Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I sigh, looking up at the clear sky and the burning sun Can I still go blind if I stare at it too long? My eyes are artificial, after all.

I look around me, seeing everyone enjoying the sunny weather and the beach. Arriving here of all places was suprising, but it has been quite comfortable even though it shouldn't for someone like me.

Being out in the sun for too long is usually a death sentence—or at best, torture—to quite a few creatures from the dark world, including me. But thankfully I have a magic hair pin that helps shield me body from being damaged.

It doesn't work too well for long periods of time, but before now I didn't have to worry about it. If I've been out for too long I would simply go home and take it off for a few hours.

I don't fully understand how it works, but I don't need to anyways. The only things I need to know is: It slowly uses my magic up, I can transform it into another item, and—as mentioned earlier—I shouldn't use it for extended periods.

I usually keep it as either a hair pin or a necklace, so it's both cute and functional. Since it's so small, it isn't really noticeable either, so no one would suspect that it's made out of dark magic. Whenever I make it into something bigger, it's way more noticeable. Though it could just be me.

I can feel Twilight—or more specifically, Wolfie—staring at me, but I ignore it. What else can I do? It's to be expected after the small argument we had before coming here.

I look over at the others swimming, though not all are in the water. Outside of Wolfie, I can see Hyrule by the beach, looking over at them.

"Not interested in joining them?", I ask, now sitting next to him. He finally looks away from the water, seeming a bit sheepish.

"I can't swim very well, so I'd rather stay here than cause any trouble.", he answers, and I frown. I can't really swim well either, but...

"We could stay in the shallows if you want. I would at least be in the water a little instead of just staring at it.", I ask, and he looks at me as though he never even thought of that.

...Did he seriously not think of that?

"Are you sure you want to go in with me? Your shirt will most definetly get wet, even if we don't go that deep.", he asks. Honestly, I would go without a shirt—we are on a beach, after all—but I can't show them my scars just yet. It'll just ruin everything.

"It's fine. It won't be ruined just by getting wet anyways. Though maybe I should ask Wild if he's okay with it? No no, if he lent me it on a beach then he should really expect it.", I say with a grin. Wild doesn't use this shirt often anyways, and he just pulled it out of his weird teleporting slab thing. It can't be that important, right?

He stands up, and I can't help my grin turning more into a smile as we enter the water.

"I though you said you couldn't swim?", Wind says, appearing in front of us. Where did the kid even come from?!

"Yeah. That's why I'll be staying up here!", the hero says with a smile, but Wind just looks at us funny.

"Don't let him convince you to try. It's not even that warm in the water.", Legend says, and I look over at him--

Where are his legs.

I've seen big birds with Hylian intelligence, a Zelda being a weird...something, and now Legend somehow being part fish—or Zoren? Just Zora? I don't know anymore...

"What, never seen a mermaid? Well, a merman in this case.", he says. No, Legend, I have not seen a merman or whatever you are now. Is this normal in the future—or distant, distant past?

"Just...how?", I ask. I can tell that it's magic—duh—but usually it's pretty to tell what type of magic they used when doing any sort of transformation magic unless they willingly hide it. But maybe...

"Through an item or something?", I ask, and by his reaction, I can tell that I'm right.

"Yeah. In my third adventure I touched a weird tail...thing. After that, all the times I've been submerged in the water I've got a tail. It's annoying, but could be worse. It does let me breathe under water, which is nice.", he says. Honestly, I'm suprised he's letting me know so much after yesterday.

"How could you tell that it was from an item?", Hyrule asks. Though he sounds curious, I can tell that he's suspicous. I would rather not ruin the peace between us, so I decide to answer honestly.

"Transformation or shapeshifting magic have a very distinct feel, though it can be easily hidden. But since Legend doesn't have much of a reason to hide it, an item or curse is most likely.", I say. Ugh, I definetly sound line Vio when I explain stuff. It makes sense, but still annoying!

"Didn't know you knew so much about magic!", Hyrule says happily. Though I haven't seen him use any magic yet, I can feel it. Same with Legend. I wonder what magic they use? I'm good at sensing it, but not perfect.

But despite Hyrule's smile, I can feel the way he's looking at me. He's definetly suspicous. But...Of what? Was me guessing it was an item so weird? Let's just hope this doesn't lead to anything bigger.

It's the night of the first day in Wind's era, and I have two thoughts in my head as I try to sleep.

1. It's cramped.

2. By Demise do the scars hurt.

Do they even count as scars? They can't heal properly since they're a punishment for being brought back to life, so there's not much I can do about it.

Back home, I would use a special cream that Vio created, which would help them not feel bad as long as I don't do anything to annoy them. Sadly, I don't have this cream. And even worse of all, being in the water definetly annoyed them.

I sigh, getting out of the cuddle pile. Honestly, I would've liked this more if I trusted them more and if my back wasn't screaming in pain. Maybe I'll be able to sneak back into it later?

Either way, I go out of the little house. I would rather not be on the beach again, but I don't seem to have much of a choice.

But as I walk, I see someone sitting on the beach. Shit, is that Legend? Should I just turn back? I don't want to disturb him.

"I can hear you muttering to yourself, you know.", he says, and I do not—DO NOT!!—jump. I sigh. Guess it's too late to remove myself from the situation...

"Sorry to intrude, I didn't know you were out.", I say, walking closer. He simply shrugs, and I sit down besides him, not dating to make any eye contact? Where did all my cockiness and confidence go? Did it really go away the second I went out the portal?

"It's fine.", he says, and looks at the ocean again with a sad expression. Did...something happen between him and the ocean? He looked happy to be swimming in it earlier today.

Though I want to ask, I know I shouldn't. It isn't my place, and I can tell it's important just from the expression he's making. So, I decide to simply sit with him in silence. Not much else I can do, after all.

