#the twilight au nobody not even ME wanted

[queenofmalkier]

He shows up in town because things were getting a little too hot back in Two Rivers and he needed to get out of dodge before somebody figured out he was just a bit too lucky.

Only he immediately stumbles into the most beautiful and terrifying woman he's ever met in his life, Tuon. She's in half his college classes and can go from heavily flirting to throwing things at a moments notice.

He finds out from local gossip she's part of the Jordan family, headed by a pair of local lesbians who adopted a gaggle of kids, bought an old mansion, and also live with their brother-in-law and his children.

It wouldn't be weird except they're all fucking weird as shit. And Mat is like "HELLO??? ARE YOU NOT SEEING THIS?"

Moiraine is a trusted doctor, talented and dedicated to her work as a psychiatrist. Her wife Siuan is a well-known architect. Except they both say cryptic shit all the time - even more once they realize Mat is On To Them. They have an answer for everything too, and memories that are a little bit too perfect. (Mat thinks they might be spies.)

Moiraine's brother Lan (which, Mat does NOT buy that story at all) doesn't talk much and works for a local charity, but one time Mat catches him doing swordforms in his backyard like it's normal and he has way more knowledge about history than he bloody well should.

(And Mat for lack of anything better to choose is a history major.)

And his wife Nynaeve is terrifying and also conveniently a doctor even though she looks like she's barely 20. She's sure fun to annoy though, gets mad as hell.

Anyway Mat being Mat and suspicious of, well, everything, is convinced something is going on with the Jordan family and he cannot stand not knowing what it is.

He tries befriending Rand and Perrin, and it sort of works, but every ten minutes it feels like Rand abruptly shuts his mouth and gets a little green around the gills until Perrin makes excuses for them to leave. Perrin is okay, but he bluntly said he's Not Getting Involved in whatever Tuon and Mat are doing.

Which, they're doing something. Mat doesn't know what.

Sometimes he leaves class and she's sitting on his car with a bunch of tarot cards. Sometimes she shows up at his stupid job at the local dude ranch and asks him weird questions in between sniffing his hair and calling him pretty. Other times she pretends he doesn't exist.

Rand's... girlfriend(s)? (Mat doesn't know what is happening there either) all think it's hilarious. Min and Elayne are also enrolled in the local college, the other one Aviendha is a bartender who threw out his fake ID the first week in town (rude), but they're cagey when it comes to Tuon and their lives.

At least Perrin's girlfriend Faile is normal terrifying. She works at the stable and yells at him a lot but that's really it.

Mat pairs up with local menace Egwene who also finds the Jordan family to be Sketch As Heck. She works at the governor's office as an intern and is furious that a simple inquiry about the Jordans got her in trouble so yeah, she's very on board with Digging Up Dirt.

At some point Elayne's estranged brother Gawyn shows up and almost eats Egwene and Mat on accident.

Here is where Tuon would suck out the vampire poison and Mat would be a Real Boy still but come on, it's Tuon.

She'd suck out the poison alright but would put her own right back in because Mat is hers to turn.

Also there is no Jacob because Tuon would just kill the competition. Like. She would not even play.

somebody ask me about the twilight randland au I DARE YOU

[wafflesrock16]

Shakarian Viking/Soulmate AU

Remember how I said this idea wouldn't leave me? I had to write it out. Who else wants Viking berserker Shepard and Anglo-Saxon prince Garrus? Below a the cut.

Shepard watched as Jarl Anderson lowered his torch, setting the brittle branches at the base of the pyre aflame. The scent of pitch and smoke filled her nostrils, the loud crack of timber breaking the stillness of the gathered group of watchers. They stood near enough to feel the heat of the fire on their faces as it consumed the wooden structure, red tongued flames licking at the platform and the shrouded form that lay atop it. 

“He’s in Valhalla, now,” she heard Kaidan murmur. “We should all be so lucky to die in glorious battle.”

Shepard frowned. Jenkins had only been raised to the berserkers the year prior. He had never voyaged to the havens. This was to be his first raid along the Widow Sea’s frontier. He had known the risks, as did all who ventured here. Still, his death sat like a heavy stone in the pit of Shepard’s stomach.

At least he didn’t have a soulmate tethered to his spirit. There’s no one feeling hollowed out with inconsolable grief back home. The reasoning did little to staunch her guilt; if anything it only made it worse since it caused her to feel grateful she didn’t have a soulmate, either. 

Shepard sighed. She was the berserker commander. Jenkins was her responsibility. She wasn’t a wet nurse, but she ought to have kept an eye on him; at least admonished him to stay out of the trees. The silver-barked forests in this region were deadly. Old enemies with eagle eyes and rapier-like claws favored the cover the thick woods offered. 

She turned away from the funerary pyre and the low, solemn chanting that had begun as fire swallowed Jenkins mortal body. Nobody stopped her as she strode away from the conflagration, back toward the longboats. She needed a moment alone with her thoughts without guilt crowding in on her.

 The turians know we’re here—they must have spied us well before we made landfall though bleed me if I know how. Shepard found herself walking past where the dragon-headed longships had been pulled up onto the beach, lost in consideration. We outnumber them, though they have the advantage of knowing the terrain. They also have at least one skilled archer among them, even though that’s not who sent Jenkins off to Odin. 

No, a turian swordsman had done Jenkins in, and Shepard had returned the favor with her axe. It was small comfort. Humans and turians had battled for the land and wealth along the Citadel’s coast for time immemorial. There was talk of an asari negotiated peace treaty, but so far that’s all it was. Talk. Shepard wagered that nothing would come from those talks in her lifetime. And who knows how long that’ll be if we stay here?

Gravel crunched under her boots in the lengthening shadows of twilight. Shepard rounded a gentle curve in the land and came to stand on a dead tree, facing the North. The wind that whipped her fiery red hair about her face was warmer than back home. Then again, they were a long way from home, now.

She watched the dying light upon the waves, the ocean glittering like crushed diamonds. It would be dark soon. They’d need to make camp and plot their next course. Did they take the river deeper inland, as was the original plan? Or did they double back, take their chances in krogan territory where turians didn’t dare venture.

Against the crash of the breakers, Shepard missed the sound of a bowstring drawing taut. It was something else, some inexplicable tug at her heart, a susurration of unheard whispers in her ear, that caused her to suddenly duck and roll, the hidden knives she kept about her person flying into her hands. 

There was a loud thawk, as a barbed arrow embedded itself into the driftwood where she’d been standing. 

She flung a knife, gratified to hear the sound of a large body diving to the sand. She charged before the archer could restring his bow, tackling him to the ground with a savage roar. 

Eyes bluer than the center of a flame stared up at her from within a silver plated face, painted with the bold cobalt markings of Clan Vakarian. The turian’s crest of horns was cushioned by a clump of dried seaweed, tiny insects furiously buzzing about his head at the invasion. 

He flared his mandibles, exposing long, sharp, silver teeth. His jaw dropped as he took in his soon-to-be killer. Shepard sat astride his narrow waist, holding her second knife above his ridged nose, poised to strike. 

Something in those burning eyes softened. “You’re beautiful.” The rumbling subharmoinics seemed to embrace her, a vocal hug to reinforce the sincerity of his words. 

Shepard sucked in a deep breath. For the first time in years, ridiculously, tears pricked the corners of her eyes. “Shut up!” She shook her head as if to dislodge his words. “I hate you!”

Her hand holding the knife quivered. In the crystalline depths of his alien eyes, she saw herself reflected back, lips pulled back in a vicious snarl, red hair framing her face. The embodiment of a valkyrie and harbinger of death. Except, I don’t want to kill him, she realized. 

“I wasn’t trying to hit you,” the turian murmured. “If I had been, you’d already be dead. I hadn’t realized you were . . . you.” He suffused the word with a mix of awe and wonder that left Shepard’s chest feeling tight. 

With a cry born as much from confusion as frustration, Shepard rolled off him. She leaped to her feet, kicking a clump of sand. “Leave,” she commanded, wiping at her treacherous eyes. 

The turian slowly rose to his degi-grade feet. Sharp claws extended from the open toes of his boots. “What if I want to stay?”

Shepard glared at him. “Why should you stay? After what your clan did to our landing party this morning and us to you, shouldn’t you be regrouping?”

Why in the frozen hells was she crying? What was it about this turian of all people that had her feeling vulnerable as a new babe? She should kill him—he’d be back tonight with more men and slit her throat in her sleep. A small voice she couldn’t name told her that he wouldn’t do that. Not him. Not ever. 

“My name is Garrus,” the turian replied instead. “There are those who call me Archangel, but . . . it’s just Garrus, for you.” 

Shepard forced herself to look at him. Really look at him. He was tall and lean, as most turians were, and covered in metallic looking plates. He wore a deep blue tabard with the Vakarian family crest stitched out in thread-of-gold across his chest. A brown leather belt with well-made leggings and fine boots completed his attire. Not some common foot soldier or hunter turned mercenary, Shepard mused. Her eyes settled on the longbow laying at Garrus’ feet. It was nearly as tall as he was and looked like it was made of black yew wood. An expensive weapon. One only someone with a high tier could afford. 

Shepard’s eyes went wide as she realized who Garrus must be. “You’re the Primarch’s son.”

He dipped his head in acknowledgement, a hand moving to rub the back of his neck. Shepard was no expert on turian expressions but she’d swear Garrus looked embarrassed. 

Bright blue eyes met hers. “You seem to know me and my lineage, yet I confess, I have yet to learn your name.”

Shepard hesitated a moment before discarding any notion of subterfuge. What was the point? He could have killed her and hadn’t. She could have killed him and didn’t. Besides all that, she wanted to know him. “Commander Jane Shepard,” she said. “You can call me Shepard.”

Garrus extended his hand in a human gesture of greeting. “A pleasure to meet you, Shepard.” 

Shepard slipped her smaller hand into his. It was like being struck by lightning. There was a jolt, a suffusion of warmth flooding her veins, an invisible push in his direction. They collided at the same time, Garrus likewise shoved by an unseen force. 

She grasped onto his cowl, feeling like she were trapped in an undertow, liable to be swept away in the exultant rush of emotions, apt to drown in the depths of a feeling humanity blithely called ‘soulmates.’ Her skin tingled and she was hyper aware of Garrus’ proximity; the rough calluses of his three-fingered hands and prick of talons through her tunic where he held her waist. His pupils dilating and eclipsing the blue of his irises while his subvocals stuttered and a deep, percussive purr sundered in his chest. 

Shepard exhaled. “Oh.” 

Garrus lifted a shaky hand to gently brush away an errant lock of hair. “It is you,” he whispered, reverent. “You feel it too?”

She gazed up at him, feeling more a maiden than seasoned berserker. Her mouth parted to answer—

“Commander!”

