#and sky and four kinda. and I haven’t even begun Hyrule’s

[milkyplier]

Wouldn’t it be. Just amazing if I could draw

[queenof-literature]

I'm asking again because I absolutely adore your work! You write the Links telling stories amazingly. It truly feels that Wild was telling the stories. Could write the all Links talking about their loves. It would be mix of fluff and angst because we have Sky and Time, who are both happy with their respective partners, but we also have Wild, Twilight, and Legend who I imagine are all lost in their own ways. I have not played all the games so feel free to interpret how you wish!

Hi again! Thank you! I'm so glad you like my work! I haven’t played all the Zelda games either, but I have watched many playthroughs. I have played Skyward Sword, Twilight Princess, and BOTW, and I’m going to play Link’s Awakening after I’m done with Hollow Knight, because unfortunately that’s all I have access too with the game systems I have. But I have watched playthroughs of the rest! So thank you for letting me have my own interpretation because I see a lot of the relationships besides the ones you mentioned and more platonic. I think Wind and Tetra would be sweet but they’re twelve during the game ya know? I apologize there is less storytelling in this one, but I feel a lot of them wouldn't be quite ready to spill all the beans. Hope you enjoy!

    Time didn’t really know how it had descended this far into chaos. One moment, Warriors was telling a tale of a ‘grand exploit’ in a tavern in his Hyrule, the next, there was screaming and yelling and multiple ‘innocent young ears’ being covered. Time thinks it all started when in the middle of the story, Warriors was telling them about a beautiful young lady he had met, to which Legend groaned and rolled his eyes. Instantly Warriors’ smile grew sharp and his eyes filled with teasing and mischief. Time knew that look, that was the look that promised Warriors was about to do anything to make the other boy uncomfortable, even making up the rest of the story if he had too. 

    Yes that’s certainly what began this quick but entertaining descent into Hell. Warriors began to tell how this young woman just ‘couldn’t keep her hands to herself’ as he stared right into Legend’s soul. Of course, Legend, not one to back down from a challenge, began yelling about his experiences in the tavern, also probably made up, and started screaming about a young lady who ‘really liked his magic items’ to which led Sky to yelling at both of them to keep quiet as he covered Wind’s ears. Wind then laughed and covered Hyrule’s ears, who giggled and reached up and covered Sky’s ears to create a Triforce of protecting the innocent. Twilight, seeing this happening, smirked and covered Wild’s ears to which he fought vehemently but Twilight wouldn’t budge. Four was shifting expressions so fast it was hard to keep track, from amused, to annoyed, to horrified, to resigned, and then a weird combination of all of them. 

    Legend and Warriors continued screaming at each other, and as entertaining as it was, if Time didn’t stop them soon they would be screaming all night. 

    “Gentleman. While I’m sure many of us enjoy hearing your exploits, I think the entire forest doesn’t feel the same way.” Time voiced, causing Warriors and Legend to blush and grumble while the rest of the group laughed. 

    “Yeah, yeah we get it Old Man. You have a beautiful and loving wife at home.” Warriors teased back.

    “Your point?” Time smirked. 

    “Yeah Warriors, just cause you don’t want to settle down don’t mean we feel the same way.” Twilight called from the other side of the campfire as Wild finally fought his way out of Twi’s strong hold. 

    “Who said I never want to settle down, goat boy?” Warriors called back.

    “You called my wedding ring a shackle.” Time chuckled. 

    “Well sure it is. But who knows if I want a shackle one day.” The camp laughed at this.

    “This mean you got someone Captain? Perhaps your Zelda?” Legend teased. 

    “No, my Zelda is amazing, and badass to boot. But I don’t really feel that way about her, at least not now.” Warriors smiled. 

“Yeah, same with my Zelda. I’m not sure how she feels about me anyway.” Hyrule sighed. 

“Same here.” Legend said simply, though the group could see a haunted look in his eyes. No one mentioned it, Legend would speak up if he wanted to, and most likely not in front of the entire group. 

“You don’t have to marry Zelda. I love my Zelda but not romantically.” Time stated gently to Hyrule.

