Chapter Text
“We should stop.” Linkle warned quietly the next afternoon. Warriors had barely finished drying his feet from their soak in the cool stream he had been left by. He had planned to tell the others of the water source later but figured he could let himself enjoy a break while Linkle wandered about.
“What?” He wondered as he paused in pulling his boots back on. “What are talking about?” Was she planning to fess up to everyone?
“We’re really close to the town we were looking for.”
“Oh, that’s great!” Warriors smiled in relief as he stood up. “That means we can probably all get actual baths-“
“We shouldn’t go.” She interrupted, pulling his arm to stop him from walking on. She met his eyes and repeated herself. “We should stop. Avoid the town.”
“Why?” He took in her serious expression and loose posture. No, sad posture. “What happened to it?” He amended, his own shoulders drooping.
“...It’s gone.”
As there was literally no way to avoid explaining to the others why they should suddenly just stop following the canyon into the opening plains they could see, Warriors soon realized that Linkle had really tried to soften the blow.
Thankfully, Twilight’s heightened senses were enough to give them at least a little warning.
“Wind, you’re not going any closer.” Twilight snagged the kid as they started to realize what they were looking at. Or rather, what they were supposed to be looking at and what was instead missing.
The welcome sign to the village, a tall display meant to hang above the traveling road, was lying in the dirt. Ahead there were piles of sad rubble that at a second glanced looked like they were supposed to be buildings. Warriors suddenly hoped Wind was too short to make it out.
He placed the sour smell of the area as one of wet ash. Of rot. He met Twilight’s eyes with approval to his actions. Twilight nodded back.
“What? No way, that’s not fair! Oof!” Wind argued as their strongest hero scooped him up onto his shoulder like a sandbag.
“Too bad.” Twilight grunted, turning to walk back to the trees without pause.
“Hey! Oi! OI! Let me go! Don’t think I won’t bite you!”
“We’ll be back near that one rock when you’re done.” Twilight said as they stared at their departure.
“What!?” Wind squirmed, looking ready to stab Twi to get free if he could reach his sword. “What are you talking about? Time! Time, this is blatant hero erasure!”
“Uh, I think I’m gonna, just. Stay, here?” Linkle stood between them at the start of the cobblestone trail, staring uncomfortably between the lost town and the cranky Wind.
The others seemed to take her regard to Twilight’s behavior as the warning it was meant to be, and Warriors prepared himself as best he could. In his battles, sure, he had seen some pretty brutal things. War made that inevitable. He had a focus then, and he had enough compassion left in him that he did try to save the younger soldiers and heroes around him when possible. Not that it always worked – considering the stubborn streak of all the children fighters coming from all eras as well as his own unsteady leadership where he tried to grow into his responsibilities – but he learned.
That didn’t make what they found any easier.
“Oh. Oh, no.” Hyrule whispered.
“Thank you, Twilight, for not letting Wind over here.” Warriors added quietly, making himself take point as everyone seemed to freeze once they realized what they were seeing.
“Oh no...” Sky echoed wetly.
Legend was blank faced as they stayed together in their cautious approach. Hyrule frowned, sad but not repulsed, expression as unfortunately aware as Warrior’s own. Time was pale and horrified, but not as green as Sky was. Four seemed calm and unbothered, and Warriors would have worried about that if he hadn’t noticed just how stiff he was as he followed Time and didn’t let his eyes stray.
‘Maybe I should have tried harder to follow Linkle’s advice.’ He grimaced as he realized just how hard everyone was taking this amount of devastation. ‘We really didn’t need this.’
The village, thrice the size of the one they had found Linkle in, was indeed gone. It looked like a stampede had run through it, but from what sort of creature it was hard to guess. Soot marked some unfortunate buildings, but most everything was leveled into shattered piles of raw ruin.
Strangely, some pillars looked to have been pulled out whole, full cement foundations ripped out of the ground. If he didn’t know any better Warriors would have even said some broken debris, such as partial walls or snapped wagons, to have been thrown. But he couldn’t think of anything that could throw such heavy things, let alone even lift them.
Glass littered the ground as liberally as the cracked timber and shattered stone walls. Bodies were in the process of being scavenged or decayed by the elements. Sections of the ground looked more compact than others, leaving odd dips in random places. No one dared call out for survivors, not when they could see the state of those who lost their lives, and they couldn’t be sure how this attack came to be.
Warriors wasn’t an expert, but from what he could tell about the way food rotted in the messy shopping road and the amount of maggots and other bugs thriving about, this must have happened at least a week ago. They would have still been deep in the wild. They wouldn’t have been able to help unless they had gotten horses from the last village they were in.
Whether from a monster or group, the town – this budding city – had no chance for timely aid.
Hyrule and Sky murmured some prayers, Legend adding some of his own quiet regards, and then they had to leave. There was nothing they could salvage from this town except regret.
“This couldn’t have been a raid.” Time whispered lowly as they turned away.
“Why not?” Sky wondered, looking like he didn’t really want to know.
“...Nothing of value seemed to have been taken. I could see jewelry, and furs and metals out in the open.”
“So, monsters then?” Hyrule checked, giving one last look behind them before following them out.
“But what sort? Why do this?” Legend had his arms wrapped around himself tightly and glare burning into the dirt in front of him. “Sure, monsters aren’t safe, but they normally stay away from settlements. The more people there are in a town, the safer they usually are from attacks. This wasn’t some small place.”
“Yeah, that’s right.” Warriors agreed. He ignored Legend’s sneer, knowing the vet was just processing still. “But there must be something? There was no sign of defense, but surely that can’t mean this village was taken by complete surprise?”
“There weren’t many signs of fire.” Four noted. “Cooking fire, candlelight, or work flames; nothing seemed to spread too far, so it must have happened during the day, either before or after lunch based on the open shopping stalls. Monsters don’t usually attack in the day unless they were lured by something.”