I look over at the empty beach, and can't help but think of home. There's not a lot of beaches where we live, but I remember Link having visited one when he was younger.

He was making sandcastles, swimming with father, and 'getting tan—honestly, more like suburnt—with grandpa. I wonder how he would like it here? Maybe we could make a sandcastles together.

"Do you know how to make a sandcastle?", I blurt out, snapping him back to reality. If my ears were real, they would most definetly be red.

"Can you...teach me how to make one?", I ask. He looks suprised, but that shouldn't be too suprising.

"If you want.", he says, and we get to it. Though it's a bit hard to see in the dark, we make it work. And finally, after what feels like an hour—though we likely didn't spend too much time on it—our little sandcastle is finished. At the end, Legend even puts a pretty little pink flowers by it.

He looks...sad. But not in the same way as earlier. Instead, he looks almost hopeful.

"We should convince the others to have a sandcastle competition. You would definitely win!", I say with a grin, but he only rolls his eyes.

"As if. Wind literally grew up here on the beach, so he's likely way better than me.", he says, but I can tell he secretly thinks that he'll win.

"Hm, maybe so! Either way, thank you for teaching me.", I say, standing up from the sand. Ugh, it's all over my legs!

"No need to thank me. Now, go and sleep. I'll be out here just a little longer.", he says, though I don't know if I believe him. Either way, I go back into the house, trying my best to be as quiet as possible as to not wake the others.

Though I respect Sky and will never hurt him unless I need to, I've decided to try to keep my distance. Why? Because of his master sword.

Link nor the colours used the Master Sword, and though they would love to wield it and see how good it is for themselves, they're not with us right now.

That sword radiates light magic, and almost feel like it was touched by the goddess herself. In other words, something that would probably be used to defeat myself and Vaati, or just any bad guy.

So, I stay away from it. Who knows what it can do to me? Kill me, hurt me, reveal my true identity which will definitely lead to the first 2 options?

"Shadow, are you okay?", Sky asks, and I only shrug. I used too much magic this last battle as I was hurt quite a lot—having a battle on a small island is not something I reccomend—, and though I'm not seriously impacted by the injuries, I need to heal them so they don't get even more suspicous...and because they usually hurt.

"I saw you were hit quite a lot by those monsters, can I check for any injuries? Trust me, it's better than Hyrule checking since he can get quite angry about it.", I stare at him in shock.

I know he only wants to check that I'm okay, but the possibility of him seeing them...

"Did the traveler heal you earlier?", he ask, making sure to keep his distance and being as careful as possible when talking.

"Yeah", I say, though he only frowns. Thankfully, it goes away after a small promise that I'm not lying or hiding anything.

"I don't know how many injuries you had, but I could tell it was enough for you to be tired.", he says sitting down besides me, his sword still not being off his back.

"You can take a quick nap, if you want.", he says, and I indulge. Even if I don't trust the sword nor the spirit within, I trust Sky enough for me lay my head on his shoulder...and falling asleep, even if I wasn't actually trying to.

It's dinner time, and though I don't need food, I like to eat and it'll just look suspicious of I say no. I sit next to Wild, as most of the others are just with other stuff. Chatting with Wild is fun, especially as he tells me more about his era.

"So when my second adventure started, I got his arm", he says, showing off the weird green arm he has, "and I never complained. I mean, it has cool magic powers, so why wouldn't I like it?"

"But then after I rescued Zelda and all, it suddenly fell off! It scared me so much that I stayed home for a full day, which never happends.", I look at him shocked. Few people have magical green arms, bur one that can fall off???

"Obviously, it's on again now. It took me a bit to figure out how to put it on and make it stay, though. And I still take it off when sleeping, obviously.", he says. No, it is not obvious!

"What, never seen a prostethic before?", he laughs, taking it off as he finishes with taking everything into the pot. He hands it over to me, and I accept. It would be rude to say no, after all.

"A prostethic...Ah! I've heard my brothers mention them, but aren't they usually steel or wooden?", I ask. They're blacksmiths, so they get commissioned to do a lot of stuff, including making people arms and legs.

"Yeah, but this is an old guy's arm. I don't really know how it works exactly, but it's cool!", he says with a grin, placing it back on his arm stump. By Demise, Vil will ask him so many questions when he meets Wild.

I feel...annoyingly weak. We've been sailing in Wind's era for a almost a week now—although only being on the boat for about an hour at a time—though we thankfully made stops at multiple islands. I always felt off when being on the boat, and Legend didn't like it either as he first tried to swim with us, but he decided to just be in the boat because "the water is too dangerous to be in for over an hour.". Honestly, would have liked to known that before we went swimming the other day. But instead of being able to relax or have fun on the islands, we had to fight weirdly hard enemies.

Well, it shouldn't be weird. They did have black blood, after all. Still doesn't make the situation much better! But they still managed to get quite a few hits on me, and every time, I had to use some magic to fix the injury.

And if I just use a little magic everyday, it adds up. Quickly. Especially since I have to use my hair pin often, though I make sure to take it off at night so I don't encounter even more problems.

"Are you sure you're okay, Shadow? You look...pale. You should really be sitting down.", Warriors says, putting his hand on my forehead to check my temperature. I simply groan, the magic exhausting making it hard to think.

He catches me when I'm about to pass out, mumbling something about 'why do none of you heroes have any self presentation skills...'

I blink, and instead of feeling the hardness of the wooden boards of a boat—or even the warmth of a Hylian—I feel something wet. Wait, wet? I'm clearly not in the ocean but this doesn't feel like sand either.

"Shadow. Link, hey you there?", I hear someone ask, and I can only hum. I can feel something being pressed against my lips, but I couldn't fight it even if I wanted to. But they wouldn't try to poison me, right? Wait, can I even be poisened? I do have a stomach—and some other organs—but it simply burns everything that comes down to it...

