Enjoyer Of Tri Force Heroes and Twilight Princess

Monsters were everywhere, trying their best to enter into the cave they’d blasted an opening into. A line of Sheikah struggled to keep them back, fighting viciously for their home, and as Link watched, one swept their sword out, knocking back a small wave of beasts.

The warrior turned, and Link realized it was Impa, taking out several monsters at once and twirling her katana with a surprising amount of grace. She seemed to be managing okay, and Link scanned the monsters for the creepy leader on the horse.

He didn’t see him anywhere, and in many ways, that made him more nervous.

Movement in a tree caught his attention, and Link saw Feathers land nearby, watching with a conflicted expression on his face. He tilted his head, looking between Link and the sea of monsters with a look that Link read as ‘are you really doing this?’.

Link just shrugged.

Feathers shook his head in dismay, but didn’t try to stop him, just looked out at the monsters with a grim expression.

“You’re still sure about this plan?” Crai asked as he looked down at the mass of beasts below, and Link did too, stomach rolling.

He swallowed. “No. But we’ve got to do something.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Peash murmured. “Do your thing, wonder boy.”

Link swallowed past his dry throat again and stepped out onto the exposed part of the cliffside, keeping his hood up and lower face covered by the mask. His left glove he yanked off though, and he looked out at the beasts, wondering what exactly he should do. He hadn’t been able to switch on the glowing by himself. And how was he going to get their attention?

“Uh— hey!” he yelled as loud as he could, thrusting his hand into the sky. “HEY! Look at me!”

His voice cracked and was pretty much lost in the din, but as he shouted, the back of his hand started to glow, the triangles lighting up with gold. The monsters below began to take notice as the glow grew brighter, snarling and pointing, and Link’s throat went tight as more and more of them looked his way.

Soon most of the crowd was staring at his glowing hand, even the Sheikah below turning to look, and Link thought he saw Impa’s eyes go wide.

A furious roar swept through the monsters, a wave of sound growing, pounding, throbbing violently in the air.

Then an arrow slammed into the bark of the tree behind Link, right next to his head.

“Move!” Peash said as she yanked him back, Link only saved from another arrow by her quick reaction. His legs unlocked at her shout, and he stumbled into a run as a crowd of beasts began to swarm towards him.

They took off across the ridge without another word, Crai and Peash racing beside Link. The monsters behind clawed their way up the cliff, others racing along below in order to follow and waiting for their opportunity to climb after. Link had never felt so much like a rabbit in his life, chased by countless beasts of prey. He didn’t like it.

The monsters with wings quickly caught up to him, causing a bit of panic, but the trees helped with blocking them off. Crai and Peash kept up with deflecting and dodging arrows too, and swiping at monsters that drew too near.

Link tried to help with that, but his hand was still glowing bright, and it made him too obvious of a target. Crai and Peash repeatedly had to yank him away from an arrow or other projectile he couldn’t see due to the light.

He craned his neck back while he ran, trying to take in the amount of monsters. There was a huge group of them following, which made him excited that his plan had worked, but also... he was being chased by a huge horde of monsters.

Maybe not his greatest plan ever.

The monsters surged closer, and Link clambered up onto a rock, shooting a few arrows into the crowd swarming behind. He hit several monsters in the head, though he noted with some worry that his quiver was starting to run low. He had enough arrows but... not a lot. He’d have to conserve them.

Peash swung two short blades and took out some strange bug-like monsters, and then turned and kept running. Link followed, but not before Crai hurriedly threw some small sharp things at the face of a huge wolf that nearly closed its jaws around Link’s foot.

The forest blurred past them, Link’s heart pounding, monsters howling. The faster creatures kept gaining on them, which meant they had to stop and try and take out a few every couple minutes or else be overwhelmed. Link was feeling his stamina drain, and he could tell Peash and Crai were beginning to grow weary too.

Link had a sudden, terrible feeling that with his plan he’d doomed both himself and his friends.

He didn’t have time to dwell on it though. One of the strange leathery-winged monsters that had attacked the village earlier suddenly burst out of the trees ahead of them, and Link yelped and barely ducked under its claws.

More monsters rushed out of the bushes, and suddenly they were surrounded, Link gulping as he looked around. Not all of the monsters had caught up to them, but it was enough that their path forward was blocked. And if the rest caught up...

Crai and Peash put themselves on either side of him, and the monsters ran at them, howling and jabbering with equal glee and fury in their eyes.

Suddenly they were fighting a lot more than before, and Link struggled to keep up. Lady Impa had never gotten to a lesson on what to do if you were the target of way too many bloodthirsty monsters, but he did his best, and tried only to shoot if he had no other choice.

The monsters went to him like flies to honey, his hand still shimmering with warm gold. Crai and Peash did their best to keep the heat off of him, but they could only do so much. More and more and more monsters kept coming at them.

A thing that looked like a smaller moblin raced forward, and Link stabbed it in the gut, its screech fading to a gurgle. Another followed, and Link barely had time to pull his sword out and stab it too, trying not to feel sick.

A familiar birdcall hit his ears, and Link saw Feathers dive at some smaller monsters, striking at them with his beak and powerful talons. Even with his help the force was beginning to overwhelm them, and a horrible pressure was lurching in Link’s stomach.

You doomed them, you doomed yourself, now mother won’t—

“I have an idea,” Peash panted from nearby as she sliced away a strange long-shaped monster with entirely too many legs.

“Is it better than mine was?” Link wheezed, then ducked under a club something threw at him.

“More like a part two. There’s a gorge around here somewhere, right Crai?”

“Yeah. Pretty close,” he replied breathlessly.

“How close?”

“At the pace we were going? We’d get there in about ten minutes if we kept heading south,” he replied, and grunted as he nearly got his arm gouged by an axe. “What are you thinking?”

“Tell you later,” Peash said, then yelped as a monster nicked her ear. Blood started to drip down her neck, and she grabbed it with a wince. “...We just have to live long enough to get there.”

“Let’s go then, come on,” Crai said urgently. “Focus on one spot!”

They all turned and concentrated their efforts where Crai stood, and managed to break past the monsters’ formation, sprinting through the woods yet again. Link felt like he couldn’t run much longer, but he just... had to hold on.

It’s not too much longer. Just go. Keep going. Keep running.

A spot where he’d been kicked at stung as he ran, his side starting to ache. Peash had blood all over her ear, and Crai still held his arm a bit stiffly from earlier.

But they kept running.

It was that or die.

“Muffle the light,” Peash told him after a couple minutes, and Link put his other hand over his left, somewhat dimming it. Now they could barely see where they were going, the sparse woods dark and shadowy. “Okay, keep running!”

“Peash,” Crai said, a note of something worried in his voice, but she kept running. “Peash we’re nearly—”

“I know! It’s part of the plan!” she shouted back. “Just keep going!”

Link could barely see ahead, but he kept running anyway, his heart pounding. Something dark gradually became visible in front of them, darker than the rest of the ground, and Link realized suddenly it must have been the gorge.

His steps faltered, and he looked behind him. The monsters were only paces away, tearing after them with foam in their mouths and bloodlust in their eyes. But ahead was nothing but a huge drop.

“Peash?” Link asked in a panic, and she shoved him.

“Keep running!”

“But— Crai?!”

“Trust her, Link!” Crai shouted back, and suddenly they were at the gorge, no time to turn back.

Crai and Peash jumped first, and Link leapt off the edge behind them. His feet met open air, the drop stretching down below him into darkness so deep he couldn’t see the bottom.

The other side was much too far to reach. The darkness yawned below him, a certain death he’d willingly jumped into.

Link suddenly had the horrible realization that he was going to die, and he screamed as he fell, his heart lurching straight up into his throat.

Then two hands snatched his arms, and Crai and Peash both held onto him, Peash holding what looked like a small chain with something attached to the end. Suddenly they were all yanked sideways, and Link slammed into the edge of the gorge with a yelp.

That was about when the monsters caught up, and apparently they didn’t realize the gorge was as deep as it was. Maybe they assumed because their quarry had jumped in it was safe for them to do so as well, but regardless, they too leapt over the edge.

A stream of monsters fell into the gorge in front of them, screeches and howls echoing around the stone walls. Peash and Crai held tight to Link as they watched, and the strange little chain retracted, both Sheikah holding onto it as they slowly lowered to a tiny ledge. The moment Link’s feet touched it he pressed his back to the wall, out of breath from the running and jump and sheer rush of the whole night.

Crai and Peash pressed up next to him, and they watched as the monsters poured into the pit in front of them. Link’s heart hammered as more and more beasts plunged through the air, some sort of herd mentality keeping them racing over the edge after each other— or maybe their desperation for what Link had on the back of his hand.

