#sorry wind

Four

“Woah!! Look at that!” The child cried from on top of Twilight’s shoulders. He jumps, pointing to something in the distance, nearly flinging himself off of Twilight in the process.

“Careful!” Twilight grabs onto his legs, struggling to keep the two of them balanced. “Don’t fall.”

You looks forward to where he pointed, but you don’t see anything. “What is it Link?”

He jumps, much to Twilight’s chagrin. “I think I see the castle! Papa is in Castle Town! I’m almost home!”

You wince, along with the few other members of the group. You don’t have the heart to tell him that this isn’t his world. 

When he was hit by the magic, he was transformed into a child no older than six years old. Luckily, he was still able to wear his clothes, even if they were a bit too big for him. But he was certain that he was lost and knew the way back home. So the group figured that if anyone could help him, it was Zelda. Thus, you all stated traveling to the castle.

You didn’t expect him to be so excited for someone who wasn’t there.

“I hope Zelda wasn’t too worried.” He says when no one else comments on his words. “I was supposed to head to the castle to check on her bunnies. I don’t know how I got so far away though.”

“Do you want to see the bunnies first?” You try to steer away from Castle Town. “We have to go to the castle anyway. Then we can find your dad.”

You can see the idea spin in his head. He’s thinking about it. “Hmmm... But Papa would be worried about me too. He doesn’t like me going too far away where he can’t see me... Not that I haven’t done that before.”

You snort. Of course. He’s still Link.

“What do you think?” Four turns his head to look at you. “Am I going to get in trouble?”

“Hmmm...” You pretend to think about it too. “I don’t think so. We can stop b the castle first since what we have to do is really important. Then we can find your dad and I’ll tell him it was our fault, yeah? That way you don’t get in trouble.”

He grins. “Thank you! You’ll the bunnies. They’re very tiny and soft. And not everyone can find a bunny to keep, but Zelda has three.”

“Three?” You grin back. “That must be really special then. She must take really good care of them.”

Four nods back. “Do you have bunnies?”

“No.” You shrug. “I have cuccos.”

Four makes a face. It appears that he’s already learned the hard lessons of cuccos. “...I don’t like cuccos. But I’ll find you a bunny, ok? They’re much better.”

You snort. “I believe it.”

Four points a fingers up, a sign of confidence. “I’m really good at finding things. I find all sorts of things in my house that papa says weren’t there before. We have little mice friends and they can help me find you a bunny.”

“I don’t need a bunny though.” You shake your head, keeping your smile on your face. “But thank you. That’s very sweet of you.”

He nods, suddenly very determined. “It won’t be easy. Maybe I can ask grandpa to help make a little trap. He works a lot with metals. He’s a blacksmith. I’m going to be just like him when I grow up.”

You nod, keeping some little comments to yourself. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if you started talking about him like you already knew him. For all the boy knew, he was just somewhere else, surrounded by strangers. It doesn’t seem like he knows anything of the hero he would grow up to be. 

You hope that Zelda would actually be able to do something about this and fix him. But even if there’s no immediate solution, you can’t say that you’d mind having him around.

“I bet you’re going to be just as good as him, maybe even better.”

He laughs. “No one is better than my grandpa. But if I get close to it, I’d be really happy.”

Wind

“What do we do?”

“Oh my god, this is horrible.”

“Time, you grew up with children right?”

“Don’t look at me. I have no experience with babies.”

“Wild, get a fire going, heat up from milk.” You command, trying to hold the group together. “We need to cook a few light grains to keep him full since I think he’s past that age. We need rags, blankets and something to cut them with. He’s going to get cold.”

The boys start scrambling at your orders. Wind looks up at you, easily no older than a year old. He smiles and you can see little baby teeth peaking out from his gums. 

“Oh your teeth.” You stare in wonder. You’ve have some experience with small children. Between your little bother and Zelda, you know some basics, but in reality you’ve never felt less prepared for anything. But at least he might be able to eat more solid food. So that’s a relief.

Wind starts laughing, a light and bubbly sound. You can’t help but laugh back. “What, buddy? What’s so funny?”

“Man, he was a cute kid.” Warrior looks over your shoulder. You shift the child so that he’s balancing on your hip instead on purely being held up in your arms.

“Agreed.” You poke his nose and he laughs more. “He looks like Link when he was this age.”

Warrior makes a face but Wind starts to babble. “Bababababababa...”

“What is it, buddy?” You give your attention back to him. He reaches up but aims for Warrior. You grin. “Oh you want the Captain, little man?”

