Chapter Text
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“So what’s the plan, Captain?” Wind asked, hitching the smallest Link a little higher on his back. Link squealed happily at the bounce, so Wind did it again with a grin.
Mask, who had fallen back slightly to walk by the Captain’s side, rolled his eyes at the shrieks and giggles Link was emitting.
“Piggyback rides can’t be that fun.”
“How can you be so sure?” Wind pointed out with a glance over his shoulder. “When was the last time you had one?”
The sprite clamped his mouth shut and stuck his nose in the air. The Captain recognized this look—it was the look Mask made when he didn’t want to admit he didn’t know something.
Which meant Mask probably didn’t remember the last time he got a piggy back ride.
The captain felt his heart clench at the thought, and swallowed hard. He still remembered his dad carrying him, and he had carried his own little sister around. He didn’t know much of Mask’s past (the kid like a deku baba—only opening his mouth to snap), but he was starting to wonder if the sprite had had any sort of adult around while growing up.
He suddenly wished for an excuse to give the kid a piggy-back ride, not that the prickly sprite of a brat would ever—
“I don’t need a piggy-back ride, and it’s not like either of you could give me one. I bet you couldn’t even carry me for thirty feet.”
Ah. The captain grinned. An excuse.
Mask might have been a veteran hero, but the Captain wasn’t precisely wet behind the ears either, and even veterans can be caught by surprise.
Mask shrieked in surprise when he was suddenly snatched into the air and pulled onto the Captain’s back. He recovered with admirable swiftness, however, and managed to swing his heel into the older man’s gut.
“Let me go, you—you—you stupid head!”
“What piercing insults,” The Captain said dryly, “I fear my ego may never recover.”
Wind snorted, and Mask flushed red to his ear-tips, driving his heel back into the Captain’s stomach again. It might have hurt quite a lot if Mask had had enough leverage, but Mask was short and had short legs to match, and it failed to make the Captain release him.
“So what do you bet?”
That stopped Mask in his tracks as he was winding up for another swing. The sprite blinked down at the older hero, eyes narrowed. “Whaddya mean by bet?”
The Captain grinned more. “You said you bet I couldn’t carry you for thirty feet. What do you bet?”
Mask’s eyes narrowed further, sensing a trap. Still, this was an opportunity to good to pass up. “If you win, I… I promise to eat your food without complaining.”
The Captain hummed. With such a statement, Mask was clearly confident as to his chances of winning. “And if you win?”
The sprite smirked. “You’ll have to get me a golden cucco feather.”
The Captain’s insides twisted with fear, though he managed to keep his confident smile on his face by sheer force of will. The easiest way to obtain a golden cucco feather would be to summon a golden cucco—which meant he had to attack a cucco and draw upon himself feathery fury.
Still, he had no intentions of losing this bet.
“Very well, I’ll take that bet.” The Captain twisted his head around to get a good look at the boy, and sent him a wink. “Just hold on.”
Mask scowled back at the wink, but he slumped a little and wrapped his arms around the Captain’s shoulders silently. The older hero counted it as a win in his book.
“As funny as this is,” Wind said, giving the littlest Link another bounce, “Don’t you think we’d better be getting back to camp?”
“Don’t blame me,” the Captain protested. “Blame Mask. He’s the one holding us up!”
He could feel the stink eye boring into the back of his head, before the Captain suddenly felt a smack in his shoulder and a loud yell of HYAH right next to his ear.
“OW! What was that for?” He craned his neck over his shoulder to glare at the kid, who smiled innocently back at him.
“You said I was holding us up, so I thought I’d fix that.” His smile widened. “That’s always how I got Epona to go faster.”
The Captain sucked in a very deep breath, counted to ten, and let it out again. Then he turned to look at Wind (who was suddenly overtaken by a particularly nasty coughing fit, it seemed).
“Do you need a drink of water?” He said, in a sweet tone of voice indicating that he was liable to shove the water down the younger hero’s throat.
Wind cleared his throat hastily. “Nope, I’m good, just, uh, a little tickle. That’s all.” He scrabbled desperately for distractions. “A-anyway, you never answered my question?”
The Captain blinked, thrown off guard by this sudden change in tack. “Your question?”
“Yeah!” Wind said cheerily, carefully shifting his grip to get the little Link into a more comfortable position. Link seemed to approve, as he snuggled against Wind’s green tunic and rested his chin on Wind’s shoulder, blinking sleepily. “What’s the plan, now?”
