Chapter Text
A week. It was hard to believe a whole week had passed since the fight that took one of their own. The Chain hadn’t stopped searching in that time, only to come up with nothing. By the third day it had become clear that they wouldn’t find anything. Not that that was going to stop them from trying anyway. Legend quietly scoffed. That’s what you get when you have eight incredibly stubborn heroes who refuse to leave one of their own behind.
Legend had agreed to take first watch that night. It was a bit too quiet for his liking. The only sounds were the light snoring of his brothers and the crackling of the dying fire in front of him. Legend stared into the dying light as his thoughts finally caught up to him.
The week had been rough on them all, individually and as a whole. That much was obvious. Anyone could tell that from the way the rancher started keeping to himself more, to the way Wind hadn’t let go of the Sheikah Slate since the incident. Time had started to become more strict, just like after Twilight’s recovery, while Wars had followed the old man's lead. Warriors paranoia had also gotten a little worse the last few days. Four had gone mostly silent, other than that he had probably been the best at hiding his worry, though upon closer inspection Legend could tell he was as worried as the rest of them. Sky and Hyrule were both trying their hardest to stay positive, even through their worries. Legend could tell that they, along with Four, were trying to keep the peace, even if it seemed futile to him at the moment.
As for Legend himself, he didn’t know how to feel about any of this. He knew that he had become angry over the course of the week. Snapping more frequently and occasionally starting a few arguments, but it wasn’t like he meant any of it. He was stressed out of his mind like the others, but it seemed like all that came out was anger and he hated it. He wasn’t an angry person, even if he sometimes came off as snarky or rude. He hated everything about this whole situation.
Just then he felt something shift next to him. Legend looked over in surprise only to find Wars sitting next to him. Wars was staring into the fire, like he himself had been a few seconds before. Wars soon spoke up. “I didn’t expect for you to still be awake.”
Legend blinked. He took a moment before replying slowly. “I’m on watch? I would like to think I’d be awake.”
Wars gave him a flat look. “Legend, your watch was supposed to end nearly two hours ago.” He turned his attention back to the fire, gently poking the embers with a stick. “You should be glad that I was supposed to take the next watch and not Time. So, any particular reason you’re still awake?”
Legend turned back to the dying embers. What could he even really say? That was worried about Wild? That he was angry at that stupid shadow? Angry how they had been searching for days and hadn’t found a single thing? Anything that he wanted to say, had already been said by someone else over the course of the week. “I was just thinking and lost track of time.”
“Was it about recent,” Wars hesitated. “events?”
The sudden silence of the other was telling enough. Wars shifted and looked at the younger hero next to him. “Everything is going to be fine. We’ll find him.” Legend shoots him an unimpressed look. At this, Wars continues. “Alright, I’ll admit, I’m worried too. However, we just need to have faith in Wild and keep looking. He knows what he’s doing and can take care of himself just fine until we can get to him. Worrying about what-if’s isn’t going to help him. Besides, Hylia brought us together for a reason. For all we know, she’ll send us to him with the next portal.”
Legend stared at the Captain. “You’re starting to sound like Sky. You seriously believe that the Goddess is going to care if one of us is gone? She didn’t seem to care much when Twilight nearly-” Legend cut himself off with a frustrated huff. “Regardless, I don’t think that she’s going to be of any help anytime soon.”
Warriors just waited patiently for him to finish. “You never know what might happen. I mean, she wants us to either stop or destroy the Shadow, which is supposedly where Wild ended up. Why not send us to them?”
Legend blinked at him. “How do you know the Shadow isn’t still here?”
Wars glanced up at the starry sky. “When he fell through the portal, that strange Moblin went with him. Before that however, both me and Wind noticed the monster create the same type of portal that the Shadow uses. So, either the Shadow is arming black-blooded monsters with the power to make portals.”
Legend finished the thought. “Or the Moblin was the Shadow.” The realization hit him. “Wild might be stuck with the Shadow. You think they might be in another time?”
