Chapter Text
Fi was strong enough to take physical form. It took many years of practice and a lot of work before they could both be around at the same time, but now they could work it so he could wield her and vice versa.
She turned out to be a terrifying force, though she refused to act in such a way outside of the spars he and Spectrum managed to beg her into participating in.
After a long time, Dev leaning against Fi, her singing softly, and Spectrum sitting in some vines tied to be a swing, they had been sensing the darkness growing for a long time. They were waiting in a grove deep within the forest, they hadn’t been waiting long and often took excursions to pass time.
Then it came. The boy who wandered into their grove was no older than Dev had been.
"Oh!" The boy squeaked upon seeing them. "Umm, sorry, I... I was looking for... the singing lady."
Dev could recognize a wielder when he saw one, but Fi moved first. Her draping cloak brushing the ground and she knelt in front of him.
"You have found her, little one," she said. "What is your name?"
"Link," they answered.
"Do you have something or somewhere to be, Master Link?" She asked.
Link hesitated, then a fierce determination lit in his eyes. One born out of desperation, out of fear, it was a fire that Dev knew intimately. "I need to kill Ganon."
Fi smiled. "So you do. Then allow us to help you, Master Link."
"I... Do you know where a sword is? The old man said I need to find a sword. I… I have to do this.”
There was so much fear in him…
Dev gave a soft laugh. "We can get you a sword, kid, don't worry.”
“And we can help you kill Ganon,” Spectrum added, smiling warmly from his side. “Don’t worry, things will be okay.”
Link held two swords as he faced Ganon. He was so small, almost ten years old, just like Dev had been… so long ago. Just like the Fallen Hero had been, like Spectrum had been against Vaati.
They watched, Fi calling out warnings to Link like she once did with Dev, like she did with their kit every now and then, like he was certain she had done with her first master.
They watched Link take hits, pouring their energy into keeping his body strong. They watched him fight back and strike down the creature of hatred. He stumbled but stayed standing.
The malice coalesced. More and more darkness swarmed the battlefield, more and more came together. It was like a dying star, a great explosion, a supernova of malice swiftly pulling back together into a nebula and then into a brand new star.
"What... is that?" Spectrum questioned.
“It’s powerful,” Dev realized. Far stronger than even the dragon his cub killed.
“No… It’s impossible," said Fi.
“Fi?”
A large being took place, a man similar in stature to Ganondorf. Only this one was far larger, with skin as black as night and a large white ‘X’ on his forehead. Red lines followed his skin like a web of lightning.
Link, out of potions and fairies, a hero too young to be fighting but no younger than others, stood straight again. The boy inhaled carefully, and he took stance.
“A child. This is who you have sent, Hylia?” The last of the malice finished flying around. The last of the malice combined into a huge, jagged sword. “A mere boy to do your bidding? Go on, boy. Flee while you are able. All this land will lay wasted at my feet, and all its life slain to water these grounds in blood.”
“Nononono—LINK RUN!"
Fi never sounded more terrified.
“I can’t. He-He’s strong,” Link whispered shakily, his eyes were filled with fear, blood trickled down his arm and sweat across his brow. He was too young for this. Fi begged and pleaded—she should never sound so emotional—with Link to just run, to escape.
"Fi, who is that?" Spectrum demanded.
"Demise."
Link--in all his idiotic, stupid, reckless, goddess-given courage--stepped forward with his sword raised.
“I won’t run,” Link declared, his voice steady and betraying the fear that shook his body. “You won’t win.”
“Please… Please, just run. He is far too powerful for you.” Fi continued to plead.
Demise laughed. “Really, boy? Tell me, which of those four fools sent you here?”
Link trembled, but didn’t falter. “I am a hero, and I won’t let you win.”
Dev wanted to get between them. He couldn’t let Link face this alone. Link please—
Demise hefted up his sword and stepped forward. “It will be fun to carve you apart like I did her first hero.”
Link lunged.
It all happened so fast.
Link had fought well, he fought so well. But Demise just… he was terrifying. Dev forgot what it was like to feel true fear for his life.
As he knelt over Link’s bloodied body, pouring all his energy into Link and hoped and pleaded that the little fawn--the kid was skittish, ever curious, ever kind, ever energetic--would get back up again. He watched Spectrum, all four of them, split into the Colors. They fought desperately to hold Demise back; they struggled badly.
Fi was beside him, her own energy pouring into Link as she cradled his broken body. His glassy eyes stared dazedly at her.
“‘M sorry,” he whimpered. “I didn’ lis’n… m’sorry.”
