Chapter Text
“Well, Misko certainly hid it well enough,” Zelda said as they cleared another large grouping of rocks. Revali made a discontented hum as he glared at the low cave ceilings, stepping back as Daruk heaved a boulder twice his size into the ravine below.
“Honestly, I hardly see how treasure hunting is the best use of our time and skills,” Revali said, knocking aside some rubble with his talon.
“Sometimes breaks are just as necessary as action,” Urbosa said. She had that look about her that reeked of maternal guidance. Revali rolled his eyes. “Plus, I’m very curious about some of the treasures the Great Thief hid away. The trophies our little knight has found so far are brimming with mystery,” she said.
At that, Revali glared at the aforementioned knight. It was his bright idea that had dragged them into this cave in the first place. Apparently, digging up ancient relics was one of the hobbies he had picked up while saving all of Hyrule.
Anything to avoid actually fighting Ganon, Revali thought with a huff. In truth, the knight he’d known one hundred years ago didn’t even have hobbies. Revali had yet to decide if this made the new Link more or less annoying to deal with.
“I’m just excited to be out exploring again,” Mipha said. Revali sighed—he couldn’t exactly argue with that.
Ever since the defeat of Calamity Ganon and their unexpected revival, the former Champions of Hyrule had all been struggling to adjust. The world had changed a lot since their fight a century ago, and they’d found their positions as leaders and warriors replaced or gone entirely. Even Mipha’s return had brought its share of troubles over whether she or her brother would ascend the throne. After all, her “younger” sibling had now been alive longer than she had.
Revali had found Rito Village to be a bittersweet home base. While the wood and rock was achingly familiar, none of the faces were. It had taken him longer than he’d like to admit to grow accustomed to the strangeness of it all.
His first impulse was, like he did all those years ago, to separate from any unnecessary connections that could stunt his aspirations. He hadn’t needed friends then, so he certainly didn’t need them now. He could remain cordial with the village without ever pushing too far past it—he could remain Master Revali the Rito Legend, and not Revali the “Show Off” or Revali the “Overly Meticulous Planner” or Revali the “Picks All The Nuts Off His Nutcake Before Eating It.”
Annoyingly, Teba and his family hadn’t been too keen on this idea. They’d first offered him the small hut next to their home, which he’d begrudgingly accepted since his former home had long since been repurposed. Then, they insisted he spend dinner with them nearly every night. Revali had chalked it up to blind admiration, whether that be from Teba or his young son. Perhaps both.
But after a while, Revali started to squirm at the sheer domesticity of it all. Teba and Saki were becoming far too…parental for his liking, so he’d decided to take a step away from Rito Village to re-establish his position as a worldly Champion, not some young fledgling to be babied.
If he’d left a note so they wouldn’t worry and Tulin with some archery training notes, it was purely out of a warrior’s respect and nothing else.
“Found it!” Daruk shouted, lifting a large, rusted chest out of its hiding place. “Let’s bring this bad boy up to the surface and check out our haul!”
Revali sighed again, this time a bit louder to make sure his opinion was heard. Had he truly left his beloved home for this? He’d expected to be fighting Hinoxes or Lynels or maybe even dispatching the few Guardians that still terrorized the outskirts of Hyrule! Certainly not crowding tightly around a beaten-up old treasure chest while Link used the sword that seals the darkness to pry open the rusted lock.
At least Zelda had the decency to look disturbed by Link’s blasphemous display before returning to her notes.
“According to Misko, these were snatched off a traveling salesman that had just returned from outside of Hyrule,” she said. “There’s not a lot about the salesman written here, but Misko seemed very worried about being caught with this treasure in particular—more so than normal. Whoever he stole this from must have been quite intimidating.”
“Must be something good then. Otherwise, why steal it?” Daruk asked, scratching his chin.
“It may be cursed,” Urbosa warned. “Stolen weaponry often despises its wielder.”
“Not in my case,” Link muttered, popping the chest open.
Revali still hadn’t grown used to Link speaking. He hadn’t known the knight even could until after he’d been resurrected. Evidently, Revali was the last to know, as Zelda, Mipha, and Daruk had all apparently seen him speak at least once before the Calamity and Urbosa seemed unperturbed by the development.
