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“Food done yet, Wild?” Twilight asked from across camp.
“Almost!” the Champion called back cheerfully.
“Good, I’m starving!” commented the Captain.
“Oh, please, you’ve never known what starvation is like,” Legend mumbled under his breath.
“It’s a figure of speech!”
“You think I don’t know that!”
Time sighed. These boys. They were trouble, but the endearing kind of trouble. Reminded him a lot of himself back in the day. Maybe too much for comfort.
“Alright!” Wild exclaimed. “Looks like we’re ready!” Each of the heroes stood to go grab a bowl of stew from the cooking pot, but just as they stood they felt it. They were beginning to phase out of reality. They were on their way to a different age, a different land. Just when they were getting comfortable. Whoever was behind this really liked to keep them on their toes.
They landed in a familiar place, familiar to Time that was. Just outside of the Castle Town gate. It was daylight and the drawbridge was down. But something was... off.
Through the gate the heroes caught sight of a blonde teen being chased by a group of men. The teen climbed a stack of wooden crates, ran across them, jumped off and grabbed the edge of the city wall, pulling himself up. Once at the top, he ran past several guards, and pulled a lever closing the drawbridge.
“Get back here!” one of the men in the crowd called out.
“No one is going to treat my daughter that way!”
“Don’t think you’ll ever see mine again either, boy!”
The teen chuckled and waved. He pulled out a small blue instrument and played a short tune. In almost no time at all a large brown horse appeared out of nowhere. The teen back flipped off the wall and landed perfectly atop the horse, as if he’d done this a thousand times before. About to make his getaway he steered the horse around, but stopped the moment he saw the heroes.
“Captain?” The teen asked, fixated on the boy in the blue scarf.
“Oh, no,” Time muttered.
“Guys,” Wild managed.
“What?” asked Twi.
“I think I fucked up my soup.”
Twi lifted his palm to his face. Now really wasn’t the time for this conversation, cub. Still there was truth in Wild’s statement. They had lost their meal, and they were going to have to find food somewhere soon. Why was everyone just standing around? Why hadn’t Time suggested their next move yet? He was usually so on top of things. Could something have shaken him this much? Warriors stepped forward towards the teen on the horse.
“Kid?” he asked. He looked back at Time and then towards the teen again. “Is that you?”
“If you mean, am I the young hero you knew during the War Across the Ages, then yes,I am,” he replied. “But I AM NOT a kid. Don’t make that mistake again.” Suddenly, the gears on the drawbridge began to turn. “Shit,” the teen muttered under his breath. “Look, I’d love to catch up as well as hear what in Ikana you’re doing here, but I’ve gotta run.” He started off on his horse.
“Where can we find you?” Wars called after him.
“There’s a ranch,” he called back. “Not far south of here. Meet me there, and don’t you DARE rat me out!” With that the teen was off. Warriors sighed.
“We should probably get out of here too, or those knights will be questioning the hell out of us.” The boys nodded in simple shocked agreement, quietly collected their things, and started down the road. Finally, after they had been walking for nearly an hour, Legend broke the silence.
“Cap, who the hell was that kid?” he blurted out of nowhere. It was what everyone had been thinking. The Captain looked at Time.
“Maybe you should take this one, Old Man.” Time sighed. Yes. Yes, he probably should. Time stopped walking for a moment and the whole group stopped with him. He looked at the boys with a serious face. The Dad Face, Blue thought in Four’s head. Why is it always the Dad Face?
“I ought to warn you boys before we get there,” began Time. “That boy is a younger me.” Wind burst into immediate laughter and all the heroes looked his way.
“What’s so funny?” asked Four.
“I- I just never pictured Time being such a bad kid,” Wind managed to get out through his belly laughter. “He seems so serious. I thought he’d be like Twi.”
“I’m not that serious!” the rancher attempted to defend himself. At this point, Wild joined in Wind’s laughter and it was quite clear there was no stopping them.
“Wind does make an interesting point though,” commented Hyrule. He looked at Time a bit puzzled. “That younger you probably acts more like Legend than like anyone else here.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Legend pried with an unamused tone of voice and one eyebrow raised.
“It means the kid is a total jerk,” Four answered.
“Well,” Hyrule responded. “That wasn’t exactly my point, but-” Legend shot him a look. “Uh. What I meant to say was that if the Captain already knew that boy prior to meeting Leg kind of explains why he and Legend are so close.” Legend and Wars accidentally caught each other in an awkward stare before directing their attention back to ’Rule.
“Close?” Legend replied. “You need your eyes checked?”
“Never mind,” Hyrule said. “I know you two won’t admit to being friends. I was just making an observation.”
