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Chapter Text

When Malon was little, there was nothing she loved more than her mother. Her mother told her stories of a faraway land where the day is like fire and the night is like ice, where only the strongest creatures survive, where most plants cannot grow. Her mother told stories of the powerful, loyal horses and the fierce, protective sisters who lived there, of the only man in their midst, who became their king at an age much too young.

When Malon was little, they were just stories. 

After her mother died in a barn fire, there was nothing Malon loved more than Epona, the little desert foal, the only proof Malon knew of that the stories were true. 

When Fairy Boy came and took Epona away - at Malon’s reluctant but honest insistence - there was nothing she loved more than the ranch, and her father. 

When Fairy Boy returned, broken and haunted, Epona affectionately nipping his ears, she loved them as much as she loved her father and their ranch. 

When Fairy Boy returned after leaving to fight in the war against the Gerudo, against Ganondorf , when he was closed off and brooding, she found there was nothing she loved more than him. It was with great triumph that she managed to get him to open up, to let himself love her back. 

When they got married, Malon thought she could never be happier, never love anyone as much as she loved her Fairy Boy. 

And then he went on yet another quest, only to return with eight boys who were so similar to how her Fairy Boy had been in his youth, before Termina, before the time travel. 

Very quickly, Malon loved them all, but not as much as she loved the one that was hers. More than ten years later, she still thought she couldn’t love anyone as much as she loved Fairy Boy. 

Until he told her that one of the boys was their descendant. When Twilight - her little wolf - walked into the room that night, Malon found herself proved wrong. This strong, soft, caring child with her eyes and Fairy Boy’s spirit, with the red highlights in his hair and her husband’s cheekbones, the physical proof of the family she and Fairy Boy would have - did have… he was what she loved more than anything else in the world. 

And so Malon was thrilled when her boys showed up at the ranch, even if it was three in the morning. She didn’t blame them, of course. From what they’d told her, they had very little - if any - control over when they switched time periods and where they ended up. 

What she did blame them for, though, was the fact that they tried to insist they didn’t need anything to eat or drink. In all honesty, they probably didn’t, but Malon was - according to her husband, at least - the most stubborn woman in all of Hyrule, and she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Especially since they looked royally beaten up. 

She may or may not have spiked their soup with red potion. 

“So,” Malon said, tired of only hearing the sounds of slurping. “What’s the funniest thing that’s happened recently?”

Wind snorted, nearly spitting his soup everywhere. 

“Don’t you dare,” Twilight snapped. Wind started giggling. “You’re not telling Malon about that! No! Stop laughing, Wind!”

Malon smirked. “Now you’ve got me interested. What embarrassing thing did Wind catch you doing?” She leaned in conspiratorially. “He didn’t walk in on you having sex with someone, did he?”

Twilight turned beet red. “No. Nope, no, that - no.”

“Then what were you doing?”

“Iwursnurrinurnmuboo.”

Malon rolled her eyes. “In Hylian, please.”

He glanced at the others, taking in their amused curiosity. Time seemed to know what they were talking about, but no one else did. Twilight did not seem to want to tell them. 

She sniggered. 

Finally Twilight met her gaze and said, in perfect Gerudo, “He caught me carving my bow with my teeth.” 

“That wasn’t Hylian,” Malon said. She was having a hard time containing her laughter. 

“He caught you doing what?” 

Twilight’s head whipped around so quickly Malon heard his neck crack. 

Wild’s eyes were wide and he wasn’t even trying to stop himself from laughing. 

“I forgot you spoke Gerudo,” Twilight said faintly. 

“I didn’t know you spoke Gerudo,” Wild replied. “If I did, I’d have cursed in Gerudo much less.”

Twilight rolled his eyes. “How about we strike a deal: I won’t mention it when you curse in Gerudo if you don’t tell anyone what I just said.”

“It’s a deal.” 

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Warriors cried, slamming his fist on the table. 

