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minhosimthings · 7 months

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For Love to Exist: A Hyunjin Fic

Synopsis: In which Aphrodite makes a plan for two loveless souls.

Pairing: Hwang Hyunjin × Fem!reader, includes rest of Skz (side characters)

Word count: don't know but it's really long

Warnings: Fluff, angst, slow burn, mentions of self harm, and mental abuse, reader is an orphan, mentions of food and drink. She/her pronouns used, reader has scars on her skin

A/N: this is sort of a self indulgent fic for me and it is dedicated to all the people in my life who have made me feel like I am worthy of love again. This is based off of my own experiences due to my abusive past and how I let those go with the help of the people I've met here in university. I based Y/N off of myself (I hope you don't mind) because I feel like Hyunjin would be the type of person to love s person, regardless of their past, and ignorant of their future (and also I'm too delulu for Hyun rn). I dedicate this fic to all the people around the world, who feel that they do not deserve a red heart, and an I love you everyday. I dedicate this fic to the little girl inside of me, who still thinks that she is unworthy of love.

For love to exist, souls should exist too. For love to breathe, souls should take a deep breath too. For love to live, souls should learn how to live too. But for you, souls simply did not exist. They were just imaginary things made up by boring adults to tell children why they married their partners, to mask whatever what going on in reality. Why would anyone believe in souls and hearts and bonds and all that bullshit? Kids, of course, believed it.

You, on the other hand, were taught by cold eyes, ever since forever. Cold eyes had taught you that warm ones always lied and that love was just a fairytale made up to increase the population of earth. Cold eyes told you that June wasn't about pretty flowers and sundresses. They taught you it was about the burning sun and the heatwaves. Cold eyes taught you that flowers were nothing more than biological creations of two genetically unique organisms. Cold eyes taught you that the world was just the Earth, just a globe and that the universe didn't care for a tiny speck like you.

Work, Eat, and sleep. Those were the only things you did with passion. Those were the only things in your life that you noticed and yearned for. It was painful to watch your coworkers at the company, who were below you, enjoy life so much. As chief editor, you had less work than they did, yet they saw life as a chance. They saw life as a chance to enjoy the fruits of the universe, while you still saw life as a scarred being. Funny, how you thought that everyone else was mad to have love in their lives, yet there you were with scars on your chest, both physical and mental, going unnoticed by the minute.

Until Hyunjin came into your life.

Hwang Hyunjin. Step son of your goddamned boss. You were told that he would be working alongside you as both an assistant editor and as a new cartoonist, replacing Mr Park, who had resigned five days ago. You groaned at the idea of having someone follow you all day, asking you if you needed anything. You were better off without an assistant or a cartoonist. But your magazine wasn't the leading magazine in South Korea for no reason. The illustrations provided alongside the thigh slapping articles always provided the greatest entertainment to the millions of readers. Mr Park was an old man, who was always quiet and mostly kept to his drawings, exactly your preference. Someone who doesn't annoy you or ask about your love life because apparently, at 23, a woman has nothing better to do. But a man, your age, who you've heard used to be a singer in a band, yeah that wasn't going to work with you.

Your boss had introduced you guys on his first day. He was.... surprisingly handsome. His eyes were like a kitten's, small and glittery, as if Andromeda had poured all her stars into them. His nose and jawline were so sharp, in total contrast to his gaze, soft and pinkish. You wondered why all those thoughts were coming into your head. Never before had they had even touched your mind, when you saw other men and women around you, no matter how pretty they were.

He worked in silence. Complete silence. He wouldn't even move his chair or anything. The desk on which he worked was so pristine and organized, very much like yours, exactly like yours. But there was an aura with which he worked on piece of paper with a black ink pot that you could only dream of having. It was like the sky favoured him, sunlight illuminating all of his features, including some tiny moles on his face. You couldn't help but admire his serious face, headphones in, with an ink stained brush moving swiftly across paper, tracing the tiny dots and lines of whatever he was making. You had first approached the company as a cartoonist yourself, having the skills because of an art minor. But soon the director saw you better as a journalist and slowly but surely you moved your way up the ladder to become chief editor. And when you saw other people doing something you used to love doing, you wondered if you hadn't accepted the job as an editor, would your life have been so mundane? So brown and still?

"Um Miss Y/N?" A voice broke you out of your stupor, starting you and getting your mind away from the articles on your computer screen. Hyunjin was standing next to you, holding pieces of paper in one hand and his brush in the other. He had a dab of ink sprawled across his nose. Cute, you thought.

"I, uh, finished the illustration for the first article you sent. Are they ok?" He gave you five pieces of paper, all with funny intonations on them, a cookie wearing hat, and an iguana wearing a DJ's glasses. It was cute, really cute you thought, as you gave them back to him, nodding in approval and shooting him a small smile. "You have ink on your nose, did you know that?" You pointed out to him, handing him a tissue from your tissue box, which he took and immediately disappeared behind his computer, wiping his nose aggressively. Cute, so cute.

You usually left work at eight thirty, not too late and not too early that you'd miss your tea. But something made you want to stay back today. Someone, specifically. Hyunjin told you that he usually went home by ten, since he didn't do much during the night. You refrained from telling him when you went, lest he question why you stayed back today.

"Miss Y/N I'll be heading out now. Good night." He held up his olive green bag and waved goodbye to you. Something inside of you wanted to say 'Wanna go together?' but you had always ignored that something so you instead waved back to him and started picking up your things.

That day, the old grandmother at the ramen shop you always went to said something was different about you and told you to smile more. You didn't know whether or not that was a complement but you took it willingly along with spicy ramen with beef.

"Miss Y/N I-" "Hyunjin stop call me Miss. Im your age. Just call me Y/N, alright?" You finally got that sentence out of your mouth after keeping it in for an entire week. An entire week Hyunjin addressed you with honorifics and today you wanted to tell him that just your name was enough. Just your name coming out of his mouth like a sweet melody was alright. "Oh well ok Y/N." He said with some difficulty, feeling awkward not using the proper words. "I wanted to say that lunch break began over two hours ago and you still haven't got up from your seat, so I uh bought you something. I asked your co workers what you usually eat so um yeah." He did what? You looked down at his extended hand, holding a box of your usual Ramyeon and an americano. You silently took the food from his hands, shooting him a quick 'thank you'. He deserved more than that, but at that moment, all your shocked brain could do was that.

Someone cared for you. Someone noticed that you weren't eating. Someone noticed how you stayed on this cold October day. And that was sort of sweet? Someone did that for you and for once it seemed he did not want anything in return. That couldn't be true, you thought as you silently ate your Ramyeon, all the while shooting tiny glances at Hyunjin, who was once again immersed in his drawings. Seeing him so deeply imbued in an art, which provided him a job, was so endearing to look at. He was doing something he enjoyed, while earning money for it. Isn't that what everyone in the world would love?

"Um Hyunjin? Hyunjin." You snapped your fingers in front of Hyunjin, who had his headphones on, with that brush back in his hand. He looked so cute, being broken out of his hypnotised state. His eyes blinked at you for a few seconds, before he took the headphones off and greeted you. "What is it Mi- I mean Y/N?" God he was so handsome. He was in a loose baby blue sweater and white pants today. He looked so dainty and fragile as if you touch him and he'll break. "I uh wanted to thank you again for the food today. Um. Any way I can thank you for it? Maybe buy you a coffee?" You could feel your cheeks getting redder by the moment. Even if he couldn't see the blush, you could definetly feel them. If your guardian angels were watching you right now, they'd be saying 'Y/N get your ass up and stop blushing so much.'. "Oh. Um uh" Hyunjin stuttered for a bit before checking his watch. Nine thirty am. There was still half an hour left to go home, meaning you both had enough time to grab a coffee and perhaps a bagel or something tasty.

"Oh course Y/N. But please do not pay for my food. You need not repay me for lunch." Your pleas for that sentence went unheard, as Hyunjin kept saying that he didn't want anyone to pay for him, reasoning that lunch was a basic human need and he was just helping his co worker out. Something about the way he defended himself and explained things was so adorable. It was like a ferret explaining why it's fur is white and why it's ears are so round.

"This is surprisingly good." You commented, as Hyunjin and you sat by the little round table in the coffee shop, drinking Americans and eating Macarons. Hyunjin raised an eyebrow at you, watching as you are your pistachio Macaron. "You never had a Macaron before in your life?" You shook your head at his question, trying to swallow your bite of the Macaron quickly, so as to answer his question. "No actually." You managed to cough out after what seemed like five hours of you chewing the sweet dessert. "I don't have a preference for sweet things. I used to but I grew out of it." Hyunjin looked up at you, from staring at his shoes. "You used to? Well I always used to believe that a sweet tooth could never grow out of their preferences. Turns out I was wrong then." The corners of your mouth twitched as your heart itched not to say 'why are you so perfect?' to the man sitting in front of you. "So what musicians do you listen to?" It was now your turn to look up at him with wide eyes. It was funny how both of you were eating food together like two normal human beings, yet neither of you dared to look at each other, or maintain direct eye contact for more than a fraction of a second. "Pardon?" You asked him, eyebrow raised and foot tapping on the floor. He stumbled back a bit and said, in a apologetic tone, "Oh I didn't mean to impose. Im sorry. I just thought, you know we see each other every single day, and I have never gotten to know what my coworker likes a dislikes so um.. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable." Seeing him apologize like that was like seeing a puppy apologize to a black cat. You probably looked scary right now, with your expression and your rigid figure, so it made sense for Hyunjin to react like that.

"Oh it's alright Hyunjin." You said, shooting him the tiniest smile ever. "People don't really ask me questions about myself that often so I was kind of taken aback." Hyunjin just nodded and hummed in response to your bland statement.

That night, when you went home, you thought to yourself, about how much you missed human interaction. Most often disassociation and loneliness were your favourite drugs, but Hyunjin asking you a simple question about your favourite singer, made those drugs seem pleasure less. Your therapist would have probably looked you up and down and immediately told you that you were in love, being the hopeless romantic he was. People were scared to approach you. You, with your head held high in the air, your gait threatening that of Hera's, and your expression, cool and wicked. But Hyunjin just casually asked you what musicians you listen to, as if he had known you for years and he was meeting up with you again, at a school reunion. It was shocking to you, how he could just say that, without stuttering. Yes he did stutter later on, but it was so adorable the way he apologized to you, hands nervously palming at his fingers and nose silently twitching. Maybe friends weren't so bad after all, you thought, as the stars looked at you in pity, talking amongst themselves, about where had God gone wrong with you.

A sticky note? Your boss never left sticky boss for you. Usually his assistant to deliver you messages. So who wrote this mysterious pink sticky note, stuck to your computer with a smiley and something written on it? You had arrived at work after Hyunjin today, who, once again was is a hypnotic state, lightly bobbing his head to whatever was playing inside of those blue headphones. You slightly suspected that the note was probably his, as you sat down on your chair, hanging your bag in the usual place beside your table. You pulled off the note from the computer and examined it closely. There was something written on it with a glittery purple pen.

I scared you yesterday with my question. So I'm going to ask you through a note. What musicians do you listen to? (PS you can answer through a sticky note too)

You noticed Hyunjin kept giving you small glances from time to time, only taking his eyes away from his art for a fraction of a second. Cute, you thought, really cute. This was by far the cutest thing he had done. You silently took up a glittery blue pen from your drawer and wrote some sentences on a different sticky note, knowing when you were going to stick it.

"Hyunjin could you do me a favour?" You tapped on his desk to alert him. He looked up at you once again, with those same doe eyes. You noticed the ink once again splattered on his nose. "Yeah?" "Could you take this up to Mr Kim once and ask him if this is how he wanted the article to be edited?" You handed him a blue file to take it upto your boss, which is silently took and went up to the boss's office, giving you enough time to stick the note onto his computer. You made a last minute addition to the note, before rushing off to the canteen, lest Hyunjin catches you in your mischievous act. Even though it was just sticking a note to your co worker's computer this felt like the most amazing thing you had ever done in your life, the most daring.

Where had you gone? Hyunjin had come back to his desk after handing off the file to the boss, who said he'd give it back tomorrow, only to find you nowhere to be found. He swore that he had saw you here just a second ago. Where had you gone now? Shrugging his shoulders and telling himself that you had probably taken a bathroom break, he sat back down on his desk, ready to complete the illustrations for the day, that you had given him yesterday, when he noticed something stuck to his computer. A green sticky note. Could it be? Did you respond to his very creepy, weirdo nerd way of asking you a question in order to get to know you better?

When Hyunjin sat down on his chair, and slowly pulled the sticky note out, he sweated that his heart had skipped a hundred beats (or 143 beats hehe). Your loopy handwriting was scrambled on it with sparkly blue ink.

This is very middle school of us to be passing notes in work but I like listening to Lana del Rey, Florence and The Machines, a bit of k-pop and lot of classical music. Now you answer my question along with your own question. What is your favourite ice cream flavour? (PS you have ink on your nose)

Hyunjin's soul was doing backflips in his stomach. Having an obsession for love, he wondered whether this was how Cupid felt like when he shot his first arrow. You listened to the same artist he did. He absent-mindedly wondered about what question to ask you next when you came out from the canteen, carrying lunch for the both of you. "Oh hey Hyunjin." You said in what you hoped wasn't an over active tone. "I uh got you lunch to pay back for when you got me lunch and um here you go." You awkwardly handed him the cup of spicy tteokbokki along with some other dishes and an Americano. As if returning the awkwardness, he mumbled a sheepish 'thank you', grabbed the food and hid behind his desk. Somewhere in the clouds Aphrodite was sighing, not knowing what to do with you two.