“Are those…?” Mipha asked, leaning closer to the chest with wide eyes. Revali leaned forward, curiosity getting the better of him.
“Faces?!” Daruk shouted.
“They’re masks, you dolt,” Revali said, heaving another dramatic sigh for good measure. “All this way for some costumes.”
“How interesting!” Mipha said, passing them around as Zelda snapped pictures. “There’s one for each race in Hyrule.” Revali watched as mask after mask was pulled from the chest. They were a bit crude in their make, and obviously old—the Rito mask bordered on offensive, more resembling a Hylian with a beak than an actual Rito.
“Clearly these are Hylian-made,” Revali hummed, twisting the Zora mask in his wing before lifting it humorlessly to his face. “How do you even wear these things? I know you lot don’t have beaks, but I still can’t imagine having your mouths covered would be comf—mMPH!!”
Whatever that thing was, Revali determined, it most certainly wasn’t a mask.
A mask wouldn’t latch onto him like some parasite, sending him tumbling backward as he attempted to pry it off. He collided with a cool surface and heard the aborted shouts become muffled as a stinging pain started to spread from his head, down his neck, and into the tips of his wings where he clawed uselessly at the thing covering his face.
He couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t feel past the awful grinding feeling that ripped through every inch of him like a toxin until everything felt foreign and numb. He blinked, reason rushing back to him as he realized the pain had left as quickly as it had arrived.
Mipha had joined him…wherever he was. She must have gotten that thing off of him, he realized. That must be why she looked so shocked. That, or…
“How…bad is it?” Revali asked. He could only imagine how badly that leech must have mangled his face to have Mipha so out of sorts. Mipha let out a squeak before composing herself.
“I’m…I don’t know if I can heal this, Revali.”
Revali’s mind stuttered at that. Something even Mipha couldn’t heal? He’d watched her basically reattach Link’s arm after a particularly gruesome Lynel encounter! Surely it couldn’t have been that bad!
Revali went to lean up, before flailing and realizing he wasn’t lying down at all. Was he flying? It felt more like floating. He glanced down.
He was floating. So was Mipha, actually. He blinked.
Water. They were underwater. That made sense. He blinked again. Did it?
Surely he’d been under here for at least a minute or two. Shouldn’t his lungs be screaming for air? Instead, he was talking with Mipha about—
Hold on a moment…Talking?
All at once and with a visceral clarity, everything felt deeply wrong.
He was suddenly aware of a chill that ran along skin normally covered with feathers. His wings weren’t wide enough, his talons felt like they were being bent in all the wrong directions, his whole mouth felt too shallow and as he opened it to say something, anything, his tongue collided hard with a row of little sharpened bones.
Teeth, his brain sluggishly provided. He had teeth now.
“Mipha,” Revali wheezed, his voice a high-pitched warble. He couldn’t bring himself to look away from her. If he didn’t look down, maybe it wasn’t real. “What’s…wrong with me?”
“Nothing!” she said quickly. Too quickly. “Well, something is wrong. But I’m sure you’ll be okay, um, we should get you to shore, I think—”
They were interrupted by a slew of bubbles. Suddenly, there was a third person with them—Link, dressed in his Zora armor, gawking at Revali.
Something about seeing their ever-stoic knight looking at him like a three-eyed Hinox made Revali’s resolve crumble. He let out a panicked whimper—he would later deny ever doing so—as Mipha and Link grabbed his wings (?) and yanked him to the surface.
Being on dry land didn’t help. Revali nearly tripped the moment he touched the ground, held up only by Mipha and Link on either side of him. He felt heavy and unbalanced, and the gasps and shouts from the other Champions were hardly making him feel any better. He wanted to hurl.
He at least took some fleeting joy from watching Daruk drop the mask he was holding as if it had burned him.
“Revali?!” Zelda cried incredulously, rushing to his side. “What happened?!”
“What does it look like?” he snapped back.
“That mask, it must have—”
“Get it off,” Revali growled.
Mipha set a hand on his cheek, and he flinched at the contact. “I can’t…I don’t even see a line where it’s connecting.”
“Well yeah,” Daruk said. “That damn thing’s covering all of him!”