“Says the guy who kept the fact that he knew my biggest secret the whole time a secret,” Twilight replied dryly. 

Warriors slumped. “In my defense, it was really funny…”

Twilight glared at him. “For you, maybe.”

“You punched me in the face and gave me a black eye!”

“I still say I didn’t.”

“I still say you did!”

“Didn’t.”

“Did!”

“Didn’t!”

Warriors looked at Time beseechingly. “Old Man, help me out here! You agreed with me when it happened!”

But Time was laughing behind his hand, facing away from the table. Evidently, he’d tried very hard not to laugh, and failed miserably. 

Warriors sighed. “I stand by my statement. Twilight punched me in the face.”

Twilight crossed his arms. “And I say I didn’t!”

“You difficult little-”

Malon decided it was time to step in. “Boys,” she said sternly, cutting Warriors off from whatever insult he was about to throw at Twilight. Their mouths snapped shut with audible clacks and they both looked at her like dogs that had been caught doing something naughty. 

“Sorry, Mum,” they chorused, then simultaneously turned red and tried to correct themselves. “Er - Malon, sorry…”

Malon beamed. They called her Mum. “No worries, darlings,” she said. “Now, it’s getting late. Early, really, it’s almost four in the morning. The cuccos will be waking us up at dawn, so we should head to bed soon so that we’ll at least have had some slee-”

The entire house shook. Moments later, Malon’s father, Talon, stumbled into the kitchen blearily. His eyes scanned the confused, worried faces of the heroes. 

“That wasn’t you lot, was it?” he asked.

Time stood up. “No. It wasn’t.” He went to the window, one hand straying to his sword.

Malon frowned. “It could have just been an earthquake. Those do happen sometimes.”

“It’s not likely,” Legend said, shaking his head. “Given our luck, it’s probably something big on its way to kill us.”

As if on cue, the house shook again. 

Twilight looked at Malon, brows furrowed. “Will the animals be okay if this keeps happening?”

“They should be,” Talon replied. “They’re pretty tough.”

Twilight nodded. 

A loud bang echoed through the night, and the house shook a third time. 

“I think Legend’s right,” Four said. “We might have to leave.”

“Agreed. We don’t want to put you or the ranch in danger,” Sky added.

There was another bang, and then Hyrule was on his feet and standing next to Time at the window. 

“Whatever’s happening definitely isn’t natural.” He looked at Legend. “There’s someone out there using magic.”

Legend tilted his head to the side and closed his eyes for a moment. “No items - must be some kind of witch or sorcerer.”

Time cursed. 

“What?” Malon asked. 

He turned to her with an odd mixture of fury, pain, and exhaustion on his face. “Bloody Twinrova,” he explained. “I’d assumed they’d either been killed or gone into hiding after Ganondorf’s execution, but…” His gaze flicked to Twilight. “Since we know now that Ganondorf didn’t actually die and the sages are keeping it quiet, I should have guessed that if Twinrova were still alive, they might make a move on a group of heroes…”

“Twinrova?” Legend demanded. “You know them, too?”

“They’re Ganondorf’s mothers. I killed them in Wind’s timeline.”

“But not in this one,” Wild said. 

Time shook his head. “No. Not in this one.”

This time, Legend and Warriors cursed, followed closely by Wild with a particularly vulgar Gerudo one. 

Malon didn’t even bother reprimanding him. 

“We’ll have to leave, then,” Four decided. “Draw them away from the ranch, bring them out onto the field before even trying to fight.”

The heroes nodded in agreement and promptly began packing up. Malon followed them to the door.

“You’ll be careful, right?” she whispered. They all looked at her with varying degrees of sadness.

“Of course, love,” Time said. He leaned down to press a gentle farewell kiss to her lips, and then he was gone. The others disappeared with him.

Malon stared at the door even after her father’s heavy arm draped around her shoulders. 

“Don’t worry so much, kiddo,” Talon said. “He always comes back.”

But someday he won’t. 