I can feel magic spreading across my body, and I"m finally able to open my eyes to see a worried Hyrule above me.

"...Hyrule?"

"Phew, you're finally awake again. You know, you almost gave Warriors a heart attack back at the ship.", he says as I manage to sit up, and I give him a sheepish smile.

"Sorry. I've never been that low on magic before, so I didn't really know what to do.", I say. Have I ever been so low on magic? Thankfully, it seems my spells didn't go away. I can't feel myself burning, the hair piece is working as intended. At least I don't have to be in more pain than usual...

"How and why are you using that much magic? I've never seen you use any in fights, and you know we can't sense it.", he says, and I give out an awkward laugh. I can't tell him I use dark magic, but what should I say instead?

"Shadow! Good to see that you're awake. Sky just went to get in contact with someone from Skyloft to help us get up. He and Crimson can't carry everyone, after all.", Crimson? If I remember the stories right, it's said that he—Sky—was from a place called Skyloft and rode on a Loftwing. Is that his Loftwing's name then?

Wait. If we're going to ride a Loftwing, then...

"Shit, he's getting pale again! Hey, don't pass out on us.", Warriors says, now suddenly in my face. Ugh, did I really get so pale just by thinking of being in the sky?

"I-I'm fine, I promise.", I say, finally able to stand up from the ground, thankful I don't need to sit in the wet grass any longer. I look around, seeing the other heroes chilling and chatting. Ugh, lucky.

"By the way...When did we come here?"

"Not too long ago, thankfully. You barely weigh anything, so it wasn't much trouble to get you through the portal. Honestly, you weigh scarely little, are you sure you eat enough?", he asks, and I can only let out an awkward laugh.

...Can I make myself heavier? I know I weigh the same as my sword, which is nothing like what a Hylian should weigh. Should I try to make the sword heavier? No no, that'll just be a burden.

"Wind, no cheating! And Wild, no eating the cards.", I hear Twilight say, as if both are completely normal. Are they...playing cards? Well, not much else to do when we're waiting for Sky.

"Want to join them?", Hyrule asks, but I shake my head. I always get too competitive when playing any games, so it's just going to turn into an argument if I don't win.

"Nah, I don't know how to play yet anyways. I can learn another day if I want.", at least it doesn't look like they're playing one I know. Though I don't really know many because of the aformentioned issue.

"Remember to say if you feel light headed or anything, okay? Rather not have you faint again.", Warriors says, and I simply nod. I don't feel that bad, and since we're hopefully actually sleeping inside with no watches I can actually get proper rest in the sword for once!

Well, we'll see. I don't know if I wanna run the chance of me getting caught. And since time can easily go very fast whilst I'm sleeping it it, I would rather not go "missing" on accident.

"By the ways Hyrule...Why do you get all bad with teleportation but not the portals?", I ask. Now that I think about it, he didn't seem bad when we first went to Wind's era as well.

"Mostly because I'm used to it. At first, I got even worse than when we teleported. It's all but stopped at this point though.", he explains, and I nod. I wonder how Rainbow would feel going through it. Mostly well I assume, especially for Vio, but I'll have to wait and see.

I look up at the sky, managing to see a weird island in the sky but it's hard to tell from here. I remember that Wild's era has islands—and my own has some places above the clouds too—so I can only guess that the floating island is the place in the stories.

Skyloft

Though I and Link heard plenty of stories—closer to fairytales, though—when we were younger, and Vio has been more interested in the history of the place recently.

Well, it's more that he's interested in the hero of the Sky, but just says he's only interested in the island of the past. He should know that I know his true intentions by now.

I blink, and I could swear something had changed. Two weird things—one being red, the other blue—suddenly being in the sky...wait, they're getting closer?

"Are they supposed to be coming this way?", I ask, fully ready to draw upon my sword if it's a flying enemy. They're annoying, but I know some of us have bows, so we should be able to at least scare them off.

"It's just Sky and Zelda, don't worry.", Warriors says. Ha, I bet Vio is jealous that I got to meet them and not him.

It's not long before they land, and I finally can get a good look at the big birds. They're suprisingly small, to be honest.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Wind freeze up. Is he afraid of the birds? Understandable. Meeting monsters that could fly is one thing, but ones that are at least double your size? No thanks.

I know Sky and Zelda are saying something, but I ignore it as the red Loftwing comes closer to me. It doesn't look big compared to Sky, but I feel like a child as it looks over me. Why must Link be so short, and why didn't I just make myself taller when I had the chance?

"Hello.", I say the bird, slowly raising my hand. If it bit, Sky would stop it, right? Though it'll hurt, I know I can't get permanent injuries from it anyways.

It puts its—his?—beak under my hand, and I slowly begin to pet it. Ah, this reminds me of...

"It seems he really likes you! Though Loftwings are very curious about people, they rarely let themself get pet by strangers.", Zelda says, taking my attention away from the Loftwing.

"Really?", I ask, though still looking at the Loftwing. This was Sky's, right? It was at least the one he rid on.

As I remove my hand, it leaves me be as Sky calls him over. I can see Wind staring at him, clearly ready to run the moment it does something. Thankfully, it seems Warriors has some control as he takes the hero away for now.

"You're Zelda, right? I'm Shadow.", I say, finally giving myself a proper introduction. Better than nothing, I guess.

"Yeah, but just call me Sun. Sky mentioned that you had passed out earlier, but I can see that you're feeling better already.", she says with a smile. Is she...glowing? Oh, she definetly has lots of light magic if that happends. Well, unless she's using a spell, but why would she do that? Not like it's very easy to see the glow anyway.

"Yeah, don't worry. By the way, are we using the birds to fly up to the island?", I ask. Though I'm afraid of heights, at least I have some experience with flying, even if I don't need to take the lead. Ugh, I miss my dragon. Flying around was so fun when I wasn't so afraid of it!