Wars nodded. “It seems likely. Either that or the portal sent them to the other side of this Hyrule. However, seeing as the portals have only ever sent us to another time, I highly doubt the second option. We probably would’ve heard something about it by now anyway. Wind would’ve been able to contact him by now if that was the case.”
A new silence filled the air. For a while, neither spoke. Then Wars spoke. “It’s getting late. Can’t properly search if you’re exhausted.”
Legend grumbled and got up. The short walk across camp seemed to last longer than it should’ve. His mind was heavy with racing thoughts, attempting to make sense with the revelations that he had just had. He ended up laying there, staring up at the night sky for the next hour. He could hear Wars switch off with Twilight with a few hushed whispers shared between the two. Finally, his mind started to slow down and he felt the familiar drag of sleep. Closing his eyes, he sent a small silent prayer to the Goddess that his brother at least was safe.
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The full moon shone brightly over Hateno Village that night. When it had returned after the Calamities defeat, many had watched it, waiting to see if it would turn the blood red color many had grown to expect. Even now, a little over a year later, Princess Zelda still felt uneasy everytime it came back.
The princess of Hyrule laid in her bed, clutching a photo tightly. It had been taken not long after Link had saved her. After defeating Calamity Ganon, Link had taken her directly to Kakariko Village to reunite with Impa and to rest. They had spent about three weeks there before she had fallen back into the royal protocols she had been raised with and had convinced Impa to let her go visit the other settlements. Impa had only agreed after Link promised to accompany her.
Zelda visited every town with the help of Link, from Gerudo Town all the way to Terry Town up in Akkala. Surprisingly, despite not having a true monarchy for a hundred years, the people had welcomed her with open arms. Zelda and Link then spent the next few months reintroducing Zelda and reconstructing the kingdom’s government. It was decided that suddenly forcing everyone into a monarchy wouldn’t work, so instead a council of sorts was formed with the respective leaders of each settlement with Zelda leading the group. This turned out to be the best course of action as the people of Hyrule gladly went along with this plan.
After that, Link had started working with Robbie to take out the remaining Guardians. Once that was over, Zelda started working with the council to arrange rebuilding efforts while Link led efforts to take out the remaining monsters. Zelda had even moved in with her knight. It had taken time to adjust, but they had figured it out. That was until Link was suddenly called away for the Goddesses mission.
Zelda could still remember like it was yesterday, despite her knight being gone for two months. She had been working with Purah in the lab when Symin rushed in panicking about a portal that had just sprung up outside of the village. They had quickly gone to check out the portal, meeting up with Link, who had just returned from scouting out a monster camp. Link had decided to check out the portal himself but as soon as he entered, the gate closed behind him.
It took about a week for a letter addressed to the princess to appear at the lab. The letter was from the missing swordsman himself and thankfully explained what had happened to him. Even now, it still seems a bit surreal to the princess that he’s somewhere now getting dragged through different eras with the heroes of old, or even how he’s able to send letters to her. Then again, it’s not like she had much time to ponder recent events. Since that day, Zelda had been running everything alone. Thankfully the other leaders had been helping her, but sometimes it was easy to feel alone.
She had grown closer to Link over the time they had spent together. After the Calamity, it was a massive change to get used to. Before Ganon came back, Zelda had only known him as a quiet and stoic person, but now he was an energetic, chaotic force of nature that wasn’t afraid to express exactly how he was feeling. While it had taken a while to get used to it, she had quickly found herself slowly but surely falling in love with the knight all over again. He was her best friend and she found his presence to be a huge comfort. It felt that she had just gotten him back, when he was forcefully taken away again by the cruel Goddess that had ignored her prayers for most of her life.
She clutched the photo tighter. She and Link had taken the photo before heading out to the settlements after those first few weeks of recovery. Zelda treasured the photo dearly. Purah had found a way to make a physical copy of it for her, though it had been hard to do with what Purah had to work with at the time. After Link had left, Zelda kept the photo with her at all times. It had quickly become a bit of a comfort item the past two months.
Zelda studied the photo as she laid in the bed. With a sigh, she placed the small picture on the nightstand. Then suddenly there was a knock on the front door. The sound had Zelda scrambling to sit up, swiveling her head to look at the door.
