#luwat

But…

One day. One day long after it was over, when Hyrule was at peace and he didn’t have to fight every day…

One day. Curiosity got the better of him and he locked the door of his little hut on the plateau and shooed out all but the most resolved of cats (Mr Tubbs), and he pulled out the Aspect’s Belt.

It was beautiful. The carving of the jade, the intricate ceramics, the enamel- it was an incredible artefact and honestly, should probably be preserved for all of Hyrule to see. Zelda would like to see it, he was sure, to examine it. He just… hadn’t told her about it.

He wasn’t sure why. It felt private, somehow, in some way that he couldn’t quite articulate. He carefully clipped the belt around his waist.

The change was immediate. One moment he was himself, small and nervous, in thick, loose clothes and a big, tight, mask, and the next-

Oh no. Oh nonono, this was not good. This was bad. Wild didn’t like this, didn’t like it at all-

He reached for his belt, determined to take it off immediately, but before he could, something opened up underneath him, and the world went dark around him, swallowing him whole.

-

“Monster, five o’clock!”

Warriors jumped at Legend’s shout, looking around as he drew his sword. They had just been out getting some firewood but this was not anywhere familiar to them, and none of them trusted the apparent peace of their surroundings. These woods were too calm, too pleasant. There had to be a monster camp around here somewhere, the Chain simply didn’t get lucky like this.

And sure enough, there it was. Two days of peace in an attempt to lull them into a false sense of security, no doubt, but now Warriors could see it. A huge, hiking beast, kind of like some of the moblins they had, but also totally unfamiliar to him. He could just see it through the trees, its strange, twisted body, its long snout. It had fur in a few, uneven patches, but most of its body seemd covered in thick, mottled scars. Clearly this beast had been in no small number of fights, then.

Warriors switched to his bow and drew it.

The creature jolted, one remaining ear twitching towards the sound of the veteran’s shout as it turned to face them.

Warriors loosed his arrow. It whizzed past the creature, just missing its head as he got a good look at its face.

Hylia above. To say that the thing had been in a few fights was an understatement. If the rest of its body was twisted with scars, its face was destroyed. Half of its snout was gone, long, sharp fangs exposed to the world, its red mane not growing at all around its ruined left ear, its eye permanently narrowed  by the misshaping of its skin.

Warriors had never seen a monster so badly scarred. Monsters weren’t usually keen on healing and care for their wounded - that this one had lived-

The creature shrieked and stumbled backwards, landing hard on its rump and scrambling away from them, eyes wide and wild. 

The four of them advanced, but something about this didn’t feel right. What kind of monster fell over instead of fighting? What kind of monster tried to flee?

Wars slung his bow back over his back and drew his sword once more, moving forwards.

The creature let out a small bark and - and reached up, trying to? To - to cover its face? Its maw? And it scrambled up. It had long legs and a damn tail, so when it tried it could move fast. In an instant it had turned and dashed off, vanishing into the forest.

Warriors held out a hand, stopping his brothers from chasing after it.

“What the hell, Cap?” Legend grumbled.

Wars shook his head. “It-” he broke off, staring at where the creature had vanished. “It’s not a monster. I don’t think. It was scared.”

Four nodded along. “It had blue eyes, not red.” he added. “And it wasn’t armed. It seemed as surprised to see us as we were to see it.”

Warriors hummed, but before he could speak was interrupted by a sound from behind him, where Sky had been standing.

“Uh… guys?” he said softly. He had drawn the master sword and had turned his head down towards its blade. “I- yeah. Warriors is right.” Slowly, he re-sheathed his sword, turning towards them and holding out his right hand. It was already badly scarred with lightning burns, but there was a fresh injury on his palm, lightly pink with the shape of diamonds pressed into it. The shape of the decorations on the Master Sword’s hilt.

“He’s not a monster.” Sky continued. He couldn’t look at them, blind as he was, but he was turned to them with an intensity all the same. “He’s one of us. He’s a Link.”

-

Needless to say, they all felt sick that they had mistaken a new brother for a monster. At first Warriors had tried to run after him, but he was already long gone and likely wouldn;t take kindly to being chased again so soon after they had literally tried to shoot him.

Warriors felt awful about that.

So instead, they headed back to camp with the news that they had found a new brother, and that he looked… less than hylian and that they may have tried to attack him as a monster.

Poor guy.

Warriors couldn’t get his face out of his head. That gaping maw, the twisted eye, the burns the whole way across his body. How could anyone live through something like that? How could someone live with scars that bad - they must have pulled and ached almost constantly. And then how he had tried to cover himself before fleeing.

Warriors felt awful. He hoped that he could get a chance to apologise. The guy clearly had been through a lot.

They ended up using Sky’s dowsing ability to search for him. They may not have had anything belonging to him but he bore the spirit of courage, and it was easy enough to search for that.

Well.

Easy enough to search.

Not easy enough to find though.

Warriors was honestly impressed. The guy had to have been seven feet tall and he had a tail. How he had managed to avoid being found for so long was no mean feat.