"Yup! Don't worry, it's perfectly safe...Maybe. Sky isn't the most well known for safe flights.", she says. I don't really know her, but I think I would rather fly with her than Sky just based off of that. But his Loftwing did like me, so I don't know if I have much of a choice.

I notice Wind and Warriors coming back, the younger seeming much more relaxed than earlier. Still tense, though. But we can't take away someone's fears immideatly, after all.

"Are we all ready to start going? It'll take a small while, but most that are trained to fly to the surface and back and busy right now, so we don't have much of a choice.", Sky says, and I reluctantly nods. I'll just close my eyes. It can't be that bad, right?

It was that bad.

I was paired up with Sky, and though he wasn't as reckless of a flyer—I was much more dangerous when I was flying back home at least—it still scared me to death.

I know he noticed. He could clearly feel how I shoved my face into his back, clutching so hard I could easily give him a bruise. Yet, he didn't mention it besides asking if I was fine to be alone.

Why are the heroes so nice? At this point I've clearly aqquired their trust, but I don't know if I should feel guilty about it or not. I mean, practically everything they know about me is a lie.

I sit by a bench near where I was dropped off. I would rather not get lost or fall off accidently, so it's the best I can do. I can feel some of the people giving me strange looks, but I ignore them. I'm quite used to it at this point.

"We're going to go stock up in the baazar, want to join?", Twilight says, dragging me out of my thoughts. Ugh, the heroes really are too nice. Can't they just let me mope for no reason? Still feels weird that he's so friendly after that argument...

"Sure.", I say. Likely better than staring at the edge and hoping the ground underneath me doesn't suddenly crumble or anything.

We enter, and I suddenly get hit with all the noise. How it there so many here? I'm used to the noise back home—even if I rarely experience it—but it's annoying when I wasn't expecting it.

"There's not as many as usual, but the potion, general store, and blacksmith are still here. Most are trying to focus on getting to the surface, but not everyone.", Sky says. A blacksmith?

I'm not that good at blacksmithing. Yeah, definetly better than the average person, but nowhere near my brothers and grandpa. But...

"I can see that something caught your attention.", Warriors says with a slight grin, and I can feel my face turn slightly redder.

"I didn't know there would be a blacksmith here, is all.", I answer. Warriors' teasing grin turns back to his usual smile, and Twilight pops in to ask me a question.

"Need to get your sword or shield fixed?", he asks, but I simply shake my head. Well, I do want to fix them up, but...

"I wanted to ask if I can use the space for a small while. My grandpa is a smith, so he's taught me some blacksmithing skills.", I say, and they both look suprised. I don't blame them, as it doesn't look like I have any of the muscles needed for blacksmithing.

"Really? It that why you cringe every time you look at Wild's weapons?", Sky asks, and I sigh. It's definetly a part of it, but anyone with common sense wouldn't like it.

"Either way, you can just ask him. I'll sure he'll let you use the space so long as you don't break anything.", Sky says.

"But remember to take breaks. I know you feel better now, but rather not have you pass out again.", Warriors says, ruffling my hair. I sigh, but nod before I leave.

I finally go over to him, thankful that I'm not interupting his work.

"Oh, hey kid! You need anything?", he says with a smile, and I make sure not to glare. I know I look young, but not the most fun to be called a kid.

"I was wonder if I could use the space for a little while. I just wanted to fix my sword and shield.", I say. He looks suprised, but it quickly goes away, getting replaced with a big smile instead.

"Of course, kid! Love seeing someone else actually being interested in this kinda stuff.", he says. I give him a small thanks as I get to work, feeling the other heroes looking at me. Eh, I'll just ignore them for now.

I've been working all day, and I'm so thankful that I don't get hungry or anything. If I did, my stomach would complain like all hell right now.

I would have continued if the blacksmith—his name was Gondo, if I remember right—didn't kick me out to actually get some sleep. He was very nice, but it felt weird seeing how differently he does some things in the forge.

I feel a bit tired, but blame it on forgetting to take off my hair pin—now a simple necklace. I should really get better at that, especially since I need to use it so often now.

But now I'm outside in the dark...and I have no idea where to go. Sky never showed me where we were supposed to sleep, and I wish he had come to get me earlier to show me.

Should I ask someone? No, I don't believe they know where I would be staying either. I can't really see many out and about either.

"Are you sure?", a familiar voice says, and I turn around to see Sky and his Zelda talking. It seems they haven't noticed me yet, but at least I have someone to--

"Yes. It's pretty easy to notice Shadow's dark magic. He's practically soaked in it, almost similar to Ghirahim.", Zelda says. She's...She noticed my magic? It's clear to tell how good she is at light magic, but does that make it easier to sense mine—even whilst I'm hiding it? And that name...where have I heard it before?

"He could be like Twilight, though. We both know why he has it, and he will never hurt us. I trust Shadow. If he wanted to hurt us, he would have done it already."

Sky trusts me. I already knew that he and the other do, but it still feels so wrong. Though I technically haven't lied much, none of them know the truth of who I am or what I did. Guilt pierced through my heart at the thought.

Will they ever know? Should I just say it now to avoid the pain, or never reveal it, hoping they don't find out by themself?

...Or will they—at least with some parts—be fine with it? Ugh, I'm thinking too much.

I sit down by a nearby bench, not wanting to eavesdrop. Let's at least hopes he notices me when he leaves, so I'll finally figure out where we'll be staying tonight.

"Meow!", I suddenly hear, and look down to see...What even is this? A weird cat? I mean, it did meow.

"Meow.", I say back to the little creature, not able to understand it but willing to speak its language. Outside of being a Hylian, the form I use most is that of a housecat, so I know quite a bit about them.

The little cat jumps on to the bench, smelling me before settling on my lap. Animals rarely like me, so to see this happen...It doesn't really feel real. I pet their head, and they're just as fluffy as they looked.