They kept on careening to the bottom of the gorge, screeching and squealing, and it felt like hours before the cacophony finally ceased, and no more monsters fell.

The night fell eerily quiet.

Link let out a relieved little wheeze, and Crai squeezed his shoulder with his good hand, giving Peash a look.

“What?” she said, and he just sighed.

“You could’ve told us your plan sooner. Or at least told Link you took your father’s hookshot.”

“Wasn’t time,” she said with a grin, but Link could feel her shaking a little beside him. “And I borrowed it. Not take. Bor-row. Anyway, boy that was a rush. Good thing monsters are dumb as rocks— they really did just run off the cliff, huh?”

“I think by the time they saw it it was too late,” Crai said thoughtfully. He peered down into the darkness of the gorge. “Regardless, it worked in our favor. Let’s get back up—”

A snarl cut him off, and a moblin poked its head over the edge of the gorge, teeth bared.

Link drew his bow and shot an arrow into its eye, and as it bellowed, Peash shot her hookshot again, hitting a tree on the other side of the gorge. She and Crai once again grabbed Link and the chain, and yanked themselves away from the moblin and the other remaining monsters still gathered on the opposite side.

They howled as they saw the three of them land too far away to reach, and some threw spears and other projectiles. It soon became clear the distance was too great for any of them to reach though, and Link sniped any of the flying monsters that tried to come after them.

The jabber from the remaining monsters grew all the louder and frustrated, and Peash stuck her tongue out at them, Crai looking relieved. Link couldn’t help but smile behind his mask.

His plan had actually worked! They’d lured the monsters a healthy distance from the village, gotten rid of a bunch of them, none of the three of them had been badly hurt, and there’d been no sign of—

The monsters all went abruptly silent, and a chill spread through the air.

Crai and Peash froze, and the chill felt like it went straight into Link’s bones, curling into his stomach like he’d swallowed some ice. The monsters parted through the middle, still silent and staring, and Link’s breath caught as the figure on the horse appeared out of the woods.

A space formed in the middle of the monsters, the beasts leaving a path straight to the gorge, and those eyes stared at Link from beneath the hood, yellow and sickening.

Then the horse reared, and charged for the gorge.

“Can he jump that?” Link breathed, and Crai grabbed his arm.

“I’m not sticking around to find out. Come on!”

He tugged Link towards the woods, but Link paused and shot a few precious arrows at the figure’s horse, hoping he could at least cause his mount to falter.

The darkness around the man increased, and the arrows flew right through the animal like there was nothing there to hit.

Link gawked, and Peash shoved him into movement again, the three of them running for where the trees were thicker. Link kept looking over his shoulder anyway, hair on his neck sticking up, but the trees blocked his view of the gorge before the figure jumped.

“Crai? What now?” Peash asked as they sprinted, and Link looked at him, seeing how stressed Crai looked. He’d said before he didn’t like being a leader, but Peash seemed like she was at a loss for what to do. And Link didn’t have any more ideas.

“Keep running,” Crai decided, jumping over a rock. “His horse can’t maneuver in here. He’d have to follow on foot, and we’ll have a head start.”

“Are you sure?” Link wheezed, that cold feeling still enveloping him. “My arrows went right through it.”

Crai tightened his jaw. “We have to try. I don’t want to get in a fight with—”

The figure on the horse stood in front of them.

Peash gasped and all three of them scrambled to a stop in a small clearing, the thinnest beam of moonlight shining through the trees. Link’s breath caught, and he stared up at the shadowy figure towering over them all. The horse half melted into the shadows, indistinct and wavering, and Link swore he saw its bones when the moonlight hit it.

Worse though was when the figure looked down at him, and pulled off its hood.

Peash made a noise beside him and Link agreed, transfixed on the monstrous man in front of him. The shadows still hid half of his face, but the other half was just bone, pale and bleached. Dull reddish hair hung in thick clumps from the top of his head, two boney horns sticking out of it, and the part of his face Link could see just stared at him, like the sightless eyes of a corpse.

Crai tugged him backwards, hissing something about running, but then the figure raised his hand, and Link more felt the magic that he used rather than saw it. A rust-colored barrier appeared around the clearing, blocking their escape, and Link’s heart raced with fear.

The figure’s eyes stared, yellow with red rims, and Link wanted to take a step back, but he felt frozen in place, trembling.

Crai said it kills everything we can’t beat this thing we can’t we’re going to die—

“Hey, so any chance you’d let us go without a fight?” Peash said, her voice higher than normal as she edged backwards. “I’m sure you’re a busy guy, and we’re kind of busy, and—”

He swung a huge spear at them, and all three of them flattened to the ground, Link feeling it swish past his hair.

“Rude!” Peash said, and the horseman laughed, a deep, throaty sound that made Link’s legs shake.

The horse charged at them then, and Link shot one of his last arrows at his face, the figure easily dodging. Link threw himself out of the way and replaced his bow on his back, drawing his sword again. He had no idea how they were supposed to win this, but— but they had to try.

Even if Link himself was utterly terrified.

The horseman disappeared into the barrier, and that gave Link time to meet with Peash and Crai in the middle, all of them putting their backs to each other. Crai gripped his weapon with one hand, face grim, Peash holding her knives in a ready position, but none of them were prepared when three identical horsemen bolted out of the barrier directly at them.

Link squeaked and hurriedly swung his sword at the one that charged at him, and succeeded in grazing the figure a little. There was resistance from his sword too, and he felt a flicker of relief. It looked like they could hit him.

But only from up close.

They all dove out of the way of several huge swings from the spears, and this time they stayed separated, though Crai still hovered by Link. The horsemen again disappeared, and when one reappeared, Peash raced to slice her knives at the horse’s legs.

One of them hit, and the horse stumbled, but it didn’t fall. It whinnied and reared, the sounds it made like the warped cry of a normal horse, and the other two did as well.

They disappeared into the barrier again, and one targeted each of them as they ran back out. They were all forced away from each other, and Link had to focus solely on his own fight, mind racing as he barely blocked the spear from the horseman.

He grunted as the spear pushed down with a back-breaking force, and he suddenly noticed Feathers sitting on a branch on the opposite side of the barrier, pecking and clawing at the magic with a frantic look in his eyes.

I guess even talking birds can’t get through fancy magical barriers, Link thought a little hysterically, and narrowly avoided having his head chopped off.

“Link! Use your magic!” Feathers squawked, and Link dove under another swipe.

“How?!” Link yelled back at him. “My mom barely showed me how to use it with weapons, I’m no good at it!”

“You need to—”

A cry cut him off, and Link snapped his head up to see Crai stumble back, his already-injured arm now bleeding from a small gap in his armor. The horseman copy loomed over him, but Crai grit his teeth and lunged forward.

The horse couldn’t move in time, and Crai struck it right through the chest, causing it to shriek in pain. All three horses disappeared, and the clone glared, then lunged at Crai.

Link was drawn back into his own fight when his copy of the enemy recovered from the loss of his horse, and swung his spear again. Link dodged, barely, and despite how exhausted he was, fought like mad.

He was winded from the earlier running, shaky with terror, but he kept on anyway, falling into a frantic sort of rhythm. Feathers called more advice, but Link’s focus narrowed down to the fight, his breath coming fast.

Dodge, slice, block— a near miss that grazed his cheek— another slash, a few hits— a heady feeling all over the clearing that made Link feel sick—

His sword slashed across the horseman’s side, and the enemy suddenly disappeared in a sharp puff of smoke. Link startled in surprise. He turned in time to see the other copies also disappear, and the smoke they faded into rushed towards a dark swirl in the middle of the clearing.

Link hurried to join Peash and Crai again, and gave them both a frantic look. Crai’s sleeve was turning more and more red, and Peash had more blood on her face, but they nodded at him, expressions firm and determined past their fear. Link felt a flicker of hope.

Can we really pull this off?

A trickle of blood ran from Link’s cheek, and he wiped at it, gripping his sword and watching the swirl. He didn’t trust it.

Sure enough the darkness flickered once, and the horseman reappeared, only one of him now. He looked more solid than before, but he also looked more angry, ripples of darkness under his feet.

Suddenly he rushed forward, a dark light with red sparking through appearing on the end of his spear. Several bursts of magic were thrown right at Link, and he couldn’t dodge all of them in time.

One struck his chest and sent a shock through him that made his vision blur and body jerk. Time skipped, and suddenly he was hitting the ground, a painful convulsion wracking his body.

Someone yelled his name, Link’s brain too scrambled to register who it was.

It hurt, the magic sending a jittery feeling all over him like he’d been startled. Except it was painful too, like tiny needles pinching his skin.