“That’s a sharp observation.” Warriors blinked in surprise.
“Then, this wasn’t just an accident or random encounter. That means this was a deliberate attack.” Time concluded.
“The one responsible for the infected monsters.” Sky started, a low tone of anger coming out. “He’s the one who did this then.”
“We’ll add it to his list of crimes to pay for.” Hyrule promised. They all made sounds of agreement, doing their best to accept their defeat for now.
Four trotted forward to catch up to Linkle, who was still standing in the road as she waited on them. Her ears were stiff and high and her eyes closed as she seemed to be listening to the forest. Despite that, she was still startled when Four touched her hand.
“Ah...” The question on her lip died as she took in their expressions, and she met his eyes guiltily before letting Four guide her away. Warriors knew she already knew about the town, but suddenly he wondered if it was worse for her to find it without company the way they did.
“...Let’s make camp. Take a day to rest. We’ll look for clues about what happened after we settle ourselves a little more.” Time suggested as they caught up with Twilight and Wind.
“Do you really want to be so close?” Twilight wondered.
“What? Close to what?” Wind demanded. “What happened, huh!?”
Well. Warriors would rather they not be taken by surprise now that all of them were off-kilter, and he wouldn’t put it past Wind to try to sneak over and find out for himself what they all had found. Some distance from these ruins would be preferred.
“Let’s go back a bit and then make camp. I found a stream last time we took a break so that’s as good of a place as any.” Other than a few of Wind’s complaints, everyone walked in silence.
Warriors would let them keep to themselves for the night and try to work on their morale and mood tomorrow. Maybe they could think of some of the harder things they went through on their journeys to share. Give them some things to bond over, if they could. Would lighter stories be better, if they wanted to keep Wind from worrying about the town?
Or maybe they could just find whatever monster did this and take it down together.
Maybe both, even.
Yeah, both sounded good.
Warriors watched as his friends, his brothers, his family, continued to stay withdrawn or upset during dinner and mentally prayed to the Goddesses for just a little leniency.
X
While on midwatch, Warriors was glad for the quiet of midnight to take a moment for himself. Twilight and Hyrule couldn’t figure out what had run through the town, the lack of any presence making it difficult to actually blame it on any known monster or person. Even footprints were difficult to read since the town had actual streets with stone and cobblestone pathways. Sure, the destruction of the bigger roads had upturned or buried many larger areas, but those spots of revealed dirt didn’t hold any useful clues in and of themselves either.
“Sometimes, being a hero means being mortal.” Linkle had tried to console.
“What are you trying to say?” Wind snapped at her, offended and protective of everyone without fully knowing why.
“If we were divine, then it wouldn’t have happened. Right? We can be upset about our loss, but we mustn’t fret.”
“The heck is that supposed to mean, huh?” Wind bit out before realizing everyone was thinking on Linkle’s words. “What happened to the town!?” He demanded, pulling at Twilight’s arm insistently.
She was right. They weren’t at blame, being only mortal, but it did hurt. Warriors wondered what she had gone through to have such wisdom readily available.
“But, what could have done it? No signs of weapons or magic, just bulldozed demolition. If not any man, what sort of monster would have been able to do that?” He whispered as he stared at his fingers. By intuition, there couldn’t have been more than two perpetrators responsible, but the question wouldn’t stop repeating itself in his mind despite not having any idea.
He was used to armies of many enemies, not one-man armies capable of mass destruction to this scale. But even then, he was used to seeing signs of swords or even bombs. Any large monsters like dodongo left behind smoke stains and claw marks, but there were none around these forests since they live in more rocky and hotter environments, and no one could think of any other beast. Even that heavy feeling, of being watched, of being followed, seemed to have disappeared and gave him nothing but concern. They missed something.
Or rather, something decided to taunt them, and they could do nothing about it.
“It was a hinox.” A hoarse voice answered. Warriors whirled to his feet as Linkle gently settled Time’s Biggoron Sword next to the man. Her hood was up, and her back was to him.
“…I thought you said you were going to sleep tonight.” Warriors said, rather than question when exactly she had left camp and why it felt like she was implying she had already killed this hinox monster.
“Hm.” Linkle shrugged.
“Okay, fair, all of us took a while to sleep after today. But, did you really just steal Time’s sword to go pick a fight in the middle of the night? You couldn’t have waited for us to go with you in the morning? All of us would have wanted to have a chance at them. It?” What was a hinox again?
Linkle walked around the edge of camp, footsteps silent as ever, and then she sighed, low and tired.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice sounded gruff. Almost like she had been screaming, or was sick. Before Warriors could say anything about her possible injuries, or the emotional toll she had suffered to make her voice so deep, she held out a fistful of arrows.
They were covered in black blood and glinted in the firelight.
“...Are you kidding me?” Warriors whispered as he took them, staring at the five black stained pieces of evidence. “We’ve never been so far away from where we needed to be. We’ve never been so late. Why…?” Warriors missed when Linkle went back to her tree by the time he looked up. He stood alone in the camp. “...How am I supposed to explain this?”
Dammit, Linkle.
Warriors took a breath and grumpily carried on the rest of his watch with steadily growing worry.
Wild’s Zelda had spoken about how negative thoughts – anger, mistrust, self-doubt, and the such – had been a force that strengthened Wild’s Ganon. He had tried to take in heart her advice and tried to emulate the way Wild seemed to so easily allow his worries to pass right through him. To accept things as they were and simply respond as needed.
Even Linkle’s advice, to mourn and not linger on regrets – to accept their mortality and not think themselves above it – showed just how familiar she was with navigating personal hardships. She too lived with the lessons learned from a time when Wild’s Calamity Ganon had influenced the land and its citizens of people and monsters.
Give him a challenge, impossible odds, a goal that put him in the line of fire in place of someone else, and he would never falter. Give him failure, betrayal, a loss of honor, and he knew he would not react with even a fraction of the grace Linkle or Wild possessed. Warriors wished he could have that ease in moving on from hardships.
