#hero!reader au

Time (+ Malon)

The oldest and most definitely the easiest to separate from Destiny. Not only is he much older, he’s also taller XD

While you have complicated feelings on all the Links, you have the least complicated feelings on Time. 

He’s steady and present and feels like one of the least likely to betray you the way your Link does, and that makes you comfortable. 

As the group hiked towards the nearest town, you were walking side by side with Time. Thanks to now having an even group, it was easier to pair up, and you’d had the fortune of being paired with Time. Who was watching you as you rambled about nonsensical little details about myths and legends from your era. 

Time had noticed some things about you. Unlike the others, who had integrated themselves into the group one way or another and other than a certain vet, had actively attempted to create connections… you were actively avoiding them. Perhaps not consciously, but Time noted the way you kept a sort of wall between yourself and the others. Not enough to hinder the group in battle, but more on a personal level. As if… you’re afraid of them getting to know you, or perhaps afraid of getting to know them. 

However, you’d begun letting him in, and Time was eternally grateful for the privilege. He wasn’t sure exactly what he did to earn your trust, but he thanks the Golden Goddesses for whatever it is, and he swears that he’ll do his best not to break it. 

For Time, you remind him of a spooked animal. One that’s seeing the face of whoever had spooked them in the first place, and given what little you’ve said about your Link, Time is beginning to suspect there’s much more to the story than just a friendship that’s drifted apart. 

Still, as they all do, he doesn’t pry about it, but he’s slowly putting some kind of pieces together. Especially after you admit you’d been in a romantic relationship with your Link. (which happens much later btw… i think? I don’t have a clear timeline man, we’re going off vibes) 

That made him come to the conclusion that perhaps you’re so uncomfortable around the rest of them due to your separation from your Link. It's the conclusion he stays with until the truth comes out 

“Malon, meet our newest member,” Time said, putting a hand on your shoulder, a light smile on his face. The red haired woman, who you’d heard plenty about, smiled at you the same she did with the others. Welcoming, warm… motherly. 

“It’s nice to meet you, dear, I hope these boys haven’t been too much trouble for ya?” Malon said, laughing lightly as you simply nodded. She could hear the light complaints from the boys, but they were mostly busy with chattering to each other. Malon was sure you were having a hard time fitting in with the rest of the boys. Oh were you good at hiding it, or perhaps the boys were just oblivious to it, but Malon wasn’t going to let you awkwardly suffer in silence. 

“Now, come on in, I was just about to start making dinner,” Malon smiled as the boys cheered, glad to finally have shelter. Even you cracked a small smile. Not even a traveling hero could resist a good, home cooked meal, was something she learned. Hopefully, you wouldn’t be all that different, Link or not. 

Malon loves you, having someone else who can help in the kitchen is a blessing given this group, and she’s positive that Wild is the same way

She also sees how you’ve somewhat distanced yourself from the group. The way you don’t laugh with them, you make little jokes, you make comments, but you aren’t… part of the group. Not yet. 

And she is determined to help you, regardless of the reason. In fact, she’s actually the first person outside of your era that you tell about the whole betrayal thing. 

She 100% has words to say to Destiny (your Link), because she found you in the middle of an anxiety attack over the possibility of having your trust betrayed by yet another Link, hell, there’s now nine possible traitors. Even if Malon knows it would never happen, she can understand your anxiety about it

Link had been acting strange recently. Stranger than usual at least. At first, you figured it was just… Link being Link. Maybe he was having a bad week, or a noble had insulted his common origins again, or maybe a knight had badmouthed the princess’ honor. There were so many little explanations for his behavior. 

Yet you couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to it than that. 

Which was ridiculous. If something was bothering Link so terribly, you’d like to believe he’d tell you. Though the more you think about it… and who you’re talking about… Link probably wouldn’t even tell you. Someone he trusted enough to love. 

The idea made your chest hurt, but you couldn’t deny the validity of it. Link has always been horrible at sharing his problems, even with the people who cared about him.

“Link?” You whispered softly, voice echoing through your shared chambers. You received no response. This wasn’t uncommon. Link may not appear as such, but he was a deep thinker. His mind was brilliant, and that brilliance had been what had pulled you in, all those years ago. Being little kids in Mabe Village, running around the ranch. You could vividly remember the childish laughter, and how quickly it turned into hushed whimpers as the others hid from the guards that had come to collect Link. To take him far away from home. 