The pain eased though, and Link raised his head, blinking past the fuzzy spots in his vision. He saw Peash and Crai frantically engaged with the monster, spear and swords flashing, the fight moving so fast he could barely follow it.

But he had to follow it, he had to get up. They needed his help!

Link rolled over with a groan, giving himself a shake. His hand flickered again, and he glanced at it, the golden light gently flickering. He was supposed to be a hero, wasn’t he? Heroes didn’t lie on the ground and let other people fight for them.

Get up.

Link pushed himself to a knee, and immediately swung his sword to block another blast of magic. It was a purely instinctual reaction, but the magic bounced off his sword, and was deflected back at the horseman.

Their enemy dodged and the magic hit a tree, exploding into sparks of black and red. Peash took the opportunity to swing for the horseman’s neck, and when he twisted to avoid her, Crai managed to stab a knife into his shoulder.

Red light flared and in a flash the horseman grabbed Crai’s neck with one huge hand. Crai choked and grabbed at it with wide eyes, but before he could break free, the horseman threw him aside with a crackle of magic.

Crai didn’t immediately move to get up, and Peash threw herself at the horseman, her short-swords raised high.

Link struggled to his feet, not wanting Peash to fight alone. He shuddered again as he managed to get up, leaning against a tree, then shook himself and hurried over to where his sword had fallen. The movement woke him up a bit more, and he felt a little more clearheaded as he grabbed his sword and looked at Peash again.

She was holding her own remarkably well, ducking and swiping and landing a few hits. For all that Crai complained about it, her obsessive training obviously paid off, and Link watched in awe. She even deflected a burst of magic back at the horseman, and in the brief moment when he paused, managed to slash one of her blades across his chest.

The horseman sped up the longer they fought though, even despite the hits. He steadily advanced, slowly pushing Peash towards the edge of the clearing with a glint in his eyes. She realized what he was doing and tried to maneuver around him, but then her foot caught in a root, and the horseman thrust—

And his spear pierced Peash through the stomach.

Link gasped as Peash’s eyes went wide, and past the roar in his ears, Link distantly heard Crai cry her name. Peash looked at the spear like she couldn’t quite believe it was there, and her lips parted, a faint breath escaping her.

The horseman’s eyes creased like he smiled, and he yanked the spear back out with a sickening noise.

Peash fell to the ground as if in slow motion, and Link suddenly felt that thrum in his skin he’d felt at the spring, the anger of injustice mixing with terror for his injured friends, and every other emotion he’d felt tonight. His hand glowed again, blazing, and Link dropped his sword.

He instead pulled out his bow and drew back his last arrow, hands steady despite how the rest of him shook.

The warmth on his hand pressed him, old lessons from his mother ringing in his ears. He pushed the humming into the tension of the bow, the glow in his hand moving to the arrow, and as the horseman began to turn towards him, Link released it.

The light arrow streaked forward, and struck the beast right in the neck.

The horseman lurched, eyes flashing, and then he wailed, an eerie sound that scraped at Link’s ears as the monster clawed at its throat. Smoke wafted from his figure, another wretched screech ringing out, and a blast of magic threw Link backwards, nearly slamming him into a tree.

He raised his head just in time to see the figure lurch away, and disappear into the shadows.

Somehow Link knew he wasn’t gone for good.

The magic barrier disappeared, and Link shakily got to a knee, his head spinning, stomach tight. A whimper broke the silence, reminding him of what had happened, and he lurched to his feet, turning towards where Crai was already running.

Peash lay on the ground, face agonized, blood staining her middle.

“Peash,” Crai said frantically, skidding to his knees. “Hey, just—”

“I’m-m fine,” Peash croaked as Link also reached her, her tanned face paling rather dramatically as she tried to sit up. “I-I can—”

A wave of pain made her cry out, and her head sank back to the ground.

“Don’t move,” Crai said sharply, and Peash’s breath hitched as he gently felt at her middle. “—Oh. Okay, really don’t move.”

“Is she okay?” Link asked in a small voice, and Crai didn’t answer him.

Peash closed her eyes, her breath coming fast, and despite only having one useable arm, Crai carefully ripped away the fabric of her clothes from her middle, his hand steady despite the look on his face. Link tried not to breathe too deeply, the smell of blood nauseating, and he barely noticed Feathers land nearby.

Peash’s hand clenched at the grass, and Link took it in his while he handed Crai anything he needed. Peash cried out as he began to pack and wrap the wound, and Link’s hand was squeezed into oblivion, but he didn’t let go, trying not to shake himself.

But she held on.

The moon had set, and Link glanced at the sky once Crai had gotten the injury to the point where Peash hopefully wouldn’t bleed out. She looked awful, white as a sheet with blood all over her, but she rasped something that might’ve been a thank you, her voice still tense and shaky. Crai lightly squeezed her free hand.

“You’re going to need more attention, this was only a stopgap. But you’ll be okay for a bit,” Crai said wearily, his own face looking pale. His hands were stained with blood, but at least it seemed like the cut on his arm had stopped bleeding. He looked at Link. “Are you hurt?”

“Nothing bad,” Link whispered. He ached in multiple places, and his cheek still stung, but he could keep going without attention. “You need—”

A monster cried somewhere in the distance, and Link and Crai stilled.

“...You need to get her back to the village,” Link said, and Crai nodded as he gingerly moved his injured arm. “Or, I mean t-to the sanctuary thing where everyone’s hiding. I... I’ll keep going by myself.”

“It’s dangerous to go alone,” Crai said softly, Peash listening in a bleary way. “Especially for you. You could come back and hide with us. The trip could wait.”

Link shook his head. “I can’t. Monsters are still around, I’m sure they’d follow me back. And I have to find the light spirits. Sooner rather than later,” he finished, and Crai bowed his head.

“I don’t like you going alone, Link,” he murmured.

“I know. But I have to do this. And... I won’t be totally alone,” Link said quietly, and looked at where Feathers perched nearby, silently pleading with him.

Feathers visibly sighed, then flew over to land on his arm.

Crai startled, and looked at Feathers in blatant confusion.

“...Is that th-the bird that was following us y-yesterday?” Peash whispered in bewilderment, and Link nodded.

“It’s sort of a long story. But he helped me in the temple, and he can help me now,” he said, and Feathers gave him a slight smile. “And I’ve got some tricks. I won’t go down without a fight. I’ll find the light spirits, and then... maybe I can meet up with you guys again.”

“I hope so,” Peash said shakily, then whimpered. “D-don’t die, squirt.”

“You neither,” Link replied in a wobbly way. He looked at Crai and Peash, and gave them a worried frown. “...Can you get her to safety alone, Crai?”

“I can teleport a short ways. I’ll get us close enough to the waterfall sanctuary that I can signal somebody to get us if I have to,” he reassured quietly, and clasped Link’s arm, a weight in his eyes. “We’ll be okay. Worry about yourself.”

“I’ll try,” Link said through a thick throat.

Crai breathed out, and squeezed Link’s arm. “I still don’t like this, but I guess it’s our only option right now. We aren’t in any shape to help you,” he said with a heavy look. “...Good luck, Link. Head south. Stay away from civilization unless you have to. May... may the Goddesses light your path.”

“Thanks,” Link whispered, and Feathers lightly brushed his ear as a reminder they needed to get going. There were still monsters about. “Stay safe. You guys and the village.”

Crai nodded, Peash’s eyes screwed closed now, and Link stood up, and stepped back.

And then Crai put an arm around Peash, carefully waving his hands in a pattern, and he and Peash disappeared in a small puff of smoke.

“Come on, Link,” Feathers said gently. “They’ll be all right. Let’s head south. This way.”

Monsters were everywhere, trying their best to enter into the cave they’d blasted an opening into. A line of Sheikah struggled to keep them back, fighting viciously for their home, and as Link watched, one swept their sword out, knocking back a small wave of beasts.

The warrior turned, and Link realized it was Impa, taking out several monsters at once and twirling her katana with a surprising amount of grace. She seemed to be managing okay, and Link scanned the monsters for the creepy leader on the horse.

He didn’t see him anywhere, and in many ways, that made him more nervous.

Movement in a tree caught his attention, and Link saw Feathers land nearby, watching with a conflicted expression on his face. He tilted his head, looking between Link and the sea of monsters with a look that Link read as ‘are you really doing this?’.

Link just shrugged.

Feathers shook his head in dismay, but didn’t try to stop him, just looked out at the monsters with a grim expression.

“You’re still sure about this plan?” Crai asked as he looked down at the mass of beasts below, and Link did too, stomach rolling.

He swallowed. “No. But we’ve got to do something.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Peash murmured. “Do your thing, wonder boy.”