After a few hours, when you had gotten up to go the boss's office, Hyunjin saw his golden chance and took it. He scribbled his question onto a pink sticky note and quickly stuck it to your desk, frantically sitting back on his chair and pretending to be focusing on his cartoon which had long been completed.

Happiness. Happiness was all you and Hyunjin felt that night, when both of you parted ways. It was that happiness which a fourteen year old gets when their crush pays attention to them. It was mischievous happiness, as both you went home and pondered about questions and answers. Middle school romance was something neither of you had, with him not finding the correct person, who would love him for who he is, and you just not wanting love anymore. Aphrodite would be probably be smiling right now, twirling her roses and she makes the next part of her plan.

"Hyunjin! Over here!" It was raining very heavily today and you had chosen this very day to not take your car. Apparently Hyunjin had done the same thing, as both of you saw other close to the cafe a distance from your work. He didn't have an umbrella and you had spotted him running over in the direction of your work, blue hoodie gripped tightly over his head. "Did the universe have to choose the day I didn't get my car to rain?" He shouted at you as you both were shielded by your umbrella. "I was thinking the same thing!" You shouted back at him. "Let's get inside the cafe!"

The cafe thankfully wasn't crowded at all, and as you took off your coat and shoes to dry, you appreciated the heat coming from inside the cafe. It was on the more traditional side, with a wooden interior and sepia toned plants hidden in mud pots.

"Oh great." Hyunjin sighed. He was holding his phone is his hands, having taken off his hoodie and his shoes before you did and setting his bag down at a table for two. "Boss just texted. Work's cancelled for three days straight." "So we went through all that rain for nothing?" You deflated on the comfy chair, opposite Hyunjin, who was revealed to be wearing a dark blue shirt underneath his baby blue hoodie. "Well damn it. What do we do now? I didn't bring my car and neither did you. Do we have to wait out the storm here?" You asked him, wiping your face with a handkerchief. "Well we can." Hyunjin responded. "I think the owner will probably let us." You raised a brow at him at that statement while he just stared into space, as if expecting an alien to show up any moment. "How do you know the own-" "HWANG HYUNJIN YOU FINALLY DRAG YOUR ASS HERE TO SEE ME."

A very loud voice rang through the cafe, accompanied by a much quieter 'Hyunjin's here?'. Hyunjin groaned and buried his face in his hands, as a handsome man with olive skin, brown hair, and the prettiest nose ever, came striding up to your table, wearing the uniform of the cafe. He promptly pulled up a chair and collapsed onto it, next to Hyunjin, all the while playfully glaring at him. "Hey Minho hyung." Hyunjin mumbled, not looking directly at whoever this Minho was. The other man clicked his tongue out of disapproval and said, "Say that louder would ya? And why have you not been coming to visit me and emotional dump on me for like two weeks? Oh and who's this lovely young lady?" He looked into your eyes at that last bit, startling you a bit, at how round and black his eyes were, like tiny little boba balls. "I'm Y/N." You extended a hand forward. "L/N Y/N" Minho took your hand and shook it with a firm grip, before getting up and slightly bowing to you. "Well Miss Y/N, may I get you anything? Perhaps something which is not an Americano, which is what this monster" he motioned to Hyunjin "drinks?" You gave him a calculator look before saying, "Oh. Um I would like an americano actually and probably one for Hyunjin too please." Minho looked ever so slightly taken aback by your words. "As you wish!" He declared before giving Hyunjin and a smirk and leaving.

"So who was that?" You asked Hyunjin, whose ears were burning red. With a sigh, he put his elbows on the table, burrying his head in them.

"That was Lee Minho. A college mate of mine, who opened a cafe with a friend of his, soon after graduation, because apparently he didn't want to get into a boring job." He chuckled slightly at that. "He's a mentor to me. He's like I think two years older than me and he treats me like a damn baby. But it's fine cause I'm the one who helped him cheat on his exams so I get free shit here."

"Americano for two?" Oh hey Hyunjin!" A freckled boy had come up to your table, americano filled cups in his hand. His skin was porcelain, like glass, dotted with star like freckles, with blonde hair framing his beautiful face. "Hey Lix." Hyunjin patted the boy's back, as he set the coffee down on the table. "How's your mum now? Is the treatment working?" A smile never seemed to leave this boy's face, as he sat down in the chair which Minho had pulled up earlier. "She's good now. Much better! I've been sending her some brownies every now and then but she's still disappointed because apparently her son won't get a girlfriend." He slightly pouted as Hyunjin chuckled lightly. "Oh who's this? Wait are you-" the boy looked at you with excited eyes, before gasping and turning his head to Hyunjin. "Is this the Y/N you told me about?" He excitedly extended a hand towards you, which you took, experience pleasure at his soft grip and hands, which was in stark contrast to Minho's handshake. "I'm Felix! Lee Felix. Nice to meet you! Y/N right?" The amount of happiness radiating from this boy was so much that you thought he was probably the reincarnation of Helios himself. "Nice to meet you too Felix. I'd introduce myself, but judging from your excitement I believe Hyunjin's already told you about me." You gave him a smile, which he returned. "Yah Felix!" Minho's voice came from across the wooden walls. Felix groaned and got up from his chair saying goodbye to both of you and rushing off to Minho.

"They're really nice." You told Hyunjin, sipping on your americano. It was nice and weird to have people like you for who you are. It was kind of alien to you, to meet two people who knew about you. It was even more alien of Hyunjin to tell people about you. What could people tell about you? What fragments of your being attracted Hyunjin that he told his friends about your existence?

"Y/N are you ok?" Hyunjin's voice broke your mind from staring at the rain pouring outside. The storm had calmed down now and it was just lightly drizzling, drops staining the window, racing against each other. "Oh yes I'm good. Sorry."

"So you wanna talk about the notes or should we keep it a middle school secret?" Hyunjin's question rang across your brain, and as you sipped on your americano, you couldn't help but notice how innocent that question was. It was just a question. It wasn't an interrogative question, which you'd be punished for if you didn't answer. You fingers unconsciously went up to your wrists when you thought about that question. "What do you suggest? I'm alright with answering the question in person, instead of exchanging notes." You responded, keeping your tone casual, so as to not reveal the fast pace of your heart beat.

Hyunjin smiled at you and sipped on his americano again. "My favourite ice cream flavour is pistachio. And I also like listening to Lana del Rey and classical music. My turn now." He leaned forward slightly. "A song which you could listen to, for all eternity?" Musical questions were what you enjoyed the most, having being in love with music ever since your ears picked up the tune of twinkle twinkle little star. Hyunjin's question seemed hard, since your favourite song changed every few seconds and you couldn't just choose one melody to pleasure your ears for all of eternity. "Hmm" you responded after a while. "Probably Love by Lana Del Rey." "Why so?" Hyunjin asked.

"Because along with having an amazing tune and the greatest vocals ever," you started your lecture "It's also such a deep song. The way she is symbolising young love is so beautiful, from the way she alters her voice at certain lines to the lyrics themselves. I especially fell in love with the chorus because it signifies such a beautiful matter of being so much in love that even the tiniest actions can seem like elephantine gestures. Even that lyric 'The world is yours and you can't refuse it' it's so pretty. It's symbolising that feeling of ruling the world when you fall in love. Or atleast I think it does. I've never fell in love so."

You fell quiet after your rambling, hoping that it didn't freak him out how much you knew about one particular song, which you definetly did not write an entire essay about. L/n Y/n you've done it again. You've scared a person off because of your rambling about your hyperfixation because you have nothing else to love. Great job, you thought.

But as you looked over at Hyunjin's face, it was happy? His eyes were wide and his lips were slightly parted as if thinking what to say, his americano straw remained in his mouth, but he wasn't sipping on it. He was in total awe, something you couldn't see.

"That- that was amazing." He said after a pregnant silence. "I never thought about songs that way honestly. But I think from now on I'll start thinking of it like that." God his smile was so handsome. The way the corners of his mouth stretched and the way his lips always slightly parted, it was all so pretty. And since when have you became so observant? To notice a man's manner of smiling?

Aphrodite smiled again in the clouds, calling for her chariot, to take a ride across the sky, making up the next step of her masterplan.

It was still pitter-pattering outside the window as both of you finished your drinks. You declined Minho's offer to eat, since you had already ate a lot for breakfast and you weren't feeling hungry. You tasted a bit of Felix's brownies, for which you complemented the freckled boy so mich to point where his glass skin turned into stained red glass.

"God the rain is stopping, how the hell are we going to get home?" Hyunjin sighed, as he meant back in his chair. You both had put your shoes, hoodie and coat back on and were staring out the window. You had an idea in your mind. A peculiar idea. An idea unlike you. An idea made by your heart controlled mind. You know how they say that we should never let our heart control our brain? Well sometimes, just sometimes, in the tiniest moments, we could let it control our being just a little bit.

"Doyouwanttocomeovertomyhouseitsreallycloseby" "I beg your pardon?" Oh great you spoke the easiest sentence in the fastest way you could possibly imagine. You should probably get the Nobel Prize for the most awkward person ever. Taking a deep breath, you made eye contact with Hyunjin (perhaps for the first time) and said, "Would you like to come over to my house? It's close by and I can drop you off at your house if I get my car." Hyunjin looked slightly taken aback by your suggestion, and as he pondered over it with a series of 'ohs' and 'ums', you mentally scolded yourself. How could you never say the right thing ever? How did you manage to say the wrong thing every single time? How did you manage to scare off every person every single time? Were you really not capable of love? Was your mother really right?

"If I don't impose Y/N, I would like to come over to your house. I should actually probably get going home too, so I accept your offer, only if it doesn't bother you." Your heart lifted from where it was earlier. Listening to the words coming out of Hyunjin's mouth in the soft tone, was something so comforting to you. It was like the smell of old books, like the way flowers moved in the wind, like the way wine swirled in a wine glass and like the way melodies danced to the beat of a song.

"This is your house?" You and Hyunjin had walked all the way to your house, shielded by his umbrella. It was safe to say that your house was a very luxurious one, in the more expensive side, courtesy to your high profile job. It was a two bedroom house, with the most beautiful terrace and balcony anyone had ever seen, which gave a view of the Seoul skyline. "It's beautiful." Hyunjin breathed out. "Come inside." You said, taking off your shoes at the entrance and unlocking the wooden door. "Want some food?" Hyunjin shook his head as both of you entered your house, his mouth dropping on seeing the interior. You had a conversation pit inside your house, much like one of those 80's sitcoms, and it was the most queer thing in your house. It was purple and magenta, with white finishings and a pretty carpet, sitting below a glass table. "It seems the interior is much prettier than the exterior." Hyunjin said, as you both entered the pit, sitting down. You sheepishly smiled and mumbled a thank you, before getting up to get him some water, even though you both had downed a big cup of americano.

"Your books are really interesting." You had started showing Hyunjin around your house, and when you reached the library portion, he wouldn't move from there. Granted, you did have a pretty library, decorated with fake moss and hanging vines, which made it look like a shelf growing out of the forest. "What is so interesting about them?" You asked him as he stroked the book covers with his fingers, to which he smiled and pointed to the last two books. "Their arrangment is fascinating first of all. I mean The Animal Farm and Pride and Prejudice are sitting together, as if going for a tea party. Did you arrange them yourself?" You only nodded to his question, too scared to answer. "The second interesting thing about this bookshelf is that all the books are so dual to each other. You have Harry Potter-" he pointed to the topmost shelf, "then you have 1984-" his fingers went to a handsome leather book, "and then finally you have a pop up children'd book." He laughed pointing to the bottom most shelf, where a glittery pink book lie. You blushed, as you saw that book. It was the book, which your best friend at the orphanage had given to you, before she was taken away. You cherished it a lot, it being the only form of love you had ever recieved in your life. "Woah you have Taylor Caldwell too!" Hyunjin said, excitedly, his fingers bouncing on the shelf closest to him, where a series of faded books lie. "Do you want them perhaps?" You asked him, to which he gave you a sad smile. "I've always loved her since the age of eleven but I could never buy any of her books, courtesy to my mum thinking they're too 'westernised'." "You can take some if you want. I hardly ever read these ones." You pulled out some of the books and put them in his hands. He looked surprised and his eyes widened at you. After much trial and error, which included him refusing to take the books, and you threatening to leave him out in the rain if he didn't take them, he finally stuffed then into his bag, thanking you over and over again.

The car ride to his home was fun, to say the least. Hyunjin narrated some funny stories with Minho and Felix, and a few of his other friends. You were shocked to find out that he used to be in a band, where he played the drums. "You must play them for me one day." You said, as you pulled up to a light. "as payback for the books." Hyunjin gave you that sweet smile again, causing your brain to malfunction.

"Thank you for the ride home Y/N. And for the books." Hyunjin said as you both pulled up to his house. "Say I have a question." He said, before unbuckling his seatbelt (drive safely kids). "Would you ever be interested in spending your lunch break with me everyday? Cause I really like talking to you and I don't have many friends at work. Only if you want to though!" God he was so adorable with those round eyes and those cute cheeks. Was he actually so cute or was your hopeless brain just making it up?