“Yeah I know. I guess I’m still kinda shocked you got married Time.” Hyrule blushed when he realized how bad that sounded as Warriors held back a laugh disguised as a cough. “I didn’t mean it like that! I just meant that I always thought heroes didn’t really settle down. They kept saving and saving.” Hyrule finished with his hands up in a placating manner, but Time wasn’t offended at all.

“I know buddy. As I said, it took me years to see through that lie. I’m happy with Malon, and I’m out here with you boys too. You can take time for yourself too, it’s not selfish.” Time smiled softly at Hyrule. Although he didn’t mean to, Time’s words sent a stab of guilt through some of the other members. He should be home with his beautiful and loving wife. Not here on another quest after he had done so much already. But they sure were grateful to have him. 

“What about you Wild?” Wind asked. “You and your Zelda seem really close from what you’ve told us.”

“Um, well I’m not sure.” Wild rubbed the back of his neck. “I love her, and I know I did before, but I don’t know if I can imagine us you know, kissing and stuff.” Wild blushed as laughter roared up.

“Very elequantly put, Wild.” Warriors cackled. 

“You got plently of time to figure that out Cub.” Twilight clapped a hand on his shoulder as the laughter died down. 

“What are you laughing for, Wind?” Warriors ruffled his hair as Wind knocked his arm away. “You always talk about Tetra.” Warriors smirked as Wind sputtered and flushed a deep pink up to his ears.

“Tetra’s awesome! I wish she were here to kick your ass for saying that!” Wind yelled as he smacked Warriors’ shoulder. 

Four elbowed Sky. “What about you lover boy. You wanna talk about your Zelda?” Four teased as Sky’s face lit up.

“Ugh don’t get him started he won’t shut up for the rest of the night.” Legend grumbled. But it was too late. Sky had already begun.

“She’s amazing. She can play the harp and sing like Hylia herself.” Sky started with a dreamy look on his face. “One time before the Wing Ceremony, she thought I was being lazy and pushed me off of Skyloft to try and get me to call my Loftwing, but he had been put in a place he couldn’t reach me. So she had to save me herself.” Sky still had that dopey look on his face as his brothers snickered at his story. 

As Sky rambled on about his Zelda, Twilight’s eyes had grown clouded, staring at the stars peeking through the warm orange glow of the coming twilight. Wild would catch him doing this sometimes, and it always looked like Twilight was having a bittersweet memory. Wild glanced over at Time, making sure he noticed too, he was Twi’s mentor afterall. Time made eye contact with Wild and gave a small nod to acknowledge he was on the same page Wild was. Before either of them could do anything, Warriors spoke up.

“What about you country boy? You have someone?” Warriors asked and the rest of camp perked up. Twilight had never talked about his love life, besides a few jokes about ‘his heart being shattered’. Hopefully he was exaggerating…

“Uhh no.” Twilight responded after snapping out of his daze to find the entire camp looking at him curiously. 

“Does this have anything to do with the princess you talked about when Wild showed us his scars?” Four asked carefully, trying to portray that he wasn’t trying to overstep any bounds. 

“Yeah I guess so…” Twilight trailed off. Legend felt something cold in his heart at this conversation. He could tell Twilight lost his love, because he had seen that same expression in the mirror for years. He wanted to help Twilight know he wasn’t alone, he wasn’t the only one that had his heart shattered by things out of his control. The boy had always been a sturdy shoulder for all of them, it was time he returned the favor. He just didn’t know how without revealing too much or making Twilight uncomfortable. 

“There was a girl once.” Legend’s voice emerged from the silence. “Hair more red than you can imagine. She lived on an island I… found but… I did something wrong. My curiosity got the best of me, and now she and the island are gone.” Legend got out as little of the story as possible as quickly as possible while still seemingly indifferent. It was one thing to open up to all of his brothers, but it was another to cry in front of them. He couldn’t. 

Twilight seemed genuinely surprised Legend had spoken up about what was haunting him. Legend was sure that the others were just as shocked but he only looked at Twilight. He wanted Twi to know he wasn’t the only one. He needed Twi to know he wasn’t the only one. Talking about it was humiliating and almost impossible and just downright painful. He needed Twi to know he had been there too. Twi gave him a gentle and understanding look, one that told Legend he understood what he was trying to do, and that he was more than grateful and supportive of him. Warriors set a gentle hand on his shoulder, slow enough that he could pull away if he needed to. Legend allowed it, but nothing more. It’s more for that idiot’s peace of mind anyway. He didn’t take any comfort in it at all…

“My companion on my quest was awful to me at first.” Twilight’s voice rang out to replace Legend’s in the silence around the campfire. “She was awful to me at first but we started to talk more along the way and we became closer. Then she just… left. I don’t know what I did wrong…” Twilight trailed off, once again looking at the quickly fading twilight above. He wanted to talk more about it, and he could tell Legend did too. They just weren’t ready yet. 