The thought strayed unbidden into her mind. When she first met the boys, she knew his safety would be ensured until she got pregnant. Except… now she was. She’d written to him a few weeks ago to tell him as much, and she was a bit surprised it hadn’t come up in the earlier conversation. 

With a baby on the way, Twilight’s existence was guaranteed, which meant her husband’s safety wasn’t. 

Twilight didn’t know she’d seen the sad glances he sent at the Hero of Time when he thought no one was looking. It made sense that Time would be dead by Twilight’s time period, since they had no idea how much time had actually passed between Time and Twilight, but those glances meant something else. They were the kind of glances one sent at a relative that was terminally ill - a glance that said they were cherishing their time together because they knew they didn’t have a lot of it left. 

Malon was possibly overthinking it. All the heroes would go back to their own eras when their quest was finished, probably with no way of seeing each other again. 

And yet Twilight never looked at the others like they were terminally ill. Only ever Time. Malon suspected Twilight knew something about her husband’s death, and she suspected he also knew what she did.

Time no longer needed to live to guarantee Twilight’s existence. 

Malon was terrified. 

Talon must have sensed her distress, as he pulled her against him and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “He’ll be all right, Mal. Your Link is a tough fellow.”

“They all are,” she said quietly. “Doesn’t stop me worrying.”

“I doubt anything ever will,” Talon agreed, “but think about what they have waiting for them. Who in their right mind wouldn’t fight to come back to you?”

Malon smiled wetly, wiping away tears that seemed to have come out of nowhere. Stupid hormones. 

She heard shouting from outside; the first voice sounded like her husband’s, so she opened the window to listen. 

“We have looked into the future and seen the murder of our son!” cried an old, witchy-sounding voice. Malon deduced it belonged to one of the Twinrova sisters. 

“At the hands of your grandson!” added a second old, witchy-sounding voice - the other sister. 

Despite herself, Malon grinned. Grandson. She liked that. 

“If you want revenge, you’ll have to go through us!” That was Wild, bless his heart. 

Twinrova cackled. 

“We don’t want revenge!” 

“We want to bring our son back!”

Malon frowned. Were they talking about necromancy?

“All we need is a little bit of blood from someone who carries the Demon King’s essence in their veins…”

What did that mean?

Twilight swore loudly in Gerudo.

There was a moment of tense silence before the door slammed open, revealing a stressed and slightly singed Twilight. 

“Malon,” he panted, glancing apologetically at Talon, “we need to get out of here.”

She frowned as he grabbed her hand. “Why?”

He sighed. “They need people who carry Ganondorf’s blood. That’s us - you and me. Your mum was his sister.”

“What?!” Talon cried. 

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said. “Believe me, I’d rather stay here, but Time - Time insisted I get us out of here. And… you’re kind of important to my existence, so…”

Malon found herself nodding. 

Twilight turned to Talon. “I’ll keep her safe, I promise. We’ll be back as soon as Twinrova have been dealt with.”

“Hang on,” Malon said, stopping before she stepped outside. “If my mother was Ganondorf’s sister, then that means Twinrova are my grandmothers!” 

“Yes,” Twilight replied exasperatedly, “but now’s not the time, we need to go!” 

His right hand found her left one, and then they were outside. The paddock fence was burning, Legend was carefully yet rapidly attempting to melt some ice encasing Warriors’s legs, and Wild was on top of the barn, bow nocked with both an ice arrow and a fire arrow. 

“Shit,” Twilight said, seeing the fence. “I’ll fix that when we get back.”

Malon frowned as he dragged her along. “I’m sure the others will deal with it.”

He shook his head. “No. They’ll come looking for us.”

“But-”

“We’re a pack. That’s what we do.”

Malon couldn’t help but wonder at his odd phrasing. 

One of the witches screeched in fury, and Twilight barely jerked Malon out of the way of a fireball. 

“THEY’RE ESCAPING, KOUME!” 

“DEAL WITH THESE MEDDLESOME HEROES, KOTAKE! I’LL CAPTURE THE PRINCESS AND THE BOY!”