Aphrodite sighed again as she watched you silently from the bushes, happy that you were going on the right path, but worried about the trajectory of your mind.

Spending time with Hyunjin were the best moments of your life. It was surprisingly fun to spend a part of your day everyday with Hyunjin. It was just lunch and americanos, fresh from Minho's cafe, since it was the only one you liked now. You warmed up to him more than you had wanted to, and for the first time, your brain didn't mind being ruled by your heart. Hyunjin had introduced you to some of his closest friend, who came to visit him at work, making sure he didn't overwork himself. And he had interesting friends. Apart from Minho and Felix, there was a producer group called 3Racha who wrote songs for a company called JYP. It was composed of the three most kindest people you had ever met. Jisung, Changbin and Chan treated you like their own sister, often picking up an Americano for you whenever they got one for Hyunjin. You met Hyunjin's youngest friends Seungmin and Jeongin at Minho's cafe, when Jeongin bumped into your shoulder, dropping his books and apologizing to you frantically. Both of them were University students, one having a pottery studio and the other studying computer science. They were mischievous little things, but you loved them too, with you sharing Seungmin's love for pottery and Jeongin's hatred for sugary foods. It was so fun, having friends, even if they weren't your friends from the beginning. This was the first time you had experienced happiness ever since you were eight.

The words on your books weren't skimmed over by your eyes anymore. Instead they were carefully taken in, word by word, appreciating how every letter formed the beautiful sentence. Now, winter wasn't about surviving anymore. Instead it was about being warm and cosy, all wrapped up in a big blanket, hugging a plushie and drinking hot chocolate as pretty winter flakes poured outside the window. Now you digged out the sundresses you haven't worn in so long, and you would wear them to work every now and then, catching the eyes of every person you passed (because you are the most beautiful person on earth LOVE YOURSELF I LOVE YOU). You never noticed it, but now, Hyunjin looked at you differently. He wasn't a very defensive person, choosing to end arguments quickly, but whenever his eyes set upon your figure dancing in a yellow sundress, embroidered with flowers, he swore that he would burn done the entire world for you. Both of you regularly met up at each other's house, having k drama nights, where you would do nothing but cry over the slow burn, and try out a new snack from the local convenience store every time. Sometimes Hyunjin would play the drums for you, taking your excited requests of the 70's and 80's rock songs. It was all so perfect, having Hyunjin in your life and every time you saw him moving his own across a piece of paper, whipping up a cartoon for you as a gift, your heart smiled, urging you to let it take over for just a little longer.

But Aphrodite had something else in plan.

Sometimes the Gods plan sinister things for humans. Sometimes they say 'lets whip up conflict'. And most often it's not between one human and another. Most often it's between a human and her own mind. You had gotten a call on a nice Thursday morning, when you were about to set out for work, clad in a white dress, which reached your knees. A call from your adoptive parents. Unbeknownst to the entire world, behind your pretty face, you hid a grief filled secret behind those glassy eyes. Your childhood wasn't all sunshines and rainbows. You had grown up in an orphanage basically your entire life, and at the tender age of eleven, you had gotten adopted by a rich couple. Good right? Nope it was the polar opposite. Turns out they had adopted you for their own benefit, to gain support from the media to continue their company or some bullshit like that. It had haunted you all your life, how they would never speak a word to you, never a word of affection. It was just words of 'who would ever love you?' and 'you aren't capable of love'. When you had gotten accepted in college, with a full ride scholarship, they had help a party, not for you, but to brag that their daughter, whom they did not even love, had gotten into a college all by herself. They had turned their devil tails into angel wings and it angered you, but you stayed silent. Why should you fight battles with other people when you could fight a battle with your own mind? You had cut off all communications with them however as soon as you left for college. Now it was just you and the world. Getting a job was the hardest thing and you still remember all those days that you survived on water and biscuits, like Marie Curie, when she used to research on radioactivity. You had learnt that your 'parents's' buisness had gone bankrupt, soon after you had gotten a job, but they still hadn't ever contacted you until this Thursday. It was Seungmin's birthday today and you had gotten him a puppy keychain, one that he had been wanting for a long time, which he had told you about in secret. You had purchased it the day before and wrapped it up in a cute box, writing some notes on the top. It was supposed to be the most perfect day. Happiness and melted ice cream that was what this day was supposed to be.

"Hello?" You had picked up your mother's call and your world came crashing down immediately. "Hey there Y/N. We need some money right now and we know you work for Mr Kim. Send us some money please." Not even a hello. The woman who had given you food and shelter didn't even say a hello. The woman who you owed nothing to didn't even say hello.

Hyunjin wondered where you were that day. You wouldn't ever miss a day of work and plus you were excited for Seungmin's birthday. You were going to go for a birthday party which was to be held at Chan's house. Hyunjin had told you that most of the boys would be bringing their girlfriends so you could meet them. You wouldn't never have missed this, especially not when your eyes lit up, when he had told you that Seungmin would be singing for you guys and Minho would be bringing his famous meat. So why? Why was your chair lying all alone and your americano untouched? He had asked Mr Kim whether you had called him today, to which he got disappointment when Mr Kim said no. Your boss didn't really care whether or not you took breaks, since you mostly finished your work in advance, in order to save time. That day Hyunjin told the guys, that he wouldn't be coming to the party, much to their disappointment. But they understood when he said that he was worried for you. He basically talked about you 24/7 and the boys still didn't understand how their most romantic friend ever ended up not knowing what love was.

Hyunjin had an extra key to your house, which you had given him after two months of knowing him, trusting him enough to keep an emergency contact. Hyunjin kept fiddling with it on the cab ride to your place, massaging his nerves to calm himself down. As he reached your house, the atmosphere around him changed. It became gloomy, even when the Sun attacked him with his rays. The sunflowers in your garden all seemed to bow their heads to him, as if to apologise.

"Y/N?" Hyunjin stepped inside your house, calling your name. "Y/N where are you?" He shouted a little louder this time. If you weren't in the living room, you'd be up in your bedroom or the library. Hyunjin slowly climbed up the stairs to the second floor, taking in the eerie silence of the house. It was such a loud silence. He could hear something in the distance but he didn't know what it was. Was it a cat? He heard a wailing noise that sounded something like a wolf crying.

The door to your bedroom was open. Hyunjin stepped inside, careful not to make a sound. He knew how creepy this was, to enter a person's house like this, but he didn't have a choice. "Y/N?" He called out, noticing the light in your bathroom switched on. "Y/N!" You were sitting on the floor, with a knife next to you. Your hair was in tangles and your body swayed back and forth, As you kept mumbling something to yourself. Your upper arm was slightly bleeding and your breathing was heavy. You had been lying there for the entire morning. You were still in your dress,which was now stained with blood from your arm. Your face was tear stained and your eyes were glassy. "Y/n. Hey look at me. Look at me. I'm here." You looked up to see Hyunjin's worried face, eyebrows furrowed and lips parted again. "Hyunjin?" You breathed out in a weak voice, which made Hyunjin's heart drop to his knees. "Yes it's me. Hey breathe. Please breathe for me." He coached you through breathing in and out, which calmed you down a bit, but you were still shivering and your skin was ice cold and white. You looked like a ghost. A ghost with sunken eyes and shocked expression stuck on its face.

Hyunjin carefully lifted you up and carried you to your bed, careful not to disturb your injury, which he immediately knew how it happened, from the knife lying beside you. He got some cloth and medicine for you from the first aid kit you hid under your bed, something you had told him a long time ago. You watched him with wide eyes as he carefully dressed your wound and got some water for you, forcing you to drink it.

"What happened? And it's ok if you don't wanna tell me." He sat beside you as you leant back against the bed frame. You tried not to catch his eye because you knew if you looked into those galaxies inside his eyes, you would start weeping. "Nothing happened Hyunjin." You mumbled, to which he scoffed silently, getting his hand up to your forehead to check your temperature. It was normal, thankfully you didn't have a fever. "Y/n" he faced you and out his hand on yours. "You know you can tell me right? I'm here for you and I'm worried. Please tell me what happened." It all happened so quickly. You looked into his eyes, taking in the stars inside of them, and you couldn't hold it back anymore as you burst out crying. Hyunjin was quick to hug you, holding your head gently as you buried yourself deeper in his chest, staining his grey shirt. His heart was breaking into a milion pieces, seeing his universe crying out her planets from her eyes. He shushed you from time to time, to make sure you don't become weak from crying.

"Y/N hey hey." He held you head in his hands, cupping your cheeks. "What's wrong? Just one word. Tell me one word. I beg you." You sniffled slightly and looked up at him, stopping you're tears slowly. You felt guilty, for him coming to you. Why should he? He's a human like you and he has responsibilities too and he should tend to them, not you. "Hyunjin, you should go. Y-you have S-Seungmin's party to attend. I'll be fine." Hyunjin knew how much you rejected being taken care of. Care was was word which simply never existed in your dictionary, courtesy to your past.

"Y/N-" "No Hyunjin!" You lashed out at him, tears brewing again in your eyes. Hyunjin now understood why the sunflowers outside had bowed to him, and why the aura was grey today. You had bottled up your feelings again, and one single word from a person of your past, was enough to break you. "I don't want help I don't need it! Just leave me alone! I don't want to be around you!" You panted a bit after shouting all that, your chest feeling heavy, not from the weight of your exhaustion, but from the weight of the entire world around you "Get out. Now."

The next few days, you came back to work, you avoided Hyunjin. You couldn't bear to look at his face, knowing that the stars in your eyes will collapse again if you do. You both worked in complete silence, with Hyunjin silently putting the completed illustrations in your desk, whenever you left to go to the bathroom. You now left at 9 am, instead of your usual 10 am along with Hyunjin. Your americanos seemed even more bitter now that you had no one to share your memories with. Every song in the world sounded like the same mundane melody now, chords repeating over and over again.

But Aphrodite always have something in plan, for souls like yours and Hyunjin's.

Hyunjin had been comforted by his friends for a week now. Every week, he would turn up at either Felix or Chan's house and cry to them. It broke their hearts to see their dearest friend weep and sob over you. You, on the other hand, would sometimes turn up to Minho, drinking his americano and venting your feelings, while he silently grilled his meat and put it on your plate. What you didn't know was that Hyunjin would be hiding silently behind the counter, listening to the notes of your voice talk about him. So one fine Saturday morning, he decided to do something. Something that would finally satisfy Aphrodite, and make her drop her roses down to earth to celebrate.

"Y/N." He called your name as you focused on your most recent article. "Y/N." He said again, when you didn't respond. "Y/N for Pete's sake, talk to me!" He basically shouted at you. You were staying back late tonight, courtesy to the hundreds of things you had to edit, due to your numerous amount of holidays. "Not now Hyunjin. I have to edit this." You spoke sternly, abandoning the fun filled voice you usually used when you were with him.

Hyunjin frowned at you, this time an actual frown, not like the playful ones he did when you would steal his meat from his plate. He was angry. He was angry at the world and at your mind for not treating you well. He was angry at your past, for making you believe that you were unworthy of love. He was furious and he would take it out right now, when no one except for you two were in the office building.

"Y/N listen to me!" He shouted, making you startled. You had gotten up from your seat and now you were cowering against a wall. You had never seen Hyunjin like this before, eyes narrowed and lips closed, burning anger seeping through them.

"Y/N you are quite possibly the most amazing person I have ever had the pleasure to meet in my stupid life. The way you walk the way you talk, everything about you is so amazing! It's so magnificent to me, how everyday you would explain the meaning behind a song, with your eyes all widened and your mouth moving fast! And it hurts me. It hurts me so much to see you like this, thinking that you are unworthy of love." His words were hitting you like bowling balls. "When you told me about your past, you know what I felt? I felt anger. True anger for the first time in my life. For the first time in my life, I wanted to burn down this entire world for a person. I was also so relieved that you trusted me enough to tell me about something like this. You really think I can't see the scars on your wrist through your foundation?" The scars on your wrist. How did he know about that? "Hyunjin-" you breathed out, crystals forming in your eyes again. "Y/N it breaks me. It breaks me so much to have a person like you in my life and not love them. I love you more than you can imagine. So why won't you accept it?"

"Because I can't!" The words spilled from your mouth like water spilling from a waterfall. "I can't Hyunjin! I don't know what love feels like! I never did! An-and when you came into my life and introduce me to all these amazing people, I felt so happy! For the first time in this dumb thing I call my life I felt happy. And I hated it! I hated the way Felix's eyes would light up every time he saw me. I hated the way Chan would always check up on me, making sure I don't overwork myself. I hated the way Minho would treat me like his own family, making sure I got the biggest portions of meat." Everything that you had kept hidden in that crack of your soul came running out. "I hated the way Jeongin looks up to me, telling me he admires the way I work! And you know what I hate the most out of all? I hate you! I hate the way you care so much for me and my stupid brain can't see it! The way you draw little cartoons on my americanos, the way you talk to me as if you were talking to a gentle lamb! I hate it Hyunjin! I hate myself for not seeing how much you love me! And I hate that I can't return the favour!"

Your knees gave way and you collapsed on the floor, sobbing your eyes out. Hyunjin was quick to kneel down next to you, hands searching for yours. Both of you looked into each other's eyes, seeing your entire universe's inside of them. You need love. You needed love to exist. And Hyunjin was there just to do that.

