Wind frowned a moment before nodding, as if deciding he shouldn’t ask, finally doing something smart.
Placing his hands on his hips as he looked up to Ocean (He had always been so small? Ocean could knock him out with one blow if he tried hard enough. He wondered if he could fix that, if he could fix the curse he was.)
“Well now you have to come meet the others!” Wind declared, picking up a bucket of water and Ocean sheath his sword with some hesitation.
“Come on! I’m sure they'll love to meet you!” Wind declared, beckoning him forwards. As if not knowing the importance of what it meant to Ocean that he could see his other companions. The other eight he already knew too well.
Ocean sucked in a deep breath, feeling as if he was just slapped-but.
But-
Ocean barely dared to hope. Dare to even let the thought come in-
But he couldn’t help it. Couldn’t help the thoughts break into his mind as he let himself hope for once.
This was a second chance.
He had dreamed of such an event, begged and pleaded that the Ocean King would come and grant him a dream that he could fade into. That he could pretend he could have a happy ending instead of lingering for however long he had in misery.
But in the midst of his darkness, of the chains around his wrist of a promise he vowed to keep; he saw a thin trail of light. The ray too bright for his void used eyes, but he would blindly search for the warmth. From the coldness of phantom touches of hands that aren't there anymore. He crawled, eyes looking to the heavens as he bent down to the light as he cried.
The hope of something so strongly was over wedging in his mind. The thunder in his sea that he had grown used to drowning in, now had a hand reaching to pull him up. Pulling him from the waves as he gasped for the light as he was pulled above the waters.
Pulled from the back hands that tried to grasp on his clothes, scars, and blooded palms-he was thrown into a new sight from the years of living in the dark. He choked on the air too clean from his clogged waterlogged lungs, but he kicked his legs strongly as he swore stronger than any curse that fell from his lips as he kept himself afloat. He saw the sun, let the warmth that burned so deeply on his skin that was used to the ice touch of dread and numbness now feeling the grasp of hope. Let their hands cup his face, wet and teary as he gasped.
It warmed him to his finger tips, he grasped it so harshly as he didn’t think he could live with this hope to be ripped away from him again. To be pushed into the dark after bringing this gift again. Of the light that held him so tenderly.
(The chains still were on. His wrist, but their weight didn’t weigh on him anymore. Not when it could feel worth it to see their faces again. See them alive . Feel their warm skin under his and not just his imagination. They would be breathing, they would be laughing . They wouldn’t be covered in crimson or dirt under the ground with Mother Nature… they would live like they had the world at their fingertips as they strove to survive again. Like it wasn’t once their job to keep Ocean like that.)
It would be too cruel to use him back under the waves, thrashing and screaming, but he wouldn’t put it past Hylia from how she had taken his brothers without his own choice. But Ocean could survive it if he just got one moment to see them again. Even if it was just a dream that the Ocean King finally decided to give him, he would take every bit he could get. Let the honey taste sink on his tongue as he was a starving man who was on the brink of extinction.
What if this was real and he had a second chance? What if He could save them? Protect them like he wanted to. To hold them close as he would let them live a life they deserved. Have Time to get home to Malon. Have Sky get to marry Zelda like he once wistfully stated. Have Twilight find peace in his town. Have Wild settle in his Hyrule and build up his hope. Have Warriors find his missing piece that he longed for. Have Four live in their home of brothers and open their smith. Have Hyrule travel as far as he wants to and live until his old age again. Have Legend live the fulfilling life he once requested Ocean to have.
And he wanted it. He wanted it so badly . To see it with his own eyes. To have a smile on his face as he got to see his brothers thrive and live , and not the other way around. He would give anything for that.
And that was the dangerous thought. That was the dangerous act that Link would have to do-because that means hope. It meant thinking everyday one day it would be the one , but he would promise that he would protect them all. Would be the wall in the battle from their futures. He would do it, without a second thought, but it meant hope.
Hope was the warmth and the sun-but that meant one day it might fail. That one day he might not be quick enough and Ocean couldn’t let himself fall again. Couldn’t be another mistake . He vowed with scarlet arms that he wouldn’t let it happen again.
So with that thought, with the heat that threatened to burst from his chest in a feeling Link barely dared to hope for, he swore on Hylia’s name and the hands that wield his blade with vengeance, he would make sure he wouldn’t ever be the last standing again. That his brothers would get the future they deserved. He swore he would.
So he looked at this boy. At himself that was filled with ‘ not enough’ and ‘ weak ’, the mistake that he knew and the recantation that looked at him that was the barrier of it all. The failure that was the center of the destruction and the blood spilt of his family, was Wind. Who had crimson running off his fingers but didn’t know it yet. Had too bright eyes that would turn into the hardest steel color as everything was taken. Was the sin on the whitest purity of being an ink spot that winked into the snow and stained it all around him. Everything he touched was a curse.
But Ocean looked at Wind and thought, perhaps he can still fix this.
And he swore, bending every mountain and fighting the seas, he wouldn’t let anything harm his brothers again. Even if it meant some sacrifices.
-
Wild sighed, glancing through his sheikah slate as he wondered what he should cook. He had a lot of fruit and veggies, and a bit of meat. He had some good spices that he could use. He was thinking about making a vegetable soup, but he still didn't have water.
Wild huffed as he sank down by the log as he moaned, “Where is he?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow from where he sat, warming his hands from the fire, “Who? The kid?”
Wild groaned again, throwing up his hands, “ Yes ! He left fifteen minutes ago , he should be back! I need time to cook!”
Warriors looked over at him with a monotone tone he stated, “And it’s so unusual for one of us to get distracted?”
Wild growled, pointing a finger at the Captain, “This is different- food is on the line. Not just walking.”
“We had to find you and Hyrule after you got lost in ten minutes!” Legend stated loudly from across the camp.
Wild frowned as he defended himself, “We wanted to get a better view of the land!”
Hryule nodded, “You don’t always-“
Legend glared at the boy, “Don’t finish that sentence, Traveler.”
Hryule scoffed, “It’s literally in my name.”
Wild laughed and Legend groaned this time. Twilight set a hand on Wild’s shoulder as he asked, “Do I need to go track down our Sailor?”
“Let him be, he’s been coping up with energy all day.” Warriors stated.
“Aren’t you the one who wants us all in one place and not disappearing?” Wild asked.
Warriors leveled him with a look. “You're not the one he’s going to be blabbering to all night.”
Wild rolled his eyes, “True.”
Everyone chuckled. Then, as if Gannon himself was hearing their conversation and decided to walk in, they heard Wind approaching with his bounteous, exuberant attitude. Laughing at something as he broke the bush.
“And it should be-Here!” Wind stated as he walked into the clearing with a smile that shined bright as he looked behind him to gesture to the newcomer.
A young man, Twilight’s height walked into the clearing. Sword on his waist and another on his back with a shield. A reddish scarf was curled around his neck with a navy hood that was down. His hair, reaching his shoulders, was pulled back and hanging off one ear was a feather. He had a bit of scuff under his chin and a large scar over his nose. A black pelt was on his waist with a blue ocronina and rings on his fingers.
Confidence was in his steps as he let his eye glance across the area and his hand rested easily on his sword hilt. Ready. A warrior that even Wild could tell from his stance. (He wondered if he was a soldier once, too.)
“Guys, meet Ocean!” Wind introduced.
Ocean’s eyes glinted with something as he gave a smile. Waving with a hand towards the group, as Nine suddenly became Ten.