Shepard pulled herself free from the whirlpool of Garrus’ presence to peer into the murky distance. “The others are looking for me,” she muttered. How long had she been gone? Sudden fear squeezed her heart as she considered what would happen if Garrus were discovered. She gave him a forceful shove. “They mustn’t see you. Go! Hurry!”

Garrus moved as though in a daze, stooping to retrieve his bow and taking a few tentative steps backward. “I’ll find you,” he swore. “I’ll come back for you, my dea.” 

Before Shepard could respond he was sprinting; a glimmer of lancing starlight through the gloam, a shape half-seen on the edge of the forest. We’ll find each other, she promised herself, even as Kaidan and Ashley came into view, helmets donned and axes at hand. What joke of the gods is it that my other half should be an ancestral foe, on ground my kin intend to soak in blue blood?

She turned towards her comrades, trying to shake off the chill that had settled over her like heavy snow with Garrus’ departure. The others would want to know what she’d been doing out here, alone in the dark. “Searching for answers,” she’d tell them. “Considering what to do next.”

She’d omit her blue eyed archer. That whatever came next, Garrus would play a major role. For now, she kept her soulmate sheltered within the confines of her rib cage, a constant companion to her own beating heart.

[skyward-floored]

I found a short scene I wrote for Incredibles au from the second movie just to mess with things that I’d completely forgotten about, and people wanted to see it, so here it is.

It’s right after that part where all the supers invade the house and Frozone helps the kids escape, but doesn’t escape himself, and they’re all debating what to do. That should hopefully be all the background you need to figure out what’s going on but you haven’t watched the movie there’s only so much I can help you with XD

Enjoy 👍

————————————————————

Twilight kept their father’s old car going until they were plenty far away from the house, the ice Warriors had shot at them slowly melting off the sides. Nobody spoke while they rode, even Shadow acting strangely subdued for once, and it wasn’t until Twilight told the car to pull over on a quiet country road that the silence was broken.

“They got Warriors,” Wind whispered, a hand wrapped tightly around his middle.

Legend pressed a little tighter against his side, and Wind leaned against him, looking miserable.

“We wouldn’t have gotten away without him,” Hyrule said in an equally quiet voice. “If it weren’t for him...”

He trailed off, and Wind shrank down in his seat.

“What do we do now?” Wild asked in a small voice, and all of them turned to look at Twilight.

Twilight swallowed.

“We... well. We can’t go to Fi’s,” he began slowly, “or Sky’s, they’ll just get them too if... if they haven’t already. And you saw those goggles they put on Warriors, they were all wearing them. They're all under someone's control somehow, and they... they probably did the same to Dad,” he finished in a quiet voice.

The boys went silent again, and a cricket chirped in the grass by the side of the road.

“Okay,” Legend swallowed, a hand tugging at his bangs. “A bunch of hypnotized bad guys after us. No Mom, no Dad. No Warriors or Sky.”

“But we do have our powers,” Wild cut in, looking somewhat hopeful. “Plus this car, and, and... um... anything else?”

Four flinched in the backseat, and with a flash of light, he suddenly split into four, Shadow growling as he shoved an already-crying Red off of his lap.

“They got Mom and Dad!” Red wailed, and Hyrule awkwardly patted him on the shoulder.

“I say we go and get everyone back, now,” Blue growled, and Twilight waved his arms in an attempt to get the situation back under control.

“Four— er, Fours, try to calm down,” he said gently, but Red continued to cry, and Green and Blue were both looking upset in different ways as well. “Guys, please, getting upset won’t help, we have to think of a plan.”

“Any plan you have is probably going to get us all killed,” Shadow snorted, and Vio elbowed him when Red sobbed harder. “What?”

“Dad said he was going to that ship thing, wasn’t he?” Legend said, and Twilight looked over at him as he gathered Red into his arms. “And that’s where Mom is. We should go there.”

“You want us to go right to the bad guys?” Shadow scoffed.

“I don’t know...” Wind said in a small voice. He swiped a hand over his eyes. “What if they just get us too?”

“Let’s vote,” Twilight said, having calmed Red’s sobbing to quieter sniffles. “Everyone in favor of going and saving Mom and Dad and Warriors?”

Wild immediately raised his hand, as did Blue and Legend, and Hyrule and Green shortly did afterward. Twilight and Red had their hands up, and after a long moment, Wind and Vio raised theirs as well.

Which meant everyone had voted yes except Shadow.

“Shadow? What do you think?” Vio asked, and the other boy looked away.

“Either way you’re going to bring me, so I don’t see why it matters what I vote,” he grumbled.

“If you’d rather go back to the house that’s crawling with hypnotized supers who want to put hypno-goggles on us, be my guest,” Twilight said, and Shadow crossed his arms and sank down in the seat.

“Fine. I vote go.”

“Then it’s unanimous,” Wild said, and he pounded his fist into his hand as he sat straight up in his seat. “We’re going to go save Mom and Dad and everyone else.”

All of the boys looked around at each other, and their faces grew determined, still worried and scared, and in a few cases teary-eyed, but determined to save their parents, and everyone else as well.

Shadow moaned.

“We’re all gonna die.”

[midoriima]

would you still love me then? | oikawa tooru

"Is Y/N around?" Oikawa asked one of your friends but they all shrugged, covering up for you like you'd asked, saying you had some errands to run and that they didn't know where you were off to even when they did know.

He sighed, clearly disappointed. He wanted to tell you something really important but when the time was right, you would always be off elsewhere. He thanked them in a quiet voice before leaving the classroom and walked to Matsukawa's house with Iwaizumi, Hanamaki, and the resident himself.

You're neighbors with Matsukawa so he asked him if he knew of your whereabouts if you'd told him anything, but he shrugged, suggesting he ask your mum instead, who was always at home. He did as suggested and got out of his house to walk to yours.

Oikawa and you have never really interacted much. It wasn't like you didn't like him, you did and you wanted to be close with him but what you are was a problem. You restrained yourself from him simply because you were different, in an otherworldly way.

Your likes weren't even accepted and confirmed to the public until not even a decade ago when someone who sat on the presidential seat of your country finally had a right mind. You hadn't asked him of his thoughts regarding vampires, no, you were too scared to.

You didn't even kill or eat people, you managed to get by with just animals, so you believe that it makes you no lesser than just your regular human. But you were still hesitant to let him know, you'd only known him since the start of the summer break after your second year after all.

You dashed through the back door, covered in ox blood. You weren't mindful of what you wore again this time around, so it was going to be a pain trying to wash off the red stains on your light coloured shirt with a bunch of chemicals. You sigh, bracing yourself for another long session of washing your laundry.

One wouldn't think twice about taking off their clothes... or at least you didn't since you believed nobody else was inside the house but your mother. And you were wrong.

@midoriima oohhh added a little something here cos it got cut off. i loved my idea for this fic but i've forgotten all about it now and i left this sitting in my drafts for more than a year now 😢 besides yowamushi pedal, i was also obsessed with vampire au's cos i reread the twilight saga (ik shut) and got carried away by the ideas that just didn't seem to stop coming.

also, go check out more on my masterlists cos these partial works are open for any continuation or derivatives, etc. but on one condition: ask permission 🤗 that's allll

[shy-urban-hobbit]

If you're still taking prompts, can I suggest ♡ "stay away from me" from the were-vamp au, with Lambert caught unprepared for the full moon and fearing he will lose control of the beast, if you want to <3

😁😁😁 I love this au so much!

Lambert was driven to all fours by the expected but still sudden pain just as they reached the treeline. Even after almost a century his body starting to remould and reconfigure itself was something he'd never get used to. Fuck human literature for making it out to be something which took mere seconds. It was a long, torturous process: every second feeling like an hour as your entire body feels like it's been engulfed in hellfire both inside and out as bones and muscles tear and break, every sense trying its damned hardest to torture you as they danced along the fine line between too dull and too sharp. He'd known ones younger than him who had attempted to tear out their own teeth and nails or gouge their eyes out during their first transformations in an effort to do something to try and make it stop.

He'd forgotten. A werewolf who'd fucking forgotten it was a full moon tonight!!

He wanted to blame Aiden for his current predicament but even his pain-addled mind knew that that was unfair. Nobody had made him accept his vampiric friends invitation, but after nothing for two months thanks to Aiden's itchy feet (wings?) followed by the letter saying that he was staying in the neighbouring kingdom for the foreseeable and for Lambert to send a reply back with the messenger if/when he wanted to meet... Lambert may or may not have forgotten to double check his calendar in his haste to scrawl a reply saying his was free to meet at the Inn Aiden mentioned at twilight in two days time (usually awakened just as the sun dipped below the horizon, the vampire always did enjoy the apparent 'grey area' and likened it to humans who enjoy rising to watch the sunrise, taking advantage of the cover provided by fully lengthened shadows and the rapidly encroaching dark to bask in the last dregs of daylight).

They'd enjoyed a grand total of 30 minutes together before realisation had slammed into the both of them and Aiden had ushered him back out through the door before taking off running, trusting Lambert to follow him and not caring that both of them were moving a little too quickly for what could be considered normal.

He would have laughed at the situation if it wasn't absolutely, balls to the wall, horrifyingly, horrifically bad.

Having never transformed away from pack territory before there was no way of knowing how the wolf would react, and Lambert could already feel that its interest had been piqued in a way he really did not like. This was going to be an absolute fucking bloodbath one way or another and he had no idea how to stop it. He wanted - needed - pack.

"Lambert, can you stand? We need to keep moving, just a little further in."

A loud, low, canine whine echoed through the dark before Lambert could stop it from escaping.

"Leave." He bit out, the word slightly slurred and muffled whilst his new teeth were still slightly too large for his mouth forcing his slowly elongating jaws apart.

"No." Came the instant reply. The urge to pounce, to grab and tear and bite surged up inside him as he felt Aiden take his elbow.

"Get away from me!" He half screamed, half roared. He was pretty sure the only two words which ended up being coherent were "Get away" but that would still get the message across and Aiden would be wise enough to run. He wasn't sure he'd be capable of forming an argument - let alone voicing one - for much longer.

No such luck. Aiden gave a catlike hiss in response before throwing Lambert's arm over his shoulder and hauling him to his feet, staggering under the unexpected weight of Lambert's extra muscle, "I'm not leaving you like this in unfamiliar territory. I know somewhere we can go, just try not to go feral on me for a little bit longer. Count to one hundred or some shit."

Lambert didn't know where Aiden was taking him, all he knew was that at some point the vampire ended up more or less having to bodily drag him as it became too slow and painful for him to continue walking upright. All of his concentration went towards keeping the beast at bay; trying to ignore all of the unfamiliar noises and smells and how tantalisingly close and accessible Aiden's soft belly was until he felt the vampire lower him to the ground, at which point his mind became blank static as pure, base instinct took over.

