#tri-force

It had been a long day of walking across the current Hyrule (Hyrule’s Hyrule, which wasn’t confusing at all) and if anyone had been disturbed by the absence of people, they hadn’t said anything. The sun had long set and instead of doing the sensible thing and sleeping, someone (Wind) had persuaded Time to allow a ‘story time’ of sorts.

There had been a total of three “scary” stories, four tall-tales, and a few clips from their various adventures (”I’m sorry, your Zelda shoved you off a floating island?” “She thought I was lying about not hearing my loftwing. It wasn’t her fault.” “She shoved you off a floating island???”).

Legend shrugged at the question. “Nothing to brag about.”

Hyrule bit his tongue to prevent the multiple questions about the various stories he had grown up with about the hero of Legend. If even a tenth of them were true, then Legend was either modest or just didn’t want to talk about it. And no way in Hyrule was he going to tattle on the hero of legend.

“I’m sure our pirate has some fun pirate stories though, right?” Legend raised an eyebrow in a silent challenge.

Wind cocked his head to the side in confusion. “Uh... like what?”

“Ever go pillaging?” Warriors asked.

“What?!” Wind shot to his feet, clearly affronted. “No! Why would you even say that?”

“Clearly the word ‘pirate’ means something different in your world,” Time pressed his hands to his mouth in thought. “Do you look for buried treasure?”

Wind wasn’t as angry at that question. “Well, I got some charts that lead me to rubies, joy pendants and tri-force shards.”

Hyrule had picked that moment to take a sip of soup, which was immediately inhaled and then spat back up in shock. “Tri-force shards?” He managed to gasp between coughs. The back of his hand suddenly felt very warm and Hyrule resisted the urge to run in the opposite direction.

Thankfully, Hyrule wasn’t the only one concerned about the sudden Tri-Force talk. Time had paled, Twilight and Legend were shifting in their seats clearly uncomfortable, Warriors and Four had leaned forward curious, and Wild looked very confused.

Which he decided to voice. “What’s the tri-force?”

Hyrule wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry at that question. Nor was he even sure where to start on that answer.

Twilight let out a heavy sigh, resigned to his role of mentor. His hand dropped onto his gloves and gauntlets, fiddling with the straps. “The tri-force is a gift from the gods. It’s made of three pieces: The tri-force of wisdom, which is usually held by the royal family, the tri-force of power, which in my world was possessed by Ganondorf for a very, very long time,” Twi paused for a moment, closing his eyes. He pulled his glove free and held up his hand to face everyone. After a moment, the very faint, very familiar gold glow appeared.

Hyrule instinctively covered his own hand and prayed it didn’t start glowing in reaction.

You’re a coward.

“And the tri-force of courage, usually held by the hero of the time,” Twilight opened his eyes and lowered his hand, the glow fading. He looked over at Wild, “I’m surprised you don’t know this.”

Wild had his face scrunched up. It was a familiar look for him. “I think... I remember hearing that story as a kid. Maybe.” He shook his head, “I mean, I see that symbol everywhere in ruin architecture and I knew it was on the Master Sword but... I guess I never questioned what it was?” The scrunched look disappeared. “I do remember that’s what Zelda used to seal the Calamity away with so... maybe she has the whole thing?”

Wind let out a low whistle, “Well, in my world, if you bring all three pieces together then the gods will grant you a wish.”

“Well,” Legend sighed, “at least that’s one thing that’s consistent.” He leaned back against the log he was sitting against, “That thing is nothing but trouble.”

“Agreed,” Warriors had this far away look in his eyes. “Wars have been fought for control of the Tri-force. Millions have died in the attempt to wield it.” He pulled off his own gauntlets and gloves to reveal his own tri-force of courage. “All that death... for what?”

“Geez,” Sky said, “I was expecting something like that out of the Old Man, not you.”

“He’s called Warriors for a reason,” Four pointed out.

“That’s fair.”

Time was looking torn, his eyes flicking between Twilight and Wind. He almost looked... confused.

Hyrule filed that back into his mind for a future conversation, but for now... he had to tread carefully. “So... why was your tri-force in pieces?”