He leaned closer to you, eyes not leaving yours. He knew he had to do it now. Now or never right? Hyunjin, cupped your cheek with his left hand, right one still squeezing yours, and kissed you. He kissed you as if you were the most beautiful thing in the world. He kissed you as if you were the reincarnation of his last lover. He kissed you as if he had been wanting to kiss you for the last fifteen years. He kissed you, and you kissed him back. Your lips moved in sync with his, not moving away, hands wrapped safely around each other, both of you shielded from whatever the world was planning next. Time moved slowly again, as if the spinners of time had abandoned their looms to come watch you two.

And somewhere in the clouds, Aphrodite smiled, knowing that her mission was complete, and that two loveless souls had finally reunited, mending each other's cracks, slowly but surely.

Epilouge

"Hyunjin! We're going to be late! Hurry your ass!" You called out to your boyfriend of five years, as you waited by the door, bag clutched in hand, and white sundress flowing softly. The ash coloured cat you had both adopted, rubbed against your legs, purring and licking herself. Hyunjin had organised a 'special' date today, taking you to one of your most favourite places, a meadow by the beach, where you used to spend your days. It was already late in tbe evening, when Hyunjin finally came down from the steps of your house, still fixing his hair. "Alright Miss Universe, stop fixing your hair and come on!" You said, causing him to giggle, as both of you got in the car and drove off towards the sunset.

"God I love this place so much." You stretched your arms as you watched the dying sun, collapse into the ocean. "More than me?" Hyunjin pouted, as you slapped his chest playfully. "Oh god are those Minho's Macarons? These things are drugs to me." Both of you took a Macaron each, and raised them in the air, as if to make a toast. "Well, to our five year anniversary." Hyunjin toasted while you said 'hear hear!'.

"Y/N, I have a gift for you." You both had eaten all your food and we're slightly leaning against a tree, wrapped in each other's warmth. "What is it Hyun?" Hyunjin pulled out a paper from his pocket. A link sticky note. With Purple glitter pen scribbled on it.

Marry me Y/N?

"I thought I should do it in the way we first talked to each other. You know to make it more roma-" Hyunjin didn't get to complete his sentence, as you threw yourself around him, kissing him on his lips, as if you didn't kiss him every single day.

And Aphrodite couldn't stop giggling and smiling, knowing that now, love existed. And you? Oh you loved the existence of love.

#hyunjin #hwang hyunjin #skz hyunjjn #hyunjin fluff #hyunjin angst #hyunjin comfort #skz fic #hyunjin fic #hwang hyunjin comfort #hwang hyunjin fluff #skz #stray kids #skz comfort #skz fluff #stray kids fluff #FINALLY I GOT THIS DONE #oh my god this took so much time to write #bye bye now #have fun reading

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deadlygronkle · 1 year

Text

Chapter 9 of Ancestor's Legacy

Ao3 link

Previous chapter

Word count - 13819

Sky watched as Twilight stared up with disgust at the giant door leading to the Throne room. They were currently waiting for some type of meeting to be finished before they could enter. From the expression Twilight made this was a very common occurrence.

Unlike Warriors’ castle that was filled with warmth and constant movement by everyone in the castle. This place to Sky felt cold, and unwelcoming. It reminded Sky of the Forest Temple’s aura but to a lesser extent.

According to Twilight on the way over here practically the entire castle had to be redone after his fight with Ganon and someone named Zant. It was kinda obvious looking around at the sparkling white marble and pristine carpets/drapes.

The entire hallway was nothing but impressive, with purple carpets lined with gold, red drapes, and giant windows. The top of the windows had mosaics of different landscapes that sent cascades of colors down to the floor and a bit of the walls.

As Sky continued to look around he saw that the marble columns along the side of the walls had weird patterns adorning them. Joining Wind and Warriors Sky saw that they were telling a story. Sadly, the full story’s meaning was lost to Sky, as it told the story of two different beings whose stories blended together seamlessly.

Parts of the story told Sky about a giant wolf fighting various dark creatures with a small figure, whose hair created a giant hand riding on the wolf’s back. Others showed a Hylian with a hat wielding several different swords, including the master sword, fighting monsters.

The monsters that Hylian was fighting varied from a giant plant monster with 3 heads, to a giant boar that had giant tusks and a jewel in the center of its head. Sky realized with a start that the Hylian in the engravings had to be Twilight, as he had previously told them about how he had to fight the plant monster.

Upon taking a closer look at Twilight in the carvings, Sky realized that this adventure progressively got more and more dark, both metaphorically and physically. The engravings that seem to tell the beginning of his story depicted his engraving as pure white, making it hard to see what was going on.

As Sky continued to try and follow the story he noticed that Twilight had some of black where his head was that slowly spread across his whole body until he was almost entirely black. Luckily at the end where he was standing triumphant by himself with no monsters he was just a pale gray color.

Twilight’s shadow also changed throughout the mural. It even gained a smiling face in some parts that reminded Sky of Ghirham’s grin. Sky could also easily see Twilight’s swordsmanship change as the story progressed. It started with The Farmer holding a sword with both hands, showing that he was inexperienced. In the end, when he was facing down the boar he had one hand wielding a shield, the other holding the master sword.

“Is that Wolfie?” Wind quietly asked Warriors and Sky.

Sky glanced over at Warriors to hear his opinion, who was squinting at the engravings. “If it isn’t him, then it is one of his ancestors for sure,” Warriors responded in his version of a drawl.

Sky hadn’t paid much attention to the wolf side of the story, but as he took a close look he could see the resemblance to their canine companion. The wolf had the same patterns along its side. The only thing different about this Wolf, that Sky could spot, was that the fur was a bit shorter. Of course their Wolfie didn’t have a person on his back, but that seemed to be a person helping the wolf.

Sky looked back towards Twilight, who now moved away from the door and was looking at some flowers on the opposite side of the hallway from Sky. Before the three could ask about the murals covering the columns, Twilight straightened up and stared down the hall as if hearing something.

A few moments after Twilight started staring, a Hylian came running from a perpendicular hallway and looked at the Links, obviously out of breath. The Hylian had red hair that was neatly combed back except for one strand that fell in the center of his forehead. He was dressed like a scholar with a quill tucked behind one of his ears.

With his round glasses the Hylian looked over all of them before seeing Twilight, who was looking at the other Hylian with surprise. The Hylian then ran up to Twilight and hugged him, to which Twilight accepted the hug gracefully. Twilight accepted the hug with the same type of gracefulness that he did with Telma’s. Sky at that point figured it was one of his friends that he made during his journey, and was interested to learn about the stranger.

“Link it really is you! I just came from Telma’s and she told me I just missed you! I couldn’t believe it after you disappeared all of the sudden, so I ran here to see and here you are! Where have you been? Never mind that, have you sent a letter to Rusl? He has been worried sick! You didn’t even tell him goodbye when you left!” The Hylian rambled as he pulled away from Twilight, grinning brightly.

“Sorry ‘bout that Shad it was kinda a last minute thing that had to happen. Where I’ve been is a long answer but I just got back to our Hyrule last night,” Twilight answered with a small smile on his face as he looked at the Hylian now known as ‘Shad’.

“So you haven’t even sent a letter to Rusl? Oh! I saw the postman at Telma's. I can do that for you when I return! I’ll even put it as urgent so he knows that we saw you before you go wherever The Queen wants you to go!” Shad said, pulling out a notepad to start writing the letter.

“You really don’t have to do that Shad,” Twilight replied, a too wide smile replacing the easy one he had on earlier.

“Yes I do, your father has been worried sick–” Shad stopped and looked at the other Links as if just seeing them for the first time, “Oh! Where are my manners? Link, who are your friends?”

After a round of introductions, where Shad introduced himself as a previous resistance member and a now Royal librarian. The conversations couldn’t continue any further as the giant doors to the Throne room swung open.

The Guard almost immediately said “Link of Ordon, and company, the Queen calls you to her Throne!”

Shad was quick to leave with a bright goodbye after making Twilight promise to come to Telma’s bar and saying “It will be just like old times! I’ll get Asra and Ashei, they'll be thrilled!”

As the group entered the room Sky saw it was even more grand than the hallway. With a deep blue carpet with golden borders that started right at the doorway and led all the way up to the throne.

A little Hylian, who was sitting on a stool by the door, stood up when twilight entered and said “Introducing Link of Ordon, Hero of the Light, killer of Ganon, and wielder of both the master sword and the triforce of courage,” the Hylian stopped and glanced at the other Links, “and his entourage.”

Once they were properly in the rooms Sky decided to look around the room. There were massive marble stone columns that had deep spiral grooves traveling up and down the pillars. Sky wondered where they got all of this marble to create the castle, maybe this Hyrule used Death Mountain to farm for it? Maybe Sky could ask about it later.

In between each pillar was an ornate guard just like the one who ushered them into the room in the first place. Each of the guards in their white and gold detailed armor standing completely still. The only things that showed that they were alive were the slight rising and falling when they breathed, and the fact that their heads were all facing the Links.

The windows were entirely mosaic that appeared to be of Kings and Queens of old adorning them. Between each window and on every column was a torch stand, the torches were unlit due to the warm light of the midday sun brightening the room. Which, just like the hallway, made the floor be covered in a lot of different colors.

The throne at the end of the room was golden with great intricate designs along its stoney back. On the throne it was easy to see the head at the top and the wings of the bird that Sky remembered seeing in the middle of the fountain. The wings of the strange birds transformed into armrests that this Zelda was using, as she looked at them all analytically.

This Zelda had long brown hair with two strands wrapped in golden thread that framed her face, while the rest was kept behind her shoulders. She was wearing a long purplish pink dress with golden shoulders and details, jewels were scattered throughout. She also had a very detailed and expensive looking crown on her head, Sky couldn’t imagine how much it cost to make.

As they got closer Sky could see a few things off about her appearance: her pale complexion that took on a greenish tint, the goldish tint to her gray eyes, and dark lines across her face. The lines were a gray, bordering on black color, and were jagged 90 degree turns. The lines could be seen around Zelda’s eyes, her ears, and to most prominently, on her neck.

Sky and the others walked about halfway towards the Throne before stopping. Everyone kneeled respectfully to the Queen, everybody besides Twilight that is.

Sky did not know what overtook Twilight to not bow, usually the Farmer was much more respectful to the Zeldas he met. Sky watched from his kneeling position as Twilight and the Queen had a stare off. Sky pondered, not for the first time, how could his and his Zelda’s reincarnations be so different from them. Sky would consider his days numbered if his Zelda ever glared at him the same way this Zelda was glaring at Twilight.

After several tense minutes had passed Queen Zelda spoke up, “Link.”

Twilight responded with a terse voice “Zelda.”

Before Sky could glance up to see if they were still glaring at each other, his gaze was averted to the closest guard. This guard walked towards Twilight with his spear pointed at him. Sky watched warily as the guard moved closer while speaking, “That’s ‘Queen Zelda’ or ‘Your Highness’ Mutt! Now kneel and show respect to The Queen!”

Sky tensed up when he heard the guard refer to Twilight as a ‘mutt’. It didn’t take a genius to understand that it didn’t mean anything good. Especially when they heard the citizens of this time period call him ‘The queen’s pet’ earlier.

Twilight had also never responded kindly to being referred to anything close to the word ‘mutt’. When asked about it Twilight said it brought up unpleasant memories. Sky wondered if the unpleasant memories were due to these interactions.

To Sky’s concern Twilight sounded resigned as he replied to the guard, “Did y’all learn anything from the last time I was here? Get back to your station and take your input with you. It won’t be needed,”

The guard was going to say something in response but was easily quieted by the Queen speaking up, “Sir Ethor return to your station. Hero, you will explain where you have been and why you have been missing for 2 months.”

“I doubt you'll believe me if I told you. Now can my friends stand up, I’m pretty sure they’ve ‘shown respect to you’ long enough.” Twilight answered, tone void of all emotion. Sky quietly sighed, he had a feeling that Twilight would be like this for the entire conversation.

The queen nodded while saying “Yes, your companions can stand. Now try me, Hyrule is filled with magic, so not many things could surprise me,”

Twilight tilted his head to the side, “I’ve been traveling through time and space to different eras in Hyrule’s history as well as alternate realities. Collecting The Bearers of the Triforce Of Courage throughout different eras to prepare for something. We aren't quite sure of what we are preparing for,”

Sky winced at how blunt Twilight was. Usually Sky would explain what was going on as he was the first to be teleported to another Hyrule, and he did so in a much more careful manner. Twilight on the other hand seemed to just not care if she believed him or not.

The Queen narrowed her eyes “Only the goddesses themselves can allow time travel. Even then that particular legend of how it happened could be completely false,” When this was said Sky could see that Time seemed to stand a bit straighter.

“Who do you think put us on this journey in the first place?” Twilight snarked, meeting her gaze with his own.

The room seemed to turn several degrees colder as Twilight and his Zelda had a staring contest. Sky looked around at the others to see if they could feel it as well. Everyone but Twilight and The Queen had an uncomfortable look on their face, with Hyrule having a downright spooked expression on his face, like he was sensing some magic happening. Even the guards started to shift uncomfortably left to right as the two glared at each other.