Lambert's entire body ached as the feeling started to return to it. He forced himself to take deeper breaths, wincing as his lungs responded with stabs of pain in protest before running through the rest of his checklist, starting from his toes and working upwards. No aches or pains that felt too serious and full movement: always a positive. Finally, he forced his eyes open, not recognising his surroundings.

It looked to be some sort of cave, he got up to unsteadily, brushing off the remaining rags of his clothes as he began to look around curiously. Deep gouges which were recent enough to have only been caused by him littered every single wall alongside an opening which Aiden must have dragged him through last night as it appeared be the only way in or out. Wide enough for a humanoid to pass through but too narrow for his wolf when fully transformed. Lambert smiled to himself, holding a hand out in the weak stream of sunlight it was letting in. Smart man.

Wait...Sunlight.

Lambert's smile dropped and his innards turned to liquid as he hurriedly scrambled through to the outside, not caring about his nakedness.

"Aiden!" He yelled, turning in a rapid circle as he searched, eyes wide despite them screaming at him to close them again in their post transformation sensitivity, "Aiden!!"

"Over here."

Lambert had missed the cloaked figure the first time. Hunched in the narrow sliver of shade against the rock face as they were, they were almost invisible. Exhausted green eyes met his from under the hood with a tired smile.

"...What the fuck are you doing sitting out in daylight?!"

Aiden shrugged, "I told you I wasn't leaving you alone. Don't worry, it's only about an hour passed dawn. I've never been sure how long the effects of transformations linger for so I was going to join you in another hour or so and just hope you were more you than wolf."

"And if I wasn't?"

The silence that followed was heavy, they both knew the answer. By that point Aiden would have been fighting his own instincts for hours. Vampiric rest after all more closely resembled death than sleep and could only be fought for so long after sunrise. An exhausted vampire would be no match for an aggressive werewolf.

"Get the fuck in here." Lambert growled, making to head back into the cave.

Aiden following with a tired shuffle and making sure to keep to the shadows and removing the cloak once he was safely inside and holding out to Lambert, "You need it more than me at this point I think."

Lambert accepted it, wrapping it around himself before sitting against the wall and pulling a spluttering Aiden down into his lap, tucking the other man's head under his chin, "You made sure I didn't do something horrendous last night, least I can do is give you somewhere a little better than the floor to sleep."

"Hmm. You do have a nice lap," he gave a little wiggle as he snuggled deeper into Lambert's chest, eyes already closed, "Comfy."

Lambert huffed a laugh, "Good to know. Some reunion, huh?"

Aiden didn't reply, already quite literally dead to the world.

[daily-rikukingdomhearts]

I AM SUPER SORRY FOR BOTHERING YOU im trying to get back into Kingdom hearts (your art is really cute btw) im trying to make an AU but i have no fucking idea where Kairi's body went when she lost her heart in KH1 when her heart's with Sora later Riku finds her body and he has it WHERE DID HER BODY GO? i saw a reddit post where somebody said Maleficent found her body and her body probably went to hollow bastion because that was radiant garden BUT HOW DID HER BODY GET THERE?? i forgot a lot of things maybe i can figure it out myself? but if you have an answer that would help me

I love asks ☝️🫵 you are not a bother! And thank you for the compliment. As customary, I have to post a Riku photo due to the nature of this blog:

As for your question:

I truly have no fucking clue 😬 I looked and looked and I couldn't find anything!!!! I looked in the manga, light novel, the wiki, and cross referenced with other kh experts but didn't come up with anything canon. Here's a BEST LOGICAL GUESS...:

Since Maleficent is collecting the princesses of heart she most definitely found Kairi

If it was in Hollow Bastion or Neverland, I don't know. Hollow Bastion used to be Radiant Garden and Kairi is from there so she probably ended up there like Riku did at the beginning of kh1 because, remember, Riku didn't end up in Traverse Town like Sora. The reason I'm thinking Neverland is so Maleficent can manipulate Riku. Again, she's gathering the princesses of heart, Riku wants his friends back together, he's been manipulated into thinking that Sora has replaced him, and he just had a major blow to the ego in Traverse Town. It's possible that Maleficent tells Riku that Kairi is in Neverland so he can play hero and save her, that way he can be more easily controlled. Those are two options.

It's just ... Hard to say. Because they don't really care about Kairi. The only people who care are Shiro Amano (the manga author) and half of the fandom. They really just halfheartedly throw her in the dumpster in every game which is a shame! She could be a great character.

As for how her body got there! I dunno! Kingdom Hearts is weird. Like here's a flow chart that my experts and I discussed:

Both Kairi and Sora are the only people who could keep living along side their nobodies. However when their nobodies "woke up" they were in completely different places than expected, Naminé being at Castle Oblivion and Roxas being in Twilight Town.

Personally! And just personally! I think it has something to do with your heart like how much dark and light it has in it, etc. Depending on that factor, that's where you get spit out. I could be 100% wrong though.

The nice part about AUs is that you can kinda do whatever the fuck you want... I have an AU where I kept the world system and keyblades and changed everything else cause no one can stop me. If you want Kairi in Hollow Bastion, slay! If you want her in Neverland, cool! If you want to ignore this post, even better! Do what you want! I hope you get back into kingdom hearts!

[crazylittlejester]

Daily brainrot and today I've got a load of headcanons I've been mulling over because they won't leave me alone.

I know we've all done a college AU at some point in our lives, but I was up at like 3 am last night debating over which academia aesthetic each Link embodies because I may have spent way too much time on the aesthetics wiki recently. Did I procrastinate for an hour to work on this? Yes. I have no regrets. YOLO and all that.

Sky -- Definitely has light academia vibes. The man does not own a single dark piece of clothing, and everything in his closet is very soft and cozy. He double majored in aviation and environmental science, but he's debating transferring over to the biology department to pursue grad studies in ornithology.

Time -- He is not in charge of his own wardrobe, okay? Malon picks out his outfits. They match. It's always something tasteful and neutral with a little bit of color, but nothing that marks him as belonging to academia. He's part of the philosophy department and a strict teacher, but the students all love him because he genuinely wants them to do well and lets them know. Most of his work is writing for philosophy journals when he isn't teaching.

Legend -- Has more of a general/miscellaneous aesthetic that leans hard into gender non-conformity. He takes his work with him everywhere and whenever someone asks about it, it goes completely over their heads because they have no idea what he's talking about. There's an ongoing bet about whether his dissertation is about linguistics, sociology, or both.

Hyrule -- I don't think there's a word for his aesthetic, he just gives off "outdoors creature" vibes so hard. He's a cryptid and rarely in the classroom because he's always out doing field work. The most human contact he has is outreach programs with the environmental science and biology departments. No one knows exactly what his grad work is supposed to be because it's incomprehensible combinations of wildlife photos half the time and the other half the time he's off the grid.

Twilight -- This is what happens when cowboys and gothic academia have a kid. It's really freaking weird, but somehow he makes it work, so nobody questions it. He technically works for the agricultural department doing research and outreach programs, but he also haunts the English department and occasionally teaches 100 level literature classes online. The freshmen like him because he rounds grades up.

Four -- An unholy combination of academia and his unique color coding system. You don't know what you're getting until he shows up. He generally wears neutral stuff, but his socks and ties are color coded, much to everyone's chagrin. He's got multiple projects going at any given time and helps out the other departments when they get stuck on details. He's really cagey about his dissertation, but he practically lives in the science & engineering building, so he can't exactly deny that he's doing something in STEM.

Wind -- He tried being fashionable, but as soon as he decided to major in oceanography he was swept away by ocean academia. The amount of blue clothing he has is frankly horrifying, and Warriors is trying to get him to branch out into less garish shades of gray and stop wearing almost exclusively rubber boots as footwear. It's a work in progress.

Warriors -- I think he'd fall under general or queer academia because he'd be fashionable in a mostly-normal-but-also-queer sort of way. Stylish, and fruity. Definitely prefers autumn/winter because that's peak scarf season. He's the kind of guy who manages to casually slip representation into any curriculum you hand him and makes it look natural. He got an assistantship with the history department because the professors love him.

Wild -- 100% chaotic academia and doesn't even have to try. Everything is a mess, but it's his mess, he knows exactly where everything is, and to be honest it's not a safety hazard, so it's fine. Besides, he dresses appropriately for department events, and he's the only grad student that Flora hasn't scared off. No one actually knows which department he belongs to, but he knows something about everything.

IM SO FUCKING OBSESSED WITH THIS YOU HAVE NO IDEA

THESE ARE SO PERFECT AND YOU’RE SO RIGHT ABOUT THEM ALL I LOVE THESE SO MUCH IM SHAKIN EM AROUND LIKE A JAR OF MARBLES

[nrdmssgs]

Ok, I made a thing.

This is Zhar, the baby is Anya. Anya is the daughter of Nikolai and Freya 'Mini' Mactavish. Mini belongs to @sofasoap

This is not some kind of creepy 'twilight' thing, I swear. This is my girl finding her big platonic love in an AU where she doesn't end up with Nikolai.

And a little story to this picture.

“That flight attendant checked you out. Once again!” Freyas brain begged her to shut up. However, MacTavishes blood kept boiling, encouraging her to go on and try to distract the notorious Chimeras Lieutenant.

In fact Mini was scared. She was afraid of Olga back in the days of her service with Price and that fear only grew when Olga left 141 and Lt Zhar was born. Poorly hiding his pride, Nikolai told her, how that woman didn’t shed a single tear the morning, she woke up with a half-burnt body. Hiring her was obviously the move that boosted his already huge ego. But Mini didn’t trust people, who seemed to have no soft corners.

And Zhar was all teeth and claws.

Mini didn’t like her husband’s initial idea to send Olga bodyguarding her. It felt easier for her to walk down the street alongside Krueger – he at least would express any emotion besides cold concentration. But Mini couldn’t argue, when Nik pointed out, that Olga draws not that much attention than a huge loud guy, threatening everyone around just with his posture. Besides, Zhar had this natural feeling of a crowd: she read surrounding movements and moods as if she read other peoples minds. And this was critical for where Mini went.

The good news were, that everything went so smoothly – Freya could as well spend all this time alone. No threats, no nothing. The bad news was the MacTavish blood, that begged Mini to stir her bodyguard up. She craved a human interaction that went at least a bit beyond “wait here”, “please let me do the talking”, “if you need me – I am right behind your door”. She wanted bubbly flustered girly gossips for god’s sake!

Sadly, she had to deal with Olga, who refused to play any social games.

“Hes no threat, Mini, don’t worry.”

“No! I mean, he checked you out! Like a hot thing you are.”