Link swallowed past his dry throat again and stepped out onto the exposed part of the cliffside, keeping his hood up and lower face covered by the mask. His left glove he yanked off though, and he looked out at the beasts, wondering what exactly he should do. He hadn’t been able to switch on the glowing by himself. And how was he going to get their attention?

“Uh— hey!” he yelled as loud as he could, thrusting his hand into the sky. “HEY! Look at me!”

His voice cracked and was pretty much lost in the din, but as he shouted, the back of his hand started to glow, the triangles lighting up with gold. The monsters below began to take notice as the glow grew brighter, snarling and pointing, and Link’s throat went tight as more and more of them looked his way.

Soon most of the crowd was staring at his glowing hand, even the Sheikah below turning to look, and Link thought he saw Impa’s eyes go wide.

A furious roar swept through the monsters, a wave of sound growing, pounding, throbbing violently in the air.

Then an arrow slammed into the bark of the tree behind Link, right next to his head.

“Move!” Peash said as she yanked him back, Link only saved from another arrow by her quick reaction. His legs unlocked at her shout, and he stumbled into a run as a crowd of beasts began to swarm towards him.

They took off across the ridge without another word, Crai and Peash racing beside Link. The monsters behind clawed their way up the cliff, others racing along below in order to follow and waiting for their opportunity to climb after. Link had never felt so much like a rabbit in his life, chased by countless beasts of prey. He didn’t like it.

The monsters with wings quickly caught up to him, causing a bit of panic, but the trees helped with blocking them off. Crai and Peash kept up with deflecting and dodging arrows too, and swiping at monsters that drew too near.

Link tried to help with that, but his hand was still glowing bright, and it made him too obvious of a target. Crai and Peash repeatedly had to yank him away from an arrow or other projectile he couldn’t see due to the light.

He craned his neck back while he ran, trying to take in the amount of monsters. There was a huge group of them following, which made him excited that his plan had worked, but also... he was being chased by a huge horde of monsters.

Maybe not his greatest plan ever.

The monsters surged closer, and Link clambered up onto a rock, shooting a few arrows into the crowd swarming behind. He hit several monsters in the head, though he noted with some worry that his quiver was starting to run low. He had enough arrows but... not a lot. He’d have to conserve them.

Peash swung two short blades and took out some strange bug-like monsters, and then turned and kept running. Link followed, but not before Crai hurriedly threw some small sharp things at the face of a huge wolf that nearly closed its jaws around Link’s foot.

The forest blurred past them, Link’s heart pounding, monsters howling. The faster creatures kept gaining on them, which meant they had to stop and try and take out a few every couple minutes or else be overwhelmed. Link was feeling his stamina drain, and he could tell Peash and Crai were beginning to grow weary too.

Link had a sudden, terrible feeling that with his plan he’d doomed both himself and his friends.

He didn’t have time to dwell on it though. One of the strange leathery-winged monsters that had attacked the village earlier suddenly burst out of the trees ahead of them, and Link yelped and barely ducked under its claws.

More monsters rushed out of the bushes, and suddenly they were surrounded, Link gulping as he looked around. Not all of the monsters had caught up to them, but it was enough that their path forward was blocked. And if the rest caught up...

Crai and Peash put themselves on either side of him, and the monsters ran at them, howling and jabbering with equal glee and fury in their eyes.

Suddenly they were fighting a lot more than before, and Link struggled to keep up. Lady Impa had never gotten to a lesson on what to do if you were the target of way too many bloodthirsty monsters, but he did his best, and tried only to shoot if he had no other choice.

The monsters went to him like flies to honey, his hand still shimmering with warm gold. Crai and Peash did their best to keep the heat off of him, but they could only do so much. More and more and more monsters kept coming at them.

A thing that looked like a smaller moblin raced forward, and Link stabbed it in the gut, its screech fading to a gurgle. Another followed, and Link barely had time to pull his sword out and stab it too, trying not to feel sick.

A familiar birdcall hit his ears, and Link saw Feathers dive at some smaller monsters, striking at them with his beak and powerful talons. Even with his help the force was beginning to overwhelm them, and a horrible pressure was lurching in Link’s stomach.

You doomed them, you doomed yourself, now mother won’t—

“I have an idea,” Peash panted from nearby as she sliced away a strange long-shaped monster with entirely too many legs.

“Is it better than mine was?” Link wheezed, then ducked under a club something threw at him.

“More like a part two. There’s a gorge around here somewhere, right Crai?”

“Yeah. Pretty close,” he replied breathlessly.

“How close?”

“At the pace we were going? We’d get there in about ten minutes if we kept heading south,” he replied, and grunted as he nearly got his arm gouged by an axe. “What are you thinking?”

“Tell you later,” Peash said, then yelped as a monster nicked her ear. Blood started to drip down her neck, and she grabbed it with a wince. “...We just have to live long enough to get there.”

“Let’s go then, come on,” Crai said urgently. “Focus on one spot!”

They all turned and concentrated their efforts where Crai stood, and managed to break past the monsters’ formation, sprinting through the woods yet again. Link felt like he couldn’t run much longer, but he just... had to hold on.

It’s not too much longer. Just go. Keep going. Keep running.

A spot where he’d been kicked at stung as he ran, his side starting to ache. Peash had blood all over her ear, and Crai still held his arm a bit stiffly from earlier.

But they kept running.

It was that or die.

“Muffle the light,” Peash told him after a couple minutes, and Link put his other hand over his left, somewhat dimming it. Now they could barely see where they were going, the sparse woods dark and shadowy. “Okay, keep running!”

“Peash,” Crai said, a note of something worried in his voice, but she kept running. “Peash we’re nearly—”

“I know! It’s part of the plan!” she shouted back. “Just keep going!”

Link could barely see ahead, but he kept running anyway, his heart pounding. Something dark gradually became visible in front of them, darker than the rest of the ground, and Link realized suddenly it must have been the gorge.

His steps faltered, and he looked behind him. The monsters were only paces away, tearing after them with foam in their mouths and bloodlust in their eyes. But ahead was nothing but a huge drop.

“Peash?” Link asked in a panic, and she shoved him.

“Keep running!”

“But— Crai?!”

“Trust her, Link!” Crai shouted back, and suddenly they were at the gorge, no time to turn back.

Crai and Peash jumped first, and Link leapt off the edge behind them. His feet met open air, the drop stretching down below him into darkness so deep he couldn’t see the bottom.

The other side was much too far to reach. The darkness yawned below him, a certain death he’d willingly jumped into.

Link suddenly had the horrible realization that he was going to die, and he screamed as he fell, his heart lurching straight up into his throat.

Then two hands snatched his arms, and Crai and Peash both held onto him, Peash holding what looked like a small chain with something attached to the end. Suddenly they were all yanked sideways, and Link slammed into the edge of the gorge with a yelp.

That was about when the monsters caught up, and apparently they didn’t realize the gorge was as deep as it was. Maybe they assumed because their quarry had jumped in it was safe for them to do so as well, but regardless, they too leapt over the edge.

A stream of monsters fell into the gorge in front of them, screeches and howls echoing around the stone walls. Peash and Crai held tight to Link as they watched, and the strange little chain retracted, both Sheikah holding onto it as they slowly lowered to a tiny ledge. The moment Link’s feet touched it he pressed his back to the wall, out of breath from the running and jump and sheer rush of the whole night.

Crai and Peash pressed up next to him, and they watched as the monsters poured into the pit in front of them. Link’s heart hammered as more and more beasts plunged through the air, some sort of herd mentality keeping them racing over the edge after each other— or maybe their desperation for what Link had on the back of his hand.

They kept on careening to the bottom of the gorge, screeching and squealing, and it felt like hours before the cacophony finally ceased, and no more monsters fell.

The night fell eerily quiet.

Link let out a relieved little wheeze, and Crai squeezed his shoulder with his good hand, giving Peash a look.

“What?” she said, and he just sighed.

“You could’ve told us your plan sooner. Or at least told Link you took your father’s hookshot.”

“Wasn’t time,” she said with a grin, but Link could feel her shaking a little beside him. “And I borrowed it. Not take. Bor-row. Anyway, boy that was a rush. Good thing monsters are dumb as rocks— they really did just run off the cliff, huh?”

“I think by the time they saw it it was too late,” Crai said thoughtfully. He peered down into the darkness of the gorge. “Regardless, it worked in our favor. Let’s get back up—”

A snarl cut him off, and a moblin poked its head over the edge of the gorge, teeth bared.

Link drew his bow and shot an arrow into its eye, and as it bellowed, Peash shot her hookshot again, hitting a tree on the other side of the gorge. She and Crai once again grabbed Link and the chain, and yanked themselves away from the moblin and the other remaining monsters still gathered on the opposite side.