“Not. Helping.” Revali hissed. He flinched again when a weight landed on his shoulders. He glanced up at Urbosa, who gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze as she wrapped a blanket from her traveling bag around him. Revali went to snark at her sentimentality, but it died in his throat.
He settled on a quiet thank-you as he pulled the cover around him. It wasn’t his feathers, but it was an improvement.
“So the masks turn you into whatever they depict,” Zelda said, furrowing her brows. “So maybe if we give you the Rito mask, you’ll turn back into a Rito?”
“That seems short-sighted,” Urbosa said. “We’d just be dealing with the same problem twice over—he’d still have two of those things stuck on him.”
“Give me the mask,” Revali said tersely. “I don’t care what we have to do later. Anything is better than this.”
“Bein’ a Zora doesn’t seem that bad,” Daruk said, before fizzling under Revali’s scorching glare.
“I’m featherless, flightless, and cold. I can’t shoot, I can’t fight, the ability I spent my life mastering is completely useless, and I have teeth, Daruk! Teeth!”
“…Rito don’t have teeth?” Daruk asked.
“No! Obviously not!” Revali shouted, voice jumping an octave. “Just give me the mask, please.”
“Revali,” Zelda started but was interrupted as Link pushed past her and shoved the mask toward him. Revali reached out to take it, trying his best not to focus on the shaky, navy-scaled hands that were apparently his now, and lifted it to his face.
“…Revali,” Mipha said after a quiet moment. “It doesn’t seem to be—”
“Shut up,” he hissed, voice muffled by the mask. And that’s all it was, Revali realized with a sinking feeling. It wasn’t doing anything other than covering the look of disappointment surely dawning on his face.
“We need to explore other options,” Urbosa said, and Revali couldn’t summon the energy to resist as she pulled the mask away from him and tucked it under her arm. “I can’t say I’ve heard of anything like this happening in the desert. Little bird, did something like this come up in your research?”
“No, I’ve never heard of anything like this. I’m sorry,” Zelda said quietly. Even after all she’d done for Hyrule, she still looked whipped any time she couldn’t answer a question.
Revali directed his withering glare to the ground, unable to bring himself to make the princess feel worse than she already did.
“Zora’s Domain is nearby,” Mipha said. “I haven’t heard of this ailment myself, but perhaps our records have something?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Daruk said. “Don’t worry, Revali, we’ll have you back to your feathery self in no time!” He then smacked Revali’s back with such force that Revali toppled forward, squawking as he smacked his head—beak? Nose? Weird fleshy Zora forehead protrusion? Revali stopped caring when he felt suddenly dizzy, black spots sprouting up in his vision.
“Revali! Are you okay?” That was Mipha, though she sounded faint past the ringing in his ears.
“No,” he gasped. “What the hell is going on?”
“Zoras have lots of sensory nerves in their head,” Mipha said quietly, gently setting her hand to his temple. Nearly instantly, the sharp pain dulled. “We use a series of pores along the sides of our snouts that help us perceive depth water pressure, and we use electroreceptors to help us navigate underwater. They help us see and smell by picking up faint electrical fields. But they’re very sensitive.”
“Is that why Zoras are so susceptible to shock attacks?” Zelda asked, face lighting up in curiosity. Revali did his best to not get annoyed by her levity.
“Yes,” Mipha said. “Electric shocks can cause serious damage to our nervous system and cause blindness even in mild cases.”
Zelda hummed, taking out her notebook and scribbling something in it.
“So you’re telling me that Zoras have a huge weak point directly in the middle of their forehead?” Revali said sardonically.
“If you smashed your beak into a stone wall, would it not daze you?” Mipha asked.
Revali grumbled at that.
“Can you stand, Revali?” Urbosa asked. “If we want to make it to Zora’s Domain by nightfall, we should pack up and get a move on.”
“Of course, I can stand,” he hissed, pulling the blanket tighter around him as he pushed himself to his feet. He immediately swayed, holding his arms out to steady himself.
“You people don’t have halluxes,” he muttered. “I have no idea how you function like this.”
“I can get your things, Revali,” Mipha said. “My supplies are mostly packed up anyway.”