Zhars fingers froze for a moment hovering over her laptop keyboard. Freya smiled in anticipation, but her bodyguard just nodded to herself and went back to typing, as if she just needed a minute to find the most suitable wording for her email.

“Oh, c’mon, really? You wont even glance at him?”

“Blonde hair, blue eyes, persistent misuse of a cheap cologne, ‘Oliver’ badge and a widest smile on this plane.” Olga finally looked away from her screen. “Mini, love, if you are trying to test me – yes, I do memorize people surrounding you.”

“No-o-o-o.” Mini almost mewled. “This wasn’t any test, I just wanted to gossip, or to have a little laugh, or just to chat. You know, like the real people usually do?”

Zhar sighed and closed her laptop.

“Ok, show me her.”

“Again? Olya, we watched Anyas photos just before the flight. You don’t have to pretend to be interested in my daughter this hard. We can talk about any other thing!” Mini had to dig her fingers into her own forearm to force herself to continue speaking without blushing from fear and embarrassment.

Zhar insisted on watching Anyas photos yet again. As Freya was showing her the same pictures, they looked at just an hour ago, she noticed how her bodyguards face softened.

“You should think about having a baby too. It's fun, you know-“ Minis mind wasn’t following her own tongue fast enough. By the time, she cut herself out – it was too late.

“You’re MacTavish, and MacTavish knows no fear,” rang her mother’s voice in her head as she slowly turned to face Olga.

Mini tried to joke herself out of this uncomfortable situation, tell something about ‘obviously meeting the right man or woman, going on a pair of dates, and getting to the baby question only after that, but Zhar ended her suffering.

“Mini, there won’t be anyone for me.”

“Wha-?”

“There is nobody for me.” Olga repeated. “I break several laws all around the world on a daily basis, I have not been with anyone from the start of my service in the TF, my back looks like a well-done steak, my head costs a shit ton of money on an underworld market. At this point, there is nobody out there.”

“That’s…” Mini didn`t want to point the obvious out, so she bit her tongue and didn’t say ‘sad’.

“That is a choice. And I’m ok with that. I let go of all that stuff, you know?” Zhar smiled awkwardly. “Will they, won’t they… and then they finally are. And they tell each other ‘you are the love of my life, you’re the most important person on earth, your happiness is from now on my only mission, your smile is my reason to go on’. And the church bells ring and someone’s auntie is crying ugly on the last row… I just let it all go. And my life didn’t become miserable. If anything – it became easier to breathe.”

Freya suddenly felt guilty. She knew, that by the time their plane will touch the ground – Nik would already be in the airport. Waiting for the love of his life. And Zhar would report to him, salute to Mini. Then she will turn away and go to a big cold Chimeras base. For some reason Mini couldn’t picture Olga coming to her home. As much as she respected Zhars decision to fence herself off any close relationship – Freya felt bad for not being able to truly share the family love with her.

“Hey, can I have your phone for a minute? Always wanted to try this airdrop* feature, do you mind?” Mini lied – she used this feature a hundred times already. She just wanted to give Olga at least something. So, she sent her a photo of Anya in her bunny onesie. And the one with Anya on Nikolais helicopter seat. And the one with Anya trying a peach for the fist time. It wasn’t much, but these were the photos, Zhar kept asking to show her again and again.

After that flight they parted for quite a long time. Olga had a ton of work, and Mini had a work, a little angel, a husband, trying to spoil that little angel rotten, and a brother, risking his dumb ass constantly.

Every time Freya visited the Chimera base – she knocked on Olga’s door in the hope of an answer. And after a few months it finally happened.

“Come in. Unless it’s Krueger. Fuck off Krueger!” Zhar sounded as if she was in a good mood, although Mini still had to urgently cover little Anyas ears.

Freyas stepped in Zhars office and greeted her.

“Yeah, hi, love. Grab a seat, I need to finish this letter and then I`m all your-“ Olga fell silent, when she saw the baby in Minis arms.

“Ehm, hi… We thought, it would be nice to visit our favorite Chimera Lieutenant.” Freya stepped in the dimly lit office. Anya was staring around with a wide-open mouth.

Zhar didn’t move, she seemed to didn’t even breathe. She looked at Anya with wide eyes full of uncertainty or confusion.

“So, this is where your auntie Olya works.” Freya started telling her daughter, pointing on Olgas desk. “Auntie Olya is very busy, she helps daddy with so many things, so we will just look and be very quiet, like little mice, ok?”

“Can I-“ Zhar started talking, but Nikolais voice from the hall cut her out.

“Lastochka?* Can I have you for a minute?”

Mini was ready to turn to exit when Olga snapped out “Can I please hold her?”. She sounded unfamiliar, her voice was low, tearful, as if Zhar was fighting a lump coming up her throat.

“Of course! Anya loves new faces, here…” Freya handed the baby to Olga and turned around to follow Nikolais voice.

“Don’t worry, I will pick her up in a few min-“

“You are the love of my life…” Mini stopped in her tracks as these words reached her ears. Zhars voice was full of tears. Freya looked back in shock and saw Zhar, the notorious Chimeras Lieutenant with shiny wet cheeks.

She held Anya as if she was made of a glass and as if she was her only hope at the same time. The next words she spoke, were quiet, almost inaudible. But Mini already knew these words.

“You’re the most important person on earth, your happiness is from now on my only mission, your smile is my reason to go on.”

Airdrop – a technology, letting apple phone users to send each other multimedia files.

Lastochka – a swallow. Nikolais nickname for Mini.

[faroreskiss]

Latest Work: The Pioneer

I like world building and thinking about those details nobody cares about, reader inserts & AUs. Anything that relates to languages/lingustics/translation.

And yes, as the blog title indicates, also sometimes smut/+18 content, tagged with #smut or #nsfw (So please mind the warnings at the start, there is also SFW content here!)

Unfortunately, I publish first and proof-read later.

*shrugs*

You can call me Farie.

Misc sideblog: @farie-meta

If something is tagged #raw fic it means it has been just typed on a whim and that I clicked on the "Post" button without using my brain as much.

ALL HAIL LINKE

05/08/2023

Master list below.

Regarding Linkcest/Incest, click here.

Ao3 for more polished content. (Still not the best versions unless stated otherwise)

28/07/2023

Hi there to whoever that will ever see this,

After many years of writing (and not publishing much) fanfics and reading a plethora of them, finally decided to post them here.

I did want to focus on one shots, but some of the stuff I wrote ended up having a potential of expansion, even though the whole primary reason was to write a juicy fic!

Then I realized I ended up with at least 10k word background to what was supposed to be a "juicy one shot".

So now, I have this page to see what other people think, maybe I publish both SFW and NSFW versions, maybe somebody is interested in the story potential...

(Also, not a lot of ENM or threesome Zelda x Reader x Link fics in the market lol)

I am open to requests & feedback too!

Master List

Anons: ✨anon

SFW Content:

The Power of Understanding Ongoing Translator!Scholar!Reader random snippets of adventures with the Chain within the Linked Universe AU, pairings possible. Same "You" from the NSFW Fics. Poly/Bisexual Pairings. Read on Ao3

The Power of Understanding shorts in my profile can be found with the tag #the power of understanding shorts or #tpos Do you think I'm a cheater? (Shorts) (Ao3) The Void (Shorts) (Ao3) Triforce of Mischief (Shorts) (Ao3)

_________

Resurrection Gone Wrong Ongoing Read on Ao3 A couple of short fics about what would happen if Link's resurrection took more of a twisted turn.

Requested Content:

For Tonight (Zelda x Fem!Reader) (Angst, no comfort) The Void (Power of Understanding Short Story) (Hurt/no comfort) Can be read stand alone Ao3 Acceptance of the Waves (Linke x Fem!Reader) (Angst) The Pioneer (Skyward Sword Link, Angst, hurt no comfort)

_________

Headcanon (?) Content

The Information You Never Knew You Needed

NSFW Content: (MINORS DNI)

Unnatural Coincidences (Zelda x Fem!Reader x Link) (+18) (Experimental writing in third person. Not super proud tbh) Parts 1 2 3 4 Epilogue

_________

Make me a pie (Warriors x Fem!Higher Ranking Officer!Reader) (+18) Ao3

________

A Little Quick(ie) (+18) -Alternate Version 1 (Flora x Fem!Reader) Coming soon -Alternate Version 2 (Twilight x Fem!Reader)

---------

Harp Lesson (Pedal Harpist!Sky x Fem!Reader) (+18)

Ao3

[gust-jar-simulator]

Welcome to the affectionately dubbed Hot Girl Shit AU.

Characters: Dark, Shadow, and Nightmare

~🧋🌧️🍫🌧️🧋~

“I don’t think we’re old enough to go to a milk bar,” Dark signed slowly, staring at the awning across the street. It was a little rainy, and the sign creaked gently in a wayward gust of wind, shallow puddles reflecting the edge of their boots and the end of Nightmare’s cloak.

Shadow just scoffed at him and planted a hand on his hip. “We’re demons.”

Speak for yourself, hummed Nightmare’s oddly low fairyspeak, more felt than heard. He glanced at the rain impassively, but there was a subtle curl of fingers in the edge of his cloak, lips thinning as he eyed the door like a potentially venomous snake. Creatures of smoke and twilight they might have been, but even nightmares made flesh were apparently not immune to their supernaturally blue curls getting flattened by the weather.

Free hand half-signing along with his drawl to drill the point home, Shadow gave them a truly impressive eyeroll and nearly started levitating before he caught himself. “I dunno if we need to eat, but I did steal goodies when I terrorized Hyrule and I didn’t implode. So. You,” he pointed a claw at Nightmare, who stared at it, “have never heard of milk before, and you,” the claw switched to Dark, who leaned subtly away, “told me your hero drank milk in the middle of fighting you. So baby steps, and if nobody dies then we’re raiding a bakery because if I don’t have a croissant I’ll die.”

There was a questioning chime from Nightmare’s direction, and Shadow quickly explained what bread was while Dark thought it over. It was reasonable to assume that if it didn’t kill his counterpart, it wouldn’t kill him, but why go to all the trouble? He vaguely knew what hunger was, in a roundabout way. The Hero was afraid of it, though not in the same concrete way as wolfos or fire. It was something unpleasant, and it could kill, though the Hero hadn’t seen it by the time of their fight.

He was reasonably sure Shadow’s comment about dying from a lack of bread was a joke. But if it was a joke, did that mean he just wanted bread? For fun?

“-and I know you can’t read the sign but they’ve got chocolate milk and I think most fairies would literally kill for that.”

Dark watched as the other demon paused, eyes properly focusing on their shortest companion for the first time in five minutes. A slow, curious fairy chime, flat and wary but mildly tempted.

Shadow lifted his chin and met the taller dark head on. “It’s sweet.”