Twilight let out an impressive string of curses. He put his hands on Malon’s shoulders, looking her dead in the eye. To Malon, he’d never looked more like Time. 

“I need you to do exactly as I say,” he said sternly. “You need to run, as far and as fast as you can. Go south, towards Lake Hylia. Don’t look back. I’ll catch up to you.”

Malon’s heart skipped a beat. “What are you going to do, Little Wolf?”

He pushed her away. “I’ll hold her off long enough for someone else to take over, and then I’ll follow you. I have a plan.”

She could tell he hated leaving as much as she did, but would do it for her sake. And all of Hyrule’s, too, she supposed. Bringing Ganondorf back from the dead was a terrible idea. 

“But if they need your blood-”

“Just go, Malon!”

So she ran. Even though he’d told her not to, she couldn’t help but look back, just in time to see Twilight turn into a large, dark grey wolf. 

The sun had risen when she finally stopped, unable to go a step further. She guessed it was around eight in the morning; she’d been moving for almost four hours. Even when she’d slowed to a walk, she kept going, if only because Twilight told her to. 

Malon was sitting underneath a tree, chewing absently on her nails. Her mind was stuck on what one of the witches - Koume - had said right before Twilight sent her off. 

I’ll capture the princess and the boy. 

Ganondorf had been the king of the Gerudo. Malon’s mother was his sister. 

That meant Malon was Gerudo royalty. 

It was a shame, really, that they hadn’t known that during the war. She may have been able to use her status as Ganondorf’s niece to the advantage of the Gerudo. As a Hyrulean citizen, and the wife - girlfriend, at the time - of the Hero of Time, who was a friend of the then-princess Zelda, she may have been able to negotiate a better fate for the Gerudo. Instead they had been sentenced to death or banishment. Link had told her of a group who didn’t support Ganondorf during the war, whom he’d warned about the king’s decision. 

The king had, naturally, been furious when he learned of Link’s betrayal to help that group escape further into the desert, but after everything the Hero of Time had done for Hyrule, there was only so much he could do to unleash that fury. 

“Malon.”

Twilight’s quiet voice jerked her from her thoughts. He was limping heavily, sword loose in his right hand. 

She stood up, taking the sword and helping him sit down. “Aren’t you left handed?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said. He tugged his boot off, revealing his ankle to be purple and swollen. “But I’ve always been fairly ambidextrous, and I taught myself how to fight with my right hand after I injured my left arm pretty early on in my quest.”

Malon didn’t reply, instead gently prodding his ankle. Something felt slightly off just above his ankle bone…

He hissed in pain. 

“It’s fractured,” she announced. “Not quite fully broken, but definitely damaged. We’ll need to splint it if you want to keep walking.”

Twilight nodded, reaching into his bag. He pulled out a pair of arrows, both with the tips snapped off. “I try to keep as many arrows as I can,” he explained, “even if they break when I pull them out of dead monsters. The broken ones are quite useful for things like this.” He added a roll of bandages, then held the arrows on either side of his ankle so Malon could wrap the bandages around it. 

“I have some questions,” she announced. 

“Understandable.”

“Twinrova called me a princess, which makes sense if I’m the Gerudo king’s niece, but they called you ‘boy.’ If you’re my descendant, aren’t you technically royalty too?”

Twilight shook his head. “Too much non-Gerudo blood. Most Gerudo are part Hylian, but Gerudo blood tends to be dominant. Don’t know why you look more Hylian. Whatever the reason, your Hylian genes are expressed more than your Gerudo ones. Time’s half Sheikah, so your children would be half Hylian, a quarter Sheikah, and a quarter Gerudo. However, because you and Time both look more Hylian, your child would also look more Hylian. That’s my mum. My dad though, is fully Hylian. That makes me three quarters Hylian, one eighth Sheikah, and one eighth Gerudo. In Gerudo society, any woman that’s at least one eighth Gerudo can become the chief, because they’re a primarily female race. Because men are so rare, and therefore automatically become the king, they need to be at least half Gerudo. In other words, if I was a girl, I’d be royalty, but because I’m a boy, I’m not. Make sense?”