Wind shrugged, “Don’t know. Maybe it was a way to see if I was worthy for it? Most were hidden behind trials of courage, like the ghost ship or just mini-dungeons.” He pointed at Warriors and Twilight. “Although, my tri-force is now at the bottom of the Great Sea. How’d you get yours and why do you still have it?”

Warriors smirked, “It just kind of appeared during a particularly nasty fight. General Impa was in trouble so I just... jumped in.” He frowned, “As for the second thing... heck if I know?”

“Similar situation,” Twilight nodded at Warriors, “Some jerks kidnapped some friends of mine and I tried to fight them. Adventure ended and...” he pointed at his hand. “Still here. Ganondorf lost his though so that’s good.”

“Why isn’t it sealed away in the Sacred Realm?” Time suddenly asked.

Legend snorted, “Well, I don’t know about all of your worlds but my Sacred Realm got corrupted by Ganon. It’s called the Dark World now. Not really a good place to keep the Tri-Force.” Legend nodded at Hyrule, “Right, Rule?”

Hyrule forced a smile and kept his hands as still as he could.

You’re a coward.

“I think we can all just agree the Tri-Force is trouble and it would be best if we didn’t have to deal with it on this already weird adventure,” Warriors was pulling his glove and gauntlet back on. A chorus of agreements echoed from all the heroes and the topic was officially dropped in favor the weirdest modes of transportation they had come across on their adventures.

Hyrule only listened half-way, the back of his hand uncomfortably warm. His stomach twisted and turned in knots, the guilt screaming from within. The tri-force was already in their adventure. The others just didn’t know.

And Hyrule really didn’t want to tell them.

You’re a coward.

He had never asked for the Tri-Force, nor had he ever wanted to wield the entire thing. Actually, he had wanted to give part of it to the Royals when his adventure was over or just break it apart and leave the pieces in safe, secret locations but... It had felt wrong. Like, really wrong.

Like Hylia haunting your dreams and practically yelling, “NO!” whenever he started to think about it too much.

At this point, Hyrule had just accepted the fact that he was the guardian of the Tri-Force. He would never say he was at peace with the situation (there was only so much a person could take of monsters screaming for your blood and of people trying to kill you for it... including supposed friends), but he had gotten a hold on his life.

He didn’t hate the Tri-Force like they did (then again, the thing had saved him more times then he could count-- but it was also the reason he was alone all the time). Yes, it was powerful and yes, it was not to be taken lightly. In fact, Hyrule only used it’s magic in emergencies. His own magic was sufficient for most situations.

If anything, the Tri-Force was more like a travel companion. A very silent, strong companion that only jumped in when there was an emergency. Sometimes Hyrule even forgot he had it (only for an hour at the most, but he would take what he could get). But he could see why people wouldn’t want it around. It’s the same reason he avoided everyone in his own world:

Too much power.

Hyrule was snapped out of his thoughts at Time’s call for sleep. Hyrule made his way to his spot, his mind much to far away to acknowledge the calls of “good nights,” and “Wild, if there are frogs in my blankets again then so help me--”

He had fifth watch tonight. His watch would be followed by Time. Maybe he should talk to him about the situation. It would be good for at least one person to know about the power up his sleeve-- just in case. The heroes had been clear that they hadn’t wanted anything to do with the tri-force so Hyrule wasn’t too worried about them “trying to kill him for the golden power”.

Hyrule determined to do just that later in the evening.

Which was why he was very disappointed in himself for waking Time, wishing him a good watch, then climbing back into bed without a word about the tri-force.

You’re a coward.

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I don’t think Wild knows what the Tri-Force is. I think he would have known before the Calamity, but I don’t think he remembers the legends and things like that. He knows the symbol and thinks it’s a culture thing.

Also, I don’t think most of the Links would have a positive opinion on the Tri-Force because while we know Time does not like the Master Sword or Hylia, the Tri-Force does not have an actual spirit. It’s an object. Therefore, it’s a lot easier to be annoyed at because everyone is after the “all powerful Tri-Force” and these boys are just DONE.

Poor Hyrule: he thinks he’s inadvertently been told to leave the group, the poor baby. I may make a part two that would be Hyrule “telling” everyone about that little thing on the back of his hand. Aka: ANGST/FLUFF. Let me know if you want to see it.