It was hard, but he would have to try to learn from them quickly. Especially now, when he couldn’t shake the feeling that his band of brothers, his squad of fellow heroes, couldn’t stop looking at Linkle without feeling regret for Wild’s decision.
How Wind blatantly spit anger and dislike to Linkle.
‘Was this our fault?’ He tried to stop thinking.
‘How can we do better?’ He tried to figure out.
He couldn’t stop thinking about that village.
The broken architecture almost looked like it could have been from his own era.
x
Everyone woke up later the next morning. As they ate a smaller than usual breakfast, Warriors kept trying to stop his knees from bouncing as he fought to stay quiet. After all, there was no telling when the next portal would open for them, or even in Linkle missed a hinox or if there were other monsters involved. Legend kept glaring at him about it and Time was starting to also give him some looks.
“Are you alright?” Four asked quietly as camp was broken down. Warriors bit his tongue, trying to give a smile without answering, but then Time caught his eye and gave him a look to either talk or get interrogate later. Brat.
Well, fine, Warriors didn’t want to break Linkle’s confidence, but, well, she did put him in a bit of a bind. Four’s words of warning rang in his head, as well as everything else he learned about considering his position of authority and how to make his subordinates feel confident in his decisions and not just trapped in his orders.
Sky had mentioned how some things looked from Wild’s perspective, and Four had been so sure Linkle hadn’t been fighting before waking him for watch so it would have been bad to start implying it. But, Linkle wasn’t Wild, so it was her Warriors needed to check with in the first place.
They would have to tell everyone that the infected monster, the hinox that had destroyed the town, was already taken care of.
“Hey, Linkle, quick question. Come here will you?”
“Uh, okay?” She looked at him in confusion before letting Sky take over her packing. Warriors snagged her under his arm and shuffled them a little to the side of camp.
“So,” He whispered carefully to her, fully aware of Twilight’s cheating wolf ears. “since there’s going to be a big reveal soon, do you think you can start the conversation about what you did last night? I’ll make sure you don’t get in trouble, but, you know, it’s kinda hard to just bring it up without you.”
Linkle blinked up at him, and then asked in a very nonwhispering volume, “Warriors, what are you tal-?”
“Shhshhshhshh!” They glanced over to Time, who was staring at them with crossed arms, and so Warriors took them a couple more steps away. “Just say what you did. Have been doing. At night. I’ll take over from there, promise.”
“Warriors,” Linkle started, angry before catching her volume. She peeked over his arm and shuffled them couple more steps away. “I was asleep. I told you I was going to sleep.” She hissed.
“Yeah? Then why did you wake up so late?”
“Because yesterday was a hard day, you ass.” Linkle snapped lowly. “What is this actually about? What’s going on?”
“You know what.” He frowned, offended that she was playing dumb. “You need to help me out if we’re going to tell everyone about your night ra-”
“Shhshhshh!” She snapped a hand to cover his mouth, face flushed before Warriors realized he had been starting to raise his voice. They both peeked over to Time, where Twilight was mimicking his unimpressed pose beside him, and they both shuffled a couple more steps away.
“What are you guys talking about?” Legend demanded, eyes flat as he watched them from near the dying fire pit.
“Nothing!” They both snapped before turning their backs to the camp and ducking close under each other’s arms.
“You said we can keep that a secret! Why do I have to tell everyone now?” Linkle whispered angrily.
“Because you decided to give me these.” He scoffed back quietly. With a little maneuvering, Warriors slipped the dark-stained arrows out of his quiver without giving the camp a chance to see it. Linkle blinked at them, expression shifting from surprised, confused, troubled, wary, and offended. She looked at him, peeked behind them to where Sky and Four had joined Time and Twilight in staring at them expectantly, and then shuffled them a few more steps away and nearly out of the camp.
“Warriors, I didn’t give those to you.” She said even quieter than before, serious despite the lie.
“Yes, you did.” He corrected, unwilling to lie about that to everyone.
“No, I didn’t. I told you I was going to sleep last night, and I went to sleep. I have all of my bolts. Those aren’t from me.”
“Then whose are they?”
“Um, yours?” Warriors felt a chill run through him before he let go of her to better look at the arrows in the daylight. She yelped in surprise at the drop, but caught her balance before actually falling and stayed curled into him to keep hiding the arrows between their bodies.
And she was right. The shafts were the length he preferred, and the fletching was in his color pattern. They hadn’t gotten new arrows recently enough that he hadn’t personalized his own arrows, and these were undeniably his.
He must have gotten used to Linkle taking any of their arrows to practice shaving her bolts the way Four and Twilight were teaching her that he just assumed and hadn’t even registered the longer length.
Nayru guide him, he was getting complacent. If ever he had a fear, that was it.
“So what’s up?” Wind wondered from in front of them.
“Goddesses, Wind!” Warriors reared back, hiding the arrows into his arms as Linkle flinched into him and nearly made both of them fall over.
“What? We’re just curious.” Wind grinned, nodding to the rest of the heroes waiting for an explanation. Everyone was done packing up and was staring at him and Linkle, expression ranging from annoyed to worried. Four, in particular, looked offended and his sharp blue eyes were particularly threatening the way they hadn’t ever looked before.
“So, uh, I got some bad news.” He forced out, straightening under everyone’s attention. He spent half a second more thinking about how to avoid giving away Linkle’s secret, and then figured maybe he could just soften it so at least she wouldn’t be in trouble.
“Even worse than yesterday?” Legend scowled as he braced himself, hands on his hip. Hyrule and Sky shared a worried look, and Twilight looking at him with a serious expression.
“Do we get some good news first?” Four wondered suspiciously.
“Well, good news, a portal is coming soon! Yay.” Warriors halfheartedly pumped a fist. He let it drop when the others just continued to stare.