“I’m fine,” Revali said, doing his best to stand up straight. His ego was long past bruised, but he was damned if he wasn’t going to try and salvage what was left of his dignity. “What are you going to do about the rest of those?”
Everyone’s eyes settled on the masks, still lying abandoned on the ground.
“I’ll carry them,” Link said. At the incredulous looks, he shrugged and knelt to toss the masks into his bag. “I have lots of dangerous things. And they could help fix Revali.”
He held a hand out for Urbosa and she set the Rito mask in his palm with a sigh. “Just be careful, little voe.”
Link hummed in acknowledgment before tossing his bag over his shoulder.
“Good to go?” Daruk asked. He nodded. “Alright! Let’s roll out, gang!”
If Revali hung a little further back than he usually did, no one mentioned it. And if Mipha lagged just enough to offer a steadying hand when he stumbled, well, no one mentioned that either.
~
They didn’t make it to Zora’s Domain by nightfall, and Revali took some pride in knowing that their lack of a skilled aerial scout was the reason.
Of course, it was a bitter victory. In all honesty, he rather enjoyed their usual Lanayru ritual: he would fly ahead, sniping any Lizalfo archers before they could even think of knocking one of their pesky shock arrows. It was great for everyone—the rest of the group got a relaxing walk along the river, and Revali got target practice and a chance to bask in the abundant praise of thankful Zora citizens.
This time around, however, it had been a slog of carefully dealing with each camp in a way that guaranteed neither Mipha nor himself would be in range of any electrical attacks. At first, Urbosa had the gall to confiscate his bow to make sure he didn’t engage and get himself killed.
It was only after Revali ripped a bow from Link’s back and placed an arrow cleanly in the eyeball of a swooping Keese that they returned his weaponry.
But even Revali could admit that he was hardly unaffected. His beloved Great Eagle Bow felt foreign in his hands, built for someone with a wider wingspan and stronger arms. He’d reluctantly switched to a smaller Lizalfo bow he’d pulled from one of the passing camps, but quickly found that firing any more than one arrow at a time was out of the question.
He couldn’t help but feel like a fledgling again, outclassed by his older peers due only to the awkwardness in his limbs. He thought of Teba or, goddess forbid, Tulin seeing him like this and shuddered. It was mortifying.
When the sun set beneath the rocks, the group decided to turn in and re-lit the embers of a recently-emptied enemy encampment.
“There’s still plenty of light, what are you all on about?” Revali said, looking around.
“It’s already almost ten o’clock, Revali,” Urbosa said. “It doesn’t get much darker than this.”
“What on earth are you…” Revali stared before his mouth fell open. He spun to Mipha, looking scandalized.
“This is what night vision looks like to you lot?!” Revali said, gesturing around. “Oh, you wouldn’t last five minutes as a Rito.”
Revali went to cross his arms on instinct but recoiled when he made contact with cool scales instead of familiar feathers. Feeling the rush of ick again, Revali retreated to his small camp setup and retrieved the blanket Urbosa had given him earlier, throwing it over himself.
“You Zoras have horrendous body temperature regulation,” Revali muttered. “I’m freezing.”
“Well, Zoras don’t usually sleep on land,” Mipha said, arranging her bedding near the campfire. “We sleep in communal pools with other Zoras. It helps regulate our temperature.”
“You sleep in communal areas? What do you do in your houses then?” Daruk asked.
“We don’t have houses,” Mipha said.
“No houses at all? How interesting.” Urbosa said. “I’m embarrassed to say that I’m not all that familiar with Zora culture.”
“It’s not so strange,” Revali said, forsaking his pouting to scoot closer to the fire. “It’s not too different from Rito Village. We do have homes, but they’re always open to everyone. I never understood why other races were so keen to throw walls up everywhere. Honestly, I don’t understand a lot of the strange cultural decisions you all make.”
Revali pulled the blanket a little closer, eyes training on the flickering campfire. “I am incredibly proud to be a Rito. I have spent my entire life doing everything I can to represent the very pinnacle of my people. And I succeeded, mind you. So to have all of that training, that time, that…struggle, be so useless in my current state, it’s—”
“Revali,” Zelda said, setting a hand on his shoulder. “We’re going to get you back to normal.”