Malon nodded. “How do you know all this?”

He laughed. “Zelda explained it all to me when I asked her about something Ganondorf said shortly before I fought him.”

“What’d he say?”

“Something about me carrying his sister’s blood. When I told Zelda, she checked the castle archives for my family tree, and found that my great grandmother was Ganondorf’s twin sister.”

“Huh.” Malon frowned. It had just occurred to her that Twilight was avoiding showing her the right side of his face. She took advantage of the fact that he was apparently lost in thought, and abruptly grabbed his face.

His hand was squeezing her wrist painfully in less than a second, but it had been enough. She had seen the cut across his cheekbone. 

“You’re bleeding,” she said accusingly. 

“Yes.” 

“Isn’t your blood exactly what Twinrova wants to resurrect Ganondorf?”

Twilight sighed. “Yeah, but like I said before, it’s too diluted to be fully effective with what they got from a small cut on my cheek. Besides, what they’re attempting is incredibly difficult - resurrecting someone in the future. They would want enough blood to perform the ritual twice in case something went wrong.” 

Malon raised an eyebrow. “You seem to know a lot about this kind of thing.”

“I spent a lot of time in bed healing. Lots of time to read.”

“On an unrelated note, did I see you turn into a wolf earlier?”

Twilight glared half-heartedly. “I told you not to look back!”

Malon smirked triumphantly. “So you did turn into a wolf?”

“Yes,” he said, crossing his arms. “Yet another remnant from my quest. Got cursed into a beast form, then learned how to control the curse. That’s why I was carving my bow with my teeth - wolf instincts.”

That fit with his choice to call the other heroes his “pack” earlier. 

Malon helped him to his feet, steadying him on his splinted ankle. 

“You mentioned a plan?”

He nodded once. “We’re going to go to the Spirit Temple.”

Malon looked at him incredulously. “Isn’t that the heart of Twinrova’s territory?”

“Oh, definitely. That’s why they’ll never expect us to go there.”

She regarded him thoughtfully for a moment. “We’re both crazy.”

Twilight laughed. 

They were in Gerudo Valley when the sun set. Twilight provided them with some dried meat and fruit, then urged Malon to get some sleep. 

“You’re injured, Little Wolf,” she argued.

“And you’re pregnant,” he retorted. “With my mother. I’d like to exist, thanks.”

Malon crossed her arms. “One night with less sleep isn’t going to jeopardise the baby.” 

Twilight crossed his arms as well. “Time would kill me.”

“And I’d kill him for killing you. Your point?”

He huffed, and they glared at each other until Twilight snorted.

“I can see why Time says I’m a lot like you,” he said. 

Malon giggled. “He’s not wrong, though you’re also an awful lot like him.”

Twilight tilted his head to the side like a puppy. “Is that because I’m literally him reincarnated, or is it because he’s my grandfather?”

“Who knows?” She tugged on her hair tie, and her hair dropped from its ponytail. She started braiding it with well-practiced fingers. “Can I see this mysterious wolf form of yours?”

There was a poof of black particles, and then Twilight was a wolf. 

Malon’s heart melted. She took his face into her hands, relishing the softness of his fur. “You’re adorable, you know that?” she informed him. 

His tail started wagging, and he licked her arm. 

“Oh, that tickles!”

His tail wagged faster.

“Don’t look at me like that, Little Wolf.”

And then he was licking her arms until she was laughing so hard she couldn’t breathe. 

He shifted back into Hylian form. “I suppose we can both sleep as long as I’m in wolf form. Sharper senses, makes me a lighter sleeper.”

Malon looked at him sternly. “As long as you actually sleep, I see no issues with this.”

Twilight nodded agreeably, then promptly turned back into a wolf and flopped on top of her. 