Nightmare’s eyes flashed vivid magenta and he walked right out into the rain, making a beeline for the milk bar.

Dark glanced at the grey skies, the mostly empty street, and the way Shadow jumped up in a fistpump that left him floating a little too long. They were going, then. He’d get left behind if he didn’t follow.

He still skirted the edge of the puddles in the road, and didn’t dare look down.

[i-did-not-mean-to]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Ah, my dear @cilil has tagged me, and I'll try to do at least one Tumblr thing today. I had hoped that I'd have more time this weekend!!! This week was madness...I swear!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

391 (and yes, I am one of those who put between 7 and 133 different ficlets into one work to keep the number of individual works down).

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,800,713 (this does not include 2 longfics I've orphaned and several fics I've posted anonymously)

(but I've been writing since July 2021)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Tolkien, roles played by Richard Armitage, roles played by Adam Brown, the odd Dean O'Gorman fic for @laurfilijames, 1 Lucifer fic...)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Tumblr Imagines (it's a collection of ficlets from when I started and has over 200k)

October 2022 Ficlet run (Yeah, as I said, I don't post all my fics separately)

Black (Local folkore meets The Hobbit retelling

Silm imagines and ficlets (Again, a 50k+ collection)

"The only way is up" or "thrice stuck" (Smutty dream sequence with Thorin)

These are mostly my first writings which had had time to amass some few kudos :D

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Always!

It takes me a while sometimes, but I need people to know how much I love and appreciate their support! I love every comment, and I truly wish I was a little better at expressing myself when it comes to these things <3

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I honestly do not remember...Probably, Love letter to the man you've never got to be.

I usually don't do much angst 😇

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Very hard to say because I don't finish too many of my long fics lol. I'd want to say Sticks and stones (Christmas Hallmark story)...it's just that kind of story.

My TRSBs are usually "Happy End given the circumstances" rather than all-out Happy End...lol

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thus far, no.

I am not relevant or known enough to attract that kind of attention!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Me? No...(There have been spicy scenes in long fics, spicy fics, outrageous ficlets, Kinktober, Dead Dove December, MSV...Ok yeah, I do...and I do all of it. M/F, F/F, M/M, M/F/M...from vanilla to whips. You choose, I write)

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I am an AU bitch. I've done a HP drabble once...Les Mis/LOTR for last year's Christmas event...it happens...

Right now? Twilight Crack parody for a good friend :D

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so? Who would steal trash?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nobody has ever approached me...

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes...Once for last year's S&D, I am doing it now for the Calendar fic...I love collaboration, what can I say?

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Ship-ship? Russingon.

OC ship? Ori x OC

Rarepair? Nerdanel x Anairë

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Black - It's one of my first fics...and I've never written that last chapter.

I am also known for having written chapters and chapters of other longfics but just...never posting them lol

16. What are your writing strengths?

I am fast, I am versatile, and I am willing to write almost any character, dynamic, ship, and genre. From tooth-rotting fluff to noncon. From very vanilla M/F meet-cute to kinky sex.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I am bad at punctuation. I rarely have an outline, I just write. I do not plan, I do not come up with complicated worldbuilding, I have exactly 0 HC documents.

I just write whatever comes to mind.

Moreover, I have a real problem with posting. I write A LOT more than I post...because I just can't motivate myself to reread LOL

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I avoid even Tolkien's languages for fear of getting something wrong. I am fluent in at least 3 other languages, but I am not entirely sure whether there would ever be a place for them.

If I did that, I am afraid that it would become incomprehensible as the only one I wouldn't use is my mother tongue. It would sound a bit...magniloquent...

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Tolkien. Only fandom thus far...

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I don't know. Every so often, I write something I don't hate, but I can't remember right now loool

Open tag for everyone who hasn't done this yet :D

Tell me something about yourselves!

[princesscolumbia]

So as I write this it's the 22nd of July, and that means that I've lost nearly 2 weeks of quality writing time. My goal had been to get through a full month's worth of backlog for Code of Ethics on the Mon./Thurs. release schedule before switching over something else, probably knocking out a short story or two before turning the crank on Goldrush, CO.

That, obviously, isn't happening.

So as my hand is still feeling kinda burny if I hold it wrong and the pain slowly ratchets more and more if I type too much, it looks like I may have just enough time to finish one #AU Roulette 2024 entry before jumping into something else.

If you missed my post on #AU Roulette 2024, here's the story ideas I came up with based on the prompts I got for the event:

Divine Beans - Donut Joe is getting on in years and expanded his offerings from his beloved donuts to include coffee, and in the years since he's catered to many, many customers...but none quite so unusual as the two that showed up on the twentieth anniversary of Princess Twilight's coronation. Big Enough - Adora's retiring. After nearly a decade of hunting down rogues and outlaws, she did one too many jobs that made her feel dirtier than a pair of riding boots at the end of a long ride. She finds a small town that's not likely to have ever heard of her and moves out to live out the rest of her days...but doesn't expect one of the most notorious gang leaders she'd ever faced to be in the same little town. In Plain Sight - Sunset is the producer of the show 'Un/Known,' where the hosts seek to prove or disprove the existence of ghosts and cryptids. The hosts are the ever sensible Applejack, known for her down-to-earth attitude, skepticism of the supernatural, and methodical approach to their investigations and the wildcard Rainbow Dash, ever ready to charge right in and ready to believe in even the wildest supernatural stories. Behind the scenes, Rarity does their make-up and wardrobe. Fluttershy is the animal wrangler, often discovering that a 'haunting' was just a poor critter that wandered where it didn't belong. On both the technical advisory side and the in-field editor angle is Twilight Sparkle, also known to their fans as "SciTwi," who brings a level of lore knowledge and research that boggles even the most die-hard believers in their audience. Pinkie Pie is...there. Nobody's quite sure what she does or how she follows them from shoot to shoot, but she's not on the payroll and apparently is completely oblivious to the fact that she's on a show, she just insists on "hanging out with her friends." To everyone's frustration, she's not a cryptid. What none of the rest know is that Sunset is a cryptid. An alien to this universe, to be specific. She's been able to keep this a secret for years now...but there's a report of a new cryptid appearing in the form of a tall, willowy woman (with "Big Mom energy" according to a local witness) in exactly the small, suburban town she first arrived on this world in, and worse, she suspects she knows exactly who the new 'cryptid' is.

So which of these three short stories should I hammer out in the time between when my hand stops burninating and the end of the month? (I'm leaning toward "In Plain Sight," but you all probably know I'm a total slut for "Momlestia adopts Sunset")

Want to vote? Head on over to my Patreon and let me know in the members-only poll. It's in the free tier, so you don't have to drop any money to pitch in with your opinion.

[skyward-floored]

Saving the day (Incredibles au)

Next scene in the series of movie scenes I’ve been posting! Legend is grumpy, and Time and Warriors have fun... “bowling”.

Discussion (prev)

ao3 link

————————————————————

Legend was brooding. He was fully willing to admit it.

He’d fled to his room after storming away from the dinner table, and had been sitting on his bed for quite a while now, reading a book and wishing Twilight hadn’t hidden his music player again so he could’ve swiped it to listen to angry music.

Brooding as a rabbit was getting uncomfortable though, especially since he was trying to read, so he slipped back into his Hylian shape, and curled up under one of his blankets with a grumble. At least everybody was leaving him alone. Even Mom hadn’t come and tried to talk to him, which Legend was just fine with.

“Legend?”

...Aaaaaand there it was.

Legend held back an annoyed sigh at the voice, and looked over the top of his book to see who had come to bother him.

Hyrule stood at the door, but Legend wasn’t in the mood to even talk to him at the moment. A huff escaped him, and he held his book up again, going back to reading the story. At least the main character in the book got to be relatively normal.

Hyrule didn’t take the hint though, and came into the room, climbing up the ladder to Legend’s bunk. He leaned on the railing, but didn’t say anything, just watched Legend pointedly ignore him. Legend lasted about a minute before he dropped his book and glared at him.

“Do you need something?” he snapped.

“What are you reading?” Hyrule asked, and Legend stared at him, then sighed.

“Just a book about some kid and her dog.” A normal kid and her dog. “Seriously Hyrule, what do you want?”

“I just came to see if you were still mad. And to make sure you weren’t throwing anything,” Hyrule said in a matter-of-fact voice.

“I wasn’t. When do I ever throw things when I’m mad?”

Hyrule shrugged. “I don’t know. I used to think one of the only things people ever did when they were mad was throw things. That’s what... um. I knew people who did that. But you’re not. So that’s good.”

Legend’s annoyance sputtered and died, and he actually looked at Hyrule, his brother smiling at him in the T-shirt and fuzzy pants with the little fairies on them he used as pajamas.

Huh. He’d been up here for longer than he’d thought if Hyrule was about to go to bed.

“Sorry I tripped you with a shield,” Hyrule continued, and Legend shrugged, looking down at his book.

“I kinda deserved it, I made Wind squish your dinner. At least you didn’t lick me.”

Hyrule snickered. “Did Twilight get you in the face?”

“Yeah. Ugh,” Legend groaned. “How can Twi’s breath be so much worse as a wolf?”

“Maybe one of his powers is bad breath,” Hyrule said with a grin, and Legend snorted, a smile twitching at his lips. Hyrule moved to climb up on the bed, and Legend let him, scooting over so Hyrule could flop next to him. His brother grabbed an extra pillow Legend had, and squeezed it while Legend went back to his book.

Quiet settled over them, a few voices from downstairs floating through the open door. Legend had just gotten absorbed in the story again when Hyrule shifted around a little, catching his attention. He looked over, and saw a sort of withdrawn look on Hyrule’s face.

“I’m sorry we don’t get to be normal, Legend,” he said quietly.

Legend blinked, then sighed, looking away from him. He slightly regretted his outburst at dinner, but it had felt good to yell about his frustrations, especially with Wind and Wild’s teasing goading him on. Even if he’d ended up skipping dessert because of it.

But he hadn’t wanted Hyrule of all people to feel guilty, he was just... mad.

“It’s not your fault, Rulie,” Legend muttered in reply, ruffling his brother’s hair. “It’s... nobody’s fault.”

It still sucks though.

Hyrule nodded, and the silence fell between them again, broken only by Legend flipping pages, and the distant sound of Wind and Four trying to brush their teeth faster than Wild could.

“Will you read out loud?” Hyrule asked after a minute, and Legend seamlessly switched to speaking the words instead of merely reading them in his head.

He read quietly about the girl working in a pet shop to earn money for a collar for the dog she found, and the pet shop owner who would let the animals out of their cages to play his guitar for them. Hyrule stayed quiet as he listened, and at some point as Legend read, he realized his bad mood had mostly faded away. The emotions that had brought it on were still there, and still painful and annoying, but less extreme.