Wild bit his lip. Time was much better at comforting Twilight, but he was on the other side of the fire and making a move to be next to him would draw attention Twilight didn’t want. Wild leaned some of his weight against the older boy. He had to at least try to comfort him after all Twilight had done for Wild since they met. Twilight smiled slightly when he felt the weight and leaned back. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.  

“I don’t think you did anything wrong Twilight.” Wild spoke quietly, messing with the hem of his tunic. “I mean you talked about your companion being from the Twilight Realm right?” Twilight nodded slightly, looking pained. “Well maybe she had to go for another reason? I’m not saying you should just forget.” Wild rushed to say. “But maybe it was really complicated if both of you were growing closer to each other and she wasn’t as mean as before?” Wild finished his words with a question. Twilight never told him enough about his companion to know for sure what really happened. But he could at least try to comfort his mentor. 

Twilight looked down at Wild and smirked, but it lacked the tease it normally had, it held gratitude and love. “Thanks, Cub.” Twilight said simply, then reached out a hand to quickly ruffle the youngers’ hair. Wild yelped and slapped his hand away. Relief overwhelmed the boys in the group, thankful that the atmosphere had lifted slightly. 

“I know it’s not the same.” Warriors started once the others had settled down. “But there was this woman. She was the main one who tried to take the Triforce for herself other than Ganon. Apparently she was supposed to protect the Triforce, but she… fell in love with me.” Warriors waited for the teasing to begin. He knew he made many jokes about the women he had met, but it seemed the group could tell this sometimes plagued his mind. 

“That was one of the reasons she started the war that I fought in. I found out later that her light was driven from her to create my friend Lana, so she became completely dark. I had to fight in her temple and there were pictures of me all over the walls and…” Warriors paused. He couldn’t talk about his overconfidence yet. He couldn’t talk about his mistakes that led to Dark Link. What if the others hated him for it? “I don’t know it may sound silly. But having someone obsessed with you like that is, scary I guess. I mean, people died in those battles, because she was jealous of Zelda and me but I’m not even sure how I feel about Zelda. She died and I couldn’t help but feel guilty. I know I’m not required to have feelings for her, especially after all she had done, but it still made me feel… I don’t know.” Warriors sighed. Legend leaned slightly into Warriors’ hand on his shoulder. He never knew Warriors had that part of his story. The rest of the group felt twangs in their hearts at Warriors’ confused tone. 

“It’s not your fault Warriors.” Wind smiled up at him. “You’re right. You shouldn't force yourself to feel that way for anyone. The war wasn’t your fault.” Warriors smiled down at his small companion and nodded in thanks.

“Wind is right.” Hyrule stated quietly. “There were people after me because of the Triforce. That doesn’t mean it’s our fault.” No one mentioned that the word ‘were’ sounded a little strained. they’d have to keep an eye on him in his Hyrule it seemed. 

“Thanks guys.” Warriors grinned. It was a little more troubled than his usual grin, but it was a welcome sign nonetheless. Sky looked a little guilty at having proclaimed his love so confidently. Four pat his shoulder and shook his head. Sky shouldn’t feel guilty for being happy. None of the other boys would ever want that. 

“Look at all of us.” Legend teased with a wry smile. The rest of the group chuckled slightly. The atmosphere wasn’t as happy as it had been, but there was an odd relief, like the relief after crying. A bittersweet acceptance that hearts had been broken, but they still had brothers to fall back on. The group could tell no one else was ready to talk about anything else for the night, so they began to settle in. Surprisingly, Twilight laid his bedroll near Legend that night. While no tears were shed, the group was still exhausted from a long day of travel. After the other heroes had settled down, Twilight laid awake, looking at the stars. He knew Legend would be up too, the hero never seemed to sleep right away. And now Twilight had suspicions why after his tale.