She slept very well that night, all things considered. 

Twilight shook her awake far too early the next morning. 

“Come on - we need to cover as much ground as we can before the heat of the day,” he said. “We’re in a bloody desert, after all.”

“This was your idea,” she reminded him irritably. 

He grinned wolfishly. “I know. And I’m not a morning person either, that’s why I’ve been up for an hour.” 

Malon smacked him. 

He’d filled up every waterskin and empty bottle he had with water from the river in the valley, so at least they wouldn’t be completely unprepared. 

“When I crossed the desert in my time, I did it as a wolf - I found it easier,” Twilight said, helping her pack up the bedroll. “I was thinking I might do that again, unless you’d rather I didn’t.”

Malon shook her head. “I’m fine either way. I do have a question, though… you said the others will come looking for us. How will they find us?”

Twilight glanced back at the entrance of the valley. “Time will know.”

“But how?”

“He just will.”

Malon crossed her arms. Twilight was clearly reluctant to talk about this, but she wasn’t the most stubborn woman in Hyrule for nothing. 

“Does this have something to do with you being his successor?” she asked. 

His shoulders tightened. “Yes. We should get moving.” 

Twilight set a brisk pace, most likely to reach the sand quickly so he could turn into a wolf without seeming rude. When he spoke again, he didn’t look at her.

“How are you with a bow?”

Malon frowned. “Decent, why?”

He pulled his bow and quiver out of his bag and handed them to her. “Figure neither of us want you to be unarmed.”

They’d reached the sand. 

“Time dies, doesn’t he?” she blurted. Twilight whirled to look at her, shock written across his face. “I’ve seen the way you look at him. You were there when he died, weren’t you?”

Twilight ran his hand through his hair. “Not exactly,” he said shortly, and ended further conversation by turning into a wolf. 

But his response left Malon with more questions that she started with. 

About three hours after they started walking, Twilight apparently got bored. He started nipping playfully at Malon’s heels, bouncing around energetically. 

“Is that good for your ankle?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “I can’t imagine it doesn’t hurt at least a little bit.”

Twilight just wagged his tail, looking up at her with wide, bright eyes, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. 

Malon sighed. “You’re too cute, goddesses damn it. I’m trying to be stern, Little Wolf! Stop looking at me like that! Oh, screw it.” She crouched down and started scratching behind his ear. “Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy? You are! Yes, you are!”

He flopped onto his side, his tail thumping against the sand. 

“You’re the goodest boy!” Malon said, now rubbing his belly. “The goodest of all good boys, I’d say!”

Twilight made a happy noise. 

Malon giggled. “You’re adorable,” she informed him. She was about to pat him again, but changed course at the last second and pressed her hand to her stomach. 

Twilight sat up, tilting his head to the side confusedly. A second later he was Hylian again. “Is something wrong?”

She looked at him guiltily. “I don’t suppose you have any pickles on you, do you?”

He stared at her for a moment, before bursting into hearty laughter. “You don’t even like pickles!”

“I don’t!” Malon agreed. “But apparently my hormones do, so… I’m serious. Do you have any pickles.” 

“No, I don’t. Sorry. If you’re craving something salty, though, I do have some pickle weed… oh, wait, I don’t. You ate it last night.”

Malon pouted. 

Twilight laughed again. “If you’re really desperate, you could always try drinking some of your sweat.”

“Can you do that?” Malon asked.

“No idea,” he replied, shrugging. “But considering it comes out of the skin of your face, I doubt it’ll kill you. It’s made mostly out of water and salt, anyway.”

She stared at him. “You’ve done it before, haven’t you?”

“...In my defense it was a dare.”

“That’s a terrible defense.”

“You’d do it on a dare too.”

“...Maybe you did inherit more of my genes.”

Twilight snorted. “Genetics aside, we should keep moving. Having Gerudo genes is helpful, but even full Gerudo can’t stand around in this kind of sun for very long.”

Malon nodded, and then they were off again. Twilight was noticeably limping now.

