Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Chain had just finished clearing out a monster camp in Wild’s Hyrule when the portal appeared to take them somewhere else.

“Alright, let’s prepare to move out,” Time announced. “Hyrule, is Four okay to walk?” They all had some minor scratches, but aside from a deep gash on Four’s leg no one had been more seriously injured.

Hyrule stood up from where he had been healing Four, who was sitting against a tree.

“I told you, I’m fine,” Four insisted, his eyes flashing blue for a brief moment. He stood up and walked a few paces, his leg supporting his weight perfectly. “Thanks, Roolie.”

On the other side of the camp, Wild had finished collecting the monsters’ guts while Sky looked on in disgust.

“Why you do that, I will never know.” Sky said, looking slightly nauseous.

Legend shrugged. “Potion ingredients. He makes his own, remember?”

Wind poked at the last of the remains as they vanished into smoke. Twilight grabbed his hand, pulling it away. Wind turned around, looked Twilight dead in the eyes, and reached out his other hand and poked at the last remaining bit before it all vanished.

Warriors’ sigh was loud enough that everyone heard it. “We should divide ourselves up and go through before we’re yanked through by force.” He reminded everyone, gesturing toward the rather ominous gateway in the middle of the camp.

Time nodded. “Hyrule, Legend, and Wild, you’re all in a group. Warriors, you take Wind and Sky. Four and Twilight are with me.”

Everyone moved into their respective groups, double checking to make sure they had all of their items. Wild wiped his hands on his tunic, removing the gore the best he could.

Time looked around one last time, making sure everyone was ready, and led Twilight and Four into the swirling darkness.

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The portal opened 5 feet above the ground and dumped out Time, Twilight, and Four onto an open, grassy field, Twilight sticking the landing while the others weren’t as lucky.

“I fucking hate portals.” Four groaned.

“Language.” Time responded automatically, voice slightly muffled from where he was laying facedown in the grass.

The first thing Twilight noticed was the tall building looming not too far away, though it looked nothing like the structures in any of their Hyrules.

Behind where he landed, he heard a shocked scream. He whipped around to see a woman with long, dark blue hair standing on one of the pathways that stretched from the building behind them.

The woman got into a defensive stance. Twilight raised his hands in the air.

“We aren’t a threat.” he called out. Behind him, Time raised himself to his feet and picked up Four, who had passed out and would probably be unconscious for a while.

“Could you tell us where we are?” Time tried to ask the woman, who did not look she showed any sign of hearing them.

The next thing Twilight knew, a loud alarm started to sound. He instinctively covered his ears, and the last thing he registered before the world went black was the smell of something sweet.

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Warriors, Wind, and Sky were falling. The portal had opened some couple hundred feet above the ground, leaving them stranded in midair. Sky had his sailcloth, and Wind had a deku leaf. But Warriors?

“NONONONONONONO!” Warriors screamed, flailing in the air.

As funny as it was, Sky should probably catch him. “I’ve got him!” He called to Wind, diving downwards.

Sky loved skydiving; since he lived far above the surface, he’d been doing this most of his life and relished the familiar rush of air as he fell downwards, the wind whipping through his hair.

Grabbing Warriors, he adjusted his hold so he could grab onto the sailcloth he wore like a cape. Warriors clung desperately to Sky, face pale until they had landed safely on solid ground in the middle of a small forest.

Wind floated down next to them, doubling over with laughter as his feet hit the ground.

Warriors scowled. “It’s not funny.”

Wind just laughed harder.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Sky interrupted. “We can tell the rest of the Chain about this later, but first we need to find them.”

“Don’t you dare-“ Warriors began to protest, but Wind cut him off.

“While you were saving Warriors, I got a good look at where we are. There are a bunch of buildings in this area, with one big tower thing in the middle of it all. There’s also some trees in between most of the buildings; that’s where we are now.”

“Thanks, Wind.” Sky smiled. “If there’s anywhere we should check, we should start with the big tower, right?”

Warriors nodded. “My guess is that’s the center of this place, where we can find the people in charge here. It also sticks out, so is an easy landmark to use if the rest ended up somewhere close by.”