“Well, we’re heading back to camp,” The Captain said, setting off at a brisk walk in said direction, lest Mask felt the need to assist. “And once we’re there, we’re going to find Sheik or Fi, or possibly Lana.”
Wind hummed, doing his best to keep up without jostling the sleeping little one on his back. “Fi and Lana make sens; but what does Sheik have to do with this?”
“I could use the help of her knack for information and planning… she’s always been able to help me out in a tough situation like this.”
Wind and Mask exchanged a look as the Captain’s voice softened slightly; subtle enough that one would not notice, not unless they knew the captain well.
“Who’s Sheik?” a sleepy voice inquired from Wind’s shoulder, and three gazes snapped around to focus on the smallest boy.
The Captain chewed on his lip, trying to figure out how to explain. Who was Sheik? “She’s--
“—Mr. Knight’s special friend,” Wind cut in smoothly with a wide grin.
“Oh!” Link’s head perked up excitedly. “Like Zelda!”
Unbeknownst to either Link or the Captain, Mask and Wind exchanged another look at this declaration, and had to work very hard to keep a straight face.
Wind eventually gave up and smirked. “Yes, like Zelda.”
Link wiggled excitedly, trying to get a good look at either Wind’s or the Captain’s face (he couldn’t quite decide which one). “Is Mr. Knight gonna marry her when he grows up, too?”
The Captain froze mid-step, Mask made a choked sort of noise, and Wind grinned.
The Captain didn’t like the look of that grin. He was fairly certain it foretold his doom.
“I dunno,” Wind drawled, “Are you, Mr. Knight?”
Words abandoned him. His mind was rushing about in frantic circles, like an army without a leader. He grasped desperately for a response, any response—
“…I haven’t asked her yet.”
Alright, maybe not that response.
Link squirmed again, finally deciding on focusing his attention on Mr. Knight. “ ‘Member, you hafta be polite when you ask her!” His voice was insistent, as if reciting something someone had told him. “Say please! And…” Link paused to consider, tiny brows scrunching in concentration. “…Maybe flowers, if she likes ‘em!”
Wind snorted. Mask gagged.
It was a moment before the Captain managed to summon any words at all. When he spoke, his voice was faint and resigned.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Mask tugged sharply on a lock of hair. “Well, ‘keep in mind’ you better not do it anywhere near me, either. I don’t wanna see something gross like that again.”
At this point in the conversation, the Captain was starting to think he could burn a whole breakfast with the amount of heat his face was emitting. He strove desperately for the last tattered shreds of his dignity and sought for an escape route out of this conversation.
“Look! The camp’s up ahead, race you there!” And he bolted off down the path, Mask reflexively squeezing around his neck. The Captain didn’t mind, though; it was a small price to pay for leaving Wind and his all-too-knowing grins behind in the dust.
Well, for about thirty seconds, anyway. Wind had the much smaller burden and quickly overtook the Captain, little Link somehow managing to scream “Faster, faster!” between giggles.
Wind made it to the camp first, to no one’s surprise, and turned a gloating smirk on the older hero as he skidded to a stop within the camp’s border.
“I got back first!”
“FIRST!” Link cheered, and Wind nodded proudly. “Yup, first! So what do I win?”
“Nothing.” The Captain replied smugly. “We didn’t bet anything on the race.”
The Hero of Winds scowled as he set Link onto the ground, grumpy at the prospect of losing his chance to claim the proverbial pound of flesh from the Captain. The Captain paid him no attention, and instead turned his attention to the Sprite still clinging to his back.
“Now, I did make a bet with you, didn’t I?”
Mask’s scowl rivaled Wind’s in grumpiness. “…yes.”
“And I carried you for more than thirty feet… right?”
Mask rolled his eyes grandly. “Just get to the point.”
The Captain grinned, and would have probably flipped his scarf for effect had his arms not been currently full of grouchy eleven-year-old. “You’ll do as you promised, having honorably lost?”
“Yes, yes, I’ll eat the… food… you make without complaining.” Mask paused and narrowed his eyes. “No charcoal though!”
The Captain’s grin widened. “But it’s good for—”
Mask smacked the top of his head, cutting of his ‘defense’ with a startled yelp; which to Mask’s displeasure quickly turned into a peal of laughter.
Mask slouched against the Captain’s back, already plotting as to how he’d get the Captain back for this—even if the piggyback ride had been, well, kinda fun.
“Just put me down, pumpkin head.”
“Sure you don’t want me to carry you more?”
There was a brief moment of silence, then a quiet voice muttered. “…maybe later.”