They purr, and I can't help the smile on my face. I don't need to sleep, so I could just stay up and pet this little cat until the others wake up...

"Shadow!", a familiar voice says, and I look to the side to see Sky, having finally finished his conversation with Zelda.

"Hi.", I say simply. He looks a bit apologetic, but it gets replaced by wonder by looking at the cat in my lap.

"Remlits are usually agressive at night, but it seems she really likes you.", he says, and I slightly frown. Does it only like me because I'm 'evil' too? But I shake my head, going back to what I wanted to talk about.

"Thank you for...trusting me. I heard a bit of the conversation earlier, and I'm glad you can look away from my magic.", I finally get out, definitely blushing a bit. Saying my true feelings are hard, why can't I just ignore them?

"You don't need to thank me, Shadow. I—and the others—will always trust you.", he says with a gentle smile, handing me his hand. I take it, the remlits jumping off my lap as he helps me stand up again.

"You're a hero, whether you believe it or not.", he finishes, adding the last part as my expression darkened at the mention of hero. I take a deep breath, not wanting to think about it any longer.

"Also, Sky...where are we staying for the night?"

My back hurts. It always does, but for some reason, it hurts more as I see Legend and Wild help each other with their scars.

They're putting on cream on each other, helping to reach those they can't reach themself. It's never a problem for me, but that's because I don't have bones. I should probably have some bones to protect my organs—even if they're artificial—since if they get hurt, I don't believe I can heal myself before passing out.

But it's not like I have any cream to put on myself, as the only thing I brought with me was my necklace, sword, shield, and...myself. No rupees, no adventure bag, no nothing.

I ignore the Red in my head screaming that I should try to open up to people and ask if I could use a little of their cream. Would their cream even work for me? My scars are a curse after all. Though they always hurt, today is what I would call a "flare up". It hurts extra, and though I can live and ignore it...it's hard. They can't go away, so I have to live with it until I die again. I excuse myself to the bathroom, and make some bandages out of dark magic. I know it won't help much, but it's better than nothing.

Whilst I love seeing Sky and the others happy, I'm so glad that it's already the 7th day, and we're already prepping for the portal.

Skyloft was beautiful, everyone was so kind, the kikwis of the surface were certainly something, and I may or may not have made the Smith mad by the amount of times I asked him questions.

But everything has to end one day. I can hear Wind let out a small yawn, not awake enough to be fully ready to leave this place as well.

"Sleep bad?", I ask the small hero—yes, I still call him small even if he's taller than me, I can literally shapeshift so it isn't Import—and he shrugs.

"Yeah, but I'll be fine!", he says with a smile. I grin at him before our attention goes back to the portal, with Wild and Twilight already going in.

"Ready?", I ask, and he grins back, and I enter the portal with him.

I blink, already being on the other side with him. Ugh, still not my era...I will admit, I'm getting a bit homesick. I've never gone so long without seeing my brothers or even Grandpa and father!

But I don't complain, as I know we'll have to visit soon...right?

"I believe this is mine.", Warriors finally says, and I hear the others groan. By Demise, what's wrong with this one?

"So, non-stop battles and too much formal bullshit?", Legend asks, and I sigh as well. I like battles, but I still need breaks from them every once in a while!

"We're pretty close to the castle, so we'll at least have a good place to stay. Are we ready to go, or does anyone need some more time to get over their portal sickness?", he asks, and we leave not long after.

I'm low on magic. Considering they know I use some sort of magic now, it should be easy to ask for a magic potion or something similar. But no, it isn't.

They never see me use it, and they don't seem to notice how I get more and more fatigued every fight. Though it does just look like I'm tired from the battle, so I won't blame them.

Now: Why don't I just ask them for a potion like last time?

The answer? We're fucking empty.

We got sent a long way out of the city by Zelda, as there's not as much or as good defense there as Castle town. And worst of all, they had reports of black blooded monsters as well.

So while the small town we're in has some necessary supplies—food, drink, health potions, and other random stuff—it does not have any magic potions left. We had just recently used our last up on Hyrule, who used way too much after multiple of us got some serious injuries.

...That includes me, but I can just heal myself. Even so, Hyrule forces me to let him see where my injury would be. When he saw nothing, I just said that though the monster hit me, it wasn't any deep.

And I even said that I had drank a health potions just in case. Even small injuries don't heal that fast, after all.

But back to my magic problem. I hate feeling fatigued. As far as I know, I can't get sick. So anything feeling physically bad is rare outside of the occasional injury.

I groan, not wanting to get out of bed. It's so comfy, and since I made sure to take off the necklace, I'm actually recovering my magic! Even if very, very slowly. I want to go in my sword, but considering I almost overslept too much when I last tried on Skyloft, I decide not to. Just because I managed to do it fine the first night does not mean I always can.

"Shadow, get up!", Wind says, practically right up in my face. I shrug him off, and I can tell that he rolled his eyes even if I can't see it. He murmers for himself a bit before seemingly getting an idea.

"We're supposed to go and hunt some monsters today, why don't I just take your sword and--"

"Do. Not. Touch. The. Sword.", I say, and he jumps as I'm suddenly right beside him. It almost seemed like I teleported, but I wouldn't dare

I take my sword...and promptly go back to bed.

Wind leaves without saying anything else, seemingly stunned into silence. I sigh as I cozy myself up in the bed again, already feeling close to sleep.

"Shadow.", a way too familiar voice says, and I look at the door to see Time. Oh shit

Annoyingly enough, we're still in Warriors' Hyrule. And worse: We're in combat.

I slash through another group of enemies, but it feels useless as another appears only moments after. Is this what Warriors had to deal with every battle? The enemies aren't hard to kill, and they're barely laid a scratch on us, but they just make us exhausted by how many they are.