******
Link and Epona reached Lon Lon ranch in no time flat. It would take a lot longer for those other heroes to make it here on foot but nevertheless he had to work quickly if he was gonna find a place to hide all of them. He knew they were heroes like him. Had to be. Otherwise they wouldn’t be with the Captain, and they wouldn’t all look like that. Hylia just had to dish out peculiar appearances to her heroes, didn’t she? Link smirked, at least he was fairly attractive. He could’ve gone with a different nose, but save that, he hardly knew of a man that could compete with him. He could rely on that, which is why he wasn’t too worried about the outcome of his visit here.
“No,” the red-headed girl shut him down immediately. “Absolutely not. I am not boarding you and nine other grown men.” She seemed adamant. Standing there in the stable with her hair a mess, her arms crossed, her eyebrows angrily pointing down towards her bright blue eyes. She seemed adamant and also really hot, but Link didn’t have time to think about that right now.
“Come on, Malon!” the blonde pleaded. “They’re heroes, and they’re not ALL adults. AT LEAST two of them were children. Maybe more. You wouldn’t deny shelter to children! Would you?”
“Link, my father is not going to want us boarding ten guests. I’m sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry.
“Then don’t tell him. We can sleep in the southwestern barn. It’s not like your lazy dad goes back there anyway.”
“Excuse me?”
“Ok, I sense I’ve made a mistake.” Malon rolled her at the boy who had thrown his arms up in surrender.
“You’ve made a thousand mistakes,” she muttered back. Attempting to cool her temper she let out a sigh. “I don’t feel like I can even trust you these days. You know that?”
“Why not?” Link asked defensively.
“Where were you today?” He bit his lower lip.
“Today?”
“Yes. Today.” Link swallowed hard.
“Uh,” he started. “Doing hero shit. Why do you ask?”
“And this would be why I don’t trust you!” She threw her hands in the air, and began to walk away.
“Ah, come on, Malon!” He started after her. “I didn’t do anything the dear old Captain wouldn’t be proud of!” Well… it was true. He hadn’t. That fucking sleaze was worse than him.
“The Captain?” Malon asked. She stopped and turned back towards Link. “The one you told me about. From the War Across the Ages?” It was at this point that Link sensed an opportunity.
“Yes!” he answered excitedly. “Yes, that’s the one! And you know what? He’s with them!”
“He is?”
“Yes! And I could even introduce him to you! Would you trust me then? You’d believe all my crazy stories?” Malon smiled.
“I already do believe your crazy stories. I don’t believe in your character. That’s different,” the red-headed girl explained. The boy let out a disappointed sigh. Malon raised her left hand to his face, and he met her eyes. “Tell me though. Why would the Captain from the War Across Ages be here? What does that mean for you?” A smile spread across Link’s face. His eyes lit up.
“Malon, now is my chance,” he announced. “This time everyone remembers. Everyone will know who I am. All Hyrule will know my name.”
“All Hyrule does know your name, playboy.”
“You know what I mean! As a hero! Three times, Malon. Three times I saved Hyrule. Twice on my own, once with the Captain, but nobody remembers anything. I’m not a real hero. Not if nobody remembers me. Legends aren’t supposed to die, Malon. If I die without being a hero, that’s gonna be my biggest regret.” Malon’s sad eyes met his. He was still smiling brightly, but in his eyes she could see he was in great pain. He had dedicated so much to Hyrule, and for what? She brushed a bit of blonde hair out of his face.
“So you plan to go with him then.”
“I do. So will you let them stay?”
“Depends. Who am I letting them stay for?”
“A future hero?” He smirked.
“Nope. Try again.” Link let out a laugh.
“Your hero?” This time he leaned in and tried to kiss her but she grabbed his face and stopped him.
“Nope,” she replied coolly. He raised an eyebrow.
“Then who for?” She smiled.
“For a Fairy Boy I know.” Standing on her tiptoes she kissed him on the forehead and made her way to the stable door. He smiled wide and hurriedly followed after her. As they stepped outside, the two were met with nine blonde-headed, pointy eared heroes.
“I see you all made it in one piece,” he stated. “And a bit sooner than I expected.” Link grabbed Malon’s left hand in his right and pointed towards Wars with the other. “That, dear lady, is the Captain.” Malon let go of Link’s hand and walked slowly towards the Captain. She took a good long look at him and then extended her hand for a handshake.
“It’s nice to finally meet you! I’ve heard a lot about you.” Warriors took her hand in his own and kissed it.