Time placed a hand on Twilight's shoulder and just like that, the glaring was over. Twilight quickly looked back, an apology clearly written on his face. Sky briefly wondered why Twilight looked so apologetic. Maybe it was because Twilight accidentally brought the chain into the squabble? Whatever it was, the apologetic look was gone as quickly as it came as Twilight blankly stared at the Queen.

Sky shoved these thoughts aside for later as he watched Twilight getting ready to say something. Twilight sighed loud enough that Sky could hear it clearly and when he started to speak it was with a more respectful tone. Still not as respectful as when he talked to Artemis but still more respectful.

“Hylia sent us on this quest herself, sending us through time at random. This is the first time since Kakariko I have been back in my Hyrule.”

“Then why did you come? If this is your first time back, I would have assumed you would have gone to Ordon to see the villagers.” The Queen asked, voice still laced with coldness.

“I got your many letters the moment I arrived, and the contents of the last ones concerned me. I also got a message from King Bulblin that said no guards have come into the desert to investigate the twilight zone that popped up by the Great Fairy. But in your letter about when it first appeared you clearly said that you sent guards up to investigate!” Twilight said, voice filled with barely restrained frustration.

This was news for Sky and presumably the others, after all they couldn’t read Twilight’s letters, and even if they could they would never betray Twilight’s trust like that.

The Queen seemed to set her jaw and ignore the remark that Twi made, “So what are your companions’ names?.”

“That is a bit complicated to explain your majesty, we are all named Link,” Sky blurted out before pausing slightly as he looked to Twilight to see if he was allowed to answer that question. It was an automatic response, and Sky was trying to avoid another standoff between the two from this Hyrule.

Twilight had quickly looked back while Sky spoke, but Twilight gave Sky a reassuring look before turning around and speaking, “My friend here isn’t lying, these are the heroes that I mentioned. To avoid confusion we go by our titles, some of them you have probably heard of.”

After another round of introductions with the Queen making a slight face when she heard that Twilight went by, well, Twilight, and how Time was the Hero of Time. It made a tiny bit of sense, as the Hero of Time was heard about nearly everyone’s time, either by legend or by history. Sky and Four were excluded from this as their adventures took place before Time’s, as far as the group could figure out.

“Do you have any proof that all of this is true?” Zelda asked, staring down at the group, with one hand waving in the air flippantly.

Twilight turned towards Wind this time, “Sailor could you help me out here?”

Wind nodded as he pulled up his sleeve, revealing his triforce, while Twilight removed his arm guard to reveal his own. There were several gasps among the guards, but were quickly silenced by The Queen raising her hand.

“You have proven your point. I suggest you keep those covered so as to not cause a scene,” The Queen paused as she waited for Twilight to put on his arm guard back on, “Link when are you and your friends going?” The Queen asked, sounding over this whole ordeal, or more likely just done with Twilight’s sass.

“I will be leaving tomorrow as soon as I gather a few things. The only reason I came here instead of heading straight over to the Twilight Zone was to ask you if you could provide lodging for my friends while I am away.”

With that one statement the Links couldn’t hold back their protests.

“Nope, no way that’s happening,” Warriors stated like it was a fact, glaring at Twilight, who had turned around at the uproar.

“Say WHAT!?” Wild yelled angrily at Twilight.

“We aren’t staying here while you risk your life dumbass,” Legend snarked in a more serious tone than usual.

“What are you trying to pull here?” Time voiced, giving Twilight a disapproving stare.

Before Sky voiced his own displeasure about this plan he took a long look at Twilight’s face. Twilight’s face was carefully blank, with the only thing showing even a hint of emotion was his eyes, and they only revealed determination and stubbornness. Sky, at that moment, realized that this was always Twilight’s plan.

The only reason why Twilight even allowed himself to be dragged to the castle to stand in front of The Queen was for them. Sky could appreciate the sentiment of trying to protect them from whatever the ‘Twilight Zone’ does to people, but there was also the fact that they are a team now, and a team stays together.

“REGARDLESS,” the Queen started loudly before getting quieter once she gained the group's attention, “of who is going and who is staying why would I help you? Last time you were here you disrespected both me and my guards, and even injured a few that they have yet to return to duty. So tell me Link, Hero of Light, why would I help you with this?”

As Twilight started to turn back around to regard The Queen, Sky caught Twilight’s eyes. After Sky gave Twilight a look that promised talking about this later, he saw Twilight bristle, only slightly, before turning around. Sky didn’t like being the serious one out of the Links but seeing as how no one else was going to start this much needed conversation, Sky had to do it.

Sky watched as Twilight silently clench and unclench his fists. Just as Sky started to doubt that Twilight could come up with a response that the wolf pelt wearing hero spoke up.

“I won’t apologize for what I did, not now, not in a million years. But we both have the same goal right now: to deal with the Twilight Zone and whatever created it as fast as possible. I can only do that when I know my friends are safe and if I am traveling alone.” Twilight stated like it was a fact, appearing to ignore the numerous glares towards his back.

“You have traveled with these people for the last several months, why are you trying to leave them in my care? You would be leaving them without a guide or someone they can trust easily in a place they do not know,” The queen asked, eyebrows raising with mild curiosity.

Sky could cry with relief that someone brought up the fact that they know nothing about this Hyrule. They couldn’t even read the signs here! Sky could reason that they could go to that Shad fellow or Telma, but they didn’t know them enough for Sky to be comfortable with that. The Queen was out of the question as well, for the exact same reason.

Sky was knocked out of his thoughts by Twilight’s voice replying, “They…. They haven’t experienced what a Twilight Zone has to offer or what it can do to a person, physically or mentally. I don’t even know if the majority of them would turn into poes or….. something else. You and I both know just what being near that magic can do to a person. I would rather keep them away from that if I can help it.”

Sky leaned forward just enough to see that Twilight had a look on his face that made it look like he was caught in a memory. The only thing that gave away he wasn’t was the silent conversation Twilight and his Zelda were having. Suddenly looking at the lines along The Queen’s face and Twilight’s markings made just a bit more sense to Sky.

Not only did ‘that magic’ could have marked their faces, but judging from what Twilight just said, the markings were from the Twilight Zone. Whatever the Twilight Zone did to Twilight it scarred him to his very soul. Now whether that happened due to long term exposure or if it happened instantly Sky didn’t know but was hoping to find out later.

The Queen seemed to ponder this before asking, “How quickly will you be able to do this if I fulfill this request?”

Twilight instantly responded “I can get to the Great Fairy in less than a day, and depending on how big the zone is I can be finished with it in around a week at the latest.”

Sky blinked in surprise while The Queen said, “And are you sure you won’t need help?”

Twilight’s voice hardened as he said, “If I needed help, I would let my friends come with me.”

The Queen allowed a small smile on her face, “You will find that your room is just as you left it, you and your friends can stay there for the time being. While you are away I will make sure all of your allies who stay here are taken care of. Though it doesn’t appear you will be leaving alone.”

Twilight bowed his head, “Thank you, I assume we are dismissed?”

The Queen replied by waving her hand, signaling the guards by the door to open it. Twilight looked at everyone and nodded his head towards the door, silently beckoning everyone through it.

When Wild started to protest, Twilight replied in a whisper, “Later. I will answer some of your questions in the room.”

With that Twilight led them through the hallways easily. Occasionally some of the guards on patrol would glare at Twilight, but Twilight easily ignored it. Didn’t stop the rest of them from glaring at the guards.

After a few minutes of speed walking, Twilight led them through a door carved with images of trees that looked like the forest where they first met Twilight. The inside of the room was spacious and could easily fit all of them. With furniture decorating the space it was easy to see what parts of the room Twilight actually spent in.

The first half of the room closest to the door was practically untouched with the couch having a blanket draped over it folded neatly. This side of the room had a few chairs that did not seem like they were used for years. In the other half of the room it looked a bit more lived in, or at least a corner of it did.

There was a bed in the corner of the right wall that looked nearly as untouched as the couch except it looked to be missing a few blankets. Looking to the left on the other side of the room it was clear to see the side that Twilight favored.

There was a little alcove made in the corner in front of the window. With a dresser that had been put up as a sort of barrier it was hidden from view from the first half of the room. The makeshift bed was made of purely blankets with no pillows in sight, the blankets were in a messy pile like Twilight had left in a hurry. Sky could see pictures strewn across the only shelf on that side of the room that upon further investigating Sky could see Telma, Shad, and the young boy Colin, if Sky remembered correctly.

The window in front of this small alcove looked like it used to have a lock, or something blocking it from opening, but Sky could easily see that whatever it was, it was long gone. Sky looked back to the soft looking bed with reluctance as he really wanted to take a nap, but that had to be saved till later as there was more pressing matter to attend to.

Everyone scattered once fully in the room, either to examine it closer or find a good place to set down their things. Quickly plopping his stuff on the bed, The Chosen hero pointed at the couch with an expectant look. Twilight sighed before sitting down at the edge of the couch, hands clasped together.

“I’m guessing you are taking me up on the questions?” The Farmer asked, looking at an empty space.

“Yes. What is this about you hurting some guards doing their job?” Sky asked, trying to sound diplomatic, but it was hard only knowing a part of the truth.

Twilight leaned back enough to meet Sky’s gaze, “Look, I won’t say that I’m proud of what I did. Tensions were running high and they tried to arrest me when I went to cool off. Usually I would never think of doing that, and just talk it out but..”

Twilight took a deep breath, scratching his head, “but, I couldn’t keep traveling around Hyrule constantly. I needed a break from dealing with Hyrule’s issues after I killed Ganon,”

“And what were those ‘issues’ Farmer?” Legend asked from where he was setting his bag down.

“Communication mostly. There has also been dealing with angered poes around the castle. Kinda hard to find all of them to be quite honest,” Twilight said, turning his head to face Legend, “Now who else has questions before I start prepping for tomorrow?”

“I do,” Sky turned his head to see Warriors walking up with Wind in tow, “What’s with the scars over your arm? I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but they look to be from a shackle that had been on for a bit too long,”

Twilight, in an almost self-conscious manner, brought his arm up to look at it, despite the fact his armor was covering his arm. Sky had previously seen the scars coat his wrist and arm, and was concerned. Though unlike everyone else who had on the occasion complained about their scars, Twilight never did.

Sky had assumed that it meant they didn’t bother him. Maybe that was incorrect and he just overlooked something that Warriors saw. If this whole ordeal has taught Sky anything it was that Twilight was decent at hiding pain, for better or worse.

Twilight let out a nervous little chuckle before his face went back to neutral, “Something like that, came from my first excursion into a Twilight Zone,”

Warriors opened his mouth, before snapping it shut, frustrated look clearly seen on his face. The chosen hero could feel for The Captain, Twilight was not going to give anymore information than that, no matter how hard they pushed him.

“Do you know Wolfie?” Wind asked, as he got closer to Twilight.

“Is this a trick question?” Twilight asked, tilting his head in confusion.

“No, that's not what I meant! I mean, did you know him from your adventure? There is an entire mural thing with you adventure on it,” Wind furthered explained

Twilight’s face flashed with too many emotions too fast for Sky to actually understand. It finally settled into a look that can only be described as, ‘so that just happened’.

Twilight very cautiously said, “there's a what with my adventure?”

“You’ve never seen it? It’s on the columns outside of the Throne Room,” Wind answered, in a slightly confused tone.

Sky could barely hear Twilight say, “Of course it is,” and in a louder voice he said, “Yes I knew him, or at least a wolf that looked similar to him,”

“What's that supposed to mean?” The Sailor asked.

Twilight let out a fanged grin, “What do you think it means?”

Wind seemed to think about this, before shrugging, “I don’t know,”

“Ok my turn,” Legend said, stepping forward next to Sky, looking irritatedly.

“So what's your question? If this one is quick I’ll have time for, like, one or two more, but then I really have to go prepare,” Twilight said, turning his head to look outside for a moment.

“Why the fuck are you trying to keep us from helping you?? We’ve all seen and dealt with fucked up shit during our adventures. Despite that none of us have tried to stop you, or anyone else from helping in our Hyrules!” Legend was practically yelling at Twilight.

If Sky wasn’t used to Legend’s brashness he would have said that Legend was wanting to pick a fight with Twilight, but Sky knew that Legend was hurt by the way Twilight was pushing the group away.

“I know, but none of you have ever dealt with a Twilight Zone before. I’ve watched friends and family get trapped in it, not even knowing that days or even weeks had passed while I tried to save them. I… I don’t know how any of your triforces would interact with the Twilight zone. It’s safer for everyone if I go alone, faster traveling, and easier to track them down,” Twilight responded, no longer looking at anyone.

“But it wouldn’t be safer for you,” Sky noted, “Just the opposite in fact,”

Twilight didn’t have a response for that.

“I’ve dealt with my own dark world before and I have the pearls needed to keep my form,” Legend said, removing a small pearl from one of his many pockets. Seriously, how did he ever keep track of where everything is?

Twilight seemed to hesitate for a moment before speaking slowly, “I’ve never used any sort of pearls in a Zone before, but the only things that can change you back, from what I’ve encountered, are the Master Sword and the Light Spirits.”

Sky felt Fi hum in agreement to the Rancher’s words, and not for the first time Sky wished he could actually communicate with Fi using words instead of gut feelings and vibrations. If he could actually communicate with Fi it would resolve many issues.

“So you do transform in those zones,” Legend supplied, “What do you turn into?”