I kill another group, thankful that I can't see anymore of these anywhere. I look around and notice Twilight and Legend fighting a small group of enemies, but some that's clearly stronger than whatever I've faced

I run up to them, managing to take out an enemy covored in armor. How does the sword even take it down? I don't know, ask Warriors how his weird era fucking works.

"Thanks, Shadow.", Twilight says, managing to take down another. I send him a grin before focusing back to the battle, noticing that Legend isn't doing as well as we are.

He's clearly tired. We all are, but his strikes are more sloppy than usual—even if way better than mine—and I can see him slightly limping, which makes my artificial heart beat too fast as he's right by the edge of the cliff. I take out another of the enemies, and it seems Legend finally finished of the one he was fighting as well.

"Show me your leg, vet. You're injured and we need to make sure it doesn't get worse.", Twilight says, using the little time without enemies to be productive. Legend nods, but before he can even move an arrow is shot his way, which he thankfully avoids--

He's falling.

It's as if time has stopped entirely as I see him loose his footing from dodging the arrow. Is he...going to die? No...No! He can't die!! I hear an arrow behind shot behind me, and I hope it's just the sound of Twilight killing the enemy. I can't feel any pain, so it has to be, right?

I run towards Legend, even if I can clearly see that he's already falling. I look down upon him, and it seems he's already accepted his fate. No...I won't accept it!

I jump after him, even after Twilight yells at me to not. I know I can't reach him, at least like this...but I do have another way of getting to him.

I teleport down with my magic, pulling him in my embrace even as he looks at me shocked. Not long after, we arrive back at the top of the cliff, but I still don't let him go.

"...Shadow?", Legend asks confused, but I can't answer. I only hold on to him, and I notice that my arms are shaking. Why am I shaking so hard? It isn't the first time someone I know almost died, so why do I have such a reaction?

"Shit, are you two alright?", Twilight asks, and I simply nod. I finally let go of Legend and take a deep breath.

"How the fuck did you do that, Shadow?", Legend finally asks, and I only know realise what I did.

"...I teleported with dark magic.", I admit. Was I expecting them to get to know one of my secrets? No. But considering that Legend is very not dead on the ground right now, I couldn't care less.

"Thanks, Shadow.", Legend says, but with none of the reluctanse he usually has when accepting help. It feels weird, but it makes me...happy.

"I don't need a thanks. I-I just really didn't want you to die. Not yet, at least.", I manage to get out, even though it feels like my throat is closing up.

"You know I hate giving thanks, so you're not allowed to downplay this. You fucking saved my life, okay? Even if you use dark magic, it doesn't make it any less impactfull. Now, help me up so we can check out injuries. All of us have to have some at this point.", Legend says, and instead of responding, I take his hand, helping him up from the ground.

I saved his life, huh. I've ended so many, yet saved only a few. Still, I can't help but smile. It shouldn't be suprised that they don't care about my magic—I mean, Sky didn't either—but I'm glad that I got to help someone.

I can't speak. Really, I had noticed it right after saving Legend, but I just hoped that I would have gone back to normal by now.

Ugh, now I really just want to stay in bed! We've been in this era for over a week now, but the others says it's nothing to be worried about. Before I joined, they often were in an era for around two weeks, so it was stranger when it suddenly went to only 1 week. I wonder why?

Either way, I really don't like this era. The people give weird looks to the captain, the food isn't even that great, and all the battles are 100 versus 1...The last point may be a bit overdriven, but it sure feels like it!

Do any of them know sign language? I'm not that good at it, but I have been learning ever since we learnt that I also get non-verbal at times. All 5 of us go non-verbal on occasion, but most often with Green and Vio. Vio is trying to find out why, but we haven't really gotten a proper answer as to why it happeneds yet.

"Shade, ready to go?", Warriors asks, calling me by my nickname. Well, nickname of a nickname? It's just shortening our already short nicknames anyways.

I only give him a nod, and it's not long before we're on our way back to Castle town. Normally, we would ride on a horse for this, but the portal could appear any moment now, so we have to leave them back in the small town we've rested for for the past few days.

I stay in the back of the group alongside Time. He walks suprisingly fast for an old man, but he always stays at the back. I don't know why, but I won't complain about the company.

We walk in silence. It's fun listening to what the others are talking about, even if I can't join in. Even if I could talk, I don't know if I would want to join the conversation. The fatigue just makes everything more annoying, and I don't really know much about what they're talking about.

"Shadow.", Time asks, and I snap to attention. Did someone try to talk to me but I zoned out again?

"Are you feeling well? If have any injuries that you're hiding, please reveal them before they get infected.", he asks, and I can't seem to look him in the eyes. I don't have any injuries, but how can I say that?

I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. I try again, yet no results. He looks at me strange, before realising...something.

"Can't speak?", he signs, and I immideatly perk up. So they do know sign language! Well, at least Time does. I nod, and he continues.

"We all know sign language. I think most of have some periods where we just couldn't talk, so no need to be ashamed of it.", he signs, and I finally smile. Guess we're not alone in this, huh...

Finally, after a solid two weeks—and barely not reaching castle town—another portal arrives and we do not greet my home. No, instead we're in Time's era. I shouldn't be jealous about it, but...

Everyone's happy as we arrive to a place called 'Lon Lon Ranch' after only around an hour of walking. There, we meet Malon who's way too kind to all of us.

We thankfully don't get sent to work immideatly, as instead we're sent right to the bath. Honestly, it isn't suprising. Though we got to bathe in Warriors' era, it's already been a few days since then, and we're undoubtedly dirty. Well, except for me, of course.

Whilst I wait, I decide to look around. Not like I have anything else to do anyways.

"If you want something to do, ya can help me with dinner.", Malon says, ripping me away from my thoughts. I haven't helped with dinner before, as it's usually Father or Blue who cooks—and I'm banned for setting it on fire that one time.

