Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey Wolfie!”

The Hero of Twilight who had been suddenly whisked away from his home, and from what he has deduced, from his time, and appeared in this new Hyrule stuck in his wolf form, perked up at the familiar voice. Lo and behold, the new Link, the hero of wild, was standing in front of him, a smile on his face and carrying a…

What the?

He was carrying a cucco over his head, a bird the hero of twilight never had any positive thoughts about except for how dim-witted they are, the exception being the cucco leader in the hidden village. He gave a small snort and (hopefully) an incredulous look at the hero of wild as if to tell him how stupid it looked carrying the cucco.

The hero of wild seemed to be unphased by his look, as he just smiles his goofy grin at the wolf. “Wanna see something interesting? I promise you will go...cucco when you witness this!”

This time the hero of twilight gave the new hero a deadpanned look, as he cannot imagine anything interesting happening that involves cuccos besides making the one carrying them look ridiculous and leaving a lot of loose feathers behind. Sure he was impressed by the fact they could carry any being and glide down gently without any sign of them failing, but that feeling was neutralized by hearing any conversations he had with them when he was a wolf, something that could eat them. One cucco told them they were lucky with their soft coat, and another told them that they like his blue eyes. (He was weirded out by that one and vowed to avoid speaking with cuccos as much as possible). What could they possibly do to surprise him?

The hero of twilight started to turn his head away before he saw the look in the hero of wild’s eyes; they were sparkling and wide, as if he was trying to pull puppy doll eyes on him! Sighing and deciding to humor the Link, the hero of twilight nodded his head once and started following him, setting out of Kakariko village and heading toward the nearby horse stable. The hero of wild looked rather ridiculous carrying the flapping bird, and he was starting to get annoyed with the constant clucking and crowing.

They eventually reached the plains before he smelled an unwelcoming scent: the mixture of smoke, paper, and bananas. The Yiga!  he thought and started to give a low growl toward the sniffling traveler. However, he stopped when he saw a hand in front of him. He stared at the owner of the hand rather incredulously, silently asking him why he was stopping him. They both knew how the Yiga usually stopped the hero- by pretending to look helpless at first before attacking, and crying at the side of the trail was the most obvious ambush that was done numerous times. The hero of wild just gave him a smirk and said: “trust me on this, stay here and do not interfere at all, okay?”

The hero of twilight was very reluctant, but backed down and watched as the hero of wild approached the obvious ambush point, still carrying the cucco. The disguised Yiga laughed and twirled their bow, ready to attack as soon as he was at close range, ready to strike the hero down. The wolf tensed when the hero did nothing except to hold the flapping bird in front of him, waiting. What was he doing!?!?

The wolf got ready to pounce when the Yiga had shot their arrows, and witnessed it hit the cucco, when suddenly…

Sqwwwaaaaak!!!

The cucco began to crow out an unholy cry and the hero of wild had dropped the cucco like a hot potato and retreated toward him.

“Witness the cucco attack squad!” The hero of wild announced with glee and pointed toward where he left the angered cucco.

The wolf’s maw dropped open.

What he was witnessing was something that shattered his concept of cuccos entirely.

A swarm, no a storm of multiple cuccos came out of nowhere, heeding to the original cucco’s angry cry of calling reinforcements, and they started raining unholy fury of flaps, scratches, and pecks at the offending Yiga member who had shot those arrows. The Yiga tried to teleport with their magic, but they kept getting interrupted by the cuccos who were not letting the attacker of their kin get away. Within seconds the Yiga was taken down, and there were only their signature bananas and some rupees left behind, the swarm of cuccos mysteriously disappearing as they had appeared.

The hero of twilight was left frozen to the spot, not heeding the fact that the hero of wild started whistling cheerfully as he began to pick up the spoils left behind.

What in Hylia’s name did I just witness?!?!?!

Chapter Text

Twilight was in a rare mood today.

What kind of mood, you ask? 

A pranking one. 

Usually, the Hero of Twilight is one of the more mature ones in their group, but he was also a Link. They all had a bit of a gremlin prankster side in them, some showing that more than the others.  How else would one explain the shenanigans that Wild gets into or the unexpected pranks that Time pulls off? Or even Sky who had shifted the ire of the cuccos toward another person in a seemingly innocent manner?

(Twilight would bet that Sky was indulging his rare mischievous side that day.)

What was Twilight planning to do?

Well, it has to do with something that apparently most of them have a deep fear of, barring Sky and himself.

Cuccos.

Twilight had been flabbergasted when Wild had first shown off what cuccos were capable of doing. Later on, he was flummoxed of how aversive many of the others were against the farm birds. 

Except for Sky, who had an affinity for birds and couldn't fathom hating them.

After the mess with the cucco pranks that Wild had done, it made him question whether if the cuccos of his era was just unique, or he also had a secret ability relating to the cuccos.

Twilight conducted some experiments in secret.

Surprisingly, he never actually got the cucco attack squad (as Wild had coined it) onto him, and instead managed to gain control over any cucco he had encountered in any era.

(It may have helped him that he asked permission to hit them gently since he was curious if he could control them beforehand.)