Legend sighed, and Hyrule smiled at him like he knew what he’d succeeded in doing.

That sneak. He tricked me.

Legend rolled his eyes, and ended up reading three more chapters with Hyrule at his side, his bad mood almost completely gone by the time Malon finally called up that it was time for bed.

(...)

This was the last time he let Warriors talk him into anything.

Heat pressed against Time, flames roaring and smoke billowing nearly everywhere he looked. They’d run into the burning building the moment they arrived and begun gathering people to carry them out, but it was a mess in here, timbers falling, sparks flying. Time had been in several burning buildings in his time, but this was probably one of the most intense blazes he’d fought through.

He coughed as he adjusted his weight a bit, and saw Warriors run up, face red under the ski mask he and Time had both donned. A couple unconscious people were slung over his shoulders.

“Is that everybody?!” Warriors shouted over the roar of the flames.

“Yes that’s it!” Time shouted back, adjusting one of the several unconscious people over his own shoulders.

“It better be,” Warriors muttered worriedly, then tried to generate some ice out in front of him.

Time watched him barely succeed with a worried pinch to his brows. “Can’t you put this out?”

Warriors growled, ice coming in weak spurts from his hands. “I can’t lay down a layer thick enough, it’s evaporating too fast!”

“What do you mean it’s evaporating too fast?”

“It means it’s hot!” Warriors shouted back, “and I’m dehydrated, Time!”

Time huffed out an annoyed noise as they ran past a literal wall of flames. “So you’re out of ice. How’s that possible? I thought you could use the water in the air!”

“There is no water in the air! What’s your excuse, run out of godly power?” Warriors snapped.

“I can’t just go smashing into walls, the building’s getting weaker by the second,” Time snapped back, “It’s going to come down on top of us at this rate! Did I mention I wanted to go bowling?”

“A couple times, yeah!”

A wall next to them suddenly collapsed, and Time and Warriors both ducked out of the way, shielding their faces as sparks flew into the air.

Time squinted through the haze, formulating a quick plan in his head as he looked around what was left of the building. Sweet Din this had better work.

“All right, stay on my tail!” he shouted at Warriors, and his brother nodded. “This is going to get hot!”

Time turned towards what looked like the path with the least amount of flames, and bolted, Warriors right on his heels.

A wall came into view, thick and more solid-looking then the others, and Time ran for it, his power thrumming in his bones. He smashed straight through the brick, tumbling into the building next door, and Warriors leapt through after him.

A tremendous crash came from the hole Time had made as they tumbled to the ground, sparks billowing up from the building that had just collapsed.

Silence fell over them, and Time and Warriors raised their heads, a few hesitant laughs escaping them as they realized they’d made it. All the people they’d carried out were unconscious, but breathing, and Time was sure they’d be fine.

He let out a soft whew as he began to get up, setting his hand on what he thought was a table. Smooth glass met his palm, and the lights snapped on, momentarily blinding him.

Time squinted, adjusting to the light, and saw that what he’d just put his hand on wasn’t, in fact, a table.

No, it was a jewelry case, with a diamond necklace inside.

He and Warriors stood, realizing just what kind of building they’d landed in, and Time sighed as an alarm began to blare.

“Oh, wonderful.”

It’s late, we’re wearing ski masks, and we’re standing in the middle of a jewelry store who’s alarm just went off. Typical.

“Seriously?” Warriors groaned, though Time heard a flicker of panic hidden in it.

“I wanted to go bowling,” Time said morosely, and Warriors turned on him, expression equally exhausted and annoyed.

“I know! You’ve made that abundantly clear!” he hissed.

Time glared back. “We look like bad guys! Incompetent bad guys!”

“It was your idea to wear masks!”

“So we wouldn’t be recognized! Only an idiot goes out without a mask!”

“Only an idiot grabs masks that make us look like robbers!”

The door rattled.

“FREEZE!”

Time and Warriors immediately turned towards the door, putting their hands up at the police officer who’d just rushed in, gun aimed towards them. He advanced on them a little, Time noticing his hands shake, and he exchanged glances with Warriors, raising an eyebrow. How old is this guy?

Warriors gave a minuscule shrug, and inched to the side towards a nearby water cooler.

The policeman immediately swung his gun towards him, eyes wide.

“FREEZE!”

“I’m thirsty,” Warriors said casually, keeping his movements slow as he pulled a paper cup loose and filled it with water.

“I said freeze!”

“I’m just getting a drink,” Warriors reassured, and slowly lifted the cup to his lips. Time watched a bit of the color return to Warriors’s face as he drank, and felt some of the tension go out of his own shoulders. Okay, there we go.

“All right, you’ve had your drink,” the policeman said shakily, hiding behind his gun. “Now...”

“I know, I know,” Warriors sighed. “...freeze.”

And in a motion too fast for almost anyone to follow, Warriors flicked his hand forward, blasting ice at the policeman.

To his credit, the officer managed to fire his gun. Before Time could even shout, Warriors froze the bullet mid-air, and the police officer with it.

In the same movement, the two of them bolted, scrambling into the back of the shop and out through a window Time smashed with a wince. They ran through the alleyway with police sirens wailing in their ears, and Time gave Warriors a glare as the car came into view.

“We are not doing that again,” he hissed as they dove inside, and Warriors nodded, still a little pale.

“No more burning buildings next to jewelry stores. Gotcha.”

Time started the car and quickly booked it out of the area, not even noticing the other car parked nearby in the shadows. The woman in the driver’s seat watched them hurry away as the tires squealed, and her radio crackled.

“Verify you want to switch targets? Over,” it asked, and she hummed, watching as the car turned a corner and disappeared.

“Trust me. This is the one he’s been looking for.”

[brendathedoodler]

What's the leadership like in the AS!Chain? Is it still Lily, Barren, and Soul? Is it adventure-coded with Bard, Cloud, and Cryptid? Secret third option??

Great question! The main leadership group is still Lily, Barren, and Soul, though Addie is also considered part of the leadership team with his adventuring expertise. Occasionally Cloud will chip in, but that’s mostly by calling out commands or warnings in battle, otherwise he tends to stay out of leading.

This did get me thinking though, so here’s how everyone would go about leading

(And a small reminder for anyone who wants an easy reference for the au nicknames: Sky is Cloud, Four is Champ, Time is Lily, Legend is Cryptid, Hyrule is Bard, Twilight is Soul, Wind is Addie, Warriors is Barren, and Wild is Loft)

Cloud can say with certainty that he didn’t enjoy his position as commander of the army. It felt more like a necessity than anything else: something he needed to step up and do because he was the chosen one and nobody else could. Learning that Cia’s main motivation was him above all else cemented that idea in his head. He hasn’t had much time to rest since the war, and he’s almost eager to let the others take the leader role. He’s tired of strategizing and was never very good at it anyway (Groose was always the brains of the operation). If he does take charge, it’ll usually be in the midst of battle. That’s where he feels the sharpest, and he often calls out things in his “commander voice” as the others call it. Despite not wanting a leadership role, Cloud’s the one who insists everyone do practice drills and has really helped them all learn to fight alongside one another (something that only he and Addie have proper experience with).

Champ doesn’t want to be on the leadership squad. He knows full well how much energy it takes to keep the colors in line enough to be a competent person, he’ll pass on leading everyone else. If it comes down to it, Champ is pretty good at leading. That is, so long as there’s someone with him to help make decisions. See, he’s good at the compromising part, but just because he can help the others compromise with one another doesn’t mean that he can compromise with the colors. He’d prefer to get his own head in order first before he tries leading everyone else. He’s an excellent potion brewer, though, and is always prepared to distribute elixirs and headpieces of his armor if it might give his companions a boost in whatever they’re doing.

Lily never intended to be a leader figure. He’s the youngest of many siblings, and he’s a subordinate on Captain Sheik’s ship (and he doesn’t want to undermine their authority unless he has to). He was genuinely startled to find everyone else looking to him for leadership. Was it because he’s the oldest? He’s guessing that’s why. He accepted the role given to him even if it was unexpected, because it wasn’t unwanted. The others generally listen to him, after all, and them seeing him as the stoic leader type makes it so much funnier to see them react when Lily acts like the gremlin he is.

Cryptid could lead, but quite frankly he won’t. At first he didn’t want to be a leader because that would put him in charge of them, and in the early days he had absolutely no intention of getting attached. See, his trauma around portals lead him to believe that he’d once again lost everything, and he kinda blamed the others for it even if they were victims as much as he was. As it became more obvious that the portals were taking them through time and would eventually return them to their own eras, he loosened up a bit, but also feared getting too close. They’ll be taken from him soon, he knows it. Eventually he decides he’ll enjoy having them while they’re here and grieve them when they’re gone, but in the time it took for him to reach that point, the leadership squad had already been established and Cryptid was perfectly content with it.

Bard doesn’t like the idea of leading. He’s got all sorts of magical songs to suggest when the others make plans (to the point that it’s a running joke that he has a song for any occasion), but beyond having them help with that, he doesn’t want to be leader. He doesn’t consider himself a hero like the rest, but not in a self deprecating way. He simply sees himself as a person doing the right thing. Bard firmly believes that any good person in his position would have at least tried to do what he’s done. Sure, he’s proud of his accomplishments and knows not just anybody could succeed, but he doesn’t think just doing the right thing makes him a hero. In a team full of heroes, he doesn’t think a simple adventurer would have much to contribute to the leadership squad. Besides, they seem to have it handled! Admittedly, Bard’s extended isolation throughout his adventures makes it hard for him to plan for a group, though he’s getting much better at it. He’ll leave the leadership to the others (and he has immense faith in Lily and really looks up to him!)

Soul is part of the leadership squad and is proud of his role in it. Where Lily is the voice of the group (so to speak), and the one the others typically look to, Soul takes on a slightly more passive role in leadership. He’s the one constantly doing a head count, making sure nobody’s wandered off, checking to be sure nobody’s hiding any injuries, and calling for snack breaks whenever he notices someone falling behind. The group’s welfare is his main priority. Midna is a second set of eyes and is always quick to update him if she notices anything he might’ve missed. He’s also usually the one who herds the wanderers back to the group, assuming Barren hadn’t gone with them (he’ll make sure they don’t get too lost).