They howled as they saw the three of them land too far away to reach, and some threw spears and other projectiles. It soon became clear the distance was too great for any of them to reach though, and Link sniped any of the flying monsters that tried to come after them.

The jabber from the remaining monsters grew all the louder and frustrated, and Peash stuck her tongue out at them, Crai looking relieved. Link couldn’t help but smile behind his mask.

His plan had actually worked! They’d lured the monsters a healthy distance from the village, gotten rid of a bunch of them, none of the three of them had been badly hurt, and there’d been no sign of—

The monsters all went abruptly silent, and a chill spread through the air.

Crai and Peash froze, and the chill felt like it went straight into Link’s bones, curling into his stomach like he’d swallowed some ice. The monsters parted through the middle, still silent and staring, and Link’s breath caught as the figure on the horse appeared out of the woods.

A space formed in the middle of the monsters, the beasts leaving a path straight to the gorge, and those eyes stared at Link from beneath the hood, yellow and sickening.

Then the horse reared, and charged for the gorge.

“Can he jump that?” Link breathed, and Crai grabbed his arm.

“I’m not sticking around to find out. Come on!”

He tugged Link towards the woods, but Link paused and shot a few precious arrows at the figure’s horse, hoping he could at least cause his mount to falter.

The darkness around the man increased, and the arrows flew right through the animal like there was nothing there to hit.

Link gawked, and Peash shoved him into movement again, the three of them running for where the trees were thicker. Link kept looking over his shoulder anyway, hair on his neck sticking up, but the trees blocked his view of the gorge before the figure jumped.

“Crai? What now?” Peash asked as they sprinted, and Link looked at him, seeing how stressed Crai looked. He’d said before he didn’t like being a leader, but Peash seemed like she was at a loss for what to do. And Link didn’t have any more ideas.

“Keep running,” Crai decided, jumping over a rock. “His horse can’t maneuver in here. He’d have to follow on foot, and we’ll have a head start.”

“Are you sure?” Link wheezed, that cold feeling still enveloping him. “My arrows went right through it.”

Crai tightened his jaw. “We have to try. I don’t want to get in a fight with—”

The figure on the horse stood in front of them.

Peash gasped and all three of them scrambled to a stop in a small clearing, the thinnest beam of moonlight shining through the trees. Link’s breath caught, and he stared up at the shadowy figure towering over them all. The horse half melted into the shadows, indistinct and wavering, and Link swore he saw its bones when the moonlight hit it.

Worse though was when the figure looked down at him, and pulled off its hood.

Peash made a noise beside him and Link agreed, transfixed on the monstrous man in front of him. The shadows still hid half of his face, but the other half was just bone, pale and bleached. Dull reddish hair hung in thick clumps from the top of his head, two boney horns sticking out of it, and the part of his face Link could see just stared at him, like the sightless eyes of a corpse.

Crai tugged him backwards, hissing something about running, but then the figure raised his hand, and Link more felt the magic that he used rather than saw it. A rust-colored barrier appeared around the clearing, blocking their escape, and Link’s heart raced with fear.

The figure’s eyes stared, yellow with red rims, and Link wanted to take a step back, but he felt frozen in place, trembling.

Crai said it kills everything we can’t beat this thing we can’t we’re going to die—

“Hey, so any chance you’d let us go without a fight?” Peash said, her voice higher than normal as she edged backwards. “I’m sure you’re a busy guy, and we’re kind of busy, and—”

He swung a huge spear at them, and all three of them flattened to the ground, Link feeling it swish past his hair.

“Rude!” Peash said, and the horseman laughed, a deep, throaty sound that made Link’s legs shake.

The horse charged at them then, and Link shot one of his last arrows at his face, the figure easily dodging. Link threw himself out of the way and replaced his bow on his back, drawing his sword again. He had no idea how they were supposed to win this, but— but they had to try.

Even if Link himself was utterly terrified.

The horseman disappeared into the barrier, and that gave Link time to meet with Peash and Crai in the middle, all of them putting their backs to each other. Crai gripped his weapon with one hand, face grim, Peash holding her knives in a ready position, but none of them were prepared when three identical horsemen bolted out of the barrier directly at them.

Link squeaked and hurriedly swung his sword at the one that charged at him, and succeeded in grazing the figure a little. There was resistance from his sword too, and he felt a flicker of relief. It looked like they could hit him.

But only from up close.

They all dove out of the way of several huge swings from the spears, and this time they stayed separated, though Crai still hovered by Link. The horsemen again disappeared, and when one reappeared, Peash raced to slice her knives at the horse’s legs.

One of them hit, and the horse stumbled, but it didn’t fall. It whinnied and reared, the sounds it made like the warped cry of a normal horse, and the other two did as well.

They disappeared into the barrier again, and one targeted each of them as they ran back out. They were all forced away from each other, and Link had to focus solely on his own fight, mind racing as he barely blocked the spear from the horseman.

He grunted as the spear pushed down with a back-breaking force, and he suddenly noticed Feathers sitting on a branch on the opposite side of the barrier, pecking and clawing at the magic with a frantic look in his eyes.

I guess even talking birds can’t get through fancy magical barriers, Link thought a little hysterically, and narrowly avoided having his head chopped off.

“Link! Use your magic!” Feathers squawked, and Link dove under another swipe.

“How?!” Link yelled back at him. “My mom barely showed me how to use it with weapons, I’m no good at it!”

“You need to—”

A cry cut him off, and Link snapped his head up to see Crai stumble back, his already-injured arm now bleeding from a small gap in his armor. The horseman copy loomed over him, but Crai grit his teeth and lunged forward.

The horse couldn’t move in time, and Crai struck it right through the chest, causing it to shriek in pain. All three horses disappeared, and the clone glared, then lunged at Crai.

Link was drawn back into his own fight when his copy of the enemy recovered from the loss of his horse, and swung his spear again. Link dodged, barely, and despite how exhausted he was, fought like mad.

He was winded from the earlier running, shaky with terror, but he kept on anyway, falling into a frantic sort of rhythm. Feathers called more advice, but Link’s focus narrowed down to the fight, his breath coming fast.

Dodge, slice, block— a near miss that grazed his cheek— another slash, a few hits— a heady feeling all over the clearing that made Link feel sick—

His sword slashed across the horseman’s side, and the enemy suddenly disappeared in a sharp puff of smoke. Link startled in surprise. He turned in time to see the other copies also disappear, and the smoke they faded into rushed towards a dark swirl in the middle of the clearing.

Link hurried to join Peash and Crai again, and gave them both a frantic look. Crai’s sleeve was turning more and more red, and Peash had more blood on her face, but they nodded at him, expressions firm and determined past their fear. Link felt a flicker of hope.

Can we really pull this off?

A trickle of blood ran from Link’s cheek, and he wiped at it, gripping his sword and watching the swirl. He didn’t trust it.

Sure enough the darkness flickered once, and the horseman reappeared, only one of him now. He looked more solid than before, but he also looked more angry, ripples of darkness under his feet.

Suddenly he rushed forward, a dark light with red sparking through appearing on the end of his spear. Several bursts of magic were thrown right at Link, and he couldn’t dodge all of them in time.

One struck his chest and sent a shock through him that made his vision blur and body jerk. Time skipped, and suddenly he was hitting the ground, a painful convulsion wracking his body.

Someone yelled his name, Link’s brain too scrambled to register who it was.

It hurt, the magic sending a jittery feeling all over him like he’d been startled. Except it was painful too, like tiny needles pinching his skin.

The pain eased though, and Link raised his head, blinking past the fuzzy spots in his vision. He saw Peash and Crai frantically engaged with the monster, spear and swords flashing, the fight moving so fast he could barely follow it.

But he had to follow it, he had to get up. They needed his help!

Link rolled over with a groan, giving himself a shake. His hand flickered again, and he glanced at it, the golden light gently flickering. He was supposed to be a hero, wasn’t he? Heroes didn’t lie on the ground and let other people fight for them.

Get up.

Link pushed himself to a knee, and immediately swung his sword to block another blast of magic. It was a purely instinctual reaction, but the magic bounced off his sword, and was deflected back at the horseman.

Their enemy dodged and the magic hit a tree, exploding into sparks of black and red. Peash took the opportunity to swing for the horseman’s neck, and when he twisted to avoid her, Crai managed to stab a knife into his shoulder.

Red light flared and in a flash the horseman grabbed Crai’s neck with one huge hand. Crai choked and grabbed at it with wide eyes, but before he could break free, the horseman threw him aside with a crackle of magic.

