#no.26

Tim gulped down his coffee, his tongue had long since toughened up so it wasn’t burned to a crisp from gulping down the nearly boiling hot life juice.

He looked at his phone again. Unfortunately the warning hadn’t disappeared. Which meant he’d have to deal with it. He sighed.

He sent a quick text to the Furries Anonymous groupchat that he and his many, many, many, siblings and not siblings used before going to refill his mug. Alfred had tried to confiscate the oversized mug, but Tim just kept buying more, each one bigger than the last.

Finally, Alfred had sat him down and forced him to sign a contract stating that for each mug of coffee he drank he would eat a healthy snack and get two hours of sleep. (Actual sleep, Alfred had said, staring down at him with both eyebrows raised. Actually falling asleep and staying asleep for two consecutive hours.) 

Tim could have said that signing a contract under coercion wasn’t legally binding, but was too afraid of what Alfred might do to him. Last time Tim had angered Alfred, he had recruited Stephanie to get revenge on Tim.

She had snuck laxatives in every mug of coffee he drank, somehow even managing to do it when he was on a mission in space!

He grumbled as he trekked back up to his office since he’d have better access to the building’s systems on his computer. 

On his way back up he bumped into the tour group again. His eyes landed on the black haired teenager. Tim thought he’d imagined him at first (he had only been on his second mug of coffee at the time), but there he was. 

Tim squinted at him. He definitely looked like one of Tim’s siblings, but it wasn’t anyone he knew. Had Bruce adopted another kid without telling them again?

He could have asked the groupchat but he didn’t want to seem like he hadn't been paying attention, if this kid had already been with them for a while. He’d have to sneakily investigate.

His phone beeped.

He’d investigate after checking out this radiation warning. He quickly hurried to his office, hopefully it was nothing and they wouldn’t have to evacuate the building.

Once in front of his computer he pulled up the alert. The radiation warning seemed to be coming from just one floor. He pulled up the cameras with the special extraradiation filter he’d designed, and went through the cameras one by one until he came to one that had a green glow around the source of the radiation signal.

Tim leaned closer to the screen, frowning. The radiation glow was coming from the visiting tour group and seemed to be concentrated on the potential new sibling.

Poink 

“A monster that shoots balls of elemental energy,” Wild responded, distracted.

Plink

“Like a spume?”

“What? No, like– WATCH OUT!”

Sky turned too late, catching a dark ball of energy straight in the chest. The Master Sword chimed in anguish as he flew into the mountainside, propelled by the wizzrobe's blast. The impact jerked a shout from Sky's throat, pitching up as he fell.

Wild immediately pulled his bow and an ice arrow, but the shadowy wizzrobe had already disappeared in a haze of dark sparks, leaving a malicious giggle floating on the breeze.

Legend raced down the path, sharp violet eyes scanning the area. “I heard the Master Sword! What happened?”

“We were ambushed by a wizzrobe! It shot a blast of something at Sky then vanished.”

Wild put away his bow and called ahead to the rest of the Chain, then he and Legend turned to the pile of white and green laying motionless at the side of the path.

Legend picked up the dislodged Master Sword while Wild shifted Sky's sailcloth. “Hey Sky, you okay in there? That blast hit you pretty hard.”

Wide, bright blue eyes in a childish face met his gaze. Soft, downy hair the same color as Sky's fluttered around the boy's head. 

The boy spoke, high voice quavering as tears shimmered into the expressive eyes. “W-who are you? Who's Sky? Where am I?” 

“Uh…” Wild couldn’t wrap his head around what his eyes plainly saw, brain misfiring at Sky's eyes and hair in a child's face. “I’m Li…You can call me Wild, and, uh…” 

The boy's lip trembled. Wow, I’m bad at this. “What’s your name, kid?”

“I’m Link.”

Wild's insides squirmed like chuchus. “Hey, uh, Lege?” he called carefully over his shoulder, “Can we talk?”

He rose and left the kid – Link? Sky?? – huddled by the path, dragging Legend by the sleeve to the other side.

“Hey! What's going on?” 

Wild nodded over his shoulder, watching Legend make the discovery. “He's a kid?!” Legend whisper-shouted. 

Wild could only nod.

Legend pinched the bridge of his nose. “Oh Nayru, you’ve done it now…” he muttered.

“What do we do?” Wild asked. “He doesn’t remember us at all, and he's scared.”

“I can’t babysit him!” Legend hissed. “I’m no good with kids!”

“You literally have a godson you helped name and raise.”

Legend flushed. “That's different!”

“At least you have experience with kids!” Wild snapped. “The only kids I’ve interacted with just wanted…to see–” Wild trailed off, eyes glazed.

Legend waited a moment, but Wild didn’t finish the thought. “’Hoy, Champ,” he waved a hand in front of Wild's face, “not a good time to get lost in a memory!”

Wild blinked, focusing. “No, no, it's not that,” he mumbled, pulling his slate from his hip and tapping its screen rapidly. "More like a flashback." With a triumphant a-ha! he replaced the slate and reached into his pouch, emerging with a few colorful butterflies cupped gently in his palms.

Carefully, he crouched next to the trembling child. “D'you wanna see something cool?” he asked.

Link sniffled and nodded, eyes brightening slightly.

Wild opened his hands and the butterflies fluttered around the pair. Link's eyes widened, and a delighted grin split his face. Maybe this won’t be so bad, Wild thought.

Then the wind – up to now gratefully silent on this high mountain pass – picked up. Uh-oh.

It hit like a physical wall, scooping up Wild's hair and yanking on Legend's hat, forcing the older heroes to brace themselves against its might. Wild's stomach dropped as the wind passed him by, continuing on toward the mountain's face and the child who still crouched beneath it. He turned, already shouting a warning. “Sky! No, Link! Watch out!”

He caught the boy's eyes right as the wind pulled at the sailcloth, still clasped tight around Link's throat and bundled around his smaller form.