“Hey Legend?” Twilight whispered after he was positive everyone was asleep, save Four, who was on the outskirts of camp keeping watch, too far away to hear their whispers.

“What?” Legend pretended to look annoyed but Twilight could see the curiosity in his eyes.

“What was her name?” Twilight asked quietly, praying that he hadn’t crossed a line. When Legend didn’t answer, he figured he would apologize and awkwardly turn over in his bedroll and pretend to sleep.

“Marin…” Legend whispered the name with such sadness, but such awe that it threw Twilight for a loop. “Your companion?” Legend questioned back.

“Midna.”  

[writtingthing]

Crossing The Great Sea Chapter 3 (Linked Universe)

Word count ; 2363

Read on Archive of our own

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

 Far away , Wind could see the Mother and Child Isles. The boat was moving slowly, Wind wanted to use the wind waker to help them move faster, but the other agreed to let the wind do it’s own thing. The others wanted to learn as much as they can about the World crossing pirates. No, not pirates. Travelers. That’s really all they were. Most didn’t even know how to fight. Ren in particular enjoyed to watch the Heroes spar.

“How much longer do I have?” Four was behind Wind, making the youngest slightly jump.

“Um, I’m not sure. A couples days for sure. We’re almost out of the Great Sea though.” Wind noticed the smallest hero had a different book than the day before. “Find anything interesting?”

“Not really, only one book is weird.” Four held up the leather bound book.

“What does it say?” Curiosity was winning today in Wind’s mind.

Four handed it to Wind, the latter looked at the one page with text, “This kinda sounds like what happened to me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Tetra was turned to stone. When I found her I learned Lineneck had... ran away when his old crew was captured. Later Bellum attached himself to Linebeck and I had to fight him. But I don’t think anything had to do with memories.” Wind trailed off, “Amila mentioned something about Linebeck helping them, she said she doesn’t remember….”

“Do you think it's coincidence?” Four was looking over the written words with a new light.

“Maybe.. did you ask Jacalyn?” Wind knew he shouldn’t pry, it wasn’t right. But Linebeck was his friend, he had a right to know, right? If they were forgetting, was it so wrong to try to help them remember?

“She said she doesn’t remember either. I could ask her about Linebeck though.” Four closed the book, having his curiosity renewed.

“What are you two plotting?” Twilight approached them.

Wind and Four smiled innocently, “Nothing.” They spoke in almost unison.

Twilight eyes looked over the two boys, then sighed, “whatever, don’t get in too much trouble though. Wild’s got the food ready. He’s serving the recipe he got from your grandma.” Twilight nodded to Wind.

The three of them joined the others, who were already seated digging into the soup laid out for them. The engaged in small talk, mostly towards the cook. Wind made the passing comment that if Wild practiced enough he may be almost as good as grandma.

The all had a good laugh. Somehow they began talking about masks. After eating Wild showed off his small collections of masks.

“Is that Majora’s Mask?” Qin reached for the mask in question. Is wasn’t a pretty mask. It had all the colors of the rainbow, but scatter on it. Horns were spread along the heart shaped edges. The eyes is what bothered most, the yellow and red seemed to look through people.

“Yeah, I’ve many stories behind it. Heard of it?” Wild nodded to Jacalyn.

“Of course I have. Especially from the mask salesman.” Jacalyn smiled as she held it in her hands, “He had so many stories, it was hard to leave him.”

The others laughed. Amila began to tell about when they meet him, the salesman was a talker for sure. The sun set and Time and Jacalyn took first watch. The night was quiet. Jacalyn keep a single hand on the helm as she scanned the sea.

“Sorry.”

Time turned to Jacalyn, who was still staring out into the sea, “Excuse me?”

“Sorry Fairy boy, I’ve been unfair.”

Time gave her a questioning look, “How so?”

“I haven’t even asked you to say your story yet.” Jacalyn looked at him, more like through him, “Yours seems to be pretty important and told in many different ways, so I might as well hear it from its source.”

“Like you said, it’s been told so many times. I would assume you already have hear it 100 times.” Time could feel himself relax, if only a bit.

“I’ll admit, I have heard yours a whole lot, one of my earliest books is of your journey. But can’t you humor a child?” Jacalyn swayed on her feet as she spoke, a smile spread wide across her face.