I join her wordlesly, and simply follow her instructions. I can't be that bad, right? The burning down the kitchen was slightly Red's idea too, so it wasn't all my fault.

"Shadow, you're quite pale. Are you feeling alright?", she asks, and suddenly all eyes are on me. Fuck, am I that low on magic already? I mean, the necklace still works and though I feel fatigue, it's not that bad.

"I'm fine. I'm a bit fatigued, though.", I respond honestly, and the staring from the others get worse. If I was close to fainting again, I would admit it!

I definetly do not pout as I continue making dinner. Yeah, I need rest and more magic, but it doesn't stop me from doing stuff. And it's not like I'm tired as well. It's just that my scars hurt—like always—and my head's a bit fuzzy...and that my limbs don't really like me as well, but they have no choice other than to work.

"You really have no self preservation skills, huh.", Legend says, and I give him a glare. I know my limits even if it doesn't always seem like it.

"A Link's a Link's, after all. As annoying as it can be, there's not much we can do.", Malon says, giving a look to Time. He only rolls his eyes, even as he's smiling. To be fair, Vio has a much worse self preservation skill than me, so it checks out.

"But that doesn't mean we can't force them to relax when we have the chance.", Warriors says as he grabs me out of the kitchen, and I'm very tempted to change my weight so he'll be unable to drag me and make a fool of himself. Maybe another day...

He forces me go sit by the table as Time helps his wife instead. I take of my necklace as I forgot to take it off earlier. I get my magic back faster than it uses it, but it's still way slower with it—and I shouldn't use it for long at a time either way.

"Wild, do you know how to make a magic recovery potion?", Warriors asks as the hero finally gets out of the bathroom, still drying his hair.

"Not yet.", he responds with, signaling for the next person to get ready. Warriors sighs, and I don't mention that I know how to make one. Well, technically only Vio does, but I've gone through his potion book enough times to know it by heart.

...But it's not like we have the ingredients to make it anyways. If we were in a more dire situation, I likely would have revealed it, but having some not so important secrets is fun.

Ugh, I really got the liking secrets from Vio, huh.

Sadly, we're only here for a week. All of us wish we could be here longer—no one'll complain about a nice bed and free food, even if we have to work a bit—but the portal did appear right in the living room, so we can't really ignore it.

But the portal this time feels...off. I can't tell why, and it's annoying. But though I can speak up about it, I don't want to cause unnecesary stress. Like before, we walk in pairs, and I enter with Wild this time.

I blink, and we're finally on the other side. The air feels thick, and it's hard to breathe. Everything's so dark, and...I'm shorter?

I look down, and see that instead of legs, I have black paws. I look up again, and artificial heart beats faster. We're in the fucking dark world!

I look around, and the landscape is scarily familiar. When I wanted to get back to my era, I didn't mean it like this! Let's just hope this is after that adventure, as I them to run into me whilst we're here.

...Wait, where's the others?

"Wild? Link, are you here?", I yell out, being thankful that we're in a place with few monsters. Even if there was, I could easily defeat them—or just scare them—by myself but it'll just be a hassle.

I look up and oh, that weird flying creature that looks like a worm with small arms is Wild, isn't it? At least it seems to have heard my calling so he comes down, that prostethic arm of his in his mouth.

I sigh. How are we going to get anything done like this? Wild's too busy learning to not float sideways and can't attack anyone with his arm in his mouth, and I'm a fucking housecat! I would have liked to avoid this, but...

I turn into my Hylian form, and thankfully my spells stayed put. At least I don't need to explain that yet.

"Hey hey, I'll take care of your arm, okay?", I say, and though he looks a bit skeptical, he drops it in my hand...with a little spit, but I am not going to mention that.

His suprisingly small body goes to lay atop my shoulder like how Twilight's fur does on him, and giving out a small roar that's weirdly scary.

"This is my Hyrule—well, my dark world. I know my way around, but let's see if the others are in a safe place as well. I can also fight the dark magic trying to transform me here, but it's hard and sucks up my magic pretty quickly.", I say, and he only makes a weird sound as a way to say yes. It strangely sounds like a purr, although I don't think flying worms can purr.

Now that I think about it, why am I effected? Do I not count as a resident of the dark world anymore? After all, I am just a sword spirit now, even if I can shapeshift and turn into a shadow.

Ah, I shouldn't question it. I'll just ask Vio when I come home.

"Where could they be...", I mutter to myself, making sure to check the skies for any other creatures that could be flying up there. Also making sure to not step on anyone incase they got turned into a mouse or anything small.

We walk around in silence for a while, my left hand clutching his prostethic, the other giving small scratches to Wild's head, which he seemingly likes as he melts into my shoulder.

"...Is that? Hey, Legend", I yell out, Wild looking up and seeing 'Wolfie' and...a Hylian Legend? He glares at me—even having his hand on his sword—before letting my come closer, realising that I'm not a random monster. "You have a Moon pearl too?", Legend asks me after a moment, but I shake my head. Rainbow has one, but I don't need it. "I know how to repel the dark magic, but it does suck up quite a bit of my magic.", I say, and he nods. If he didn't know I used dark magic, this would be so suspicious. Well, if Wild used his braincell, he would've thought of this as suspicious too. But he doesn't seem to care, as he only floats down to Wolfie. "And by the way, that's Wild.", I say, as if me holding his arm and him having his Purah pad on him wasn't obvious enough.

"I've noticed. Anyways, shouldn't we be going? I don't know how familiar the others are with any sort of dark world, so they could easily be in danger.", Legend says, and I only nod. I ask them to follow my lead, and we go back to searching.

I try to avoid the areas I know are filled with monsters, as I would like to avoid conflict. I make sure the other heroes are quite, as sound in this place is a death sentence. Honestly, just being here in general is a death sentence.