“I told you bouncing around like that would be bad for your ankle,” Malon said. 

“I’m fine.”

She raised an eyebrow as he stumbled over a sand dune. “You sure about that?”

He nodded. “Though just to be safe I should probably turn back into a wolf. Three legs are better than one and all that.”

“The saying is ‘two heads are better than one,’ Little Wolf.”

“Close enough.”

“I don’t think that’s how it wo-”

Twilight was already a wolf again. Malon rolled her eyes. 

“Prick.”

Based on the sand that was kicked up at her, he’d definitely heard.

The Spirit Temple looked nothing like the pictures in her mother’s books. Just in front of her, Twilight shifted back into Hylian form, more tense than Malon had ever seen him. 

“Little Wolf?” she asked quietly. He didn’t look at her. 

“I forgot about the war.”

She laughed nervously. “How did you forget about the war?”

Twilight shook his head. “I meant I forgot it had already happened. Too much time travel recently.”

“What does the war have to do with the Spirit Temple?”

“The Hylian king desecrated it and turned it into a prison and execution grounds,” he explained tonelessly. “This is where Ganondorf’s execution was. This is where he was banished to the Twilight Realm.”

Malon looked at him worriedly. He looked rather like he might start crying. “Are you all right?”

He shook himself. “Bad memories of this place.”

She imagined it was quite a bit worse than that, but she didn’t press the matter. 

“What’s the plan now that we’re here?” she asked, changing the subject. 

“We wait,” Twilight said. He almost sounded defeated. “This is kind of surreal - this place is so similar to how it is in my time, yet it’s still so different…” He sighed. “In about thirty five years, it’ll be infested with poes and stalfos and gibdos. And invisible rats. Hated those.”

Malon watched as he stepped forward, an odd detachment on his face and in his voice. 

“There’s also a massive beast skeleton in here somewhere. No idea what it was before it died, just that fighting its reanimated skull was one hell of an adrenaline rush.”

“Did you fight massive beasts often?” Malon asked, not entirely sure if she wanted to know.

Twilight shrugged. “Pretty much every time I finished a dungeon, so… about once every two weeks, on average?”

Malon just shook her head. “Not to doubt your skill or anything, but it’s a wonder you didn’t die.”

“I nearly did, more than once.”

“That’s something no mother ever wants to hear her child say, Little Wolf.”

He looked at her in surprise. “You think of yourself as my mother?”

She crossed her arms. “Of course I do. What, you think my husband can just deposit eight children in my house without me loving each and every one of them unconditionally? Besides, you’re all lovely young men anyway.” Malon smiled at him. “And, don’t tell the others, but you’re my favourite.”

Twilight’s cheeks turned bright red and he turned away. “But I’m broken.”

“So is my husband, and I still love him more than almost anything else in the world!”

“...Almost anything?”

This time it was Malon’s cheeks that turned bright red. “Erm… call it motherhood?”

Twilight nodded at her stomach. “I’m sure my mum would be glad to hear it, if she was developed enough to understand.”

“Oh - no, I actually… I actually meant you, Link.”

He looked up at her sharply, his cobalt eyes - her eyes - wide in disbelief. She wasn’t sure if he was more astonished at her use of his first name, or the fact that she had just told him she loved him more than anything else in the world. The uncertainty was worrying. 

“But I - I - I’m-”

“A monster.”

Malon and Twilight whirled around to see a cloaked figure standing just inside the entrance of the Spirit Temple. The voice - masculine, and disturbingly similar to Twilight’s - continued in a mocking tone. 

“Perhaps the adjective you were looking for was worthless? Disgusting? Maybe you were going to call yourself scum? Or a mistake?” The voice’s tone hardened. “Because all of it would be true.”

Twilight’s face was deathly pale. Malon decided it was time for this cloaked figure to meet Mama Bear Mode. 

“How dare you?” she screeched. “How dare you stand there and spew such blatant and hurtful lies about my family? How dare you stand there and insult my boy, with the gall to be so cowardly as to not show your face?”