Sky was surprised at how easily Legend was able to pick apart Twilight’s words. It seemed like Legend was fishing for something, but Sky had no clue what it could be. Sky watched as Twilight’s eyes widened in similar surprise before he quickly schooled his expression to a neutral one.

“I’ve always been partial to the goats in Ordon for a reason,” Twilight answered, but something about how he answered made Sky pause. It sounded like a reasonable answer, but it also sounded like he was hiding something.

Sky watched as Legend started to open his mouth and continue this strand of interrogation, but Four interrupted.

”Why do they call you the Hero of Light?”

That question made The Farmer pause for a minute to think. After what felt like an impossibly long time to Sky, Twilight finally answered, “I guess it’s because I helped the light spirits take back Hyrule and push the twilight back. Though I did help both realms with their issues, so either Hero of Light or Hero of the Twilight is accurate,”

“I thought the people you fought from The Twilight were the bad guys.” Wind said, frowning.

“Not everything is as black and white as it appears to be Sailor,” Time replied, placing a hand on Wind’s shoulder.

Twilight apparently did not think to answer the unspoken question, so the group was engulfed in a brief silence. That silence was broken by Sky himself asking the question that had been gnawing at the group since Twilight was incapacitated.

“So how do you know the Mortal Draw?”

Sky almost regretted asking about it because of Twilight’s reaction. Twilight’s head snapped up at break-neck speeds to stare at Sky in shock. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Twilight had been with the group for a couple of months then Sky would have assumed Twilight was angry at him, but no, that was a look of pure shock.

Sky decided to pity the Farmer just a little as he said, “Like did you learn it from a book or from a person?”

Twilight gained a slightly wistful expression, “Something like that. Now I have to leave before shops start closing,”

His excuse didn’t make sense, it was still plenty bright out for stores to still be open. But before Sky could question this out loud, Twilight wasted no time to quickly walk to the window, brushing by a concerned Time, and opened the window. Then much to the horror of all the other Links, Twilight without any flare, jumped out of said window.

Running to the window as fast as he could, Sky looked down only to find Twilight not at the bottom of the window. The window was placed around the 2nd story of the castle so it wasn't a fatal drop by any means, but it was still a concerning drop for someone who had their stitches taken out recently. Sky finally saw the very back of Twilight’s wolf pelt as he left the courtyard that the window apparently led to.

“Welp,” Warriors said, popping the ‘p’, “Should we go look for the dumbass?”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sky and the others, after around 30 minutes from their closest estimates, got lost. They didn’t have anyone who knew the castle with them so in hindsight it was a bad idea to try and find Twilight. If he was even in the castle to begin with, he might have left to go to Epona instantly for all Sky knew.

Not to mention the group had left nearly all of their gear in Twilight’s room so there wasn’t a good way to find a way out of this labyrinth. They were purely relying on Hyrule’s magic sense to hopefully find someone that can lead them out. Somehow it seemed that there was no one around with a good magical signature to track, or anyone around in general to ask for directions.

After a little while Hyrule seemed to perk up as he said, “I think someone is around the corner!”

With Hyrule leading the group, they quickly turned the corner to a peculiar sight. There was a wolf that had a striking resemblance to Wolfie, and might even be Wolfie. This wolf dodged under something invisible before lunging at the lantern.

The lantern was definitely alive. It was chasing the wolf and before every dodge the wolf made the lantern would shake violently. From what Sky could see the lantern was old with an eerie glowing blue-green orb inside of it. It also made a weird chiming noise that could have just been the lantern but it could have been something else for all that Sky knew. Still he was curious to see if that was actually Wolfie.

“....Wolfie?” Sky asked hesitantly, not wanting to scare either of the creatures in front of him.

The wolf looked over towards the sound of Sky’s voice, both ears perked up. The wolf seemed to have made a mistake doing that because the wolf had to jump back, dodging another invisible attack. Sky got on edge as the lantern was swinging ominously towards the group once the wolf was a good distance away. The wolf let out an urgent sounding bark as the lantern got close to the front runner of the group, Hyrule.

Before the Links could react properly the wolf came barrelling forward, ducking under the lantern. Then without much flourish the Wolf jumped and twisted itself sideways into Hyrule’s arms. Hyrule wasn’t expecting an arm full of wolf he fell back, and since the Links were tightly packed together, everyone fell down.

‘Hopefully no one saw that’ Sky thought as he removed someone else's arm from his face to watch what was happening.

The wolf had quickly recovered and distanced himself from the pile of Links. Letting out a loud booming bark towards the Lantern to gain its attention. It worked and the lantern spun around. The wolf let out one more bark as it leapt onto… something. Sky wasn’t sure but the wolf made physical contact with, but it seemed to be biting something hard.

*clink!*

Sky looked to where the noise was coming from and saw that there was now a very noticeable crack in the lantern. The blue light seemed to be leaking out from the crack as well. It seemed like whatever the wolf was doing was working.

Feeling a pat on his shoulder, Sky looked over to see Warriors looking at him. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the others silently untangling themselves and checking to make sure that no one had any broken bones. In front of Warriors and Sky, Hyrule was propping himself on his elbows.

Warriors in his crouched position tilted his head and gave a thumbs up, then a thumbs down, before looking at Sky expectantly. Sky did a brief mental once over to see if he was injured. When he found no injuries Sky gave Warriors a thumbs up. Nodding Warriors then proceeded to get Hyrule’s attention and do the same thing.

Sky warily got up into a sitting position to watch the rest of the fight continue. The wolf had apparently gotten a few more hits in as it dodged and weaved from the invisible foe’s attacks. With one last grunt of effort the wolf jumped on the invisible foe like it had before. But this time instead of just hanging in the air the whole fell back, this time looking like it was pulling something away.

With one last great tug the wolf fell back, and the lantern shattered. As the lantern shattered a loud piercing shriek came from it and shivers down Sky’s spine. The wolf, now sitting down, was panting, seemingly pleased with what just happened. That was of course before the whole turned towards Sky and the other and gave a piercing glare.

“Wolfie?” Sky asked again now that there was no evil lantern to fight off.

Wolfie snarled in response, showing off his sharp fangs.

“Can anyone see if he’s injured from here?” Hyrule asked, sounding concerned.

Looking back, Sky saw that Hyrule was kneeling in front of a small line of fur. It was too much for Wolfie to have just lost it battling or when he knocked into them. But during that entire brawl Sky didn’t hear a yelp or anything, not even a little bit of blood was on the ground. Still it never hurt to check, looking over at the canine Sky couldn’t see anything amiss, besides the glaring of course.

“Wolfie come,” Time ordered, kneeling down.

Wolfie loudly grumbled at Time and made no move to go to Time. This made several of the Links snort at the very vocal refusal to move from the wolf. It wasn’t everyday that Wolfie was so vocal about his objections.

“What is going on here?” a female voice spoke up.

Coming in from the hallway that the Links previously came from stood Queen Zelda. She had her hands clasped together in front of her neatly, wearing a slightly confused expression. She oddly didn’t have any of the royal guard with her either like how Artemis at least had one guard around her at all times.

Maybe things are different here on how royals can move around freely? Sky didn’t know and it would seem rude to ask such a question.

“Ah well you see your majesty that Wolfie here was fighting off a poe, and he is refusing to walk over here to make sure he isn’t injured,” Time explained, but for Sky it seemed like the last half was directed towards Wolfie, who had now quieted down and was staring at the Queen.

A strange look briefly crossed the Queen’s face, “Wolfie?”

“Yup that big lug of fur– oh so NOW you come over here,” Legend snarked.

Looking over at where Legend is Sky saw that Wolfie had indeed went to the group. The wolf sent a glare towards Legend before going back to sniffing at Hyrule. Sky guessed that Wolfie was apologizing for knocking Hyrule over in the rush to save them from the invisible strike. Hyrule didn’t seem to mind though as he was going over the line of fur that was visibly shorter than the rest of the fur.

Sky breathed a sigh of relief that it was only a graze that didn’t even make it through the fur. Sky didn’t know what it was but something told Sky that this wasn’t the only injury (or near injury) that Wolfie had recently. Something about Four’s sarcastic comment when they last saw Wolfie and the way Wolfie seemed to walk a bit more carefully than normal didn’t sit right with Sky. He didn’t know how the large wolf was injured but he was certain he was.

The queen had a small smile, “Who gave him this name?”

“I did!” Wind said, “Twilight said he had seen Wolfie before, but have you? I saw him on the pillars in front of the throne room.” While saying this Wind moved over to pet Wolfie’s scruff.

The Queen hesitated for a sec as she made eye contact with the divine beast, who was staring at her with an intensity Sky had never seen from the wolf. “I have met him before, when the Twilight realm seeped into ours. Though he never had a name before, he was just called a ‘divine beast’ by those who met him, myself included,” The Queens smile took on a more amused expression, “It fits him oddly enough,”

Wolfie pinned his ears back and let out an irritated huff, which made Sky chuckle a bit. Looking back over he saw Queen Zelda move forwards and bend down in front of Wolfie, “Though he has changed a bit since I have last seen him. He is somehow bigger with a longer coat, but at least those blue eyes of his are the exact same as when we first met.”

Queen Zelda extended a hand in front of Wolfie waiting patiently for the verdict. The wolf seemed hesitant to accept this gesture but after a couple of seconds of staring, the proud beast lowered his head down. Queen Zelda took the as permission to scratch the target like symbol on the beast’s forehead.

“I presume just like all of you, your Zelda’s have nicknames to go by?” The Queen asked, not looking away from Wolfie.

“Yes ma’am,” Warriors said, shifting from foot to foot awkwardly.

The Queen was still scratching at that one spot insistently, “Would it make it easier if I had a nickname to go by? Similar to how Link goes by Twilight of course.”

“If you could, we would appreciate it,” Time said, his eye watching what The Queen was doing carefully.

The Queen’s hand suddenly disappeared in the thick fur on Wolfie’s head, which Sky didn’t think it was thick enough for. Wolfie immediately backed up and started growling at the Queen, who quickly removed her hand from Wolfie’s head. The growl was strong enough for everyone to hear and it was powerful enough for Wind to be vibrating with it. The Queen stayed kneeling down with a semi shocked expression on her face, as the sudden reaction that Wolfie had.

“Wolfie!” I am so sorry your highness he usually isn’t like this,” Wind said, who now had a firm grip on Wolfie’s neck, “Bad boy!”

“He’s fine,” The queen said, schooling her features and getting up.

As the Queen started to walk away she called over her shoulder, “Dusk is a good nickname for me,” and with that Dusk disappeared from view.

“Fuck,” Warriors said, kicking some imaginary rock.

“What is it now?” Four asked, annoyed.

“We should’ve asked her for directions.”

“......shit”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eventually Twilight was convinced to lead them back to the room. With Warriors trying to convince him via some meat he had Wild pull out his slate, and Wind apologizing for calling him a ‘bad boy’. Which was honestly ridiculous as Twilight was just telling Zelda, or Dusk now, that he didn’t need her help transforming back. It wouldn't be a good way for anyone to find out his secret.

The reason why Twilight was originally in that hallway was because he had just dropped off his ruined chainmail to the Castle’s blacksmith. Sadly it wouldn’t be done by the time he needed to leave, so he would have to grab his spare from the room he stays in. On the way back he saw the poe so he quickly transformed, but it took longer than expected because of the limited space.

Twilight continued to walk in front of the others, easily leading them back to the room. After this he planned to go check on Epona, maybe bring these guys with him to Telma. If they want to of course, he wouldn’t be pushing anyone to come as they were probably still angry that he isn’t bringing anyone to the Desert with him.

Twilight, despite his lack of sleep the last couple of days, planned on leaving in the middle of the night while everyone was asleep. Sure there were some flaws with this plan like how Legend was a light sleeper, or how anyone could use magic to make sure he sleeps, but it was the best plan that Twilight had.

Twilight pinned his ears back as he heard someone picking up the pace behind him, then he felt a hand graze his side. Jumping away a small amount Twilight looked up to see Sky staring down at him concerned. Stopping to sit down in front of Sky Twilight waited to see what Sky would say.

“Are you okay Wolfie? You bumped into Hyrule pretty hard and have been walking tenderly since,” Sky asked, kneeling in front of Twilight in wolf form.

It hurt to say the least, Twilight didn’t have time to jump in a way that would have cushioned the blow, so he just went for it. Twilight knew that they couldn’t see the attack by the poe so it was an easy decision to get banged up for them. Twilight was fairly certain when he transformed back he would have a nasty bruise, not the best way to start off a mission but so be it.

Of course Twilight couldn’t tell Sky this as Sky couldn’t speak to animals. So Twilight decided to answer this question with a small bark and a wolf smile. Trying to convey that he was completely fine, he wasn’t injured, and there was no need to worry.

Luckily Sky seemed to have bought it and after patting Twilight on his head Sky said, “Good, we don’t need anyone else getting injured anytime soon,”

Twilight felt a pang of guilt as he got back up and continued to lead the others toward the room. It was because of him and whatever happened when he got injured that everyone was worried. It also made sense that they were so against him going alone because of his injury. But Twilight was going to do it alone to protect them, despite the fact they can protect themselves.

Once they reach the room Twilight was quick to leave, but not before hearing Time tell the others to wait until ‘Twilight returns who will be back very soon’. Twilight knew that it was more towards him than the others, but Time was going to have to wait.