Wind shot him a thumbs up, still grinning cheekily, and then they set off to try to track down their missing teammates.

They barely made it more than 5 steps when a loud alarm began echoing through the forest. Sky froze. That’s not good.

There was a faint whistle in the air, and then Sky felt a prick of pain on his left arm. Looking down, he saw a small dart sticking out of his arm.

“Ow! What the-“ Sky heard Wind say, and looked up to see he also had a dart sticking out of his arm.

Warriors’ eyes widened. “Poison darts!” He too had a dart in his arm, staring at it in shock.

Sky ripped it out of his arm, panic filling his mind, but it was too late. The world was already beginning to fade at the edges. Where had they come from? There was no one else among the trees with them!

His legs collapsed, and the world went dark.

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Hyrule, Legend, and Wild’s portal opened a few feet above a solid floor and the trio were gracelessly dumped onto hard stone. Hyrule let out a yelp of pain, hitting the ground limply as he tried to re-orient himself in a new world after the chaos of the portal. Legend and Wild sprang to their feet, taking in where they’d landed. The first thing Legend registered was that there were people in the room: around 20 teens sitting in desks, eyes wide in shock, and an older man with longish black hair and a grey scarf. A classroom? And where was the group that had come in before them?

The class erupted into chaos at the same time a loud alarm began to sound. The first one to move was the teacher, eyes flaring a bright red as his hair began to float. The scarf around his neck came to life, and lashed out at the three heroes.

“Shit!” Legend shouted, narrowly dodging the scarf as it lashed over his head. The man shouted something to his class, some of whom had jumped out of their seats and looked ready to fight. Not good.

One of the students, with spiky blonde hair, angrily shouted something at them. It was a language Legend didn’t recognize, but there was no mistaking the aggression in his voice.

“Hyrule!” Legend heard Wild yell, and he turned around to see Hyrule, who had curled into a ball, clutching his ears as the siren rang loudly. The teacher took advantage of the distraction and grabbed Legend and Wild with the scarf, rendering them immobile. Legend tried to break free, but he couldn’t cast any spells or reach the sword at his back to try to break free. Wild was rendered similarly immobile, unable to access his slate or move his arm.

Hyrule tried to stand up, lightning beginning to spark between his fingers. Legend watched desperately as he, too, was grabbed by the scarf.

Well fuck.

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Nezdu studied the security camera footage, his gaze concerned. A few more of UA’s teachers were also gathered to learn more about the strangers that had appeared out of nowhere and were very clearly not from here, if their clothes and weapons were any indication. “You say you had erased his quirk, but he still managed to summon electricity?”

Aizawa nodded. “It was weak, just a spark. It’s likely he couldn’t muster the strength for a full attack, since he seemed to be struggling with movement. I doubt my Erasure had anything to do with weakening him.”

“That is…concerning.” Nezdu tapped his paws together. “There were 2 other groups of three, split up around the campus. They’ve all been detained. The gates they came through don’t look like Kurogiri’s. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“What language is that?” Present Mic asked, rewinding the footage back to the conversation between the group that had landed in the forest. “I’ve never heard anything like it.”

“Me neither.” Nezdu frowned. “It doesn’t seem like they understand what we’re saying. This language barrier might prove to be difficult. We still have no idea of their true intentions. They could very well be villains. The one with the hood and blue tunic was bloody, as was the one with four colors. Though the latter looks like his came from an injury, but it seems as if it’s already mostly healed.”

“And why are they traveling with children?” Midnight exclaimed. “Two of them look like they’re barely 14!”

Nezdu’s eyes landed on the two smallest ones, one wearing a blue tunic with the white lobster and the one that had four colors on his. “This could prove to be troublesome. We’ll have to proceed with caution.”

Chapter Text

Warriors was fucking pissed. He’d woken up in a mostly empty room with just a table and two chairs, one of which he was siting in, and with no sight of any other members of the Chain. In addition, he no longer had his sword, pouch, or armor.

Standing from where he’d been sitting, he started to pace, his scarf swishing behind him. What would be the best course of action here, without anything to defend himself with and with no idea why he was being held hostage?