The Captain paused, letting the words sink into his mind, and then smiled as he knelt down, loosening his grip to set the boy’s feet on solid ground. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Mask rolled his eyes as he stepped away. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” But not even his most dismissive tone could take away the smile on the older hero’s face.
“What’s that?” A little voice chirped, and Mask looked down in surprise to see a small hand reaching for the Keaton mask hanging from his belt. The older boy instinctively snatched it away, but then faltered.
Link was staring up at him with the widest, saddest eyes he’d ever seen. His heart twinged.
He could feel the amused, knowing looks from the two older heroes. He glanced down at Link’s wide blue eyes again.
He sighed, and held out the mask. “It’s a Keaton mask. You have to be careful, all right?”
Link reached out greedily, his smile beaming with triumph. “Yup! Imma take good care of it, I promise!”
His face still a picture of reluctance, Mask handed the mask to the little boy, who immediately put it on and ran over to the Captain. He grabbed the tail end of the scarf and tugged. “Mr. Knight! Look! I’mma a Keatan!”
The Captain felt his heart melt like butter, and he was pretty sure there was a stupid smile on his face right now. “I can see that.”
“It’s Keaton,” Mask pointed out, but he didn’t seem to terribly bothered. The correction was lost on Link, but it did succeed in drawing Link’s attention back to the other resident kid of the group. The youngest boy spun around and ran back to the sprite, his mask bouncing.
“Have you got any other cool masks? Can I see them? Pretty-pretty-please-please?”
The kid was rather intuitive, the Captain thought, as he’d stumbled upon the right path to wriggle his way into Mask’s heart. Mask loved his masks (rather obviously, hence the nickname) and clearly didn’t mind the opportunity to brag about them to his tiny enthusiastic audience.
With the littlest Link currently occupied gushing over all the masks Mask pulled out of his bag and proudly showed off, the Captain turned to Wind. \
“So, who should we look for, first? Lana, Sheik or Fi?”
“Why are you asking me?” Wind folded his arms.
The Captain arched an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t I ask you?”
“I dunno,” The Hero of Winds shrugged. “I’m just surprised you’re asking me at all instead of…”
The Captain narrowed his eyes. “Instead of what?”
“Instead of, you know, charging straight ahead for the chance to spend some quality time with Sheik.”
Ah, and here came the flush again, just after it had finally died down. His mouth flopped open and closed like a landed fish, desperately searching for something to say—
“Master Link!”
Thank the goddesses for Fi.
Never the one to let an opportunity slip through his fingers, the Captain spun to face the sword spirit, his own personal savior. “Hello, Fi, what do you need?”
The Sword spirit gracefully came to a stop, the frills of her (sleeves, wings, arms? The Captain wasn’t quite sure) fluttering gently. “It is not I who is in need of your assistance, Master Link, but Mistress Sheik.”
The Captain gulped, returning Wind’s smug glance with a dirty look. Perhaps not as much of a savior as I had hoped. “Sheik sent you? That’s odd. Normally she’d just come and find me herself.”
His heart gave a sudden squeeze, and only his experience as a captain, keeping a cool head under pressure, kept him from reacting on the cold terror that had begun to build in his throat. He took a step forward towards Fi, but clenched his fists before he reached out and shook her. Fi was a good friend and companion, and he couldn’t take out his panic on her. Through sheer force of will he managed to keep his voice level when he spoke. “Where is she? Is she all right? Has something happened?”
Well, mostly level. It wasn’t his fault that his tone had tighten and rise on the last couple words.
“Mistress Sheik is fine,” Fi replied, her tone even, though the Captain was pretty sure he wasn’t imagining the faint look of amusement on her face. He’d gotten rather good at reading her moods, if he did say so himself. “She is merely occupied at the moment and unable to search you out herself.”
The panic drained away, leaving only a sweeping feeling of relief in its wake as his tense shoulders slumped. “Oh, good. That’s… that’s good.”
He heard Wind snort from besides him, but in this moment, he couldn’t even care. “Where is she?”
“She is awaiting your arrival in her designated tent.” Fi chimed, “She has—”
“Hi, blue lady!”
The Captain glanced down to find the littlest Link had abandoned Mask and had rushed over to inspect this strange floating being, curiosity gleaming bright in his eyes.
Fi stared down at the small boy, head tilted to one side, before there was a minute softening of her expression, something that the Captain would hazard to call ‘fondness’. “Hello, little master.” She said, her musical tone gentle. “Scans indicate you are my first master, from the approximate time period my physical appearance originates from. My extended memory banks insist I state that it is very good to meet you again, little master.”