The soldiers don’t like him and it would cause a panic throughout the town if he was seen in his wolf form. If the civilians saw him it would cause a greater panic than if the soldiers did. Judging from how many soldiers the group was passing it looks like their break was over and he would have to be even more careful to find a place to transform back.

So to see Epona Twilight was going to have to sneak through the sewers, and get out of Hyrule castle. There could be the option of finding an empty room, but that was risky. Soldiers were constantly patrolling the hallways and it was better to get out sooner than find a room that was open and empty. So he obviously chose the foul smelling sewer option.

Twilight made his way quickly through the sewers using his heightened senses to avoid any unlucky soldiers scheduled to patrol down there. He also had to avoid the giant rats that honestly shouldn’t be as flesh hungry as they are. There were a few close calls with the rats, but it was nothing Twilight couldn’t handle.

Once Twilight made it to the sewer gate he transformed back, allowing the shadows to engulf him. At one point transforming, feeling his bones shift and bend in unnatural ways, made him pass out from the pain. Nowadays he barely feels a thing besides a slight sting of pain in his forehead from where the stone is.

Removing the sewer drain and stepping outside Twilight glanced around to see if he could spot Epona anywhere. Seeing no sign of his beloved horse around him Twilight started to wander over to the place where he last saw Epona.

As he walked, Twilight noticed that the sun was already setting. Last time Twilight was above ground it was well into the afternoon but still not anywhere close to sundown.

‘So much for being back soon,’ Twilight thought, wincing at the disapproving look he would no doubt get from Time when he returned.

Finally after a while of walking Twilight saw Epona in the distance. Accompanied by a human figure who Twilight couldn’t tell who it was, not at this distance. Unconsciously reaching for his sword Twilight only grasped thin air. Internally cursing, Twilight remembered that he left his gear in that room when he left.

Twilight got low to the ground and slowly approached the human. He didn’t know if this was a friend or a foe, and being weaponless he wasn’t going to take any chances. Practically crawling in the short grass Twilight got to where he could hear what the human was saying.

“-You think I can find him in the castle? You're still here and he never leaves without you,” a familiar voice asked Epona, who huffed in response.

Twilight jerked his head up in shock, it had only been a few hours since Shad had left to send the letter! Was he really that worried about him that Rusl dropped everything to head over to him? Maybe Twilight should’ve sent Colin back with a letter instead of just telling him to spread the word.

Apparently the noise from Twilight’s head was enough for the old swordsman to fluidly pull out his sword and point it at Twilight. Without much thought Twilight ducked deeper into the grass hoping that Rusl wouldn’t have noticed him. This action, Twilight realized, wasn’t the smartest idea he had ever done due to his wolf pelt, but it was a bit too late to stop.

Rusl wasn’t tricked luckily and instead of striking he lowered his sword, and said in a confused voice, “Son you do realize I can see you? Did you really not want me to see you so much that you actively hid from me?”

Twilight scrambled up from his hiding place, “No! No, it wasn’t that. I just… it's hard to tell people who is who from behind. If I realized it was you sooner I would have just greeted you,”

Which was completely true if Twilight wasn’t standing up wind or if he got closer he would have recognized him by either sight or smell. Not that Twilight was going to tell Rusl this. Twilight had yet to let Rusl in on the fact that he was the wolf from when the kids disappeared. That could end badly just like it could with the other heroes, but in Rusl’s case it might be more guilt than anything for attacking him way back when.

Rusl slowly nodded, “Ah so you thought I was some bandit trying to take your horse. Why didn’t you just take out your sword and shield to try and stop me?”

Twilight cringed as he said quietly, “I forgot to grab them when I left…..”

“Come again? I don't think I heard you right. Sounded like you said you didn’t bring a weapon and went into a place where monsters are everywhere,” Rusl said, raising an eyebrow and leaning on his sword.

“I needed to check on Epona. It has been hours since I left her out here! But its fine! Epona stays close enough to the castle and it's still bright enough that monsters aren’t really active! If push came to shove I still have some of my equipment from my quest in her saddlebag!” Twilight blurted out waving his hands out in front of him, feeling like a kid who was desperately trying not to get in trouble.

“That doesn’t matter!” Rusl sighed, “ I get that you are strong, even without your sword, but you know damn well it isn’t safe. I know I taught you better than to leave yourself defenseless out in the open.”

Twilight ducked his head down shamefully, “I’m sorry,” Twilight then brought his head back up just as fast, “You're not going to tell Uli are you?”

When Twilight was younger getting in trouble with Rusl would mean more farm work and getting scolded. With Uli it was the exact opposite with being grounded to stay inside for like a week and do nothing, not even Ilia could convince Uli to let him outside. Safe to say Twilight preferred Rusl punishments because he was at least allowed to do stuff instead of doing nothing.

Rusl seemed to ponder this request, “I suppose just this once I'll keep this between us. Now bring it in, I missed you son.” Twilight didn’t waste any time rushing to hug his adopted dad.

“I missed you too Pa,” Twilight whispered, sure that Rusl heard it.

After a moment longer of hugging Twilight pulled away, “I’m sorry I didn’t write I haven’t–”

Rusl quickly shushed Twilight, “Shad filled me in on what you told him, I can wait until we get to Telma’s bar to hear about how all of this happened.”

“Before I go to Telma’s I’m going to have to stop at the castle,” Twilight replied, subtly wincing at the thought of Time’s disapproving glare again.

“Ok, we can go there first,” Rusl said as he started walking towards the gate.

Twilight and Rusl talked about random things on the way to the castle. This time it had a lesser hostile feeling coming from the soldiers. Probably because Twilight wasn’t dragging around a group of heavily armed Hylians with him. Which was a relief that he wouldn’t get into a fight in front of Rusl.

Once they reached the hallway Rusl sent Twilight forward to collect his friends. Stating that it would be better for them to talk it out without worry of a stranger sitting in on the conversation. Twilight could agree with that as most of the Links did not trust easily.

When Twilight opened the door he was greeted with a rather casual looking room. Warriors, Wild, Wind, Four, Legend, and Hyrule were playing cards in front of the couch, all of them sitting in a circle now looking over towards Twilight.

Twilight couldn’t see Sky but judging from the light snoring noises Sky had found the unused bed. It was too soft for Twilight to be comfortable in so at least someone is using it.

Time was next to the window he jumped out of hours ago. Twilight knew better than to think that Time wasn’t pacing for a good amount of time that he was gone. With all of the eyes on him Twilight had half a mind to just walk out, the tension in the room was thick enough to cut.

“Oh look who decided to finally return,” Warriors said as he placed a card into the pile.

“Where have you been?” Time asked, striding across the room towards Twilight.

“I needed to get somethings prepared for traveling in The Gerudo Desert,” Twilight answered defensively, feeling like a little kid getting scolded, “and it took me a minute to find Epona,”

“Must’ve been a long minute….” Legend remarked placing a card of his own down.

“Not helping…” Twilight said, standing up straighter as Time easily covered the distance of the couch.

“Oh I am well aware of that,” Legend said, looking at Twilight over his shoulder.

Time stopped right in front of Twilight, putting his hands on his hips giving Twilight the stare. The stare was one of anger, and disappointment. Sure Twilight had seen it down to the younger Links, especially Wild, but it didn’t help the uneasy feeling of being under the gaze.

Twilight was practically wilting down under the stare as Time repeated, “Where were you?”

“I… was in the sewers for a while and lost track of time,” Twilight replied honestly.

Time was at a loss of words, apparently he wasn’t expecting that answer. Twilight could hear some of the other snorting, and taking a quick look over the majority of the Links had their shoulders shaking silently.

Time took a deep breath and while pinching the bridge of his nose asked, “Why?”

“I always go down there to see if any enemies are lurking around,” Twilight lied easily. He does occasionally do that but still not enough for it to be considered a habit. Twilight just didn’t want to admit that he traveled through the sewers so he didn’t have to interact with anyone.

“That still doesn–” Time started.

“Son, are you there? what’s taking so–” Rusl called out as he entered the room, but cut himself off when he saw Time standing in front of Twilight exasperatedly.

They were about the same height so it was more of a stare off than anything. For some reason Rusl seemed to not like Time. Time in return was staring at Rusl with apprehension, like he didn’t know how to proceed.

Twilight was quick to step out from in between his two mentors. “Oh, uhm, Rusl these are my friends I was talking about. Over there is Warriors, Hyrule, Legend, Wild, Wind, and Four. Sky is sleeping on the bed, and the one right in front of you is Time. Everyone this is Rusl,”

Time extended a hand toward Rusl, “Nice to meet you Rusl. As Twilight said I go by Time. If you don’t mind me asking, how do you know each other? Did you meet on his quest around Hyrule?”

Time was trying to be polite to the other swordsman, that much was obvious to Twilight. Rusl on the other hand had a look on his face like he already decided he didn’t like Time. Looking over in between his two mentors he saw that Warriors had started to get up. Seems like they finished their game.

“Nope, I raised him from when he was just a baby, left in a cradle at Ordon Spring. Say how did y’all meet him?” Rusl answered cooly, shaking the extended hand.

“We all just met him roughly two months ago in that forest where the Forest Temple is,” Time answered calmly.

“Really? Because you–”

“So you're the Rusl we’ve heard so much about!” Warriors skillfully interrupted, “Y’know Link, we call him Twilight for simplicity’s sake, when we first met him he said his name was Rusl,”

“Did he now?” Rusl asked, looking over at Twilight, “Why do you call him ‘Twilight?’”

Before Warriors could let out another cheerful response Twilight interrupted, “Can we save the million and one questions for later? I really don’t want to repeat it over again for the others,”

Warriors shrugged while Rusl replied, “Fine by me,”

Twilight sighed in relief. While he was glad that Warriors came through to change the subject, did he really have to basically snitch on Twilight to do it? The smirk on Warriors’s face was enough to tell him that it was completely on purpose.

*Thump!*

Twilight and the other three instantly turned towards the noise. It became apparent real quick that the other had finished putting up the card game and had taken up trying to wake up Sky. It hadn’t gone as planned so far as Sky was still asleep, just now on the floor and not on the bed.

“How is he still asleep?” Wind wondered.

“Maybe some cold water would work?” Four questioned, bringing out his flask.

“Don’t! Just don’t,” Time sighed before looking over, “Excuse me for a minute,”

Time quickly jogged over just in time to stop Four from pouring water on Sky’ head. In the end it took calling Sky’s name several times and a fake bugle call for Sky to wake up. After 10 minutes of getting ready Twilight, Rusl, and the others left for Telma’s bar.

Auru was still the same as ever, now that the war was done he went back to his semi peaceful retirement. Ashei had taken up being a Hyrule soldier again but this time as a strategist and counselor to Dusk. Somehow Twilight and the rest of the Chain had managed to come here on her day off, if she had been working no doubt that the conversation with Dusk would have gone a bit differently.

After retelling the story for like the 3rd time that day of who everyone was and what they were doing together, Shad spoke up pointing at Time and Sky, “So let me get this straight. YOU are the hero of Time who defeated Ganon the first time and saved all of Hyrule?! Like the same legendary hero named after the Temple of Time?! And- and you are the first hero ever who lived in The City in The Sky?!”

Time winced at the mention of the Temple of Time while Sky replied confusedly, “I guess?”

“What were the Oocca like in your time? Did they also live with you in the clouds? Or were they like pets for your ancient society to take care of?” Shad rushed out, eyes widened with excitement, and pen at the ready to write stuff down.

“What are Oocca?” Sky asked dumbly. Twilight hid a snort, Sky was not used to Shad’s brand of excitement about The Sky City and it shows.

“Oh how rude of me! Of course you lived thousands of years in the past so the Oocca must have evolved from something else!” Shad quickly jotted some things down, “Come with me over to my notes, I must pick your brain some more!”

Sky looked over at Twilight, Twilight just grinned and said, “Go ahead, Shad has been dying to find someone who can see if He translated those ancient scripts correctly,”

With that Sky was dragged off by a very excited Shad, who was still talking excitedly about The City in the Sky. Warriors, Legend, and Ashei were talking about fighting or something, Twilight wasn’t exactly paying attention. The others were milling about, some were eating food, others were exploring around and petting Louise, who seemed happy with all the attention.

Twilight was currently at the bar with Time and Rusl, “So how is Colin, Hasa, and Uli?”

Rusl chuckled, “If it wasn’t for Hasa still being way too little to travel they would be right here with us. It took a lot of convincing for Colin and the other kids to let me come by myself,”

Twilight let out an airy laugh as he watched Wind very clumsily hold Louise with Warriors trying to instruct him how to hold the cat properly. “I bet,”

Rusl stabbed at the food in front of him, “So where are you going next? No doubt Zelda has already given you another assignment,”

“Gerudo Desert. Gotta check up on The Great Fairy,” Twilight said, turning back to the bar to continue to work on his plate full of food. Telma made sure everyone had enough food to go into a coma later, “So how long are you staying?”

Rusl grimaced, “Not long, I won’t be here to see you off in the morning. Uli wants me back as soon as possible. You know how bad Fado is with the goats, but Iila did want me to give you this,”

Rusl brought out a small whistle. It was shaped like a hawk and even had the small details that the one Twilight called, most notably a thin scar on the leg. Twilight sent a note through the whistle. It was the exact same note that the grass he used made!