They’d probably send someone in to talk to him eventually, but he had no idea what would happen or if the others were in danger. They typically weren’t split up too far when they came through portals, so the others were probably somewhere close by. Though, if they bothered to capture him unharmed, he could probably assume the same for everyone else.

He would see what they wanted and try to find out about the rest of the Chain, but be prepared to fight his way out. He nodded to himself.

He resumed pacing, sitting back in the chair a few minutes later. How long was he going to be in here?

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Four had woken up to four voices clamoring loudly in his head.

“Ughh.” He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Where the FUCK are we?” Blue erupted.

“Where are the others?” Red asked, an undertone of fear in his voice.

“They’re probably fine.” Vio sighed.

“But what if they aren’t?”

“They can handle themselves.”

“Yeah! They won’t go down that easily!” Green chimed in.

Four massaged his temples. Should he split now and allow the chaos to die down? He was alone, at least for now, and it was probably a good idea to split to ensure he was ready for whatever might happen.

When he reached over his shoulder for the Four Sword’s hilt, his hand met empty air.

“Son of a bitch.” Blue fumed.

“Wait, what?” Green asked, stunned.

“What happened to it?”

“I’m going to kill-“

“Who took our stuff?”

“Stop shouting-!”

“What do we do!?”

It was a really good thing Four no longer needed the sword to split, its power having merged with him years ago. He felt the familiar magic ripple through his body as the pressure became too much to handle, and he split into the Colors.

Blue immediately got up and started pounding on the door, shouting furiously. Red started panicking, getting dragged into a hug by a frantic Green. Vio started pacing, muttering furiously to himself.

After Green had successfully calmed down Red and Blue had given up on the door (read: forcefully stopped by Vio), they merged back into Four.

Sitting back down, headache mercifully gone, Four decided since he couldn’t break down the door, it would probably be best to wait for someone to enter. As for what to do then..

Four eyed the door warily. He was just going to have to wait and see.

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Sky woke up with a jolt, panic spiking through his mind. His eyes landed on the table he had been slumped on and he froze. Slowly, he registered the chair he was sitting in, the fact that he was alone, and…something was missing.

What was it? What was wrong? He had his sailcloth, he had the Sword, he had-

His eyes went wide, and he slowly reached for Fi. There was nothing there.

Frantically, he looked around the room, but the sword wasn’t there.

“FI!” He called out desperately, straining his ears for her familiar chime.

There was only silence.

He couldn’t breathe. How was it possible to have lost her? No one but the Chain could touch her! And speaking of the Chain, where were Warriors and Wind, and everyone else for that matter? Had they been captured too? Were they okay?

Legs shaking, he sat down on the ground before his legs could give out and leaned against the wall.

Sky felt fury start to surge through his body, slowing eating his panic until all that remained was rage.

Whoever took them was going to pay.

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Wild threw himself against the door, his body bouncing off of the solid structure. He fell back, chest heaving with exertion. The entire right side of his body hurt from where he had been trying to break down the door for at least 10 minutes, without any sign of success.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, he threw himself against the door again. He stumbled backwards, the door not having budged at all.

He’d been thrown in here by the man with the scarf, after he’d had his things taken. Hyrule and Legend had been taken somewhere else, the door slamming shut before he had a chance to do anything.

The rising panic was getting harder and harder to ignore, compounded by the worry for the rest of the Chain. His breathing was getting faster, head starting to spin as tears began to blur his vision.

He’d already tried ascending through the ceiling, but there must have been something above him that blocked the ability. His slate was gone, meaning he didn’t have any bombs or resources to make a Zonai device. He couldn’t summon the sages’ avatars either.

Echoes rang through his head; memories of being caught, trapped. Assassins in masks theorizing how best to sacrifice him for their lord, feeling the terror of knowing he was going to die again, without a second chance.

Not again. Never again. He wasn’t about to give up and die here, not when he was still needed.

He sprinted at the door again, letting out a cry of pain as his already badly bruised shoulder made contact with the unyielding surface. He fell to the ground.

There was a hissing noise, and he saw a fog begin to swirl in the room from one of the corners in the ceiling. It reached him, and then the world faded to black.