“How do you figure that?” Time asked, expression a little too calm.
“Uh, the bad news?” Warriors reluctantly pulled out his arrows, which looked even more stained in the light of day. Everyone took a moment to recognize the dark tips.
“Are you kidding!”
“What did that come from!?”
“Who did it! Who dared do that without us!?”
“Who the fuck was stupid enough to even consider-!?”
“Was it Linkle!?” Wind spit out with offense. “Is that why you were whispering over here?”
“Wind, calm down. It wasn’t her. She just pointed out that these are my arrows.” Warriors did his best to sound unbothered. Time would realize how much that would actually worry him, but it wouldn’t do anyone else any good to feed off of his concern. Not right now.
“And I’m assuming you didn’t do it.” Legend said as he gestured to look at one of the arrows. Warriors let him, and everyone nearby shared the same look of distaste at the dried but sticky ooze.
“You’d be correct.” After a moment, looking at Wind and figuring he shouldn’t keep it a secret, he added, “Someone gave me these arrows last night, and they wore a cloak like Linkle’s. She didn’t do it though, because she says she was asleep last night.”
Wind froze, immediately picking up on what Warriors was implying. Whether it was true or not, he couldn’t say, but...
He didn’t want to get Linkle in trouble. She wasn’t ready to tell anyone what she did at night. Not when it came to protecting the camp and keeping her skills sharp and her mood calm. Four had advised that they let her open up, and his training as a Captain meant having faith that anyone he was responsible for grew into their own instead of just obeying everything he said to do.
He couldn’t betray her confidence before she was ready. Or at least, not before it was absolutely necessary.
“Wild was here?” Wind breathed.
Even if that meant implying something he wasn’t entirely sure about.
“I don’t know. I, didn’t actually see their face.”
“How do you not know Wild!?” Wind yelled at him just as a portal began to open in the middle of the road beside their camp. “WILD!”
“Wind, wait, no!” Twilight snagged him before their pirate could dart into the trees away from said portal.
“WILD!!”
“Settle down! Warriors just said it may not be him!” Twilight warned, not letting go despite Wind’s twisting.
“Who else could it be!? Linkle?? WILD!!!” Warriors felt his heart break at the growing desperation in Wind’s voice. It was, after all, a fact that Linkle and Wild wore very similar cloaks. It would be identical at a glance in the dark of night.
Linkle stared with wide eyes as Twilight handled their youngest hero. She didn’t even look when Four offered her the bag that he and Sky finished packing for her.
“How are we going to do this? We’ve been through two portals now where Linkle didn’t stay with us upon reaching the other side. Should we try tripling up with her?” Hyrule wondered, offering to hold her hand just in case. She took it with an uneasy smile, holding Four with her other hand but unable to stop watching Wind’s yelling for Wild to appear. She looked really uncomfortable to see him crying despite Twilight’s efforts to calm him down.
“And where should we try to meet? The closest settlement may not be where we are needed. This village proved as much.” Warriors added, trying to focus on making a plan. He’ll have to help Wind later. Whether or not Wild was here was something they couldn’t do anything about. Not with the portal right here and Linkle’s situation about going through it still being unclear.
“I don’t like the thought of you heading off to any suspicious activity without us. I think, no matter what, meeting up should be a priority.” Time said as the portal started to draw them in. “Wherever you end up, don’t go getting into a fight before we find each other. Not when we will likely have your weapons.” Warriors could see Linkle’s attention finally pull away from Twilight and Wind, a furrow in her brow that was almost offense.
“What if I get attacked?” She wondered.
“Then do whatever you must to stay safe. Ask for help, if you can. Run, if you have to. We just want you to be safe until we can catch up.” How Time could pull off the gentle order in his voice while keeping a stern tone was a mystery, because Warriors was sure it didn’t come from him.
“Don’t know if I can stomach running from anything.” Linkle denied lightly, hunching her shoulders as Wind’s voice cracked in his last attempt to call for Wild. “But, I think I could try to head to any newsworthy place, if I have a weapon. I’ll just wait if I don’t. At the very least, if I do find something urgent to take care of, maybe I could send a letter to Queen Zelda? Er, Princess Zelda?”
“Alright, that sounds like a solid enough plan. It’ll give our Zelda’s an update at the very least. If we are close to our Castle Town, we’ll head there to wait for your letter. If we are not, we’ll head to the closest settlement to start looking for you. We haven’t really been too far from you, so hopefully we keep finding you quickly.”
“If you guys don’t end up too many days after me.” Linkle added pointedly. Warriors grimaced at the reminder, and at the stronger winds pulling on them.
“Don’t go looking for trouble without us.” Four demanded. Linkle looked at him and saw Warriors nodding in agreement. She sighed but agreed.
“We’ll go over more of our Hyrules when we meet up again.” Sky added, pairing off with Time.
“We should see if the order we go through affects our timing. Linkle, how about we go last?” Hyrule suggested as Twilight carried a sniffling Wind through first.
“Sure.” Linkle agreed.
“Let’s go, pretty boy.” Legend shoved him through, and then they were through the portal and away from a failed village and a possibly failed friend.
X
The field was familiar, almost identical to the ones they had just been through days before. The distant hills still bore the unfamiliar marks of past hordes and the subtle signs of structures and temples of different times that once sat displaced. Everyone stood in place to get their bearings and nothing much had to be said to confirm who was present, or not.
They were in his era, and Warriors couldn’t guess where Linkle may be. Any of the minor settlements were within reach of Hyrule Field from where they were, and the greater nations of the Gorons and Zora not too far from those villages either.
“Alright, gang. This looks like my Hyrule Field.”
“Great, we can head to your Queen then, right?” Legend checked.
“I welcome any civilization at this point. How long will it take us?” Twilight wondered, Wind refusing to let himself be put down. Warriors shared a sympathetic look with Twi before answering.