So far it took you years to finally find him again. Despite his fame as the hero, all you could see is that brilliant young boy with eyes bluer and brighter than the lake that you’d visit with the other ranch residents. 

“Link,” you called again, footsteps echoing alongside your voice as you stepped closer to where he sat on the bed, prepared for what would be a… restful sleep. 

“Starlight,” he finally breathed as you sat next to him, his eyes meeting yours as he was dragged out of the haze he’d been stuck in for the past few days. 

“You’ve been… unwell these past few days, is there something wrong?” You ask, hand brushing over his knuckles as he entwines your fingers together. 

“It’s… nothing you need to worry about, Starlight,” Link assures you, breathing out a sigh as he brings you close, bringing you into his arms. “I’m just worried that the Disaster will come, and we won’t be ready,” Link admits, arms tightening around your shoulders. 

“Sunshine, you’ve been training for this all your life… even if you think you’re not ready yet, well, I know you’re ready for whatever comes your way. Whether it be divine wrath or a man with a pitchfork,” you answer, pressing your forehead to his, hands cupping his cheeks as he stares into your eyes with admiration… and doubt. 

“How can you be so sure?” Link questions, voice soft, eyebrows furrowing.

“Because I know you, Sunshine. You’re someone who never gives up, who never backs down, and has a mind so brilliant, I’m not sure how I got so lucky,” you speak, gently brushing away the mussed up hair from his face. Link smiles lightly, gaze softening as he looks into your eyes, bringing you into a crushing hug. 

“You always know just what to say, dontcha, Starlight?” Link chuckles as you press your face into his shoulder, memorizing his scent and the feeling of his warmth surrounding you. What you couldn’t see was the way his smile falls, the soft look in his eyes replaced by something unreadable. 

— 

“The hero is missing!”

“What?”

“He disappeared!”

“Where could he have gone?”

“Did he abandon us?”

“How could he!”

“That traitor…!”

—

“...Your Highness,” you mumbled. 

“Good evening, dear knight,” she greeted, voice tender, eyes filled with the same warmth you could recall in her gaze every time you had met. “...You heard the news, didn’t you?” Zelda questioned, and your silence told her everything.

“My deepest, sincerest apologies, my dear knight…” Zelda murmurs as she wraps her arms around you, quietly soothing your sobs as the night passes on. 

— 

“Black blooded monsters? That is… quite unusual,” Zelda comments as you bring her news of what your latest travels had uncovered. “Perhaps… he has something to do with this? The same way he had corrupted the Guardians… Do you believe you’ll be able to grant us an audience with one of them? I believe we’ll need to discuss this with them,” Zelda requested, eyebrows furrowed in thought. 

“Of course. I’m sure Nayadra would be more than willing to help,” you nodded, a hand grasping at the strap of your leather bag. 

“I greatly appreciate this, I’ll have to inform the guard to be wary of these monsters. They appear smarter, more powerful compared to the usual monsters we’re accustomed to, no use risking an encounter,” Zelda answered, dismissing you shortly after that. 

Sighing, you wandered away from the castle, heading toward the peaks of Necluda, a place of freezing cold temperatures… and the Guardian of Wisdom’s favorite place to linger. First, however, you wanted something to eat before you hit the road. Cooking on the road may be delicious, and you liked to believe you’d developed some decent cooking skills… nothing could be a local restaurant. Not when it came to the Castletown businesses. 

You found a stand selling some food, and decided that it was best you grab some to-go food instead of dining it. 

“That’ll be 30 rupees,” the shopkeep said as you sighed, digging through your wallet to grab the thirty rupees. It wasn’t expensive per se… but still. You could only hope the food was worth the price. 

Walking to the outskirts of the city, you smiled at the sight of your loftwing peacefully resting near the stables. “Hey girl, ready for a trip to Necluda?” You greeted the bird, who gave a low coo in return, unraveling from her place near the stables. “Thank you for taking care of her,” you bowed to the stablekeep, who waved you and your extra rupees off. 

Once out of the city, you mounted your loftwing, and you suddenly found yourself with a foreboding feeling. 