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Hyrule was curled on the floor, tears of frustration rolling down his face. He’d been helpless to stop Wild and Legend’s capture, helpless to stop his items from being taken, helpless to fight back at all as the others and then him were thrown into rooms.

He wasn’t a warrior like the others. He wasn’t brave. Every time they went through a portal, he was incapacitated after the sheer sensory and magical overload of the gateways. When they were dropped in dangerous situations, it stung even more. Knowing the others were risking life and limb, and he was only another burden.

He had no idea what that man had wanted, or what was going to happen to any of them. For all he knew, this could be a situation similar to his Hyrule and-

He cut himself off before he could finish that thought. He’d had too many close calls with people and monsters wanting to hunt him, having to constantly flee and stay alert. He couldn’t run now. He was completely at the mercy of his captor.

Cold terror jolted through him at the thought. He had no way of defending himself until he recovered enough from the aftereffects of the portal, which would take at least 3 more hours, and even then, he didn’t have a lot of magical energy left..

If worst came to worst, he could always shift into a fairy and try to hide, but there was nowhere to go with his current surroundings. He had no idea when the man would return, and on top of that had no way of replenishing his already much-diminished magic. The fight and healing Four afterwards had taken a lot of power, and the green potion he’d taken had only helped a bit.

He tried to breathe through the panic setting in, tried to stop the tears.

Just 3 more hours, he told himself.

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Time opened his eye to a feeling of wrongness. Quickly glancing around, he determined why he felt off.

His armor and weapons had been confiscated, leaving him feeling lighter and much more exposed. In addition, it looked like his bag with his masks and the Ocarina were gone too…

His breath hitched as he fought back the immediate panic. The Ocarina of Time was much too dangerous to be taken from him, as was the Fierce Deity mask. In addition, this meant his last resorts were now gone. As much as he never wanted to use either of the items again, he needed the Ocarina to rewind time if something happened to any of them, or the Deity to be able to fight his way out of something none of them would have otherwise survived.

With the power to control time and harness a god in someone else’s hands, Time hoped they had no idea how to use the items. Having the Ocarina taken from him was enough to bring back memories of a mask with glowing orange eyes and the moon crashing to the ground, as well as the all-consuming power contained in the Deity.

If he was here, the rest of the Chain probably was as well, and his items probably weren’t far. Standing up and walking over to the door, he rammed his shoulder against it in an attempt to break it down.

Nothing.

Time frowned, and tried one more time. The door didn’t budge at all. He liked to think he was fairly strong; he had to be, in his line of work. Just how much had the door been reinforced?

There wasn’t really a point to continuing this course of action. He walked to the far wall, leaning against it.

With his options exhausted, he waited for the door to open.

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Twilight woke up when he fell out of the chair he’d been sitting on – why was he in a chair? – and onto solid ground.

“Ow!”

He sat up, rubbing his head where he’d hit it on the ground. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was the portal.

He frowned. Wait, no. They’d landed in a grassy field, and there was a tall building and then a woman?

Right. An alarm had gone off, and then he’d blacked out. Was he somehow drugged? Who did it?

Probably the woman. She hadn’t touched them; was it her magic?

He shook off that train of thought, realizing he had bigger problems to worry about. Mainly, the fact he was trapped in a room without any of his gear and no one else in sight.

Acting on instinct, his hand flew up to check the crystal that hung around his neck.

He let out a sigh of relief; it was still safely tucked away under his tunic and hadn’t been touched. He wasn’t completely defenseless, then. Though, was it worth it to reveal his other form?

He could remember the screams, the people he considered friends and family driving him out with pitchforks and torches, seeing him only as a wild beast. He didn’t want to lose the Chain, have them turn their backs on him.

Even now, the room he was in reminded him of the cell he’d been thrown in when he’d first been cursed. His left wrist itched where the cuff normally was in his wolf form, a reminder of when he’d last been held captive.

Deep breaths, he told himself, forcing the memory away. Standing up, he moved back to sit in the chair.

He wished he had some way to see the rest of the Chain was okay. As for what to do…

He eyed the door, wondering if he could break it down. If he failed to do that, he would have to wait for someone to open the door in order to escape.