Crai didn’t immediately move to get up, and Peash threw herself at the horseman, her short-swords raised high.

Link struggled to his feet, not wanting Peash to fight alone. He shuddered again as he managed to get up, leaning against a tree, then shook himself and hurried over to where his sword had fallen. The movement woke him up a bit more, and he felt a little more clearheaded as he grabbed his sword and looked at Peash again.

She was holding her own remarkably well, ducking and swiping and landing a few hits. For all that Crai complained about it, her obsessive training obviously paid off, and Link watched in awe. She even deflected a burst of magic back at the horseman, and in the brief moment when he paused, managed to slash one of her blades across his chest.

The horseman sped up the longer they fought though, even despite the hits. He steadily advanced, slowly pushing Peash towards the edge of the clearing with a glint in his eyes. She realized what he was doing and tried to maneuver around him, but then her foot caught in a root, and the horseman thrust—

And his spear pierced Peash through the stomach.

Link gasped as Peash’s eyes went wide, and past the roar in his ears, Link distantly heard Crai cry her name. Peash looked at the spear like she couldn’t quite believe it was there, and her lips parted, a faint breath escaping her.

The horseman’s eyes creased like he smiled, and he yanked the spear back out with a sickening noise.

Peash fell to the ground as if in slow motion, and Link suddenly felt that thrum in his skin he’d felt at the spring, the anger of injustice mixing with terror for his injured friends, and every other emotion he’d felt tonight. His hand glowed again, blazing, and Link dropped his sword.

He instead pulled out his bow and drew back his last arrow, hands steady despite how the rest of him shook.

The warmth on his hand pressed him, old lessons from his mother ringing in his ears. He pushed the humming into the tension of the bow, the glow in his hand moving to the arrow, and as the horseman began to turn towards him, Link released it.

The light arrow streaked forward, and struck the beast right in the neck.

The horseman lurched, eyes flashing, and then he wailed, an eerie sound that scraped at Link’s ears as the monster clawed at its throat. Smoke wafted from his figure, another wretched screech ringing out, and a blast of magic threw Link backwards, nearly slamming him into a tree.

He raised his head just in time to see the figure lurch away, and disappear into the shadows.

Somehow Link knew he wasn’t gone for good.

The magic barrier disappeared, and Link shakily got to a knee, his head spinning, stomach tight. A whimper broke the silence, reminding him of what had happened, and he lurched to his feet, turning towards where Crai was already running.

Peash lay on the ground, face agonized, blood staining her middle.

“Peash,” Crai said frantically, skidding to his knees. “Hey, just—”

“I’m-m fine,” Peash croaked as Link also reached her, her tanned face paling rather dramatically as she tried to sit up. “I-I can—”

A wave of pain made her cry out, and her head sank back to the ground.

“Don’t move,” Crai said sharply, and Peash’s breath hitched as he gently felt at her middle. “—Oh. Okay, really don’t move.”

“Is she okay?” Link asked in a small voice, and Crai didn’t answer him.

Peash closed her eyes, her breath coming fast, and despite only having one useable arm, Crai carefully ripped away the fabric of her clothes from her middle, his hand steady despite the look on his face. Link tried not to breathe too deeply, the smell of blood nauseating, and he barely noticed Feathers land nearby.

Peash’s hand clenched at the grass, and Link took it in his while he handed Crai anything he needed. Peash cried out as he began to pack and wrap the wound, and Link’s hand was squeezed into oblivion, but he didn’t let go, trying not to shake himself.

But she held on.

The moon had set, and Link glanced at the sky once Crai had gotten the injury to the point where Peash hopefully wouldn’t bleed out. She looked awful, white as a sheet with blood all over her, but she rasped something that might’ve been a thank you, her voice still tense and shaky. Crai lightly squeezed her free hand.

“You’re going to need more attention, this was only a stopgap. But you’ll be okay for a bit,” Crai said wearily, his own face looking pale. His hands were stained with blood, but at least it seemed like the cut on his arm had stopped bleeding. He looked at Link. “Are you hurt?”

“Nothing bad,” Link whispered. He ached in multiple places, and his cheek still stung, but he could keep going without attention. “You need—”

A monster cried somewhere in the distance, and Link and Crai stilled.

“...You need to get her back to the village,” Link said, and Crai nodded as he gingerly moved his injured arm. “Or, I mean t-to the sanctuary thing where everyone’s hiding. I... I’ll keep going by myself.”

“It’s dangerous to go alone,” Crai said softly, Peash listening in a bleary way. “Especially for you. You could come back and hide with us. The trip could wait.”

Link shook his head. “I can’t. Monsters are still around, I’m sure they’d follow me back. And I have to find the light spirits. Sooner rather than later,” he finished, and Crai bowed his head.

“I don’t like you going alone, Link,” he murmured.

“I know. But I have to do this. And... I won’t be totally alone,” Link said quietly, and looked at where Feathers perched nearby, silently pleading with him.

Feathers visibly sighed, then flew over to land on his arm.

Crai startled, and looked at Feathers in blatant confusion.

“...Is that th-the bird that was following us y-yesterday?” Peash whispered in bewilderment, and Link nodded.

“It’s sort of a long story. But he helped me in the temple, and he can help me now,” he said, and Feathers gave him a slight smile. “And I’ve got some tricks. I won’t go down without a fight. I’ll find the light spirits, and then... maybe I can meet up with you guys again.”

“I hope so,” Peash said shakily, then whimpered. “D-don’t die, squirt.”

“You neither,” Link replied in a wobbly way. He looked at Crai and Peash, and gave them a worried frown. “...Can you get her to safety alone, Crai?”

“I can teleport a short ways. I’ll get us close enough to the waterfall sanctuary that I can signal somebody to get us if I have to,” he reassured quietly, and clasped Link’s arm, a weight in his eyes. “We’ll be okay. Worry about yourself.”

“I’ll try,” Link said through a thick throat.

Crai breathed out, and squeezed Link’s arm. “I still don’t like this, but I guess it’s our only option right now. We aren’t in any shape to help you,” he said with a heavy look. “...Good luck, Link. Head south. Stay away from civilization unless you have to. May... may the Goddesses light your path.”

“Thanks,” Link whispered, and Feathers lightly brushed his ear as a reminder they needed to get going. There were still monsters about. “Stay safe. You guys and the village.”

Crai nodded, Peash’s eyes screwed closed now, and Link stood up, and stepped back.

And then Crai put an arm around Peash, carefully waving his hands in a pattern, and he and Peash disappeared in a small puff of smoke.

“Come on, Link,” Feathers said gently. “They’ll be all right. Let’s head south. This way.”

He turned around, and saw two unfortunately familiar faces, recognizing the two Zora about his age following him. Link immediately made a break for it, but another Zora popped up from the water nearby, cutting off his escape. The three easily cornered him against a tree, and Link felt dread curl in his stomach as he looked up at them.

Great. Just what he needed.

“Had a nice day out in the swamp, Squishy? I’m surprised a swamp cat didn’t eat you,” the darkest green of the three sneered, a rude Zora named Ponds. “With no scales they wouldn’t have a problem tearing you up.”

“What do you want, Ponds?” Link said with a glare.

He shrugged, and crossed his arms. “I’m not allowed to ask about your day? I’m just curious, Squishy. Were you at crazy Viyne’s again? Did he tell you any good stories? Maybe the one about how Hylians are worth less than mosquitoes.”

The other two chuckled, and Link frowned.

“That’s not true, Viyne doesn’t tell stories like that,” Link defended, and Ponds snorted.

“Don’t tell me you forgot the one with the war? You probably like that one, since you’re a dirty Hylian,” he sneered. “I know I always have tons of fun hearin’ about your horrible family. Right guys?”

Ponds’ cronies immediately agreed, laughing and jeering, and Link pursed his lips.

“Go ‘way, Ponds,” he said in a quiet voice.

“Why? ‘fraid to talk about it?” Ponds jeered. “Softie Link, no-scales Link.”

He gave Link a harsh shove, one so abrupt that Link was thrown to the ground. The three of them laughed, and Link felt his face warm.

“That’s all you’ll ever be, soft and stupid,” Ponds jeered, his friends nodding. “Like all Hylians. I’m surprised the Chief even lets you stay here— if he were smart, he’d use you for alligalfos bait.”

“He would not! And I’m not stupid,” Link said as his face grew hot. “And other Hylians aren’t either!”

Ponds abruptly kicked out at Link, his foot catching him in the ribs. While Link was distracted by the pain, he then lifted him up and shoved him back against the tree, Link grunting as he hit it.

“Yes they are,” Ponds smirked at Link. “And you’re stupidest of them all.”