But of course, they did find him. In the end. He was a big guy, and once they started to find the broken plants and crushed grass where he had run through, they knew that they were on the right track. And then when they found the fallen tree, hollowed out by age, when they heard the soft, terrified sobs, they knew that they were in the right place.

The Chain stopped and exchanged glances, unsure of what to do. Only the original four had actually seen him, but they didn’t exactly seem like the ideal people to go and talk to him right now. Twi was probably the most outgoing but he relied on sign and they didn’t know if the guy would be facing them or if he even knew Hylian sign to begin with.

Wind was an absolute no-go. He meant well, but he was thirteen, and sometimes said the dumbest shit.

Time sighed and knelt, taking off his sword and setting it aside before crawling closer to the hollow.

“Hello?” he called gently. “So, funny story. My name’s Link. And so are all of my companions. And I think you might be too. Can I come in and talk?”

Warriors was standing only a little behind Time, and could just about see into the darkness of the log. To the huddled, shaking figure, curled up in a ball and facing away from them. It - he - keened, shivering all over, and Time raked a hand through his hair.

“I-” he said. “I know you had a bad experience earlier. My brothers- they made a terrible mistake. And they’re sorry. They’re right here, and-”

Another keen, this one in terror. Warriors felt his stomach lurch, and before he knew what he was doing, he had knelt beside Time, peering in.

“I-” he said. “I was the one who shot at you.” he could feel the guilt pool in his gut as he said it, could see his new brother freeze in place. “I- I dshouldn’t have. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, Link. I can never take it back, but- but I want to help.”

He took a shuddering breath, and then in a moment of inspiration, began to unwind his scarf. The man - the boy? - in front of him was hardly clothed, but judging by his reaction, this was not his preferred state. He must have been brought here unawares, and Warriors wouldn’t have that.

“I- I’ve got a scarf. I’m holding it out, right behind you. If you reach back you can grab it, use it to - um. Whatever you want.”

The boy took a deep breath, then another. He was still trembling, but now a single, clawed hand reached around, feeling for the scarf. When he found it he snatched it away, pulling it around to his front.

It took a few minutes for him to wrap it around himself. Warriors was glad of how big his scarf was in this moment, because the poor guy seemed to not know what he wanted to cover the most. His head and face was his first attempt, but then as he made to turn he glanced down and saw his ruined torso and whined again, pulling at the cloth of the scarf to try and make it somehow bigger.

“Oh!” Time gasped. “Oh, right - here! Take my cloak! You can use it to cover yourself too!”

Sky gasped where he stood, understanding what was going on. “You can take my sailcloth too! Maybe that can help?”

Before long they had all donated something. The new Link seemed more than a little surprised to suddenly have so many lengths of fabric and spare garments thrust at him, but he didn’t protest. Within a few minutes he was wrapped up in a bizarre myriad of cloths and fully covered, and only then did he turn to face them. Only his teary eyes and long red hair were visible and he still seemed to shrink in on himself, drawing his arms in close, tucking his tail in around his legs. Warriors felt his heart break.

“Hi, Link.” He said, his voice maybe a little hoarse. “I’m Link, but I go by Warriors. We’re gonna look out for you now. It’s gonna be okay.”

-

Wild, as they named their brother, was a gentle, kind boy. He was nervous around others, and though some of that was due to being the only… whatever he was … in a world of hylians, the Chain could tell that most of it was due to whatever incident in his past had left him so badly scarred. They never mentioned it, of course, and instead welcomed him in with open arms. He was their brother, after all, and they loved him.

He laughed with them. He fought with them. He turned out to be an amazing cook and took over the making of meals each night, which no one complained about. 

He didn’t have to go along in an outfit made of scarves for long. Time had a few spare clothes that only took a little altering to fit him, and he didn’t mind that they made them loose. Hyrule wove together some dried grasses to make a mask that could cover the hole in his cheek and offered him a bag of salves for his scars. And then when they went to Ordon, Uli specifically tailored several outfits for him, much to his embarrassment and very obvious joy. They all knew by then that Wild loved pretty things, after all.

And little by little, he opened up to them. They couldn’t really communicate easily, not with the language barrier between their signs, but they made it work. They got to know him. They came to love him. Not just as their brother in courage, but as himself. As Wild. As Link.

And more than that - Wild surprised himself one day by realising that he loved them too. He trusted them too.

That they were a family, and somehow, wonderfully-

In search of a new danger that threatened to assault Time’s Hyrule, the chain walked into the deep Lost Woods, guided by their leader who opened the path through the darkness. What they didn’t expect, though, is that the danger might sometimes be closer than they think. It might be in the nearest tree, in the flower that stands alone at their feet, in the blade of grass that looks slightly suspicious.

Who knows, it could even maybe —just maybe— be in the shape of their own footsteps. In the wind that lightly hits their faces. In the darkness of their own shadows.

They don’t know if it's standing right next to them. Or watching them in their sleep. Or talking to them using words that feel somehow in the wrong voice.