Weighing his options, he decided to try the door first, and if that failed, see who opened the door and (if he needed to) shift into a wolf to track down and free the others.

Standing once more, he flung his weight into the door. It didn’t budge. he tried a few more times, but sat down defeated.

Looks like he’d have to go with Plan B.

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Wind woke up abruptly, a scream dying on his lips.

“Huh?” He slurred, disoriented after waking so suddenly.

He noticed the room he was in, and how it was distinctly NOT the forest he could’ve sworn he was just in. He also noticed the distinct lack of weapons on his person.

Hastily, he checked for the hidden weapons he kept tucked away in case of emergencies. Most of them were gone, but he was overjoyed to find he still had a dagger he’d tucked in a hidden compartment in one of his boots.

Unfortunately, the Wind Waker had also been taken. He bit his lip in worry. Did whoever had taken them know what it did and how to use it? Because that would be really bad.

He could feel the auras of the rest of the Chain nearby, presumably in rooms just like the one he was in. No one seemed to be dead, which was good. Though from the panic flooding from Wild and the sheer fury emanating off Sky, not everyone was doing well.

Wind shivered in fear. Sky had very much earned the name Godslayer. Everyone in the Chain had experienced his fury at some point or another, and Wind could safely say an angry Sky was scarier than anything he’d ever encountered before.

There were also a couple different auras that Wind had never felt before, indicating the presence of the people most likely responsible for their abduction.

Wind really wished he had bombs. He would be out of there in no time!

Taking the dagger, he tried to slide it in between the door and its frame. The gap wasn’t large enough to slip in the knife, though, and he kicked the door out of frustration. He tucked away the knife, leaving it easily accessible.

Someone had to come in here eventually, right? As soon as that door opened, he was going to get out of here and find the others as quickly as he could.

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Legend was absolutely furious. He was sick and tired of being thrown into quests, and was especially sick of being trapped places that were probably alternate dimensions. There was no way this existed in any of their timelines; everything was too different. He’d managed to get a look at some of the area in which they’d ended up as he was taken to this room. He’d been thrown in here after Wild had gotten a room, unfortunately too slow to stop the man still carrying Hyrule before the door slammed shut.

His weapons and magic pouch (which contained most of his items) had been confiscated, but a few of his magic rings, the Pegasus Boots, the two sets of power bracelets he’d been wearing, and Ravio’s bracelet were still on him. In addition, he had another, hidden magic pouch (albeit smaller) with even more items to try to escape with.

The first thing he tried was breaking down the door, using the power bracelets. Nothing, not even a dent.

He tried to use the rings he had on to try to explode the door or melt it with fire. No results, but he was glad he’d been wearing a fire protection charm.

Ice and then more fire? Nope.

He merged with the wall to see if he could slip out of the door crack, only to find a complicated locking mechanism blocking most of the path out. He only managed to stick out an arm before he was blocked from going further.

He tried lightning, on a whim. There was a beeping noise, but that was it. He waited for a bit to see if anything happened, and tried to force the door again. Nothing.

He was fuming at this point. A fucking DOOR was not going to keep him in this goddess-damned room, and he refused to let it.

It was only after he’d exhausted all his options and most of the the green potion he’d had sequestered away he finally admitted defeat. Nothing he’d tried had worked, and now he had significantly less magic than he did before he started throwing fire at a door.

If he had the rest of his gear, this wouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately, there was no way for him to get to it. He kicked the door again, but all that succeeded in doing was making his foot hurt.

If the door were opened, he could escape, find the rest of the his stuff, and free everyone who’d been similarly trapped.

All that remained was for someone to come through the door.

Chapter Text

Wild opened his eyes, sitting up from where he had been laying on the floor and rubbing the sore spot on the side of his head. What happened? He remembered trying to break down the door, but after that it was blank. He poked his right shoulder carefully where it should have been bruised, but there was no pain no matter how hard he pressed on it. Huh.

His initial panic had faded upon waking up. There had to have been something he missed.

The door couldn’t be broken down, but could it be moved? He extended his right arm, glowing green with magic, and tried to use Ultrahand to move the door in any direction. Nothing. He moved over to the table, eyeing the legs of the chairs.

it took several minutes of struggling, but eventually he had succeeded in breaking off one of the legs. He swished it through the air a few times, testing the balance.