“The pleasure is all mine,” he replied. “And believe it or not, I’ve heard a good deal about you as well.” Malon whipped her head back around towards Link, her Link. She didn’t have to say a word. He was already blushing straight to the tips of his ears. Silly Fairy Boy. He was a disaster, but he was her disaster, and that statement had affirmed it for her. Link had courted nearly every young eligible woman in Hyrule by Malon’s book, but at the end of the day, it seemed she was the one on his mind, and that was enough for her.
“I’d better get inside to prepare some food for you all,” she commented aloud, though her mind was still stuck on Link. “Make yourselves comfortable in the barn there across the field. I apologize that I can’t currently board everyone in the house. My father isn’t prepared to take any visitors.”
“The barn will do just fine, Malon,” Link assured her. “Don’t worry.” She smiled, and started off towards the house. “But do hurry with that food,” Link added. “It shouldn’t be too hard for a house woman like yourself.” He smirked.
“Oh, shut up, hero!” She yelled back as she picked up a stone and threw it at him. Dodging it, he burst into laughter. Malon stomped over, yanked his hat right off of his head, and ruffled his hair with her dirty stable hands. Content, she smiled and shoved the hat right into his chest. She began to cackle. He was unamused. Still gleeful from revenge, she finally entered the farmhouse.
“Hey! Wash your damn hands before you cook, bitch!” He yelled loud enough for her to hear from inside. She popped open the kitchen window.
“Well, duh! How long do you think I’ve been working this ranch?” She replied. “If you wanna be a smartass, you should at least try to be smart first, ass.” With that she promptly closed the window, and Link led the boys to the barn. As they all sat down, the heroes considered how peculiar Time’s relationship to his wife was before they were married, and how utterly different Time was as a person.
“You really gonna treat your girl like that?” The Captain broke the silence. “Even I think that’s going a bit far.”
“Oh do you?” the younger Time asked him sarcastically. “Because I do recall you and Arty fighting quite a bit.”
“I- that’s different.”
“Hold up!” Legend interrupted. “Who the hell is Arty?”
“Artemis” the teen replied simply. “Captain’s Zelda.” If Legend had been drinking something at that time he would have spit it out.
“You’re with Zelda?” he exclaimed flabbergasted.
“Yeah,” the Captain replied. “She’s my wife.”
“Oh goddesses, that’s why before we met Time’s wife the first time, you thought for sure it would be Zelda, even though I could tell it wasn’t.” The newest addition to the group smirked widely. Then, started to chuckle.
“You all really ought to be more careful about what you say as a group of time travelers!” he exclaimed. “From that argument alone I already know two things. The first being that I marry Malon. Not that it’s entirely surprising. Since I’ve planned on that for a while now, but I wasn’t sure she’d say yes. The second that I, the Hero of Time, am already a part of your group.” He looked Time square in the face. “I take it, that's you, Face-Tats.”
“How?” Wind mumbled. “How’d you know? It’s not like you haven’t changed at all.”
“I’d recognize those markings anywhere, kid. They might mean nothing to you, but they’re a world of hurt to me.” The boy’s face was fixed on Time’s. The Captain and Legend nodded at each other in silent agreement that it was probably best if Wars interfered. He stood up, walked over, and grabbed the teen by his shoulders.
“Hey, what should we call you then? Since we already have a Time. How’s Mask sound again?” The boy didn’t move.
“I’d assumed you’d understand from my current disposition why that is a horrible idea, Captain, but I guess I underestimated your dumbass.” The Captain sighed. Maybe ’Rule was onto something with this whole he’s just like Legend thing. “I don’t want anything to do with that mask, you hear me?”
“Yeah. I do. What SHOULD we call you then?”
“Why don’t we call his bossy teenage ass Rebel, for good measure?” Legend suggested under his breath.
“Call me Link,” the boy answered. Everyone was overcome with shock. Well, everyone but Time who was unfazed. Wind’s mouth stood agape. Wars let go of the boy’s shoulders. Sleepy Sky was suddenly awake. Four began mumbling quietly to himself as he often did when he was nervous. The barn sat so silent that you could distinguish every word he said. Though no one truly knew what he meant, nor did they plan to invade his privacy by asking him.
“Why’s he so much like you, Blue?” the mumbling began. “He is not, nerd! He is kinda like you... SHUTUPRED! No way Blue is way worse. Remember he thought he was the only Li- SHUTUP.”
“Kid,” Warriors finally spoke up, placing his hands on the teen’s shoulders again. “Maybe we misunderstood. Say that again.”
“You heard me,” the teen replied. “I’m Link. That’s my name, so that’s what you’ll call me.”
“I don’t know if you realize this,” Sky commented. “But actually we’re all Link- which is kind of why we go by our hero titles in the first place.” The teen relaxed his body and turned to face Sky.