“Just a day, maybe two, depending on how fast we can go.”
“Let’s go then.” Time urged. “Anyone got Linkle’s bag?”
“Not me.”
“Nor I.”
“Oh, did she keep it this time?” Hyrule perked up.
“No, sorry, I found it.” Sky smiled apologetically, lifting the bag with a little effort. Her crossbows were secured on top, and it looked like it had been sitting near the edge of the dirt road for a while with how dusty it was.
“Damn.” Four swore. Warriors looked at him but it didn’t seem like anyone else noticed. Which, wouldn’t have been a problem if they did, just. Well, he wasn’t used to the smithy actually swearing.
They walked on.
It shouldn’t have surprised him, but Four staying by his side when Time very clearly wanted to also have a word with him still made him uneasy. After an uncomfortable time where Time and Four both tried to wave the other back with a glance, Warriors still walking between them, he resigned himself to two uncomfortable conversations back to back.
“Four, why don’t you walk with Legend? He looks a little lonely.”
“No.”
Time leaned over to scowl at Four, but the shorter hero met his eye with a scowl of his own.
Warriors sometimes hated that Time was no longer younger than him. He could have physically pushed the two of them behind him and saved himself from this entire discussion. But no. Time was not only older, but an actual Major General. Not that anyone else would care about that.
“Fine. Warriors.” Warriors took a couple more steps without looking at him, but eventually he groaned in resignation when he felt Time’s stare get heavier.
“Sir.” He slouched, already feeling his neck growing warm from the chastisement that hasn’t even happened yet.
“Explain.” Warriors could imagine how bothered Time was to be resorting to single words, and could see how quickly Four’s attention transformed into concern for Warriors’s reaction to Time’s authority.
He didn’t want to have this talk.
He didn’t want to betray Linkle’s trust.
“…Can I ask for your patience and just not?” He tried.
“No.”
Warriors considered the hill they were walking down. The castle was probably just a late evening walk from here. If they wanted to reach the town, they’d probably make it just after rush hour. If they stopped to get this talk out of the way and they ended up taking as long as he was dreading, they’ll be arriving at Zelda’s throne room in time to get a royal breakfast.
Ugh. Impa was going to rub his nose in the dirt the next time they spar if she noticed anything disquieting about his group.
“I’ve been keeping a secret about Linkle.” He admitted. Four’s eyes flashed in protective anger before settling to a steely blue. “It’s nothing bad! Just, you know...”
“...You better not be risking any interdimensional paradox babies, Warriors.”
“What!?” Four snarled.
“What!?” Warriors yelped.
“What!?” The rest of the heroes among them echoed in baffled horror.
“What?” Time shrugged, eye boring into Warriors. His payback. The fucker.
“I hate you.”
“Warriors!” Four warned.
“The hell are you guys talking about?”
“Yeah, Warriors, what’s really going on?” Time needled.
“Okay fine!” Warriors yelled, already dragging a hand over his face in a futile attempt to muffle himself. “Linkle’s been doing nightraidswithoutbackupbecauseshe’sinsomniac andisusedtodoingmorethanjustwalkingaroundalldayandIdidn’ttellanyonebecause…” Warriors took a breath, cringing at everyone else’s incredulous stares before continuing through his fingers. “I didn’t tell anyone because she was only trying to help keep the camp calm when she noticed how bad we were at pretending everything was fine when it wasn’t.” It only came out a little whiny. And thankfully, Time’s eye only twitched once.
“You let her do what!?”
“And you just, kept that a secret from everyone!?”
“You were the one who said that was dangerous, you hypocrite!”
“Why would you not report that?”
“Warriors, what?” Twilight asked as Time pinched his brow.
“Well, it was sort of our fault.” He tried, feeling very much like a first day cadet as everyone stared at him with different expressions of judgment. It was better than them getting upset at Linkle, he knew that, but it still stung.
He hated being blamed for things, especially when things go wrong.
“Of course it’s our fault, you didn’t bother to let us know so we could stop her!”
“No, I mean. We, never went over the night watch rules with her.” He tried to explain, shrugging as he rubbed at his neck in discomfort for this entire conversation. “We, did the same thing we did with Wild. Again.”
That made them all pause. After a couple of uncomfortable seconds – the advice from Wild’s Zelda echoed to remind him to avoid feeding the powers of Calamity Ganon – Warriors stepped off the trail and just sat down. Everyone followed suit and sat with various expressions of worry or confusion that had no business being so serious when Linkle had proven to be fine with her schedule.
Though, to be fair, it had taken him some time to also accept.
Still, reluctantly and with growing frustration that he was betraying Linkle like this, Warriors explained how Linkle joined him nearly every time he had watch and the reports she had been giving about the monsters she had been defeating or the foods she had foraged or eaten.
“…But, she’s been staying up with me too.” Four added worriedly. “That means she’s only getting a nap’s worth of sleep a night.”
“Impossible. There had to be some nights where she had decided to sleep like a normal person.” Legend frowned.
“Well... She said she was sleeping last night.” Warriors admitted.
“Yeah, she didn’t stay up with me either.” Four agreed almost hopefully.
“There’s always a chance she could have lied about that.” Twilight pointed out.
“How? And why?” Sky wondered. Twilight looked at everyone with a pinched look, lingering on Wind sitting next to him before putting an arm over him and speaking up.
“I, don’t have any proof of anything. Just, I think if Wild has been around camp, he was around her.” Everyone took a moment to try to understand that. Because, what? Twilight looked a little uncomfortable, especially as Wind started to glare up at him. “I could, you know. Smell them, I think?”
“You think?” Wind repeated, looking ready to fight. “You Think?! Twilight!” Twilight's arm already being around his shoulders was the only reason Wind failed to properly wind up for a punch.