Moving back to the door, he held the chair leg near it and activated Fuse. No dice.

Wild’s face fell. That would have been a fun weapon to play around with, too. At least he had something to defend himself with.

Autobuild and Recall were off the table; he had no Zonaite to substitute for devices and nothing to rewind in time. That left Ascend, but he’d already tried to use it to no success. Though, he had been panicking, so maybe there was something he’d missed? There was also the possibility that whatever had been blocking him was moved. Raising his hand again, he began to check the ceiling once more.

It was on the second time through he finally felt the small blip of magic in one of the corners, at the very edge of the wall. With a smug grin, he activated the magic and was jolted up through the ceiling.

Emerging through the ground, he was met with a much darker room than the one he’d left. If he squinted he could make out dark shapes in the room around him, but it was impossible to make out what they were. Luckily, his arm glowed. Raising it and moving towards one of the masses, he gasped.

Four’s bag sat on a table with Time’s and Twilight’s further down. Moving around the room, Wild was able to find everyone’s things, including his Slate which he clipped onto his belt immediately. Throwing a Brightbloom on the floor, he tried to decide what to do.

He couldn’t bring everyone’s stuff; it was impossible for him to to carry that many bags, and the Slate’s storage wouldn’t accept the magic bags (he’d tried before).

That reminded him. He no longer needed the chair leg as a weapon, seeing as he had his Slate back, but…it would be pretty funny. Mind made up, he stuck the leg into storage, swapping it for one of his own weapons.

He moved toward the exit on the far side of the wall, trying the handle that this door possessed. Locked.

Wild groaned, slumping to the ground, before remembering that this was a completely different room to the one he’d been in before and he could probably Ascend here too. Jumping back to his feet, he raised his hand and was jolted up through the ceiling once more.

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Warriors had been staring at the door for what seemed like an eternity. When the door finally opened, he carefully rose out of his seat and pushed in the chair. Warriors’ eyes narrowed. His visitor had come in alone, and was still standing in the open doorway. He had two options: find out what they wanted, or escape and potentially prevent anyone from dying.

He lunged for the figure in the door, knocking them to the ground. A white mist seeped from the person’s mouth, taking the form of two more…copies?

Warriors swore and started to run, but didn’t make it far at all before his scarf was grabbed, landing him flat on his back. Coughing, he felt hand close around his limbs and start to lift him back to his room. He thrashed, landing a solid kick to one of the figures, who melted away into fog and vanished. Another one immediately took its place and Warriors was thrown back into his cell.

Shit. He needed to find another way out, and fast.

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Time was still leaning against the wall when the door swung open and a muscular man wearing a red and white suit stepped in through the door. Time didn’t move, eye narrowing at the man as he took another step in, reaching behind him to close the door behind him.

One moment Time was leaning casually against the wall, the next he was sprinting towards the hallway, the lack of armor making him much faster on his feet. Nearing the man, who had moved to block the door, he called on Din’s Fire and magic erupted from him, waves of flame circling around him. The man stumbled back, and Time shoved his way past and into the hall.

Quickly glancing both ways, he noted that the door just to the right of where he’d emerged was slightly open, and shot through the opening, slamming the door behind him.

There was pounding on the other side of the door, and angry shouting, but Time’s weight pinned against the door kept it firmly shut. Besides, he had other things to worry about.

Displayed on the left wall were screens similar to Wild’s Slate that displayed the Chain. 9 rooms, 9 screens. The first thing Time noticed was that 2 of the rooms were empty. It made sense since his was empty, but who else was missing? And where were they? He scanned the screens.

Wind was laying on the table, looking bored. Four and Warriors were both pacing, and Sky was sitting in a corner absolutely radiating menace. Hyrule was curled on the floor and Time started to panic until he saw he was tapping his foot anxiously. Twilight was under the table (why, Pup, why? Time wondered), looking just as bored as Wind. And Legend seemed to be in the active process of cussing out the door.