You happily give the babbling baby to the suddenly panicked hero. Warrior takes him since you leave him with little other choice but he’s holding Wind awkwardly and his fear is tangible. “.....Help.”

You laugh. “Don’t be so stiff. He’s just a baby. He’ll be back to normal soon enough.” 

“The problem is just that. He’s a baby.” Warrior lifts the child higher. “What if I drop him?”

“Don’t.” You shrugs “It’s not that hard.”

“You seem to know what you’re doing.” Wild points his wooden spoon in your direction.

You shake your head, putting your hands up in defense. “I just remember my little brother. I’m a lot older than him so I had to help from time to time. Wind also has some baby teeth, so he can eat more solid food by the way. We just have to grind it up first before we give him anything just in case.”

Wind keeps talking, trying to tell the older hero something but Warrior has no idea what to do. The sight makes you laugh. “Captain, you’re hopeless.”

He looks back at you and back to the kid. Wind blows a raspberry before collapsing into giggles again. You shake your head and finally take his arms, positioning Wind against him so that it’s better from both parties. “Absolutely hopeless.”

“Dadadada! Babrrrrrrr.”

You nod, putting your hands on your hips. “Agreed. Well said.”

Warrior whines. “Don’t leave me alone with him, please.”

You raises an eyebrow. “What about-”

Wind starts crying, suddenly reaching for you. “Momaaa!!!”

You flush and take him back without hesitation. “Me? Did you want me, buddy? I got you. You’re ok. Don’t cry.”

Warrior sighs and ruffles his hair. “We have our work cut out for us.”

“We got as many loose rags as we could.” Hyrule holds a few of them up. “What do be need them for?”

You flinch. “Diapers.”

They pale.

Multiple hands shoot up. “Not it!”

“Cowards.” 

Time

You were going to cry.

The small boy in front of you was too precious, too young and too sweet to be Time. He kept looking around the forest around you as if he had never been here before. And maybe he hasn’t, but that doesn’t stop the way he seems to be looking for something.

“Are you ok?” You ask him, poking his shoulder. You say it gently and yet it seems to take him by surprise.

“Um...” He seems nervous. “I’m looking for Navi.”

You tilt your head. That’s new name. You’ve never heard it before. Warrior goes completely still, not so subtly paying attention to your not so secret conversation. So he recognizes the name. Interesting. “Who’s that?”

“My fairy.” He whispers. “She left after we defeated Ganon...and I don’t know where she is.”

The whole group comes to a complete stand still.

“Oh my god...” Sky suddenly looks ill.

The young boy doesn’t seem to know why it bothers them. He misinterprets their silence. “I know! After everything we’ve been through, she just left. She didn’t even say goodbye. I’ve been looking all over for her! I need to stop by Lon Lon Ranch to get Epona. She’s a tiny horse but big enough for me to ride.”

He’s already saved the world, a little voice tells you. He’s so little but he already did it. You cough, unsure what to do with this information. “A tiny horse? Is she cute?”

He smiles, nodding at you. “She’s a brave girl. I love her.” He doesn’t elaborate any more on the topic because he seems to be lost in thought again. “I know you said you’d help me get home, but I also need to talk to the princess. She had dreams about Ganondorf so she believed me when I said that he was truly as evil as she believed- but she also has the Ocarina of Time. If she can trust me with it, maybe I’ll be able to use it to find Navi.”

You bite your lip and try to control your breathing. Legend is actually crying in the background. You catch him but you’re at liberty to corner him and ask him what the deal is.

Warrior looks simply heartbroken. He’s got his own issues here but your attention is on the young boy.

“So are any of theses guys your boyfriend?” He pokes your stomach. You jump and snap your arm to protect the spot, taken aback by the emotional whiplash.

“No.” You have to keep yourself from adding onto that answer.

“Oh...Is your partner not here?”

“I don’t have a partner. Why do you say that?”

“You’re just pretty.” He says it so casually. You’re almost jealous. “I thought that you would have had a partner. But if you’re here then they’d be worried about you. So I was curious.”

“...Right...” You force a smile onto your face.

Tiny Time turns to you and actually smiles. “I bet you’d look great with flowers. That’s what we used to do in Kokiri Village and everyone would get to look nice and pretty.”

“Sounds like fun.” You’re not reeling. It’s fine. You can survive this.

“I can teach you.” He takes your hand and starts to swing it.

Ok, you give up. You’d do anything for this kid. “I’d like that.”

But how are you going to get him back to the way he was?