“Leave me alone, Ponds!” Link demanded, trying to wriggle free from his grip. Ponds held him tight though, claws pressing uncomfortably on his shoulders, and Link swung his legs at him.

He managed to land a kick to his chin, and Ponds’ head jerked back, then his expression turned angry.

“Oh you’re going to pay for that, you little worm!”

Ponds let go of Link with one hand, but before Link could be happy about it or try to run, Ponds’ lackeys grabbed his shoulders. Ponds’ one hand was still pressed against Link’s chest, and he scraped the skin as he tightened his grip.

Link growled in frustration, kicking furiously to get free, and then Ponds wound back and his cheek exploded with pain.

Stars shot across his vision, and the next thing Link knew, Ponds had dropped him, shaking out his fist.

“You’re not one of us, and you’ll never be one of us. And don’t you forget it,” he snapped as he gave Link one last sharp parting kick, then stalked away.

His friends both gave Link one kick each in addition, then skittered away behind their leader like they was afraid they might be seen. Which was stupid, since nobody was around. At least not any big Zora.

Ponds and his friends never bothered Link if there was an adult around to see what they were doing. Or one that didn’t dislike him, anyway. A couple of the adults were almost as rude as Ponds was.

But at least they don’t hit me.

Link just laid on the ground a moment, pain throbbing all over him while Ponds’ words roared in his head. He eventually managed to sit up, though he had to go slowly, and he wobbled as he braced himself against the tree. His face hurt, and he wrapped an arm around his middle while the other one lightly touched his cheek.

The pain hit him harder, and he winced, eyes stinging. What was Ponds’ problem? Just because Link wasn’t a Zora didn’t mean he had to push him around!

Feeling gingerly at his side where he’d been kicked, Link froze, then touched the pouch on his belt. He dipped his hand inside with a sinking feeling, and fished out the broken pieces of his shells, cracked into useless shards.

One of the kicks must have hit his pouch.

Link’s lip wobbled, but he stubbornly blinked away his tears. He could find more shells. It wasn’t the end of the world.

Even if his face and chest hurt really badly, and his treasure was broken, and Ponds had never hit him so hard.

“Link?”

Link stiffened, then drooped as two different Zora hurried up the path, one dark with pale speckles, the other a similar color, but with bright orange fins. They ran over to him when they saw him sitting on the ground, and the darker one with the speckles, Amphi, gave him an anxious look.

“Oh no, Link are you okay?” she asked, and Link nodded, biting his lip to keep away the sting in his eyes that had come back. “We heard you yell, it was Ponds again, wasn’t it?”

Link nodded again, looking at his lap, and the other Zora, Kattail, glared out at the swamp.

“Ponds is such a jerk,” she huffed, then held out a webbed hand to help Link up. “I would’ve beaten him up if I’d been here. I should tell my pa he keeps bugging you, then he’d—”

“No, s’okay,” Link said quietly, then scrounged up a weak grin. “Ponds is just mad I’m better at running than him.”

“Doesn’t look like running worked this time,” Kattail snorted, but didn’t argue the point, which Link was glad about. The last thing he needed was Kattail’s dad getting mixed up in his problems. Chief Baiyu already didn’t like him much, he didn’t need to add fuel to that fire.

“I’m surprised the Chief even lets you stay here.”

“You’re sure you’re okay?” Amphi asked again. “Your cheek is getting all puffy.”

“Yeah, it’s okay,” Link reassured, despite the aching throb still running through his face, and the bit of blood he could taste. “He just... cornered me.”

“We’d better get you home,” Amphi said worriedly, and nudged Link in the direction of his house. “Your ma—”

“My mama doesn’t need to know,” Link quickly interrupted. “She’ll just make a big fuss, and it won’t fix anything.”

“How do you know it won’t?” Kattail asked with a flat look. “Have you ever even told her about Ponds?”

Link hesitated, and that was all the answer Kattail needed.

“Ugh. Well then I’ll tell her,” she said in a determined way, and Amphi grabbed her arm.

“Wait, we shouldn’t if Link doesn’t want us to,” she said worriedly.

“But he keeps getting hurt! This was the worst yet, what about next time?” Kattail snapped back.

“Well, okay, but he’s right about his ma. What if she does something your pa doesn’t like?”

“I don’t care, my pa could take more of us doing stuff he doesn’t like!”

“Um,” Link interrupted in a small voice. They both paused and looked at him. “You guys can keep fighting if you really wanna, but I... I wanna go home. So I think I’m gonna go.”

Both girls stopped, and Amphi nodded, Kattail sighing.

“We’ll come with. But we will talk about it,” she said with a huff, and they got going.

Normally the three of them would have swum most of the way, but Link’s chest hurt enough that he didn’t think he could hold his breath very well. So they mostly walked through the swamp in silence, birds chirping, frogs and bugs adding a quiet drone to their walk.

Link tried not to think about the pain in his cheek or Ponds’ words, but he couldn’t help but be reminded of them every time his face throbbed. Ponds had never been nice to Link, but lately it seemed like he was twice as bad, Ponds trying to corner him almost daily. Link just didn’t know what to do.

He really didn’t want to worry his mama about it. She always got so worked up when people bothered Link, and she especially didn’t need extra stress right now. And while Link liked Gillian and all, his mama’s mate always had just a little awkwardness around him when it came to Link. So no, he couldn’t tell his parents.

Even if his chest and face really hurt. And one of his teeth felt loose now. And as much as he hated to admit it... Ponds’ words hurt almost as much as his fists had.

“You’ll never be one of us!”

“What are you thinking about, Link?” Amphi asked, pulling him from his thoughts. Link looked at the water they were walking beside, and took a moment to answer.

“What if... what if Ponds is right?” he began softly. “What if Hylians are gross and stupid, and I just don’t know because I’ve never met another one?”

“He said that?” Kattail said with a scrunched face.

“Well they’re not,” Amphi said immediately, crossing her arms. “I know it.”

“How?”

“Because you’re not,” she smiled. “You’ve always been nice, Link. And Viyne’s met Hylians, and he never says they’re stupid or stinky or anything.”

Link stayed quiet, and Kattail rolled her eyes beside them.

“Look Link, forget Ponds,” she said. “He’s just jealous of you. He won’t admit it, but he totally is.”

“Jealous of what, exactly? Of how I don’t have gills? Or scales? Or anything useful?” Link said dully, and Kattail snorted.

“No, stu— Link. He’s jealous you actually have friends and not lackeys. Also of your hair,” she smirked with a flick of her fins, and Link smiled. His cheek throbbed and he had to drop it, but Kattail had seen.

“You’re not dirty or stupid, Link. Ponds is just wrong,” Amphi reassured as they finally neared his house, and Link sighed.

“Thanks.”

He wasn’t totally sure he believed it, but at least Kattail and Amphi thought so.

Link’s mother was still fixing dinner when the three of them walked in, and she turned around with a smile. Link hovered in the back as she said hello, relieved for once that he was shorter then his peers and his mother couldn’t really see him.

“Oh Amphi and Kattail, nice to see you two! I caught a big catfish earlier, do you want to stay for dinner and help us eat it?” Rina asked.

“We’d love to, but we gotta get going,” Kattail answered despite how Amphi perked up, then casually pushed Link forward into his mother’s line of sight.

Rina’s eyes immediately locked onto his face, and Link braced himself.

“Link! What happened?” Rina asked with an alarmed trill, dropping what she was doing and hurrying over to him. She ran a cool hand over his cheek, and made another worried noise. “Goodness you look like you were stung by a swarm of bees!”

“No, I, um...” Link floundered, not wanting to lie, but not wanting to tell the truth either.

“He fell out of a tree!” Amphi supplied hurriedly. “He— he hit his face, on a branch. And a log. On the ground. And bit some branches. And stuff. He’s lucky he didn’t break anything.”

Kattail opened her mouth, but Amphi quickly put her hand over it. Rina didn’t notice, studying Link’s face intently as she brushed some of his hair back, her expression unreadable, and Link began to sweat.

But then she gently kissed the top of his head with a sigh. “Treasure, you’ve gotta be more careful.”

“I was being careful, I just... wasn’t careful enough I guess,” Link mumbled, and his mother made another worried noise.

Kattail rolled her eyes. “Well, I’ve gotta go home. Thanks for the dinner offer Missus Rina, c’mon Amphi,” she said flatly, and Amphi opened her mouth to protest, before Kattail dragged her off.

Rina said goodbye as Link waved at them, and once they were gone, she looked back at him. Her face was still lined with worry, and Link swallowed.

“Link, you haven’t fallen out of a tree in a long time, is everything okay?” his mother asked.

Her voice was so worried Link almost admitted the problem right then and there, but the words just wouldn’t leave his throat, dying whenever he tried to voice them.