It was probably nothing. 

—

This is definitely not nothing, you thought as you stood next to the usual spot that the Guardian of Wisdom liked to hang out at. The peaks of Necluda. For some odd reason, you couldn’t find any traces of the Guardian around. 

What you did find was a portal that was swirling purple, accompanied by the overwhelming urge to enter it. 

Still, what kind of hero would you be if you randomly entered every suspicious portal you encountered? So, seeing as Nayadra wasn’t around, you attempted to settle down at the Necluda peaks for the night, your loftwing flying off and away from the freezing temperatures she was not made to withstand. 

Of course, your attempts to ignore it were… futile. As the pulling and tugging in your chest turned into a yanking sensation that knocked you off your feet. 

“Fuck fuck— okay! Okay! Geez–... what do you want now, White Goddess?” You cursed, fumbling as you did your best to resist the journey the White Goddess was attempting to send you on. No way you were going on another one. The first two had already been worse than the depths of Dinraal’s recklessness. 

No way, not by the Golden Goddesses, would you willingly go on another one. 

“I’m afraid she isn’t giving you much choice,” a familiar, collected voice cut through the snow storm. 

“Nayadra!” You exclaimed before their words registered. “Wait, what does that mean–” Before you could even finish, a portal opened up underneath your feet, and you found yourself swept away and into a brand new adventure. One you were sorely unenthused about. 

. . .

“That… that fucking hurt!” You hissed, hands on your knees as you breathed in and out. A harsh glare was aimed at the river you’d landed in. It just had to be a running one too, didn’t it? Was this some sort of retribution for your attempts to resist her? You swore you were so gonna tell Zel about this when you got home. At least she could lower the amount of sacrifices that year. That’ll teach that damned goddess a lesson. 

Before you could properly assess more about your current location, you heard the sound of approaching footsteps. And they didn’t sound very friendly. In fact, heavily armored was more like it. Well, one heavily armored person. The rest of the armor sounded lighter to you. 

When you turned, still disorientated by the wonderful little dip you’d just taken, you almost jumped out of your skin at what you saw. 

General Chain - hero!reader's perspective of the Chain overall

Overall, tolerable, a bit loud for your tastes (you’re more accustomed to being around quieter individuals, Dinraal Not Withstanding™)

As a group, they’re a bit chaotic and you find it can be a bit exhausting to deal with them all at once. 

At least they aren’t inexperienced and you can rely on them to not get you killed in battle (we take all the wins we can get here)

Sometimes, though, when you’re given watch at night… you can’t help but observe each of the Links, eyes trailing over their features, their sleeping patterns, their clothes, posture, skin, hair– anything that could fully distinguish them from that wretched man. Yet the name still rings loud in your ears, and all you can think of is the possibility they’ll all leave you the moment you get attached, just like your Link had, all that time ago. 

You have told them about your Link, and your Zelda (who’ve been given the nicknames Fate = Zelda and Destiny = Link). You didn’t tell them about Link’s betrayal, you did tell them that you haven’t seen your Link in a while a way to excuse forgetting details about him… about them. 

Despite your overall anxiety about the Chain as a whole, you do manage to feel safer when they’re separated as individuals due to how… different they are from your Link. None of them have that exceptional intelligence you recalled in your Link, not to say any of them were dumb, but none of them were at the level your Link was. 

You and Twilight (hilariously) didn’t get along very well at first, despite Twilight’s usual empathy, he was honestly suspicious of you at first. Your discomfort around him and the others made him wonder if you’d done something to deserve the space between you and your Link 

“Do you have a Link in your time?” Wind asked as they all sat around the fire, exhausted from all the days traveling and the portals recently speeding up. Twilight suspects you may have something to do with that. As is the case every time there’s a new person in their ranks. 

“Hm? Oh, I do… I haven’t seen him in… a very long time,” you answer. You don’t elaborate further, and they can all see the… odd look on your face. Twilight is almost reminded of how he’s been described whenever he thinks of Midna, almost wistful, but your expression doesn’t… feel wistful as someone full of regrets and yearning. It’s deeper and Twilight can’t pinpoint it. 

While Twilight (and everyone in general) is usually pretty respectful about secrets, this one feels off to him, and he can’t explain why.