Addie’s experience with both adventuring and fighting alongside others makes him a prime candidate for leader. He is kinda impulsive, though, and having the others also in a leadership position helps keep him from getting off task. He may be the youngest, but he’s been adventuring his whole life! Being so young meant he’s had many companions travel and fight by his side throughout all of them. Cooperating with and fighting alongside others is pretty natural for him. He’s also familiar with a lot of things, and knows how to handle being thrown into new situations when he isn’t. (Having the others respect him enough to consider him a leader is also really nice, even if he’s long since stopped caring about how people disregard him due to his age)

Barren is a strategist and a survivalist first and foremost. He’s always making plans. Part of it is anxiety drilled into him from a life on the run, always drafting up plans to help him survive. Part of it is his natural affinity for planning and strategizing. It’s a double edged sword. He may be able to whip out 6 different plans of attack for any given situation, but it also means he lays awake at night thinking and planning how he’d wake everyone up if they were to be attacked. He’s got a sort of charisma that helps him explain his plans to the others and helps him take charge in a more intense situation. All that being said, he does need someone like Soul to tell him when it’s time to rest before he works himself into a frenzy trying to account for any and all possibilities.

Loft isn’t the best fit for leading the group, and he’s perfectly fine with that. With amnesia that leaves him with many gaps in things others wouldn’t think twice about, a big helping of untreated adhd that makes understanding how others think difficult, and a general tendency to get distracted and wander off, Loft would not be the ideal leader. Could he do it if needed? Absolutely, but he knows others would be better suited for it. That won’t stop him from chiming in with a brilliant idea from time to time (though these ideas are also often referred to as “batshit insane”).

Some other little things about the group dynamic that I wanna note:

Cryptid’s mermaid form gives him perpetually dry skin, which also means frequent nosebleeds. Every time, without fail, Soul’s sensitive nose will pick up on blood and he’ll panic for the few seconds it takes before he realizes that there’s no hidden injuries, just Cryptid’s nose again.

The problem children are considered to be Champ, Bard, Addie, and Loft, but all for different reasons. Champ is impulsive and prone to getting roped into the others’ shenanigans (especially Loft’s). He can be the most responsible person there one moment to a lover of arson and chaos the next. It really depends. Bard isn’t usually the prankster and doesn’t tend to get into any particular trouble, but he does often wander off. He has a slight disregard for his personal well-being because “oh, I can just heal myself”, which stresses everyone else out. Addie can be trusted in dungeons and in the middle of battle. He knows his limits very well, and has shown that he’ll come to the group if he needs something. When there’s no adventuring to be had and they’re all resting? He can quickly turn into chaos gremlin supreme. Loft, meanwhile, is on the list of problem children for obvious reasons. Bard’s tendencies to wave off injuries pale in comparison to the absolutely buck wild stuff Loft gets into on the regular. Is it because he doesn’t think before he act? Did losing his memories mean he also lost a sense of pain? Who knows! The point is, he’s eager to run into danger and also eat random plants he finds. Somehow he hasn’t gotten sick yet, and despite the chaos he dives into headfirst he’s yet to earn any particularly serious injuries.

Lily tends to take a backseat when in his own era, though he doesn’t do it consciously. He’s pretty much never the leader back home. He’s the youngest of his siblings and gets absolutely 0 respect, Captain Sheik is obviously is captain of their ship, and he’s eager to do whatever Malon asks of him. He doesn’t really notice he’s doing it, admittedly, he’ll just take a step back even among the chain because back home he’s just not the boss.

[peachshadows]

The new au is giving gay fae twilight but better because it isn’t twilight. What do you want to say about the au that nobody has asked about yet?

Hmmmm not sure actually! Just know that the gdocs is currently such a mess that it's not even coherent to me so most likely it'll just be a oneshot that I'll publish in the near future since I have to prioritize other projects sjdhf

[zarvasace]

I absolutely adore your disability au :) i remember in the summary of all the boys' disabilities you mentioned that Sky got hearing aids from Wild's world? care to share any brainrot on how that happened? 👀

Brainrot, you say? Does 4k words of unedited oneshot that wouldn't end count? :) This is kind of all over the place but oh well! AO3 link here!

Favorite Sounds

Gen, 4k words, Sky-focused. Sky/Sun. 'Sign language looks like this.' Mini disclaimer: I did research but don't have firsthand experience with what I'm trying to write here. Don't take it as gospel, please! XD

So now Wild, Sky, Twilight, and Warriors make their way through the rain up to the tower at the top of the hill. Sky enjoys the walk, though the rain is chilly. The view from the hill is gorgeous, as most views in Wild's world are, and Sky likes seeing Hateno Village from this angle. If he looks right, he can see Hyrule climbing the tree near Wild's house, and Legend leaning against the trunk of it. They're just blobs of color, from here, but Sky would know their colors anywhere. 

---

On Sky's third or fourth visit to Wild's untamed world,  Wild takes a few of them up to Hateno labs. He's told them all about Purah already, about her rather inquisitive attitude and tendency to get right to the point. Apparently, she wants some help moving some heavy equipment and asked if Wild had a minute. 

He glances back and hurries to catch up with the others. It's not a long walk, but their hair is already soaked, and nobody's talking much. Sky breathes in deeply. The smell of rain in a forest this dense is still new to him, but it's becoming one of his favorites. 

Wild knocks on the door of the odd tower, and sure enough, a white-haired young girl with large glasses and a massive attitude answers. They exchange some words, and Wild leads them into the tower. 

Sky wants to look around, but he makes himself sit still and face the others instead. Warriors interprets as Wild introduces the three of them, so Sky smiles and waves at the right moment. He's the last to be introduced, so he expects Purah to begin telling them what she needs, but she pauses and stares at him with fire in her eyes. 

She says something that Sky barely misses, and he's about to ask her to repeat herself when he catches Warriors's interpretation behind her. 'You're the deaf one, right?'

"Yes, ma'am," he replies, a little spooked by the intensity of her gaze. 

Purah taps her chin, then turns to shoot rapid-fire orders at the others—Warriors's hands can't keep up. She directs them into another room, and Wild argues with her for just a moment before visibly giving in. Twilight gives Sky a wave, then heads out, followed by Warriors. 

When Purah points Sky into a nearby chair, he frowns. "Hold on. I can help, too."

She just smiles at him and hops over to her shelves to grab a few bits of incomprehensible technology. 

Sky turns to Wild, who'd lingered for a moment, and his expression clearly demands an explanation, which Wild gives.

'She thinks she can help you,' Wild signs, 'and that what she has to do will only take three of us.'

'You're leaving me alone?' Sky signs back, not panicking but startled. 

'I trust her. But I can insist you come too, if you don't want to stay.'

Sky glances back at Purah, who kneels on the table as she assembles something, muttering to herself. He can see some switches, wires, and shaped bits of metal that he can't even begin to puzzle out. She really does just look eight or nine years old, hardly anything threatening. And if Wild trusts her… 

'I'll be all right, thank you though."

Wild nods at him, smiles, and heads out of the room to help Warriors and Twilight do whatever Purah called them here for. At Purah's prompting, Sky sits in the chair and takes what looks like a can lid with dark fabric stretched across it. She tries to tell him something, smacks her forehead, and finds paper to write on instead. 

After a few awkward seconds, Purah hands Sky a note, then climbs back onto the table to sit with her legs dangling off of it. 

Put the speaker up to your right ear. Sound will come out of it, a variety of pitches and volumes. What you need to do is raise your hand when you can hear something. Then we'll switch to the left ear. I think I can make a device to help you hear more, but I need to know what you can hear, first.

That makes sense, sort of. Well, if Purah knows how to work on Wild's slate, maybe she knows something about this, too. 

"Well, I hope I'm not distracting you from anything important," Sky tells her, setting the note down and lifting the thing to his right ear as she'd directed. 

Purah responds with words he doesn't catch, but she's waving her hand, so he takes it to mean "don't worry about it." 

At first, the sounds seem random. They're like music, but don't change as music did, and Sky can't pick out a pattern. He does as Purah asked, though, and raises his hand when he can hear something. As the tones continue, he can tell that she's trying to determine how loud something has to be until he can hear it. It's strange. He doesn't know if he's ever heard some of these sounds, as high as they are. 

It takes a while until she's satisfied and has him switch to the left ear, where she runs through the same process. Some time during that, the other three come back, a little more tired and a little more dry. They sit around, leaning on furniture as they talk. Purah begins to chat away, and Warriors lets Sky know that it's nothing very relevant, so he doesn't interpret much of what she's saying. Sky's too focused on listening to the noises to follow the conversation, anyway. 

He's almost startled when Purah tugs a little on the wire that connects the speaker to her boxes on the take. He hands it back, and through Wild interpreting, Purah tells Sky that she's excited to be working on a problem like this, and that she should have something ready soon, but she doesn't know how soon. 

He thanks her and leaves with the others. Wild says something about dinner, and the incident fades into the background as they start back down the hill. 

---

It's somewhere around two months later when they walk through another portal to see Hateno Village again. Sky can't help but feel a little jealous, since they hadn't been to Skyloft in the time between, and he misses Zelda so much he aches. But nobody here controls where the portals go, least of all Wild or Sky, so he just lets out a soft sigh and smiles at Wild's clear surprise that they're back so soon. 

All in all, Wild's world is a good place to be. They'd come from Hyrule's, which is a rather rough world, considering that fires are dangerous beacons and monsters are more numerous than insects. The group always comes out of Hyrule's world a little worse for wear. The relative peace of Wild's world, whether in a village or traveling to a stable, is very welcome. 

With lighter hearts—and lighter bodies, due to the blood loss and rationing—they climb across the last hill to make it to the house. In a matter of minutes, the fire warms up the interior, and they're all laying damp clothing out in front of the hearth, changing into nightclothes and settling down for an evening under a roof. 

Sky sits down at the table with paper, ink, and a pen to write a letter. Nearby, Time and Wild hold a conversion, and the low rumble in Time's voice that Sky can hear is soothing. He gets halfway through a letter to Zelda that he doesn't even know if he'll get to send when Time stands up to get the door. He pauses between sentences to look up, and to his surprise, he sees a small girl outside, wrapped in a cloak and looking like a wet cat. 

He expects Purah to be upset, for some reason, but she immediately zeroes in on him when she steps inside. The others seem a little uncomfortable, having their haven disrupted, but Purah will not be deterred. A quick look around tells Sky that yes, Hyrule has somehow disappeared, and Four decided to casually hide behind Twilight. 

Apparently, Purah has no interest in them. She comes right up to Sky and offers him the small box in her hands, and only then does Sky suddenly remember their strange encounter. She'd said she could help with his hearing. 

Sky takes the palm-sized box, blinking, and at her encouragement, opens it up. Inside, there are three devices—two are shaped somewhat like bananas, smaller than his pinkie finger, with small wires coming out of their tops like flowers on delicate stems, while the third is like a small version of Wild's slate, with switches instead of a screen. There's paper inside, too, and Sky can tell with a quick glance that the little book details how these are made and how to use them. 

He's not sure what to do with it all. A hovering Time relays Purah's question about permission to help, and Sky gives an affirmative answer. She hops up onto the table, avoiding the unfinished letter, so she's more level with Sky's head, then picks out one of the banana-shaped devices. Wild asks her questions as she does, doubtlessly complicated ones that nobody else understands. Four, curious, comes out of hiding and wanders closer on his crutches, drawn in by the promise of learning something new. 