“Exactly my point. It doesn’t seem that any of you are presently using the name, so I’ll be claiming it.” He smirked at the thought of what he was about to say next ruining Face-Tats reputation with the group, but his eyes filled with hurt knowing that he was about to admit his greatest failure. “Besides, I’m sure the old man here hasn’t clued you in yet, but in our timeline, we don’t have a hero’s title. We might have the Hero’s Spirit. And shit, we saved the world more than once. But no one remembers it, so we didn’t get a title. He lied to you.” Time sighed and held his head in his hands, and Twi let out a small gasp.
“That can’t be true,” murmured Twilight.
“It is,” the self-proclaimed Link replied. “We’re no one.”
“That’s not true!” The Captain corrected him. “You’re the Hero of Time whether anyone remembers it or not. And on top of that you’re a good kid!” Link chuckled.
“Sorry to bust your bubble, Cap, but I’m not good or a kid.”
“What are you then?” Legend teased rudely, genuinely attempting to lighten the mood in his own sarcastic way. He continued in a mocking baby voice “You’re a bad boy?” Link smirked.
“You ask Malon, the answer is yes. You ask Malon’s dad, the answer is no. And if Malon’s dad asks you, I am the single most morally upstanding gentleman you’ve ever met.” The room felt lighter.
Good call, Leg, the Captain thought. Good call.
“You’re quite the ray of sunshine, aren’t you?” Hyrule asked the teen with a smile. He laughed.
“I do tend to be quite the opposite actually. I suppose I can’t help that I’m more shade than sunshine.” Twi looked at him puzzled.
“I’m sorry. What?-” Twi’s words were interrupted by pieces of the ceiling falling to the floor. Lizalfos from above. Five of them. Darker in color than the ones Link was used to and with glowing red eyes. How’d they get inside the ranch? Malon! Was she ok? Each boy reached for his weapon and began to fight. But Link’s anxiety left him frozen. He had done this a million times before. Why couldn’t he move? He just stood at the other heroes launched into action.
Twi and Wild got one of the Lizalfos. Twilight slashed at it first then pushed it backwards with his own brute force, forcing the weapon from its hand. Wild let loose an arrow that hit the monster directly in the eye, then ran and pounced onto its stomach with the monster’s own sword. One.
The next victory came to Four and Sky. The former had grabbed some odd jar from his belongings which seemed to magically pull the creature in his direction. Sky then came up behind and ran the Lizalfos through with his blade. Two.
The next one came after Wind. Though he looked prepared to come at it, stern faced and brimming with courage. He landed a few blows before it slashed at his left leg and drew blood. As he fell to the ground, the monster raised its weapon and prepared to end the fight. Time struck from behind giving Wind just enough time to both evade the attack and slash at his foe. Time dealt the final blow. Three.
Legend and Hyrule made quick work of the fourth. Attacking from two sides and evading enemy blows with ease and grace, the battle was over when Leg froze the beast with his ice rod, and Rule pierced it through. Leg ushered Hyrule towards Wind to examine his injury. Four.
Four down. One to go. Where was it? What happened to the fifth. Link turned around. The Captain.
Wars had taken on the last Lizalfos alone. When Link caught sight of him the world seemed to move in slow motion, and while it seemed the Cap had kept up with the creature through their fight, they were both looking worn, both bloody and covered in dirt, both dizzy from blood loss, able to fall over at any moment and breathe their last. As Warriors made one last slash at the beast it fell over, and that seemed to be the end of it. It seemed. He turned and began to walk away, but the beast sat up, and raised it’s sword behind him.
Link ran. He’d never make it to that side of the barn with his sword in time, so he had to think fast. He shoved Wild, grabbing the Champion’s bow with his left hand and a singular arrow from Wild’s quiver with his right, he launched the arrow right in Wars’ direction. Grazing the Captain’s bright blonde hair now splotchy with dirt and blood, the arrow pierced the Lizalfos’ throat and sent him to his death.
“Whoa,” Wars exclaimed as the realization of what had just happened. “Nice shot, kid.” Breathing heavily, but glad his friend was safe, Link began to laugh.
“Yeah, well I’m used to saving your ass.” He ran over and grabbed him around the shoulders, pulling him in. “I love you, big brother.” The Captain smiled wide.
“I love you too.”
The younger pulled away, looking as if he was caught in thought.
“Malon,” he whispered. “I need to make sure she’s alright!” He ran towards the door but just as he reached it it opened. On the other side of the entry stood the exact girl he meant to go find, holding a large metal pot with a lid.