Ugh, sentimentality. Revali needed a distraction, something to take the pitying stares away from him.
“And what do you think, Mr. Hero?” Revali asked, glaring at Link. “After all, I can’t help but notice you’ve said nothing even though this treasure-hunting business was all your brilliant idea.”
“Revali,” Urbosa said, voice low with warning. Revali lovingly disregarded it.
“No, I’m curious,” Revali snapped. “What’s your opinion on all this, hm? Or we going to be met with your oh-so-classic silen—”
“I’m really sorry, Revali.”
Revali’s mouth snapped shut, and despite himself, he found himself missing the familiar clack of his beak closing that came with being utterly shocked into silence.
“I didn’t know what would be in that cave,” Link continued. “I wouldn’t have brought you there if I did. You may not believe me but…I think I know what you’re going through.”
“I hope you’re not comparing this to your amnesia,” Revali said, though it had less bite than he’d intended.
“I’m not,” Link said. He then stood, pulling the Master Sword off his back, and turned away. “I’ll take the first watch. You should get some sleep.” He walked away without another word.
Daruk cleared his throat. “You heard the little guy,” he said. “No point in dwelling on the past. Tomorrow, we crack this rock wide open!”
“Sleep well, everyone,” Mipha said with a polite nod.
Urbosa stood, walking over to Revali. “We’ll fix this, Revali. In the meantime, try to be kinder to our little knight. You may not believe me, but during your little incident, he looked more rattled than he did while fighting the Thunderblight.”
“You’re wrong,” Revali said. “You must be.”
She cut her eyes over to where Link had disappeared behind the cliff face. “Maybe so. But that boy has faced many demons—more than you or I could know. I’ve learned to trust his instincts on these things. Maybe you could learn to as well.”
Revali gave her a derisive snort as she walked to her tent, pulling the tarp closed with a quiet ‘sav’orr.’ He turned to Zelda, who was glaring at the ground.
“Princess?” Revali said. Her head snapped up quickly, and she shrunk back.
“Revali,” she said, looking sadly toward the flame. “You will return to your former body, I promise, we’ll—”
“I have no doubt, Princess,” Revali said with a humorless huff. “But nothing can be done tonight, hm? Best flap off to bed.”
Zelda looked at him for another moment, before giving him a weak smile and retreating to her tent.
Revali sighed, settling deeper into the blanket. Normally, he liked flying into a tree to sleep. It gave him an aerial advantage over any intruders and provided a much-needed distance between him and his companions.
Now, of course, that plan seemed incredibly stupid. He sank onto the cold ground, closing his eyes and trying to will himself into a slumber. All he succeeded in doing was becoming increasingly aware of every little inconsistency between his body and this new, uncomfortable placeholder.
Revali groaned. This was going to be a long night.
~
Revali guessed it was around two in the morning when Link returned, though admittedly, his sense of time was being thrown off dramatically by his new night vision.
With one eye just barely cracked open, he watched the knight root around in his bag and slowly produce the cursed masks from earlier. Laying them out on the dirt, he frowned. Then, he withdrew one more—a purplish, spiked mask that reeked of evil.
Link held the mask out, furrowing his brows as he glanced between it and the four on the ground. Then, he set it down and picked up the Rito mask, flipping it over and lifting it slowly towards—
“What are you doing?” Revali said, sitting up and taking some pleasure in watching Link fumble and drop the mask on the ground. Link looked around and, after confirming they hadn’t woken anyone, gathered all the masks and dropped them into his bag again.
“I thought you were asleep,” Link said.
“Were you about to put that on?” Revali asked incredulously. “Are you truly that brain dead?”
“I wasn’t going to—” Link cut himself off, before reconsidering his words. “I was testing something.”
“Testing what? Whether you’d turn into a Rito?” Revali scoffed. “What, was my tragedy not proof enough?”
“No, that’s not—”
“And if it had worked, what then, hm? You grow the feathers and the beak, then what?”
Link stayed quiet, and Revali sighed.
“Wielding swords is difficult for Rito, you know. Not impossible, mind you, but difficult. Especially ones as heavy as that,” Revali said, gesturing to the Master Sword. “It would be quite selfish of you to deny Hyrule its best swordsman out of your own foolish curiosity.”