“You sure don’t speak or act like a child,” Time remarked, then added, “most of the time anyway.”

Jacalyn laughed. “I am only 16, I’m entitled to act like a child sometimes.”

The two kept up light hearted conversations through the shift. A voice caught their attention. Hyrule was standing there, a tired smile on his face.

“A bit early to change shifts.” Time raised his brow.

“I’m having a bit of trouble sleeping tonight, thought I could make myself useful.”

Time might have argued, but Jacalyn spoke first. “Go get some rest old man, we can handle it.”

Hyrule nodded. Time let out a sigh and walked past Hyrule into the hull. He turned back one last time, “Need me to wake one of the other for you Jacalyn?”

The woman held up her hand, “No need, let those who can sleep, sleep. I’ll be good for a bit longer.”

Time nodded and headed inside, Leaving the two alone.

“Liar.”

Jacalyn eyed the boy, “You can get rid of me after you listen.”

Hyrule had heard the speech earlier. She had come up to him and begun talking. It wasn’t hard to notice Hyrule didn’t fit in with the others. Jacalyn told him that was all in his head, but was it really. Hero of Time, Hero of Warriors, Hero of the Wind, Hero of Twilight, Hero of the Four sword, Hero of Legend, Hero of the Wild. Even The Chosen Hero. What was he again? Hero of Hyrule. Just Hyrule. He wasn’t exactly a Hero either.

No matter what the others told him he wouldn’t change his mind, why was she even trying. He wasn’t trying to be rude, Hyrule was just tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. It didn’t help Jacalyn looked exhausted as soon as Time left, as if she was tired of saying it too.

“I don’t really need encouragement, I’m fine. I’ll travel with them, I don’t need to be their equals.” Hyrule told her, he didn’t need to add he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be their equals. Hard to be a humble traveler when everyone in the land knows your name.

Jacalyn growled, “You are-” She cut herself off and took a deep breath. “I know I can’t change your mind.” She admitted.

Hyrule looked at her, surprised.

“But, you can’t change anyone else’s mind either. We all think you belong. Nothing you can do about that.” Jacalyn didn’t talk after that, neither did Hyrule. Both stood in peaceful silence as the night went on.

 “Linebeck? Yeah we ran in with him.” Wind and Four had found Jacalyn in the study writing in a journal of sorts. Both we listening eagerly to what the girl was saying.

“He was an interesting fellow, talked about how he saved the sea.” Jacalyn smiled, lost in her memory, “Now that I think about it, he spoke about you alot,” She nodded towards Wind.

“How long ago was that?” Four asked.

Jacalyn rubbed her neck, “Um, maybe 4 months ago. I’m not sure, my memory is pretty bad.”

Four and Wind sighed, the former begun to think circles in his head. Four should have known this wouldn’t have gone anywhere. Then Wind asked the question Four should have asked way earlier.

“Why is your memory so bad?”

Jacalyn pause, her eyes widened for a moment. Without blinking or looking at them she spoke, almost like a recording, without any emotion or warmth, “It doesn’t matter.”

Four and Wind exchanged glances, Jacalyn shook her head, and spoke with her normal voice, “Some things are better left forgotten. You should probably leave it that way.”

Wind sighed in defeat and walked out, Four gave her a suspicious look, but followed.

There was no way he was leaving it that way. Four wasn’t sure why he was so curious, why he wanted to know so badly. No, not wanted anymore. He needed to know. He wasn’t sure why, but he was sure he needed to know.

 Time wasn’t sure what to think when the two smaller heroes walked out of the study. They seemed normal, going to do something to occupy the time. The only thing that made him worry is the way Jacalyn continued to stare off into space, writing something down without looking. Time walked in, she didn’t seem to notice him until he was next to her. Time only got a glance at what was written, it was an effort to keep his face neutral. Jacalyn shut the book with a loud thud.

“Sorry, I think I’m going to retire early today,” She looked up at him, or rather through him. It looked as if nothing was behind those brown eyes. “Think you can tell the others for me?”

“Sure.”