“Goddess Hylia!” she muttered. “It's hardly been an hour! What did you all do to my barn?” For a moment, Link just stared at her in all her glory. Blunt, fiery, beautiful, and most importantly safe. He wrapped one arm around her waist and grabbed her face with his free hand.
“Can I kiss you?” The words fell out of his mouth awkwardly. He was the world’s biggest flirt, a well known playboy, a total sleaze, and what had he just said? Can I kiss you? Smooth, Link. Real smooth.
It was probably for the better that he asked that way, because Malon probably wouldn’t have let him otherwise. She could tell he was shaken. He needed reassurance that someone was there for him. That SHE was there. “Sure,” she replied with a soft smile. “Just don’t fuck up my soup.”
******
The next day was spent mostly fixing the barn, but Time and Warriors did find time to pull Link aside to discuss what joining their team might mean. At least that’s what Link had assumed they’d discuss. In reality, it seemed they were entirely against him coming.
“Why can’t I go?” Link begged for a good answer. As far as he could see there was no good reason why he shouldn’t. “If I wasn’t supposed to join you, why would Hylia bring you to this time?”
“I get the feeling that answer has less to do with us and more with you, kid,” Wars replied.
“Don’t call me kid.”
“Ok, Link,” he corrected himself. “Did you hear the way you were talking about yourself yesterday? You’re not ready. You aren’t ready to go on this sort of adventure. But obviously one day you’ve got to be.” The Captain gestures towards Time.
“I don’t know what you mean I’m not ready. I’ve done this time and time again. I’ve saved the world before just like all of you have. I can do this!”
“No, you aren’t ready.” The Captain felt bad to shut his aspirations down but at this point it was the right thing to do. “You don’t know how to work with a team yet, and you’re too distracted with worrying about other things. Worrying about the people you care about is fine. Noble, even. So is worrying about your legacy, but you can’t let that sort of thing distract you. You need to learn to work with others and learn to have a sense of security in your life and some contentment in what you have now. Then you’ll be ready, and I think that’s why Hylia brought us here.”
“You think Hylia went out of her way to bring nine legendary heroes to my best friend’s farm to give me a cheap lesson on the power of friendship?”
“If it makes you a better legendary hero later in your life, I don’t see why she wouldn’t.” Link sighed. So there was no winning against the Captain on this, huh? Guess that was that.
“What should I do then?”
“I suggest you start by enrolling with the knights,” Time answered with a smile. “The work won’t feel too foreign to you since you’ve already served with the Captain. On top of that, you could settle down with that pretty farm girl ‘best friend’ you were talking about. Plan to retire from the knights early and help her on the farm once her daddy gets too old for the work. Those sound like some decent ways to learn teamwork, security, and contentment, yeah?”
“Yeah, well, I better get on that,” Link turned and began to walk away. Time and Warriors exchanged glances.
“You’re gonna propose today?” The Captain asked puzzled. Link turned and smirked.
“Sure!” he replied. “The sooner I learn all that shit, the sooner I get to go on an adventure again and be a real hero, right? Besides, a man only lives once. Well, depending on whether he comes across magic swords and instruments and such, then maybe a man lives twice.” He began to walk off again and Time called out after him.
“One more thing!” he called.
“Yeah?”
“Skip the fancy ring! Go for something more plain. She’ll make you trade the other one in anyway.” Link chuckled.
“Heh. Yeah. I’m getting her a protection ring. No other way I’m letting that girl out of my sight.” Link vanished into the farmhouse to attempt to win Talon’s blessing (which apparently wasn’t hard), and left Time and the Captain standing in the field.
“You know, you’re right,” Time said with a soft smile. “He is a good kid.”
“I know,” responded the Captain. “It’d do you well though to remember you’re a good man.”
The boys would phase into the next era before the end of the week, but before that happened they all witnessed Link’s proposal to Malon and celebrated their engagement with them. As they set up camp in their new terrain, Four approached Time with a bit of a puzzled look on his face.
“So did you know all this would happen?” he asked him.
“That we would see younger me?” Time replied.
“No. That the whole lot of us would show up on your doorstep prepared for a new journey. Did you and Malon see it coming?”
“Honestly, Four, no. I didn’t, and I could tell you right now the story of how I proposed to Malon. That isn’t how it happened.”
“We just changed history.”
“We did.” Time smiled. “And I’m sure when I get home Malon will scold me for not remembering exactly how everything happened. But it’ll be a first.” Four laughed.
“With all due respect, Time, Malon scolds you fairly often.” Time chuckled back then looked across their camp at the Captain.
“That’s not what I meant,” he replied, still smiling, eye still following Warriors. “I meant this will be the first time after traversing the ages that I go home and everyone remembers something that I DON’T remember.”