“Alright, everyone calm down.” Time cut in, his tone hard and serious enough to have everyone sitting up. “We failed to tell Linkle everything she should have known. Nothing about our Hyrules or the threats we have come to expect. He forgot to tell her the rules we made to prevent the accidents that had happened before said rules. Fine. We’re going to fix that, and move on. Linkle isn’t in trouble.”
“But she-“
“Linkle isn’t in trouble.” Time repeated, his single eye meeting all of them. “Warriors did the right thing. I assume you were planning to fess up eventually?”
“Not this soon, but yeah.” Warriors nodded, doing his best to not add a ‘yes sir’ even though he certainly felt like he was being written up. “I was trying to get her comfortable with the idea, to trust us, so she could do it herself.” Time nodded, a part of Warriors almost offended by being so easily placated from such a simple gesture. Time got that from him, for crying out loud.
“What about Wild?” Sky wondered. Time looked at them all and then sighed, posture looking less sure and less intimidating.
“...We should let her bring Wild up on her own.”
“But he’s-“
“Wild told us he needed space.” Time reminded. “His Zelda herself reminded us that pushing him would do no good. If he has been close by and decided not to reveal himself, then that is his decision. If he is watching out for Linkle or us from afar, then that’s what he feels he has to do.” Warriors saw Four open his mouth to say something, but Time continued. “We’re not going to push Linkle to choosing any sides over Wild or us. Understood?” He asked, staring at Wind even as everyone answered begrudgingly.
“Got it.” Wind crossed his arms grumpily but otherwise seemed to agree.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, fine.”
“…Um, Time?” Four managed to interrupt. “In the… the interest of looking, being, fair. Um. We, that is- I! I, uh, may have, seen, Wild too?” Four cringed, having trouble looking at anyone just as much as he seemed to have trouble finding his words. “In my Hyrule, that is. We- I, may have seen him. I don’t know if Linkle did or not, but. He didn’t say anything, and, I didn’t think he had been comfortable with joining us, so. I just didn’t mention it then. I’m sorry.”
As everyone looked uncomfortable with how small and young their shortest hero looked, even Wind, Warriors took the chance to ruffle his hair to relax him.
“Thanks for telling us, Four.” He smiled when he met surprisingly red eyes. That was a rare color, and he hoped it wasn’t a bad one.
“Does that mean Wild never got a chance to get the break he wanted after all?”
“Has he been following us this whole time?”
“Or has he been following Linkle?”
“You mean she’s been going through the portals with Wild?”
“Is that why she’s always away from us!?”
"Is that why we haven't been fighting as much during the day, too?"
“If it is or isn’t, no one is going to ask. This is something Linkle and Wild will be bringing up on their own when they are ready.” Time reminded firmly.
“What about the night raid thing? Do we really let her get away with not sleeping like that? That’s not healthy at all.”
“Well, she hasn’t seemed to be bothered by it yet. If we hadn’t noticed anything off, maybe it’ll be fine?”
“Ugh, special privileges like that should be revoked.”
They eventually picked themselves up and continued on the road. Warriors felt better to not be holding any other secrets, but he hoped Linkle would forgive him for saying so much.
It hadn’t been his secret to tell, but at least he was glad she wasn’t in any trouble just as he promised. Time didn’t say whether or not they were going to let her continue, and Warriors had no idea how long she could keep up such an active lifestyle with so little rest, but hopefully she’ll be mindful of her limits.
The canyon in the distance, his landmark for the Zora’s Domain, had a few birds flying quickly in the air. He had a moment of recognition, a vague sense just barely a thought, before the birds, the hawks, separated and flow away from each other at top speed.
“Hmm.” It was familiar, but he couldn’t really tell the colors of the hawks from so far, so-
“Hurry up, Warriors! What are you lagging behind for?”
“Keep your stink on, I’m coming!”
“Hey!”
X
Walking through the quiet Castle Town was a little disquieting. And suspicious.
“Captain, it’s good to see you!” Said with averted eyes.
“Welcome back, Captain! We’ll get news for you as soon as we can!” Reported too earnestly.
“Captain, welcome back!” Offered with a trembling salute.
“Good evening Captain! I swear, we’re all working hard for you both.” Tired but insistent.
“I didn’t realize you were back, Captain Link. How are you doing?” A more familiar face greeted them as they approached the castle boundaries to the town. At least he sounded normal and only a little concerned.
“Lieutenant Kell.” Warriors saluted, thankful to see his friend mostly normal. “What’s going on? Everyone seems on edge.” He hoped it was only inspections, but that never left everyone so on edge.
“There’s a couple of things, honestly. The bigger one, I imagine, is on your behalf.” The brunet sighed. Warriors tensed, bracing himself for news. About the Queen? Family? The infected monsters? “It’s your girl, Proxi.” He was not ready for that, his mind blanking. “Everyone has been trying to help locate her all over Hyrule.”
“P-proxi?” He repeated, not able to understand. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“She’s missed a couple of check-ins now. No one knows why. We’d hoped she was with you, but. Well.” Kell coughed into his fist, turning away to lead them along. “Let me take you to General Impa. She’ll tell you everything we know. I just got back from the fountain at Death Mountain and need to report in too.”
“Uh.” Warriors looked back at his friends, the other heroes watching with worry and concern, and Kell seemed to remember them from last time too.
“I’m sure, if they remember the way, your squad can head to the mess deck for dinner.”
“I remember the way.” Twilight nodded. “We’ll save you a seat.”
“If we can, we’ll head to the same quarters we used last time if you’re not back before the galley closes.” Time added.
Feeling a little lost, and not wanting to actually separate despite the logic of it, Warriors kept quiet as Kell brought him along the halls of the training wing. He passed by other soldiers and friends along the way, everyone saluting and offering their support.
He felt like they just had breakfast, everything in their day going by far too quickly, but the evening trumpets were sounding off and soon he arrived at Impa’s office.
Kell knocked on the doorframe and announced them.