“Shh, it’s okay,” Dev assured gently, looking quickly over his shoulder. Demise sent Blue flying across the ground and Red darted into his place. “It’s going to be okay. Just hold on, little fawn. It’s going to be alright.”
Link’s eyes fluttered, he turned his face weakly into Fi.
“Dev.” Fi looked away from the hero. “You must seal him.”
"But Link—"
"I have tried too many times. Without something else to resurrect him, our power will only prolong his suffering."
Vio screamed as Green taking a hit of malice for him. Blue, covered in his own blood, snarled viciously and ran back in.
He couldn’t. Dev hadn’t ever tried to use the magic he was born with since he was alive. How could Fi expect him to do it now? It had been millennia—
“Link.”
He startled. Fi’s voice softened, the same tone she’d taken when she first told him he had to be ready to kill the guards who helped raise him.
“You must do this.”
He didn’t want to. If he stopped now, there really would be no hope for the child in her lap. Already, his chances were slim, but if he stopped giving his body energy…
“You are the only one who can do this. Go. Now.”
It was his duty to protect the hero as the Spirit of the Master Sword. But before that, it had been his duty to protect the sons and daughters of the goddess, as their ancestor.
Before even that, it was his choice to save the world as the hero.
He never wanted to make that choice again.
He ran. Watching Red scramble forward between Demise, and Green and Vio. Blue was both trying to move back in. Neither would reach them in time, and Red was barely standing--blood dripped down his leg, soaking his trousers. Green was unmoving on the ground and Vio trying to lift him to get them to safety. Dev grabbed Red’s shoulder and pulled the other spirit out of the way.
Demise's giant blade swung toward Dev. He wasn't faster really, not as he felt the blade make contact with his arm, but he struck in the same moment. That was enough.
Golden light consumed the battlefield.
Demise’s curses fell on deaf ears as a seal as powerful as Dev could manage locked him away. He shouldn’t have been able to access such a magic only granted to him by his blood when he no longer had any blood, but that didn’t seem to matter.
Vio visibly shuddered, dropping back to his knees with Green in his arms. Blue ran over to Red who stared at where Demise had been a moment prior, about to kill him.
Dev dimly felt pain blooming from his bicep. Link’s life faded behind him. Another too-young hero killed.
"Why does it drain you so much?" Spectrum asked, the three of them looking at the pulsing seal on the ground.
"Because I'm not supposed to be able to use that magic," Dev said. "It's in my blood, but I don't exactly have that blood anymore, you know? If I were still alive then, it'd be fine.” Or that was what he was choosing to believe, it made sense at least.
"Damn..." Spectrum muttered. "Even between the six of us, we couldn't win."
"He is far stronger than he was the first time I faced him," Fi revealed. "I suspect that he left some remnant of his hatred aside from his main form, and it has been regaining strength, and only now has revealed himself in attempts to destroy everything."
"We can't give in," Spectrum said firmly.
"Of course not, we just—We're not strong enough," Dev grumbled.
Spec shook his head. "How can we improve? The three of us are equals, we spent years training each other and we are as good as we can get without—more help."
"Master Link fought differently, perhaps learning a more variety of methods will help you improve," Fi suggested.
Dev snorted. "That'd be helpful. There's at least... seven?" He counted on his fingers. "Sprite, Tune, Mask, Kit, Cub, Wolfie, and Fi's first wielder. Then just get them to help us, even if just learning a trick or two."
"Didn't you train half of them?" Spec pointed out.
"Sprite used magic at the same time as a sword, and I only helped Kit and Cub improve. They knew crowd control, I taught them precision."
"You have yet to return to your peak skill in sword fighting. If it were possible, I believe their influences would be positive for both of you to improve," Fi agreed. "The chances of that taking place is..." she paused. "Perhaps we should spar once more before finding more monsters to defeat."
Dev sighed. "Alright, yeah, sure."
Fi transformed into a sword and Dev picked her up. Spectrum stood, the Four Sword manifesting in his hand.
"Unfair you can just manifest it."
"There's two of you and four of us, but only one of us."
Dev rolled his eyes, thinking idly to himself: soon enough there will only be one of us too. Then their blades were slamming together.
Fi wasn't going to live much longer. She lasted as long as she had because of Dev, because he funneled energy and power to her, but it wouldn't last. She was only meant to live as long as her original master, only meant to defeat Demise the first time and be done with it. There would be no use for a sword that was only wieldable by one spirit that should've stayed dead. Her survival this long was a feat unforeseen, she was decaying again.
She warned them about that not long ago, that she would probably only survive to see Demise killed again.
While sparring, a portal suddenly formed under their feet and both of them fell.