That meant the empty room belonged to Wild. Knowing the Champion, Time’s best guess was that he’d found a way out, especially with that Ascend ability of his that he took great delight in using for pranks.

The door behind him shook with an especially powerful blow and Time gritted his teeth, leveraging more of his weight against the door. He couldn’t stay like this forever. There was another door on the far side of the room; if he could get in there, there might be something he could use.

After another thud shook the door, Time immediately sprinted across the room and threw open the other door, which to his relief, was unlocked. He wasted no time dashing in and shutting the door behind him. As he saw what was in the room, he grinned.

All of their things were in here, clearly illuminated by a glowing plant growing from the middle of the floor. Time immediately went for his bag, grabbing a familiar mask as he heard the man rush in behind him.

He pressed the mask, made of lumpy stone with a simple face carved across it, to his face and activated it with his magic, vanishing from sight. The man growled in frustration and raised his hands. Time watched in slight horror as blood slipped out of the man’s gauntlets and immediately rushed towards where he stood, flowing through the air like a stream. Quickly ducking under a table, he waited for the man to move further into the room. The man, not finding anything where Time had been standing, took a couple steps forward and cast the blood out in a wider area. A searching pattern.

Sparing a glance towards his bag, he felt a pang of frustration. There was no way he could get the rest of his things back right now; he’d have to leave it and try to find some of the other Links first.

He slipped past the man quickly, careful to avoid the searching tendrils, and back into the hallway, avoiding making any noise. The Stone Mask kept him mostly hidden, but he didn’t want to take any chances. Carefully, he made his way down a set of stairs and to the lower floor.

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Wind had been sitting on the table with the knife hidden in his sleeve, staring intensely at the door, when said door opened and a man with ridiculously tall blonde hair walked in. For a moment, all he could do was stare in shock at the fact that it made up at least a good third of his height.

Then Tall Hair took another step forward, and Wind snapped out of it. Leaping off the table and drawing the knife in one fluid movement, he charged, yelling a battle cry.

Tall Hair’s eyes widened and he let out a panicked shriek. Wind felt the sound hit his ears as if it were a solid wall. Reeling, he cried out in pain and dropped the knife, covering his ears. Why the fuck was his voice so damn loud? Tall Hair wasted no time in diving for the knife that had clattered to the floor, scooping it up before giving Wind a guilty look. He opened his mouth–

Wind lunged forward, ears still ringing, and kicked Tall Hair’s legs out from under him. As he fell, Wind grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the knife and twisted it, catching the knife with his other hand as it fell. As he dashed out the door, he swapped the knife back into his left hand.

Exiting the room showed that he was in a pale grey hallway, more doors like the one that had been in his room lining the walls. Having no time to weigh his options, he dashed right, hearing Tall Hair shouting and the sound of footsteps running after him. Something about the words sparked familiarity in his brain, but he didn’t have time to think about that now! He forced his mind to focus back on running away. Thankfully, there was a set of stairs on this side that led down, and Wind didn’t hesitate before leaping down the entire flight, landing the way Sky had taught him so he wouldn’t be hurt. Wasting no time, he sprinted down the corridor and turned right with the hallway.

There! Wind’s eyes widened. There was a door at the end of the hallway that had windows showing the blue sky outside! He ran full tilt to the door, skidding to a stop in front of it and trying to pry it open.

It wouldn’t open. Wind started to panic, hearing Tall Hair running down the stairs in pursuit. He felt a tap on his shoulder and his heart jumped into his throat. Whirling around, he was met with nothing but empty space. Wind’s eyes narrowed and he held the knife in front of him, scanning the room. “Who’s there?!”

In the blink of an eye, suddenly Time was standing there, removing a rock-looking thing from his face. Wind gaped.

“Sailor, are you okay?” Time asked, voice full of worry. He scanned Wind for any injuries, and nodded to himself when he found none.

“What—you—“ Wind sputtered, waving at the…mask? Was it a mask? Time, what the fuck?

Tall Hair burst out of the hallway, running full tilt for them.

Wind shouted a warning, but Time was already moving. Grabbing Wind, he pulled him out of Tall Hair’s path. They dodged around him, turning to run back down the hallway Wind had come from.