“Wow, this is…. Amazing!” Twilight said appreciatively, taking the small cord it had and throwing it around his neck.

“She worked day and night to copy the noise your reeds make. Mighty proud of it too,” Rusl said, gesturing at the hawk whistle that now hung on Twilight’s neck.

“Can you send her my thanks?” Twilight asked, smiling at his adopted father.

“Sure, but she will want to hear it from you,” Rusl said with humor in his eyes.

“Pa,” Twilight saw Time’s ear twitch, “I told you just how fast we get sent place to place,”

“I know I know, just…” Rusl took a breath in, “Could you at least try, if you stay in our Hyrule. Call me selfish, but me and the others have missed you. It would be good to have you back home, even if it's for a short time,”

Twilight let himself smile as he fiddled with the peas on his plate. He missed his adoptive family, even if he was going to get an earful from Uli. Twilight knew that his Ordon family and the one he made with all of the Links would get along well. In some cases like with Hyrule and Colin, they would be as thick as thieves with their more gentle personalities.

Twilight froze for a few seconds. When did he start thinking of The Chain as family? It just sort of happened over the course of spending time with them Twilight reasoned. He knew that his wolf side considered them as a part of his ‘pack’ after fighting and protecting them. Especially after consoling or waking them up during the night after a nightmare.

It made sense to Twilight in any case. From his experience being in a ‘pack’ is just the same as a family. Though after his quest it was difficult to translate that at first with the villagers still scared of his wolf form even now. Hell he still fought some of the more of the wolfish instinct of growling and things like that.

This gave Twilight all the more reason to stop them from experiencing the pain of the transformation when first entering the Twilight Zone. Hopefully they wouldn’t just trail after him and enter the zone after him. Maybe the cannon would be enough of a deterrent.

“Honey stop playing with your peas and eat them, you will need all the strength you can get for your mission,” Telma said as she swept by to grab drinks for a group at the other end of her Bar.

Twilight made sure she saw that he took an overdramatic bite of his peas. To which she just rolled her eyes at him.

“I’ll try, just make sure Uli won’t go on a warpath again,” Twilight requested, trying to lighten the mood.

Rusl barked out a laugh, “I will try but she’s more stubborn than you with a cold on a good day,”

“Twi look!” Twilight heard Wind say.

Twilight turned around confused only to grin unashamedly. Wind had somehow managed to get Louise to balance on the top of his head. What made it even more impressive was that Louise was sitting down and cleaning herself, meaning she was comfortable up there. Cap was hovering around Wind, hands at the ready to catch or grab the cat at a moment’s notice.

“Well I’ll be! How did’ya manage that?” Twilight said getting up to go towards Wind.

“I’m just skilled like that!” Wind said brightly and cheekily. Still not moving an inch, afraid of disturbing Louise.

“He took a bit of turkey to bribe the cat to stay up there,” Warriors rebutled, “Though why its staying on The Sailor’s head is another question,”

“Hey! Don’t be telling my secrets,” Wind pouted.

“Louise is smarter than you're giving her credit for Captain. She has always kept her side of the deals made. Now I’m pretty sure we can make this an even more impressive feat,” Twilight said, pulling off his wolf pelt.

“Really?!” How?” Wind asked excitedly.

“Louise,” Twilight said, bending down to Wind’s level. Louise got the idea pretty quickly and jumped from Wind’s head to Twilight’s broad shoulders.

“Hey! That took a lot of work getting her to stay!” Wind said, glaring at the Farmer.

“Just what are you planning, farm boy?” Warriors asked, no longer having his hands raised.

“Give me a minute,” Twilight muttered, putting his pelt around Wind’s small frame, making sure that the hood would stay in place.

Twilight quickly snatched a piece of turkey off his own plate, Louise still balancing easily on his shoulders. Rusl and Time had turned around to watch the amusing spectacle. Twilight quickly instructed Louise to hop on Wind’s head, which she did easily enough.

“Ok Wind, make sure that hood doesn’t fall off!” Twilight said, stretching his arms.

“Why? What are you going to doOOOO?!!,” Wind practically yelled in surprise as Twilight easily picked him up and placed him on his shoulders.

Twilight let out a loud, barking laugh, “There now not only do you have Louise balanced on your head, but you're also the tallest in the building!”

Wind giggled brightly, “Do you think we can run like this?”

“Be careful to not get yourself injured again Rancher,” Legend called out, no bite in his voice.

“Please I won’t get injured Legend, Wind is as light as a feather!” Twilight joked. He had a feeling everyone needed a laugh or just a mood shift in general. It was working as everyone watching had a small smile.

“You better not be trying to run in my bar Link! Especially with my cat up there,” Telma said lightly smacking him as she went back to the bar.

“You’re no fun,” Twilight said, almost pouting, looking up at the Sailor who was sitting on his shoulders, “guess the ride ends here,”

“Aww,” Wind said, Twilight felt a hand on his head, “But I suppose we can’t let you hurt your back or something!”

Twilight coughed, while he heard several snickers around them, “Sailor I’m not very old, besides I’ve carried far heavier things than you!”

“I don’t know Twi, you are getting up there in age,” Warriors said, as Twilight bent down, plucking Wind and Louise off of Twilight.

“You're older than I am!” Twilight yelled indignantly, granted Warriors was like a year or so older than him, but it still counted, “Besides I could carry you right now,”

“Oh yeah? Wanna put a wager on that Farm Boy?” Warriors asked, grinning.

“Why put a wager on it when I know I can do it easily? I thought you were smarter than that City Slicker,” Twilight responded, smirking and standing up to his full height.

“Nope, we are not doing this you two,” Time said, standing up, “It is too late for you two to be rough housing. Pup why don’t you take everyone else back to the room for some much needed rest?”

“What about you old man? Why aren’t you coming with us?” Four asked, standing from his table with an exhausted looking Hyrule following closely.

“I have a drink to finish. I’m pretty sure I can figure my way back,” Time said, pointing to his mug at the bar.

“Alright, just don’t complain later when you get lost!”

Time chuckled, “I won’t. Now get going you have a busy day tomorrow,”

Twilight, before leaving, went around the bar to say goodbye to all of his old friends. With huggingTelma, waving goodbye to both Auru and Ashei, and trying but failing to get Shad’s attention. He was pouring over all the notes he took from his conversation with Sky with one of his books about the City in The Sky.

When he got to Rusl Twilight heard him say, “Be safe ok son?”

“I will try,” Twilight replied. With that Twilight and the other Links except for Time left.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time was then left alone at the bar, carefully nursing his ale. He had a lot to ponder over with the information he got today and plan the next course of action. He obviously wasn’t going to let Twilight go alone, but how would he address this?

“So you're from the past?” Rusl asked, turning back to his own drink.

“From what we know, yes,” Time answered honestly.

Rusl took his drink and swirled it, “That means you are Link’s ancestor, not his father,”

Time looked over to the man startled, “How did you-”

“Your eyes. They are startlingly similar to Link’s,” Rusl interrupted, he then sighed and placed down his drink, “ I would like to apologize for the way I acted back in the room. I thought you were someone else,”

“You mentioned his father? Did you know him?” Time asked, setting down his own drink.

He had been wondering about his other descendants since Twilight snapped at him for bringing it up. Though if anyone would have any knowledge of them besides Twilight, it would have to be the people who raised him.

“No. I didn’t, but someone had to abandon him in the spring. He was lucky enough to be alive when I found ‘im,” Rusl replied, still looking down into his drink.

“What do you mean?” Time asked, looking over while tilting his head.

“Ordon Forest isn’t safe, especially at night. When I found him at the banks of the spring he was practically still a baby,” Rusl let out a fond laugh, “He had a way with animals even back then. There was a golden wolf with one eye protecting him. Left the moment I saw it,”

Time didn’t know how to respond to that. A wolf typically doesn’t care for people, especially young children. Maybe the crying reminded it of a young pup? Then again Twilight could turn into a wolf so maybe someone else could too?

“Why are you telling me all this?” Time finally asked.

“Someone needs to look over him in the desert. From what I’ve seen, you're the leader of that little group, correct?” Rusl answered finally look at Time.

Time sighed, took a drink, then said, “I’m afraid he wants to go by himself. How did you ever deal with him being that stubborn?”

Rusl chuckled, “Just have to out stubborn him. I doubt he would force ya to go back if you just left with him,”

Rusl looked back to where the Chain had been sitting before, “It was nice to see him getting to have fun with others around his age. Him and… Warriors, was it? They act more like brothers than just friends,”

Time smiled, “Yes they do, despite how much they mess with each other. I swear they are going to give me gray hair before this quest is done,”

Rusl barked out a laugh and slapped Time’s shoulder, “Welcome to being a Parent! Link and Colin have given me my fair share throughout them growing up. No doubt Hasa will as well,”

Time’s eye widened briefly. He wasn’t expecting Rusl to say that they were his kids! Granted he did scold them and kept them out of trouble. Oh, Goddesses, Time realized, he really was acting like a father to the Chain!

Rusl, seeing his expression snorted and said, “You just realized you're basically parenting those kids? Look on the bright side, you're getting practice for when you have children yourself!”

As Time was trying to come up with a response, Telma walked up behind the bar, “Rusl, I hate to do this, but have you looked at the time? You better back soon,”

Rusl glanced up and cursed, quickly draining the rest of his ale and placing his payment down, he said, “Yup, looks like I have to get going! Say Time, do ya mind doing me a favor?”

“Sure what is it?” Time asked, confused.

“There’s this big tree in the royal graveyard, you can’t miss it. Link tends to go there before missions. Can you make sure he hasn’t fallen asleep out there?” Rusl answered as he collected his things.

“I can do that,” Time promised, he was about ready to go back to the room anyway.

“Thanks, try to keep Link out of danger for me. Hylia knows he doesn’t have an ounce of self preservation,” Rusl jokes, walking out the door.

Time drained his drink a little after that. When he tried to pay for everyone's food Telma refused. She said that it was the least she could do for them making sure Twilight made it back safely. Time still couldn’t leave without remotely paying, so when Telma was turned around he dropped a red rupee on the table.

Leaving quickly after that Time headed back to the castle. Despite what the others joked about he remembered the way to the room. Going to the graveyard was a different story. After politely asking one of the soldiers for directions, Time went to the graveyard.

It was just a normal tree, big yes, but not the biggest Time had ever seen. Time found Twilight knelt in front of it, seemingly at peace. There were a couple of poppies laid out in front of Twilight, fresh enough to have picked that day.

“Pup,” Time watched as Twilight jumped and looked up in surprise, “You should be in bed. What are you doing out here?”

Twilight looked down and said, “Y’all were wondering who taught me the Mortal draw. Well this is his grave,”

Time glanced down around the tree base, “There’s no head stone,”

Twilight humorlessly laughed, “It's more to honor him than anything, there is no body buried here,”

Time was silent for a moment, “How do you know that this is his grave?”

Twilight glanced up at Time, he had been crying, “I don’t. There is a.. carving in the sewers. I’ve only been able to make out some of what it says, but it clearly says ‘The cursed Swordsman sleeps before the sacred tree’,”

Time, with a grunt, sat down next to Twilight, “Well, why don’t you tell me about him? Sharing memories is the best way to remember people,”

Twilight had a tear going down his face, “He was a stubborn man, when I first met him I couldn’t even land a hit on him. He told me that I disgraced the hero of legend whose tunic I wore. He taught me more than just ‘The mortal draw’, seven hidden skills which aided me on my journey,”

Time put one arm around Twilight trying to comfort his protege, “Why was he called ‘The Cursed Swordsman?’”

Time wondered if he was the one to teach the Hero’s Shade the skills he knew. After all, he created the move ‘Mortal Draw’ so it would have to come back to him. Those questions could wait though, right now he needed to provide comfort to Twilight.

“He… He died suddenly, wasn’t able to pass down his teaching to his descendants. He told me he regretted it so much he couldn’t pass on, until I came along,” Twilight said, with guilt written on his face.

“So you're related to him? What was his name?” Time asked gently.

“The Hero’s Shade. I thought I helped him find peace,” Twilight gave Time a watery smile, “Turns out I didn’t. That golden poe we saw was him, I failed to even make sure y-... he was properly put to rest,”

“Hey, no,” Time pulled Twilight closer to him, “I’m sure that’s not the case. You did your best, and I’m sure the Hero’s shade appreciated you learning and taking his lessons to heart. I’m sure whatever made him stay was not your fault,” Time said softly, giving Twilight a one armed hug.

Twilight gave a sad smile, “Yeah… Thanks for listening, Da– Time,”

Time got a warm feeling at the slip up, but pretended not to notice it, “No problem Pup. Say, is he going to join our group? I would like to meet my descendant who taught you those skills,”

Twilight laughed, “You already have. Now come on old man, I need to at least get some sleep tonight,”

Time wondered what Twilight meant by that. Though before he could ask Twilight had already started to walk away. Time looked back to the ancient tree, the Hero Shade had been dead a long time. He took one of the poppies that fell near his foot, and climbed the roots.

As he placed the poppy closer to the base of the tree, “I hope you’ll be able to rest peacefully soon,” Time whispered to the tree, before he followed Twilight to the room.

#linkeduniverse #ancestor's legacy #linked universe #lu four #lu wind #lu wild #lu time #lu sky #lu twilight #lu warriors #lu legend #have fun reading

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