Time watched as she took the book and walked to her room, the door shutting behind her. He walked out onto the deck and told the others, as he said he would. Time couldn’t focus though, what was written kept gnawing at his mind. He had overheard Four talk to Warriors and Wind about some weird things hidden in her books, but the phrase he read…. she couldn’t have known. He could hear the words spoken to him,

 You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you?

 The heroes didn’t see Jacalyn for a few days. Amila informed them she was feeling ill, but it wasn’t contagious. Four seemed unconvinced but didn’t voice anything. The crew had gone stiff since Jacalyn got sick. They were more quiet, sent more glances towards Jacalyn’s room and towards Amila.

“Do you know how deep the ocean is?” Sky was next to Wind, looking deep into the sea.

“I’m not too sure, the entire Kingdom of old Hyrule lies beneath it.” Wind could remember traversing through the old castle.

“Wow,” That was all Sky could say. Nothing was really going on. Every was around doing things, but the atmosphere felt empty.

“We passed Star Island the other day, so we’ve left the Great Sea. Who knows how long until we reach another Hyrule.”

“It can vary,” Fellin answered, walking up to the young heroes.

“Sometimes it can take a day or two, other times it has taken weeks.” Fellin sent another glance towards Jacalyn’s room.

Sky frowned, then shouted to Amlia, “You sure you don’t need any help with Jacalyn?”

Amila smiled, “She’s fine, we’ve dealt with this before.”

Sky heard her grumble a bit more, but she continued on with a smile. It was clear Amila was in charge when Jacalyn was away.

 Legend was walking to the study, after hearing one his own stories was written down. As he passed by Jacalyn’s room he heard voice. Curiosity won out over human decency as he stood and tried to listen.

“You promised.” That was Amila.

“I did.” Jacalyn’s voice was soft, as if it hadn’t been used in days.

“The others have been worried.”

There was a laugh on the other side, “Why wouldn’t they be? It’s been awhile since something like this has happened.”

“They would be happy to see you’re ok.”

“.... Soon. I’d like to think a bit longer to think.”

Legend heard something shuffle.Taking that as his cue to tune out he walked to the study. Four was sitting there, looking at the same book.

“What’d you hear?”

“Excuse me?”

Something was different about the smallest hero. Maybe Four didn’t do well with confined spaces. Maybe he read a story about bad stuff happening on a ship. Whatever it was, Legend did not appreciate how he was acting. And the others though he was bad.

“I saw you listening to Jacalyn’s door, I’m asking what you heard.” Four was looking him in the eyes.

Legend wanted to argue, but gave in. The sooner Four was done being nosey, the sooner he’d be back to normal.

 When Jacalyn exited her room, her crew bombarded her with questions. She waved them all off with a shrug and a smile. Wind was surprised when she didn’t look at him or Four with any negative emotion. She looked at none of the Heroes differently than she did a few days before.Time was conflicted, wanting to ask about the phrase she had written, but he held back. Later. they could deal with that later, or maybe never.

 Something was wrong. Four had known it since he set foot on the ship. This weird feeling of… well he didn’t know. He was curious, who wouldn’t be? But Four could usually respect people’s secrets. Why couldn’t he do it now? He had snapped at Sky. It was over something small and Sky forgave him, but still. This wasn’t right. The others noticed too, Legend would soon confront him, Four knew it. So he’d fix it before then.

Four approached Jacalyn while she was in the study, alone.

She smiled at him, as if nothing happened, “Heya Four, need a new book?”

“No, I need answers.” No need to beat around the bush anymore.

Jacalyn sighed, “You don’t. Like I said, somethings are-”

“No.”

Jacalyn paused. Then took a breath. “It’s not worth it.”

“What do you mean.”

“The knowledge you want, it’s not worth it,” Jacalyn’s voice dropped, “So drop it.”

Four wouldn’t do that. He couldn’t do that. He knew something was up. Jacalyn knew too.

“Four.” Jacalyn called for him.

It has something to do with her memory, her boat. Her.

“Four!” Her voice was louder, more annoyed.

The final pieces were in front of him, why couldn’t he put them together.

“FOUR!” She was yelling, angry.

Something snapped.

Four felt the ground meet his head.

His mind was not working.

He couldn’t think.

The last thing he could hear was Jacalyn’s voice.

It was not filled with anger or annoyance.

The only emotions he could hear was worry and fear.

“FOUR!”

And with that, Four was no longer there.