Link tilted his head to one side, bangs falling messily into his eyes as he blinked up at her. “Do I know you?”
“As we are, we have not met in person,” she replied.
The Captain resisted the urge to roll his eyes fondly, and said, “Link, this is a friend of mine, Fi.”
“Oh!” Link beamed up at the sword spirit, eyes wide. “You have the same name as Mr. Knight’s pretty sword!”
Fi blinked down at the small child, tilting her head to one side. “I have never considered the visual appeal of the aesthetic of my projected form, but I am grateful that you think so, young master.”
Link stared up at her, clearly confused.
The captain crouched down next to him and set a hand on his head, ruffling fluffy strands of dirty blonde with a smile. “She said thank you.”
Comprehension dawned brightly, and Link’s eyes lit up along with his smile. “You’re welcome!”
The Captain was pretty sure his heart stopped for a moment in the wake of that smile, and if the way Fi was staring blankly down at the little boy was any indication, whatever passed her heart was suffering under a similar condition. After a moment, though, she gathered herself with her usual impassive aplomb and turned slightly towards the Captain.
“My apologies for the confusion. According to the databanks I have accessed due to the temporal anomalies housed in this era, I entered my long rest before the first of my first master’s children were born, and I therefore have no experience in communicating with those in possession of limited vocabularies.”
The Captain swung himself to his feet, taking ahold of Link’s tiny hand in exchange for being out of hair-ruffling reach. “Don’t worry about it, Fi. I’m sure your sentiment got through to him.”
“More importantly,” Wind said, elbowing the Captain aside so he could step closer to Fi, “Did you just say the first of Sky’s kids? How many did he have?... how soon is the first one going to be born?”
Fi lowered her gaze down to wind, her head tilting a miniscule amount to one side in curiosity. “Correct. I am surprised you do not know this, as he and Her Grace founded the royal line together, but they had multiple children together, and extrapolating from comparing both my Master’s and your personal timelines, my estimate for the birth would be—”
She paused.
“Master Wind, my projections indication that the possibility of your question being related to a bet is 87%. Would you like to give your input on the matter?”
Wind’s cheeks turned red. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“93%.”
The sailors shoulders slumped. “How’d you figure it out?”
“I am aware of the correspondence between your group. Several of my masters liked to read the letters aloud to me.”
Wind got a rather strange look on his face in response to that; a strange mixture of amused, fond and sad, or something of the like. Honestly, the Captain had no idea what they were talking about, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. He had a kid to find, two kids to get home, and a friend to help, after all.
He'll just have to figure it out later.
“All right, let’s go, kids. Sheik’s waiting for us! Link—” he began to bend down to pick the boy up, but Mask’s voice stopped him.
“I’ll carry Link.”
The heads of the two oldest heroes snapped around to stare at Mask, their eyes wide. The sprite crossed his arms and lifted his chin defiantly. “If we’re going to visit Sheik, someone needs to make sure to protect the baby in case you two try and make kissy-face at each other again.”
The Captain wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be offended. Wind had no such indecision and snorted so hard he nearly choked.
Fi tipped her head slightly to one side again. “What is ‘kissy-face’? The definition does not seem to be contained within my archives.”
“I’ll tell you, Fi!” Wind chirped eagerly, “Kissy-face is whe—”
The Captain’s hand wrapped around the sailor’s mouth before he could finish the sentence, his other hand grabbing Wind shoulder and beginning to walk him away rapidly. “YOU CAN TELL HER LATER, LET’S GET GOIN—OW!”
Wind spat to the side, a vicious grin on his face. “Serves you right! You should have known better!”
Mask stared at them from where he knelt on the ground, helping Link climb onto his back. “…they’re both idiots, aren’t they.”
“I think they’re cool!” Link said, wrapping his arms around Mask’s neck. “…also funny,” he added, after a moment’s consideration.
Mask tucked his arms beneath Link’s legs and paused, trying to ignore the clench of nerves in his stomach. He’d never given anyone a piggyback ride before, but it couldn’t be that hard, right? He wobbled a little when he pushed upright—but the moment passed and he was steady on his feet, Link giggling in his ear.
“Well, if they’re funny, what am I?” he asked, beginning to walk after the two older heroes after giving Fi a nod in farewell.
Link hummed in thought. “You’re super cool!”
Mask’s chin lifted a little, a proud grin crossing his face even as a faint pink flush touched the tip of his ears. “That’s right, and don’t you forget it!”
“I won’t!” Link said, and snuggled a little closer. “I promise!”
~~~