None of the group of heroes knew that he had this ability.

So he might as well use this to prank the others without getting it traced back to him.

---

The group had arrived in Warriors’ Hyrule, a place they rarely got a sense of normality as they kept encountering things that made them question a lot of things.
One thing Twilight (and the others) had to question out loud was why there were random cuccos out in the battlefield whenever they stumbled into a skirmish. 

Warriors had shrugged, but they could see a glint of fear in the captain’s eyes. 

Curious, Twilight had turned into a wolf when he was away from the others and questioned the cuccos themselves.

“Oh, we just like to cause trouble. You could also say that we do like to fight things occasionally.”
The fact the cuccos of Warriors' era were always exposing themselves to danger just to satisfy their thirst for mischief-making and battle was rather terrifying.
But this was also an excellent opportunity.
“Would you like to do some pranking? On someone with the spirit of the hero?”
“...I’m listening,” the cucco said to the smirking wolf.

---

He could never get used to the feeling of waddling, looking through the eyes of another living being as he moved the body not of his own rather awkwardly.

But thankfully the cucco he was controlling was helping him along, and he was able to reach his destination rather quickly. 

Behind one of the heroes who was browsing around the town alone.

The group had separated for the day when they arrived at a settlement to gather and restock whatever supplies they needed, so this was a perfect time for him to slip away unnoticed and prank some heroes. 

By making them freak out over a (relatively) harmless cucco creepily following their paths.

The first unlucky man was the hero of legend.

Twilight had the cucco rustle some of its feathers and cluck a little to have the hero be aware of the presence of the bird.

He almost lost control of the cucco due to the hilarity of Legend jumping up and letting a small, short, but high-pitched yelp.

Twilight never thought the sassy hero of legend would lose composure to a cucco that wasn’t even posed to attack. They were harmless, for the most part!

Regaining his composure the farmhand controlled the cucco to not-so-subtly trail after the hero, keeping away from an attacking distance, but still within his line of sight.

He had never seen the veteran adventurer be this jumpy before.
Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I disappear from his sight and appear from a different angle?

As soon as Legend had set another brisk pace away from the stalking bird, Twilight had the cucco parkour some conveniently placed crates up to the roof. He then quickly glided toward where Legend was walking.

It was worth getting almost cut after he heard the loud shriek burst from Legend's mouth as he essentially divebombed him and plucked away his hat from the blonde and pink hair.

---

After doing roughly the same thing to Warriors and Wind with varying but both funny reactions, he began hunting down Four and Hyrule. (He was going to pass on pranking Sky because it was pointless, Wild because he was too unpredictable on how he would react, and Time because honestly if anyone would find out that he was behind all this, it would be his mentor. He did not want that disappointed glare turned at him.)

However, when he found them, the duo was nowhere near where Twilight was expecting them to be. 

Instead, both of them were in a graveyard of all things, located at the edge of the settlement.

And not in a good situation.

Somehow the two got roped into a battle against a few undead creatures. 

A few stalchildren, some poes. 

But there was something else there that made his blood run cold.

A ReDead knight.

What were those enemies, the same ones from his era, doing in Warriors' Hyrule?

Twilight made the cucco run as fast as its legs and wings could carry it, hoping to somehow help them.

He was well aware that both of them were capable fighters, but he was not too sure whether they knew what Redeads were even capable of.

The cucco arrived at the edge of the graveyard when he saw what he had been fearing happen. 

Both of them got caught in its paralyzing scream.

And the Redead was slowly winding up its gigantic sword.

The hero of Twilight knew how painful it was to be hit with that sword, with its powerful swing capable of cracking bones if it connected in a bad spot.

He wasn't sure what to do to save them, but he has to!

I can take a hit, Hero of Twilight.

Twilight was startled when the cucco he was controlling had responded to his feelings of desperation.

"What?"

You heard me right, now go save your friends. I've had fun pranking, but, the cucco said before its tone became more aggressive and... bloodthirsty? I'm also itching for a fight now. My brethren and I can take care of a measly undead monster.

Twilight hesitated for a split second. He was sending an unarmed, innocent living being against a monster to be used as a meat shield. He did not want something innocent to get hurt.

But seeing his friends in imminent danger, he knew he had to trust the cucco's words.

He controlled the body he was borrowing to throw itself in front of the sword's path.

It hurt, as he had expected, but he only felt relief that Four and Hyrule were unharmed by the Redead. 

He gave control back to the cucco as he took a backseat, watching through the cucco's eyes as it gave out its signature summoning cry and started assaulting the Redead with the same ferocity he had seen back in Wild's Hyrule. 

Within seconds the Redead collapsed and disappeared from existence in a puff of black smoke.

"Thank you for saving my friend," he thanked the cucco as he started to feel his connection with the ferocious bird dissipating. 

You gave me amusement, so just repaying by doing what we love, fighting. Come back another day, Hero of Twilight.

Distantly, Twilight could barely hear what Hyrule said as his consciousness faded from the cucco's mind. 

"Holy Shit."

Holy shit indeed.