“Enter.” Impa allowed, standing up as they did. “It’s good to see you back, men. Lieutenant Kell, have you anything to report?”
“Ma’am.” Kell stood at attention, Warriors copying by habit even as he did his best to focus. He stared at the wall behind Impa as Kell spoke. “The fountain at Death Mountain had admitted to seeing Proxi, and I was able to confirm that she had appeared normal and healthy. Unfortunately, my questions regarding her next whereabouts were answered with unclear words of shadows and magic portals and blood dust, and I fear I may have offered insult somehow. I was encouraged to depart soon after.” Impa nodded, not looking surprised at all.
“What, precisely, did they say about this blood dust?” Kell took a moment, and Warriors bit his lip as he waited.
“The Great Fairy said ‘my little sister will want to look over the shadows covering all the blood dust, however surely you have no need to know about these portals. Leave, mortal, your time is wasted here if you wish to meet where you are needed.’ And so, I left.”
Warriors thought that was strange, but he supposed the Great Fairies themselves had a different way of thinking. Still, it sounded like Proxi had been sent to look into the infected monsters herself. But, why would she be missing if she could have just waited for him? Why risk herself like that?
“That is more than I was expecting. Thank you, Lieutenant Kell.” Kell saluted and stepped back into parade rest.
“Captain Link, welcome back.”
“General Impa.” He nodded, waiting. She let the silence sit for a moment as she studied him, not quite inspection but certainly looking for something.
“Lieutenant, dismissed.”
“Ma’am.” Kell saluted. “I’ll be waiting for our Captain in the mess hall. His squad should already be there, so I’ll watch them on his behalf.” Impa saluted back and Warriors heard the sharp steps of soldier boots walking away after the office door was closed.
“You can stand at ease, hero.”
“With all due respect, General, I’d rather not.” The strict expectations of customs and courtesies learned in training was the only thing holding him calm at the moment. He wanted Impa to be neither kind nor soft right now. “What happened to Proxi?” He needed to know what the situation was, and what the plan was like going forward.
“Proxi missed her check-in a month ago.” Impa said plainly, moving to lean on her desk so that she stood in front of him to make him look at her. Warriors swallowed, staring hard at her and biting his tongue. “It’s been about a month and a half or so since we last saw you. We’ve received two letters from you since then,” a slight chiding, considering his usual report schedule, “and the Queen has been deploying our soldiers with more frequency as the infected monsters you have been hunting have started to appear more often around our Hyrule.”
“They’re here? Since how long?”
“Truthfully, they’ve been here since you were first taken by that time traveling portal. However, when Proxi disappeared too, there was a marked increase in numbers to these few camps. Keeping them quelled and managed has been no hardship, so we simply awaited news of your success defeating the source of it all. With Proxi missing, we were optimistic that she too is traveling through time just as you did. It was a precaution to check with the Great Fairies she was known to communicate with. We had no solid evidence of what actually happened to her, and still do not.”
“Proxi is not a trained soldier, and nor is she a fighting fairy.” He pointed out as levelly as he could to his General.
“Why have your letters dropped in frequency?”
“...We haven’t seen any postmen.” He answered, suddenly realizing it was true.
“Where are your reports?”
“Here, ma’am.” He relaxed a little as he pulled out the couple of bundles he had tied in his bag. He handed them over, and then the half-finished notes he had been filling out for his latest letter.
Impa lightened up a little as she received physical proof of his efforts to keep in contact as he had promised, and then waved him over to the chair across her desk.
“Take a seat. I may as well ask you about these while I got you here.”
“...Yes ma’am.” He gave in, knowing she would just take her time and make him stand long enough to regret it if he pushed.
The time difference between him and his home was out of sync. That was unsettling, and yet another thing to try to reconcile as his home looks more and more affected by the time travel he was forced to participate in.
The reports covered Wild’s decision to leave, and the suspicion that he wasn’t as far as he wanted them to think.
The reveal of everyone’s less known abilities was something Impa pushed him to consider more seriously. They would, most likely, need them in their quest together. Any skill was worth being known about and make reliable.
Time’s habits and mannerisms that he picked up from Warriors were cooed over, and Wind’s own pre-War habits were bittersweet as they saw more and more how much this quest and the War in Warrior’s Hyrule had truly forced him to grow. The idle thoughts and observations between some other familiar allies to the heroes Warriors now traveled with were also lighthearted and fond.
Linkle’s abilities, as opposed to what Warriors expected, were met with suspicion.
“Not you, too.” He slouched. Just a little.
“I’m being sensible.” Impa sniffed. “A female hero; whose history is thus far impossible to check when there had been no such hero recorded previously? Who you say looks like a mirror image of your cousin when even the other heroes only vaguely look similar to you? Who cannot even remain with you when going through these shadow portals? How are you not suspicious?” She leaned back, unimpressed.
Warriors could agree that, when put that way, it did sound bad. A little.
“She already says she’s not a hero.”
“Then why is she chosen to travel with you? Have you even given her the same test with the Blade of Evil’s Bane that the rest of you have passed?”
“Well, no.” Wow, okay, fine. That did sound kind of bad. “Time didn’t seem to think she needed to try.” Impa frowned at him, clearly offended, and wow Warriors couldn’t even tell if that was for him or Time. Probably both of them.
“He’s slacking. Must have gotten that from you.” She sniffed.
“Hey. I’m already falling apart, General, no need to kick me while I’m down.” He protested weakly. Impa rolled her eyes, expression softening as she glanced through the rest of his report. The slight sting of her reprimand only distracted him for a moment. He didn’t bother with the silence as his General finished. Linkle wasn’t the one who worried him, after all. He knew she could take care of herself. Proxi, on the other hand, had chosen him. Their bond may be less equal than Time’s was with his own childhood fairy, but it was still a bond. He would worry about her, just as she worried about him when they were apart.