The knocking continued and was soon accompanied by a familiar voice. “Princess!” Purah’s voice rang through the house, distress clear in her voice. Curiosity and concern taking over, Zelda stood up, hurried down the stairs, and quickly pulled open the door, coming face to face with the Sheikah scientist’s winded face. “Princess, I know it’s late, but we have a situation.”
“Purah what has happened?” Zelda questioned in concern.
Purah took a breath before continuing. “A portal has opened over one of the fields outside of town. It looks like the portal that took Link.”
That got the princesses attention. “Purah where is it? Take me to it, quickly.”
The two ladies quickly ran towards the portal. The portal itself was floating high above the ground, shining purple against the starry night sky. It shone dangerously as the two approached. Zelda stared uncertainly at it. The sound of approaching footsteps caught her attention as she tore her gaze away to see Symin quickly approach. He slowed as he got closer, also watching the portal cautiously.
“Princess something is coming through!” Symin’s observation and Purah’s surprised yelp were the only warnings Zelda was given. She quickly turned back only to witness a strange looking Moblin come falling through, clutching a body. The Moblin died on impact, disappearing in a puff of smoke. The other body went rolling down the hill after the Moblin broke it’s fall.
“The portal closed!” She didn’t need to look up to feel the suffocating wrong feeling of the portal disappear. Instead, she found herself looking off down the hill where the other had fallen.
It didn’t take long before her gaze landed on a familiar cloaked figure collapsed on the grassy ground. Her breath caught before she yelled. “Link!” Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the other researchers quickly turn to her and follow her gaze, but she didn’t care. She broke into a full sprint down the slope towards her fallen knight.
Sliding to her knees besides her knight, she quickly turned him onto his back, taking a quick assessment of his injuries. After she was sure he was fine, nothing but a few cuts and bruises, she sighed in relief. Purah dropped down next to her. “Is he?”
Zelda nodded. “He’s fine, just unconscious.” She paused to glance down at him. “We need to get him back to the house. We should probably get him a Hearty Elixir as well just to be sure.”
Zelda looped one of Link’s arms around her neck before standing up, pulling him up as well. Symin suddenly came over and Zelda handed Link over to him. They quickly brought him back to the house, setting him on the bed. Zelda removed his cloak and a few bits of armor while Purah retrieved an elixir from downstairs. She removed the cork and helped Link to drink the glittering red liquid. The effects were quick to appear as the cuts immediately healed and the bruises disappeared.
After one last check, Purah and Symin both left for the night, promising to come by tomorrow to check on the hero. Zelda pulled the desk chair over to the bed and watched the boy in front of her in concern. Where were the other heroes? And more importantly, what happened to her friend?
A noise startled Zelda. Her eyes flew open, which was strange. When had she closed her eyes? She glanced at the bed and did a double take after her gaze was met by Link’s. The two hylians stared at each other, both in surprise.
Suddenly Link broke the silence. “Zelda?”
The princess took his hand. “Link! Are you alright? What happened?”
Link took a minute to groggily turn the questions over in his mind. “Me and the others were trying to clear out a monster camp, but I got cornered and I-” He cut off, eyes flying wide as he sat up quickly. “Zelda, where are the others? Are they okay? I was tackled through the portal.” He started searching around himself. “Where’s the slate?” His voice slowly got more and more panicked.
Zelda quickly grabbed his hands and made him look up. “Link. Calm down, we’ll figure this all out, but you just fell out of a portal. Get some rest for now and in the morning, we’ll see if Purah can help us track down the slate.”
“But the others-” He started.
“Will be fine.” Zelda said confidently. “You were the only one to fall through the portal. If they also ended up somewhere in our Hyrule, we’ll find them together. Besides, all of them are experienced and skilled fighters. They’ll be fine. Rest for now. Please.” It took a bit more convincing, but Zelda eventually got him to rest. Soon enough, she also drifted back to sleep with a weight taken off her shoulders, one she didn’t know she had, but a new concern soon took its place.