“I have an idea!” Time shouted as they both sprinted towards the stairs. “Can you distract him long enough?”

Wind grinned. “What’s the plan?”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Four had been pacing, waiting for something to happen, when the door opened without warning and he was immediately greeted with the sounds of chaos. He quickly ran out of the room, pausing to look over the new room.

Hyrule was leaning on the doorway across from him, face pale. His eyes met Four’s, and he visibly sighed in relief.

A crashing noise drew both of their attention to the stairwell, where Wind had somehow found a small potted plant and had thrown it at a man with ridiculous-looking hair.

“[Hey kid, watch it!]” the man squawked, dodging the pot. “[Calm down, I’m trying to help-!]”

Upstairs, there was a screech that sounded a lot like Legend, followed by Warriors shouting something that Four couldn’t make out. Twilight appeared at the top of the steps, eyes immediately locking onto the strange man. He started forward, ears pinned back as he snarled. The man turned around and was promptly tackled by Wind, who Twilight helped pin to the ground.

“[Heyheyhey wait a second!]” The man protested, struggling in vain. Four stalked forward.

“[Who are you?]” he asked the man. Since his first adventure, he’d found that the Jabber Nut he’d eaten didn’t just allow him to understand the language of the Minish, but others as well. It had certainly come in handy when visiting the other eras.

The man’s eyes widened. “[You can understand me?]”

“[Who. Are. You.]” Four repeated, glaring at the man. A slight tint of blue was starting to color his thoughts.

“[Present Mic!]” was the quick response. “[I don’t mean any harm! We can talk about this!]”

Four crossed his arms. “[Why’d you capture us, then?]”

Twilight turned to Wind. “What are they saying?”

Wind was frowning. “Not sure, but it sounds familiar..?”

Present Mic glared at Four. “[You teleported to UA! We are a restricted campus, and invasions are not a light matter!]”

“[UA?]” Four asked. “[What’s that?]”

“[How-]” he cut himself off. “[This isn’t adding up. How about you let me up, and we can talk about this? There’s some people who wanted to ask you a few things.]”

Four met Twilight’s eyes. “He says there’s probably been some sort of misunderstanding. There’s some people who want to talk to us, but he claims he doesn’t mean harm.”

“Bullshit.” Legend’s voice floated down the stairs.

There was the sound of footsteps on the stairwell, and Time walked down, wearing a white mask with a red eye design across the front.

“Let’s hear them out.”

Chapter Text

So, it’s been almost a year. Sorry about that. I have no intentions of discontinuing this fic (and would absolutely love to continue writing). That being said. My brain decided it wanted to focus on something entirely different sometime in August. This had initially been something I wrote during gym class when I had to sit out (due mostly to bad knees), and thus when I graduated high school and got a summer job, I had less time to write.

And before I knew it, I started college. Initially, I just couldn’t find the time to write because of the big life changes. I was only like a week into classes when a new interest basically barged into my brain and evicted everything else. Close to winter break, I did actually resume writing the next chapter (I’d been playing Twilight Princess for the past month or so and was getting back into Zelda) and then suddenly BAM a New Thing™️ released in the new interest and I got sucked straight back in.

The next chapter is currently only partially written, but I am hoping to start work on it again this summer. My first year of college is over, and my brain has somewhat chilled out. Kind of. I may or may not have gotten a second new shiny thing to obsess over, and I may or may not have started an absolutely massive project. However, since I won’t post anything related to that until everything is finished (I won’t post it on this account anyways. This is my hidden one I don’t want my friends reading, so that one’s going on my other account.), I can take my time.

Your support has been absolutely lovely and reading your comments has honestly made me so happy. I did toy with the idea of rewriting what I’d already posted, but I decided not to. I went into this with no outline and yet past me still thought far enough ahead that I laid some decent groundwork, so I’ll just continue with my original ideas for this.

I’ll work on this sporadically through the summer, as a bit of a break from the other thing I’m working on. When the next chapter will be out, I don’t know. But when it does, I hope you’ll like it. Updates will likely not be at all fast (the hope, though, is that I don’t keep you waiting for an entire year again ;-;). Just know I appreciate all of you so, so much. Thank you <3!