“You think I’m the best swordsman in Hyrule?” Link asked.
“Don’t let it go to your head,” Revali said. “I could still easily dispense of your little sword tricks with my archery prowess, just so you know.”
Link smiled at him, scooting a little closer. Revali made a gagging sound at the gesture but didn’t move from his spot.
“What did you mean earlier?” Revali asked. Link quirked a brow at him, and he huffed. “You said you knew what I was going through. If not your amnesia, then what were you talking about?”
Link sighed, running his hand down his face. “I have visions, sometimes,” he said. “Like memories, but not from before the Calamity. More like before…” He gestured to the air. “…All of this.”
Revali squinted at him. “You’re not making sense.”
“Past lives,” Link said.
“Past lives?” Revali parroted. “Well, aren’t we awfully presumptuous?”
“Zelda said they’re the lives of everyone who held the sword before me,” he said. “She has them, too, I guess.”
Revali shot him a look, before sighing. “Let's say I believe you. So what, you were a Zora in a past life?”
“No,” Link said. He frowned again. “Well, maybe for a bit.”
“A bit?”
“I didn’t remember any of it. Until I found this.” Link pulled out the spiked mask from earlier and carefully set it on the ground. The light from the dimming fire caught the edge of the painted eyes, casting a menacing shadow over the two of them. It sent a shiver down Revali’s spine.
“I remember meeting someone wearing this. And I remember being scared. Really scared. Waking up feeling like I wasn’t me, like someone had sewn my mouth shut. Whatever I was, I don’t think I could talk.” Link put a hand to his lips, before shaking his head. “I asked Zelda. She said she didn’t remember anything like that. She was confident she’d never seen this mask before.”
“Even if all this is true, that makes even less sense,” Revali muttered. “If you remember how terrible it was, why were you about to put the thing on earlier?”
“I thought…” Link gritted his teeth. Revali had never heard him talk for this long. He passingly wondered if it was draining on him. “I thought if I put myself back in that situation, I would remember…how I fixed it, back then.”
“How do you know that you fixed it?” Revali asked.
“I did. I know I did,” Link said, finally looking over at Revali. His eyes were sharp, like when he was in battle. “I’m going to figure it out, Revali. I’m going to help you.”
Revali couldn’t do much but stare at Link for a moment. It was strange, seeing him so determined for Revali’s benefit. It almost reminded him of their brief exchange on Vah Medoh, right before he’d kindly let Link borrow his gale.
“Well,” Revali said, clearing his throat and looking away. “Someone’s a chatterbox this evening, hm?”
He glanced back over at Link, surprised to see him blushing at the accusation. “Does it bother you?” Link asked with a cough. “I thought you hated it when I was silent.”
“Now now, don’t go putting words in my beak,” Revali said haughtily. “For the record, I much prefer you talking. It makes me feel less like I’m hurling insults at a brick wall. Even if you’re still as dense as one at times.”
Link laughed at that, and Revali smiled. The two sat in comfortable silence for a moment, before Link mumbled, “I think you should try and get some sleep.”
“I did. Try, that is,” Revali said. “Unfortunately, my brain doesn’t seem very keen on turning off at the moment. I think it’s still…adjusting.”
“Mm,” Link said eloquently. “Do you want to train then?”
“What?”
“You seemed upset that you couldn’t help fight earlier,” Link said. “But you can still shoot, obviously. With some practice, you’d probably catch back up to where you were. I bet you could even get some airtime if you learned how to coast up the waterfalls and launch yourself. I could show you?”
“Right now?” Revali asked.
Link shrugged. “Seems like as good a time as any for a distraction.”
Revali hummed. It would be nice to be able to hold his own again. Frankly, it was embarrassing that Link had even noticed his ineptitude. He’d need to remedy that quickly.
“Well, I’ve already mastered being a Rito,” Revali said, pushing himself to his feet. “I may as well excel at being a Zora too. It certainly can’t be that hard.”
Link smiled, grabbing his bag and tilting his head like a Hylian retriever. Revali straightened up, hoping to muster at least half the refinement and dignity he’d held as his normal self, and the two made their way to the river.