“I guess I’m just... tired,” he eventually said in a weak voice. It wasn’t a lie, he was pretty tired.

Rina looked him over one more time, then tugged him into her arms, giving him a squeeze. Link winced. At least he’d washed the bit of blood off his scratches.

“Okay. If you’re sure. Maybe you’d better get some rest before dinner, then. I’ll call you when it’s ready, okay?” she asked. Link nodded, letting himself enjoy being hugged for a few more moments, and then his mother let him go.

He scampered up to his room, the climb making his chest ache, and immediately plopped down into his bed, groaning as his face throbbed. Even though he technically hadn’t lied to his mother, the truth sat like a rock in his stomach, making him feel sick.

But what could he tell her? He didn’t want to give her more problems. She was going to lay eggs soon, and Link didn’t want to make her stressed during that. He’d just... figure it out.

Somehow.

Link mulled the whole thing over multiple times as he lay in bed, only sort of resting like his mother had told him. His face and chest hurt too much for that anyway, and he wished they had some coldweed to put on it. He was pretty sure they used the last of it up the other day when he’d banged his knee, though. So he just shifted uncomfortably for a while.

It didn’t feel like very long before Mama called up that dinner was ready, and Link made his way back down, wincing at his chest. His face had swollen more, making it difficult to see out of his one eye, and he shuffled quietly into the main room.

Gillian had come home from his guard shift, and he smiled at Link when he walked in, though his eyes immediately went wide as he saw his face.

“Leaping lizards Link, what’d you do, get in a fistfight?” Gillian asked in alarm, and Link gave him a noncommittal shrug.

“Apparently he fell out of a tree,” Rina said as she walked over, and made a sympathetic noise as he looked at Link again. “That’s swelling pretty bad, Link. We’d better go see Cypress for some coldweed after we eat.”

Link nodded, and stayed quiet as Gillian studied his swollen face.

“You really got this from a tree? Looks more like a punch to the face to me,” he hummed, and Link gulped. Would he directly ask about it?

“Ah, of course you’d know what a punch looks like,” his mama teased, and Gillian let out an offended trill.

“That was one time, you know I don’t like fighting with people.”

“You still walked away with quite a few missing scales and cuts, mister,” Rina pointed out.

“Says the Zora who’s pa had to bodily drag her from a fistfight once,” he said with a pointed look back, and Rina waved him off.

“I was defending my honor and you know it, Gill. Laike insulted my fins!”

“After you insulted her choice of clothing. And boyfriend.”

“Oh everybody knows she and Myre were a terrible match. I was doing her a favor.”

Link found himself smiling at the silly argument, but he hissed in pain as the motion hurt his face, raising a hand and gingerly feeling at it. Gillian looked at him, and he tilted his head with worry in his gaze.

“Link, is that really from you falling from a tree? Or maybe something a bit more embarrassing that happened to you today? These really don’t look like injuries from a tree,” he said.

“Maybe he insulted someone’s clothes and actually got punched,” Rina teased as she worked on the fish.

Link didn’t say anything, and there was an awkward pause as Rina and Gillian both waited, and then seemed to simultaneously realize something. They slowly looked over at him, and Link shriveled under their gazes.

“Link,” Rina began slowly, and Link bit his lip. “Did someone hit you?”

Link squirmed where he stood, and Gillian knelt beside him, silliness gone as he looked him in the eye. “Link? Please answer.”

“...Yes,” Link admitted softly.

Anger flashed in Rina’s eyes, and the rock in Link’s stomach did a flip.

“Who was it?” Gillian asked seriously, and Link looked down at his feet. “...Link, please.”

“I don’t want to make trouble,” he whispered, and his mother padded over and tugged him into a hug.

“Oh Link, you’re not trouble. We just need to know who hit you, this is serious,” she said worriedly as she cupped his chin. “You can barely see out of that eye, and I bet those bruises on your middle are from this too. Are the scratches from this as well? What happened?”

Link’s lip wobbled, and he tried to voice it, but the words all came out in a confusing jumble. “He... I mean... I got cornered, and my shells got broken, and I was trying to leave but he got my face when I wasn’t looking and they were laughing at Viyne and me and he said I’m—”

He hiccuped, and Rina scooped him into her arms, standing up.

“But who was it?” Gillian repeated, face grim, and Link squeezed his eyes shut. “Link, I know you don’t want to make trouble, but we need to fix this. Who hit you?”

“Was it an adult?” Rina asked sharply, and Link shook his head. “Who then?”

Link bit his lip.

“Link, please. You’re not in trouble, I promise,” Gillian said gently. “But we need to know who hurt you.”

“...Ponds,” Link finally admitted in a miserable whisper. “But please don’t tell him I told, he’ll just do it again and I—”

Rina suddenly handed Link over to Gillian, and he took him in surprise, both of them watching as Rina stormed over to the corner.

“Rina? Love, what are you doing?” Gillian asked, and she covered up what she’d been making for dinner.

“Going to tell Ponds’ mama just what he’s been up to,” she growled, and whirled around as she finished messing with the food. “You two should eat, I’m not going to be quick.”

“Rina, we don’t need another incident like the hair-pulling one, remember?” Gillian said, holding out a hand. “This can wait until tomorrow, it’ll be better for the eggs if you wait and eat.”

“It’ll be better for me if I give that little mudskipper what for!” Rina snapped, and Link shrank down in Gillian’s arms. This was exactly what he hadn’t wanted to happen. Oh sure, his mama would go talk with Ponds’ mama, and Ponds would be punished and Link would get a lame apology from him, but once things died down he would just turn around and bully Link even more.

And in the meantime, Mama would stress herself out and be upset and it wouldn’t be good for the eggs!

Link tried to curl up, but forgot about his bruises, and couldn’t help the soft noise of pain that escaped him. The noise caught both his parents’ attentions, and they stopped whatever it was they’d been arguing about to look at him.

The anger in his mother’s posture seemed to deflate out of her as she looked at him, and she stepped closer with a sad look.

“I’m sorry, Link, did I scare you?” she said softly, and he shook his head, not quite sure what to say. He was never scared of his mama, but sometimes her more fierce side did startle him a little.

He was more worried about everything else right now.

“Oh Link,” she sighed, and her and Gillian both sat down, nestling Link between them. His mama pecked his forehead, and Link leaned miserably against her. “We’re just worried about you, Treasure. You can’t keep getting hurt like this.”

“It doesn’t happen a lot,” Link whispered, and Gillian shook his head.

“The fact that it’s happening at all is bad, Link. You know you can tell us when this kind of thing happens, right?” he asked gently.

“I know,” Link replied. “But I’m... I was scared, I guess.”

“Why?”

Link paused and wrung his hands in quiet nerves. “...I don’t want Kattail’s dad to kick me out,” he admitted in a whisper.

Rina’s eyes widened. “Link, we’d never let the chief kick you out. And a problem like this wouldn’t be enough for him to kick anyone out, Zora or not. You don’t need to worry about that.”

“But Ponds said...”

“Ponds doesn’t know anything,” Gillian said firmly. “Whatever he told you is wrong. This is your home, Link. And we’re your family. You’re not getting kicked out.”

Link’s eyes watered again for some reason, and Gillian gave him a squeeze as he leaned on his shoulder, sniffling.

Rina looked at Gillian, meeting his eyes for a moment, then down at Link with a sigh. “Don’t worry, Treasure. Nothin’s gonna happen to you. And you’re right, Gillian. Let’s eat, and then we can take Link to Cypress’s so he can get him fixed up. Then we can figure out Ponds.”

“Does that sound like a good plan, Link?” Gillian asked, and Link slowly nodded. That sounded fine.

“Thanks Papa,” he whispered, and Gillian froze, then smiled at him as he held him close.

“Of course, Link. Now let’s get some dinner in you and Mama, and then we can deal with the rest.”

He slid Link into Rina’s arms, then stood and went to finish up dinner, Rina telling him the handful of things left to do for the meal. Link snuggled into her arms, her cool scales feeling nice against his swollen cheek, and Rina chirped softly while Gillian cut up the fish, Link calming down with the familiar safe sounds.

He knew he should’ve told them the truth from the start. Maybe Mama would make a big fuss, but that was just how she handled things, and sometimes... that was okay. And Gillian seemed to know pretty well how to help her keep it down when she needed to.

And regardless, no matter how big a fuss went on, he knew she and Gillian would keep him safe.

“So what did you find today, Link?” Rina asked him while Gillian finished cutting up the fish, and Link pulled the feather and rocks out of his pouch, showing her the different things he liked out each of them, and then telling her about what kind of bird he guessed the feather had come from.