“...We’ll find your fairy, hero. Our country owes her, and you. We won’t let her stay lost.”
Warriors was fully aware that he and she both knew the circumstances leading to Time losing Navi. They had speculated a lot about the man’s attitude and worldview from that one event, and had watched his childhood behavior with concern and empathy.
The worry in his heart probably had nothing to the pain Time had from his loss, but it still hurt.
He didn’t want to imagine what losing Proxi forever would actually do to him.
X
The next morning found Warriors leading the rest of his fellow heroes through the castle at a brisk walk.
“My deepest apologies, Link.” Kell said, sounding sincere.
“I understand.” He replied gruffly, not bothering to stop. “And it’s fine. This works out.”
“Hey, slow down you gangly giraffe.” Legend snapped as he turned the next corner sharply. “That means you, eyelashes!” Warriors gagged as his scarf was snagged and he was forced to realize how out of breath he was already becoming.
“Hey, Warriors, I know we’re in a hurry, but we literally just left our rooms and haven’t had breakfast.” Sky panted as he caught up. Warriors could see everyone trotting to catch up, Time and Twilight watching him with unreadable expressions.
“Yeah, why are we already running?” Wind grouched. “I thought we were gonna see the Queen?”
“Queen Zelda has closed the halls for a strategy discussion regarding urgent news.” Kell explained. “I’m afraid she won’t be open for visitors.”
“Not even for Warriors?” Four wondered, not looking winded at all.
“We’re not needed for strategizing. Not as much as the response.” Warriors managed to verbalize, words physically straining as his stress made it hard to connect thoughts to mouth. “Queen Zelda’s news is different. We’re going to look for Proxi.”
“What about Linkle?” Wind frowned, scowling harder when they all looked at him in surprise at the concern. “What? We’re supposed to catch up, right?
“Your, cousin?” Kell checked quietly, taken aback. “Last I knew she was-“
“No, one from a different time.” Warriors shook his head, waving his hand as well to signal his friend didn’t need to worry about it. “I, suppose we could split up. Some of us waiting here at the castle for her letter. I will be going out, though. Proxi needs me.”
"No, we're staying together for this, especially with news of someone as powerful as Proxi being lost and unaccounted for. We're leaving with you." Time said. It was a relief. Warriors didn't want to be separated from anyone else right now.
“You haven’t even checked if we were able to restock our supplies.” Legend pointed out. Time gave him a light push from behind.
“We’re fine. Impa explained it all to me when you all swarmed him, but we could walk a little less urgently.” He said, catching his eyes with his. “There’s no need to overexert ourselves when we don’t know what we could potentially face.” Warriors felt the heat on his nose at the light warning and Kell ribbed him.
“Haha! Little Masky boy really did take after you. How about that?”
“Alright alright! Go away, you honorless traitor.” He shoved his friend away, who didn’t let himself be so easily pushed away.
“At least tell me where you’re planning to go. We’ve checked quite a few fountains.”
“I was going to start with Proxi’s, here at the Hyrule Field Fountain.” Kell’s smile faltered at that.
“Is, that really the best idea? The Great Fairy isn’t the most, friendly. We haven’t done more than offer the usual gifts, and we’ve had Proxi’s check-ins from the further fountains along her travels, so it didn’t seem worth it.”
“It’s Proxi’s Fountain.” Warriors frowned, a little appalled that no one bothered to let her Great Fairy know about the news in person. He could understand, sure, but it was still a big step backward from all the work they had done.
“Alright. I’ll, let the General know.” His friend said, obviously not looking forward to that conversation. A ball had been dropped, and that means he would bear the brunt of the blame when he reported it.
“We’ll send a message at the gates about our next step.”
“Understood. May the Goddesses watch over you.” Kell saluted, and Warriors saluted back before turning back to the streets leading out of the castle property. At a calmer pace.
“So, what’s going on? Why are we not looking for Linkle anymore?” Hyrule wondered.
“Linkle is fully capable of protecting and defending herself. In this era, however, the monsters are smart enough to trap and use the fairies in this land. What you may not know, however, is that Warrior’s era is special in that the fairies are less healing fairies and more combat fairies. That makes these monsters and the camps they build a lot more dangerous than our own eras.” Time explained.
“Proxi is my fairy partner.” Warriors bit out, a little upset that this was the way he had to introduce her rather than doing it with her. “She’s been by my side since my first battle out of training. She’s stayed by my side since after Ganondorf was sealed away, and she works with me to improve the relationships between the castle and the other races. She’s the liaison for the rest of the fairies all over Hyrule, connecting them with the castle and making sure forgotten customs regarding Great Fairies and Fountains are remembered and observed.”
“Wait, you’re saying an ambassador has gone missing?” Four checked. “And the fairies haven’t threatened you all with retaliation?”
“They probably don’t want to, if they know who is really responsible. Or at least know who isn't.” Hyrule added thoughtfully.
“We can ask the Great Fairy.” Time settled. “From the sounds of it, she may even be glad to hear the news from Warriors directly."
“And on the walk there, I wanna know why you never mentioned having a fairy companion before! Time and I did, but you never said and that’s against the law!” Wind added.
“Great, I’m glad we have a plan and everything, but we still haven’t had breakfast.” Sky chimed up, unable to hide the yawn from behind his hand. Legend stepped up next to him, hand already digging around his bag.
“Here, I grabbed a load of the stuffed pastries that I saw in the throne room.”
“In the, where? Legend. Legend, please. Tell me you didn’t just admit to stealing the officer’s breakfast that was meant to be served to my Queen.” Legend blinked at him as Sky hesitantly took a pastry. The pink-haired man took a large bite of one of his own, pointedly not responding despite staring him straight in the eyes. Everyone cringed.
“Alright, we got food, let’s go!” Twilight urged, snagging one of his own before Warriors led them away, every one of them trying and failing to walk at a normal speed.
No one dared look at the castle as they left it behind them.