He’s a bit harsh on you, and you… well, you avoid him somewhat (because who would want to be around someone who doesn’t like them?). His treatment of you makes you wonder if this is what your Link had truly thought of you. 

Twilight’s still cordial, of course, but there’s a sort of edge

The kind of edge that says he can and will put everyone else before you, and while you can appreciate loyalty, there’s something pointed about his unfriendliness that does lead to the two of you occasionally having staring contests until one of you backs off for one reason or another. 

Time is particularly tired of this dynamic, but also aware he can’t exactly assure Twilight without knowing your secret… something he doesn’t 

“I’m not sure we can trust them,” Twilight says, glancing at you, who was currently sitting between Warriors and Wind, listening to one of Wind’s endless tales. If Twilight had to guess, it was probably Wind attempting to stay awake the way the rest of them did. Warriors was always up to entertain him, though Twilight can’t say he really knows all the details, he’s pretty sure it’s because those two have met before. 

“And what brought you to that conclusion?” Legend asked, eyeing Twilight. 

“They’re just… so… secretive, and the cagey way they get when we ask about their Link doesn’t give me much confidence,” Twilight admitted, eyes narrowed in a glare aimed toward the ground. 

“Yeah? Well, the rest of us are pretty damn secretive too. Fuck, I know I am, and just look at the Old Man. We barely know anything about his journey,” Legend countered, arms crossed as he looked at Twilight, unimpressed. 

Legend’s words did nothing to assuage the paranoia that ran rampant in Twilight’s mind. He’d admit, Legend had a point. All of them had their secrets, and some they were more cagey about than others. But Twilight just can’t find it in himself to just give you the benefit of the doubt. 

“You’re being paranoid,” Legend continued, waving a hand. 

The reason Twilight doesn’t trust you is mostly because he feels he understands the Link mindset. Which ya know, he’s a Link, he’s got a decent grasp on it 

However, he feels as if you’re not telling them something really important about your Link. and he finds it pretty fucking suspicious.  

While it could be benign and he could be overthinking everything (cause he’s a paranoid bastard), but he just can’t stop the ideas flowing through his mind

And yes, it is partially because you’re not a Link. To him it’s suspicious, and that suspicion is most definitely not good for the group. Even Legend agrees that Twilight is probably just being paranoid

“WIND!” Twilight shouts, voice bellowing as he watches with horror as Wind was struck down in the corner of his eye. Struck straight over the head by a moblin with a clear grudge. 

“Shit–” he heard your voice curse beside him. Before he could even begin to dissect any of what was happening around him, the moblin in front of him swung down its fist, aiming for him. 

Before it could, an arrow flew by his head, striking the moblin straight through the chest. Without a second thought to where the arrow came from, Twilight turned and rushed toward where he’d seen Wind fall. 

“Twilight! Over here!” Your voice called. Usually, the two of you would end up in some sort of glaring contest, but Twilight didn’t even bother, rushing toward the source of your voice like some kind of desperate madman. 

When he finally reached the source, he was relieved to find you tending to an injured Wind. 

“I’m fine! I even took down the moblin on my own!” Wind huffed as Twilight relaxed at the kid acting as usual whenever they got fussy around him. 

“I know. However, you’re injured, it’s unwise to leave it unattended. We can’t have one of us hurt and end up completely incapacitated because they were a bit too stubborn to accept help,” you snipped right back. He’d always noticed that you’d never really babied Wind the way the rest of them did. In fact, he’s seen you say something very similar one time when Wild had attempted to play off a rather severe injury. 

“Agreed. We’ve still got daylight to burn,” Twilight said, pretending to not notice the way you looked at him, sharp and somewhat confused. 

Maybe he had been a bit too paranoid when it came to you… 

After that incident, Twilight is a bit less suspicious of you. The way you’d rushed to help Wind and even helped him not get injured made him a bit more inclined to trust you. Even if he still doesn’t quite like you (yet), he’s coming around

He’s more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt, and a sort of trust forms between the two of you after finding the rest of the group

Who are rather surprised to see the two of you (kinda) getting along with minimal glares involved

Time in particular is quite pleased with the development 

When he learns of the truth behind your Link, he feels horrible because he judged wayyyy wrong about the whole thing