The voice became sneering. “I think your boy knows exactly who I am.”

Malon glanced at Twilight out of the corner of her eye. He looked seconds away from a panic attack. 

“You’re dead,” he said hoarsely, breath coming in shallow gasps. “I killed you, you’re dead! Why aren’t you dead?” His voice had risen to a wail, and Malon realised with a jolt that he was crying. 

“How old are you now, boy?” the voice asked. “Nineteen? Twenty? Not much has changed since you were seventeen, then, has it? Just like then, you’re still the same wimpy, useless monster you were when you were five.”

Twilight whimpered. 

Malon pulled out the bow he’d given her and nocked an arrow, aiming it at the cloaked figure. “All right, time’s up. I want answers.”

The figure laughed and tugged off its hood, revealing a man who, age differences aside, could have been Twilight’s twin. Really, the only noticeable differences between them were hair and eye colour - Twilight’s hair was slightly redder, and the man’s eyes were brown. 

“You already have all the answers, you just haven’t realised it yet,” the man said. 

Malon narrowed her eyes.

The man sighed. “Fine. I’ll lay it out for your simple mind if I must. Twinrova want your blood to resurrect Lord Ganondorf, the true leader of Hyrule. When you fled from Lon Lon Ranch, Lady Koume cut Link’s cheek and managed to collect some of his blood. It was just enough to perform a resurrection - but instead of reviving Lord Ganondorf, it revived me. Have I given you enough clues yet?”

“You’re his father.” 

The man grinned. “Pleasure to meet you again, mother-in-law! Though for you, this is our first meeting, and I’m not your son-in-law yet.”

Malon wanted to gag. Her daughter - the one she was pregnant with at that very moment - had terrible taste in men, and would have been much better off settling down with a wife and having Twilight through a sperm donor. 

Sometimes heterosexuality was really, really unfortunate.

“I killed you before,” Twilight whispered shakily. “I can do it again.”

The man laughed. “Can you? If I remember rightly, you defeated me by the skin of your unnatural, monstrous teeth.”

Twilight’s hand rose to his chest unconsciously, his fist clenching in his tunic. 

Malon stepped in front of Twilight protectively. “You hurt my baby,” she growled, noting absently that she sounded rather like the baby in question. “You hurt my Little Wolf, and in doing so hurt me. I’m your precious Lord Ganondorf’s niece, and I daresay his temper is genetic. You hurt my family, but I’m only going to say this once. Fuck. You.” She tugged the bowstring back another inch and let the arrow fly. Her aim was as good as she remembered it being, and the arrow hit its mark. 

The man stumbled back with the arrow sprouting from his forehead. 

A low whistle came from behind them. Malon whipped around, already nocking another arrow, to find the other eight heroes with Warriors at the front. She lowered the bow, but didn’t put the arrow back in the quiver.

“You’re terrifying, you know that?” Warriors said, holding his hands up in surrender. “Remind me never to actually piss you off.”

Sky coughed. “Er - correct me if I’m wrong, but did Malon just straight up kill someone?”

“She did,” Four replied faintly. 

“In her defense,” Twilight said, taking a deep, calming breath, “he bloody well deserved it. Also, he was previously dead. Twinrova brought him back.”

Time shouldered his way to the front and pressed a quick kiss to Malon’s forehead before moving to Twilight and hugging him tightly. “On that note, they’ve been dealt with. I don’t think they’ll be resurrecting anyone any time soon, themselves included.”

Twilight melted. 

“Why did no one think it was a good idea to mention that my grandson can turn into a wolf until yesterday morning?” Malon asked. 

Legend snorted, and soon everyone was laughing. Malon took the opportunity to join Time in the little Twilight-hugging fest that was occurring.

“I meant what I said earlier, Little Wolf,” she whispered, watching his ears perk up. “You really are the goodest of all good boys.”

She was met with the tightest hug she’d ever received.