Purah hooks the device over Sky's ear, putting the banana part behind the ear and the wire part in front. She pushes the end of the wire, an even tinier device covered in what Sky thinks is rubber, into the actual inside of his ear. He makes a face at the feeling but lets her work, and turns so that she can do the other side. 

It's sort of funny to watch Wild and Four as she explains—they look excited, albeit a bit confused. They don't look very nervous, though, so Sky feels a little better about this whole thing. If it works, that's wonderful, if it doesn't, that's all right, too. He's trying not to wonder too much or ratchet his hopes up too high. 

When she's done, Purah reaches for the tiny slate-like thing in the box and hands it over to him. She points at one of the buttons, clearly meaning for him to press it. 

"Is that it?" Sky asks, and with his ears plugged up a little with the rubbery parts, his voice sounds louder and stranger to him as it reverberates in his skull. 

Purah nods and gestures, and he thinks he catches her telling him to hurry up already. 

Sky lets himself smile, then he presses the button. A light on the mini-slate flickers, then begins to glow, and Sky can hear… something. It isn't very clear at first, but then he's listening to a tone like the ones Purah had used to test his hearing. It doesn't last very long, and shuts off almost as soon as he recognizes it. Huh. 

"So how do we know if it works?" 

Sky's heart skips a beat, and he turns to Wild, his eyes wide enough that he can feel them drying out a little. "I think it does."

Wild immediately smiles, his whole face lighting up like the sun. "You're kidding."

"I'm not." Sky looks down at the little slate in his hands. He can tell the sounds are artificially loud, and his voice still sounds funny, but because things are so loud, he can hear them. He can hear a lot, actually, it's all a little distracting. There's a creak as Purah hops off the table, there's rain hitting the window, there's fire crackling and something sizzling on the stove. There are so many sounds, and Sky's brain is not used to sorting through them. 

"How do you feel, Sky?" Time asks, and his voice is more than just that low rumble. It's hard for Sky to catch. He knows what shapes words make, but not so much what they sound like. 

Sky looks at him. "A little overwhelmed, if I'm being honest. Everything sounds so different. I didn't know fire even had a sound. And rain, too?"

Time smiles, almost to the point of laughing. "Yes, they do, Sky."

So that's what his name sounds like. Sky smiles back and turns to Purah. "This is amazing, thank you so much. How does it work? Do I owe you anything?" 

Purah shrugs. "My Link has helped us all a lot, so don't worry about that." Her voice is higher than Sky had anticipated, and almost startling. She runs him through the basics of what the devices do (takes sound in, and makes it louder), what they need to keep running (gems or bits of fruit in the box, "Like the Master Cycle," Wild says, whatever that means), and how to clean them. She makes sure to mention that she can always replace them if they get lost or broken. The mini-slate apparently turns the actual earpieces on and off, as well as controls how much sound gets through. 

Sky has to ask her to slow down a few times. Just because he knows words doesn't mean he really knows how they sound like this. He'll really have to get used to that, apparently. 

As she speaks, the others gather around the dining table to watch both the devices, Purah's direction, and Sky's reactions to things. They're excited for him. Warriors, with Sky's translation, asks a few important questions that don't occur to Sky, like if they're waterproof (they are) and if they'll stop working at certain altitudes or temperatures (most likely not).

Wild gives Purah a packaged plate of hot food and a few "spare" gems as she leaves, headed back into the rain. 

Sky's left sitting at the dining table, just trying to parse through all the new input as Wild and Time start to distribute dinner. He's getting a bit of a headache, but he doesn't want to take the devices off just yet. He taps his metal fork against the ceramic plate several times to listen to the ring. People keep talking, which can be a bit confusing, but Sky likes hearing them.

Time's voice, as Sky had noted, is more than a rumble. There's a musical quality to it, how it rises and falls even more than Wind's does. Wind's voice is the highest, though not by too much. Twilight's voice reminds Sky a bit of the fire, if he can say something like that so soon. Wild sounds like someone mashed Wind and Twilight together and added a bit of extra roughness. Four's voice, like Time's, changes a lot, but not as musically. He almost seems to have different cadences for his different moods. 

Legend almost sounds like he's singing when he looks past Sky. "There you are, Hyrule, where were you?"

"At first? Avoiding more social interaction. Then I fell asleep." This voice is one Sky hasn't heard yet. It's quieter than the rest seem to be, but there's a very sweet tone to it that almost reminds Sky of the chiming that Fi would give off when she wanted to tell him something. 

Sky turns around in his chair to see Hyrule approaching the table. He feels another massive smile grow on his face, straining already sore muscles from smiling all night. "Hyrule!"

Hyrule raises a hand to wave at him, and heads toward Legend, where there's an empty spot between him and Sky. Sky can't begin to imagine hearing well enough to know where people are in a room like that. His respect for Hyrule increases a few notches at the thought. 

"Well, we're about to eat," Legend says, "so you picked a good time to wake up."

"I smelled it," Hyrule responds with a smile and a laugh of his own. 

"Hold on, Hyrule, would you do that again?" Sky asks. 

Hyrule pauses, leaning his cane up against the table. "Do what again? Oh, wait." He thinks for a second, then does his best to sign the words instead. 'Do what again?'

Sky almost feels like he's going to cry from all the joy. "You're getting so good at that, Hyrule. I meant, laugh?" 

"Laugh?" Hyrule repeats. "Why?" 

"So I can hear it?" 

That makes Hyrule pull up short. "Wait, hear it? You heard me?"

Legend answers. "Purah made him things to stick in his ears that make everything louder so he can hear them better. You missed that part, I guess."

"Really?" Hyrule asks, taking a step closer and resting his hand on Sky's arm. "You can hear me? Is it permanent? Sky, that's amazing." He does laugh, then, and it's a very nice sound. 

"It's not permanent, no, I'm getting a headache already. I'll probably take them out soon. But for now—yes, I can hear you! Well, you're still a little quiet, it's not perfect, but there's definitely more sound than there was." 

"Well, I've spent my whole life listening to sounds, so I'll have to show you some of my favorites." Hyrule sits down, then, and Time sets a plate of rice and meat in front of him. 

When dinner starts in earnest and the conversations flow around them, Sky finds his headache getting worse. It's hard to follow all the conversations, especially when any moment of quiet means that Sky instead is listening to rain, fire, creaking, chewing. He can hear his own chewing, and it's starting to grate on his nerves. 

"Hey, Sky?" Hyrule asks, still quiet but easier to focus on since he sits so closely. Nobody but Legend glances over, either distracted by other conversations or too far to really pay attention. "Since this is pretty much the first time I've ever talked to you directly… I want you to know that I admire you a lot."

Sky feels his face heat up, and Hyrule keeps going. 

"You always seem to know what the nicest thing to do is. You're a Hero in every sense of the word, and I'm glad I get to know you."

"Hyrule…" Sky says, embarrassed and flattered beyond words. "Thank you. I don't feel like I'm that great, but it's kind of you to say. I think you're a wonderful person, too." 

Legend stands up abruptly with his empty plate in his hand. He leans over to collect Hyrule's and Sky's plates, too. "Ugh, this is so sweet, I'm going to get cavities." 

Hyrule gets up to help with the dishes, and Sky leans back. It's been a long day, even ignoring the visit from Purah and subsequent excitement. His headache is growing quickly.

After a short smile over at Wild, Sky presses the button on the mini-slate to turn the hearing devices off, then gently pulls them off of his ears and sets them back in the box. The sounds around him immediately go quiet, and voices dull to a familiar low roar. 

It's a bit sad to hear them go, but relieving, too. It's like taking off his belts and boots at the end of a day and settling back. He's used to the world at this level of noise. He always knew there was more to it all, and it's certainly interesting to try and figure out what other people hear. He doesn't know how well it would go, trying to hear so much out in nature, not to mention in battle, but he looks forward to trying, someday. 

In fact, Sky looks forward to hearing a lot of things someday, now that he can. Hyrule said he has favorite sounds, so Sky wants to try and hear those, if possible. He knows Time has an ocarina, that Legend can play a lot of instruments, and that Twilight has a plucked instrument of his own. He definitely wants to hear all of that. 

Most of all, though, Sky thinks he wants to hear Zelda's voice clearly. Her voice, her laugh, her singing—every sound she has to offer him, he wants to hear someday. 

---

It seems that Hylia agrees with the sentiment, because after two weeks in Wild's world, getting used to the devices and the sounds of voices and forests and rivers and animals and birds, the next portal takes them directly to Skyloft, just outside the Loftwing stables. The wind is rough and chilly and loud, and the smell makes Sky simultaneously grin and wrinkle his notes. It's home, here. 

The others file out of the portal, pulling cloaks tight around themselves against the wind. They know where they are, and Sky doesn't miss the look Warriors gives him. There had been no small amount of poking and good-hearted teasing about how excited Sky was to see Zelda again next. (Some of it was rather crass, but Sky brushes those off as he always does, of course.)

As he usually is, Sky's Loftwing is nearby, seemingly waiting for them to get out of the portal. Sky has his hearing devices turned on, which had been confusing in the portal itself, but it lets him hear just how loud Crimson is when they see each other. 

Sky flinches a little at the unexpected volume. He'd always been able to hear that, at least mostly, and it's clear why, now. Crimson is on him in two seconds, knocking him to the ground and poking at his hair with that huge beak like he's a baby Loftwing. Sky laughs and pats him back as he climbs to his feet. 

"You really are loud, aren't you?" Sky mutters into Crimson's feathers. 

Crimson nudges him back, and Sky turns to see Zelda's golden hair shining in the sun as she runs down the path from the school towards them. He laughs, unable to keep his elation inside, then pats Crimson again and races off to meet her halfway. 

Zelda smells like sunshine and feathers, and there are almost tears in her eyes as she flings herself into his arms. She fits there, the perfect height and weight for Sky to wrap his arms around and pull close. 

He can feel the vibration as she mutters something into his shoulder. He squeezes her again, then pulls away to see her face. There's a faint red outline where her flight goggles had stuck to her face, and she's wearing her warm clothing, clearly just come back from a flight. 

"What was that?" Sky asks. "Didn't quite hear it." He's gotten used to the sound of his own voice in his head by now, and when Zelda opens her mouth, he focuses very hard. 

She rolls her eyes and tries to get her hands up to sign, but he's holding her a little too tightly, still. "I said, it's nice to see you." 

And, by Hylia, Zelda's voice is Sky's new very favorite sound. 

"Nice to see you, too," he answers, and her eyes meet his with the most startled expression he's ever seen on her face.