We continue walking through the world, spotting Sky as a Hylian—because if the master sword's magic—Wind as a seagull, Warriors as a dog, Time as a golden wolf, and lastly, Hyrule as a fairy.

I would gush about how cute some of them are—especially Hyrule. I will talk about him being part fae later—but not yet.

Whilst we were searching, I decided to turn back into my animal form. Wild can fly and hold his own arm, and since we already have Sky and Legend, there isn't much to worry about incase of enemies appearing. I usually feel at least a bit off right after transforming, but I don't now. Eh, I won't complain.

"Should we search for a way out or wait until a portal arrives? Both could take quite a long time.", I say, knowing we would need to enter the castle if we wanted to reach the mirror, and that would require planning and a lot of preparation. Even then, I haven't figured out if this is before, during, or after that adventure. For all we know, the mirror could already be broken.

"I think we should wait. I know this is your dark world, but I don't expect that you know where the exit even is. It's likely protected by a magical force so we can't go through it anyways.", Legend says, and I only nod even if he doesn't notice it.

I can feel Wild's chin rub against the top of my head, and it seems he agrees with Legend. Thankfully, no one else tries to argue the desicion—as much as they could even talk outside of random noises—so we continue and try to find a safe place to keep camp for now.

It seems they've all started to form groups already. Wind is showing off his flying skills to Sky, and also watching out for enemies. Hyrule laying right on Time's head. Legend, Twilight, and Warriors staying together even as Legend teases Warriors about not being good at using his dog body, Twilight showing him some tips so he can move a bit faster. And lastly, we of course have Wild laying on me just like earlier...Although it seems he's fallen asleep. He's a bit harder to carry in cat form, but I'll manage.

"Stop, there's enemies.", I say, making the animals stop in their tracks as Wild wakes up, looking over to ones I don't think they know too much about.

"I'll take care of them. Just...stand here, okay?", I say, and though Legend and Sky look at me confused, they let me do as I say.

I slowly walk over to them, and they don't seem to notice me. I've been hiding my magic so the others can't sense it well—even if it doesn't always work, like with Sun and Sky—but it also makes it harder for enemies to sense my presence.

I turn into my Hylian form, black and all, and approach the monsters from behind, though letting them sense my magic. They cover in fear as they turn around, and I simply grin.

"You'll let us past, right? Because you wouldn't like him to know that more of his subordenetes died a pointless death, would he?", they all run away, either being scared by me or the threat of Vaati. Either way, I couldn't care less.

I take a deep breath, my magical aura going back into it's cell, and I turn around to look at the others who look at my worried, or in Warriors' case, suspicious. This was probably not a good idea, but oh well.

"Don't worry, it's just something I can do here! I use all the dark magic that attached itself to my body here to simply scare them away, since it's easier to do.", I explain, and they thankfully accept it...even if Warriors isn't entirely convinced.

I notice Legend rolling his eyes, but I ignore it. What, does he think I'm going to tell everybody at once? Nope, never!

"Wild, can you check out what we have in the pad?", I ask, and he floats down to the ground and tries to touch the screen. It doesn't work.

"...Oh.", I say. No one outside of him and potentially Twilight knows how it works, but since they're both stuck as animals, we're at a loss.

"Wait, what if he uses the master sword to turn into a Hylian! If so, he could just explain how to use it.", I says feeling very smart. Wild likes the idea too, letting a still kind of terrifying roar.

"Sky and the others are gone hunting.", Legend says. I pout, but then something clicks in my head. I grin, and he already knows what I'm going to ask by his terrefied expression.

"No, I am not giving him my Moon pearl, not even for a moment!", Legend says, red—no, honestly more pink—in the face. I give him my best puppy dog eyes, and he glares.

And glares, glares, glares...

"Ugh, fine! Just stop looking at me like that, okay? And give it back the second he stood explaining the pad.", he says, handing the moon pearl over to Wild and--

Oh my Demise, he's a pink bunny!!

"Yeah yeah, laugh that I'm a fluffy and cute little bunny all you want. I can and will bite your ankles.", he threatends, and I finally stop laughing. Considering I live with Link, I know getting bitten there is not fun.

"Okay Wild, let's get started!"

Time passes fast, and it's not long before I know how everything in this pad works. The first thing I do is put my necklace in it, and I feel the gradual magic loss going away—even if I'm still using a lot by being in my Hylian form.

And thankfully, the other heroes return too. Including Sky, who has a smug look as he looks at a certain hero.

"Legend, why is your hair pink again?"

"Shut. Up."

It hurts.

It seems my scars hurt even more when in the dark world, as my back is killing me and I feel like I'm going to cry. I won't actually cry, as my body can't produce tears unless I specifically make it able to, but I sure can get emotional.

It doesn't seem like the others have noticed, as they're either asleep, or in Warriors' case, having watch. A little part of me wants him to notice and help me, but I know I have to deal with this myself. Just the idea of them finding out about my scars in a place like this is something I would rather avoid, especially as he's already suspicious of me.

I hear a little whimper from my side, seeing Wars standing besides me, his tail lower than it was earlier. So much for him not noticing...

"I'm fine. Just...can't sleep, is all.", I mutter, managing to sit up as to not have much back scream at me any longer. Hylia, why does it hurt so much?

He lays his head on my lap, trying his best to copy what Wolfie does whenever someone in the chain feels down, but I only chuckle as he's clearly not very good at it.

He quietly barks at me, and I'm sure he would be pouting if he was a Hylian. I only ruffles his fur though, making sure to scratch behind his ear as I know dogs like that.

His tail begins wagging, but before he gets too distracted by me petting him, he stands up yet again and goes behind me--

"Do not touch my back.", I say, and he immideatly stops in his tracks, looking at me worried as I begin explaining.

"My back hurts a lot. No, no magic can heal it, and yes, I always try to mange it well. But it's been worse here than in normal Hyrule for whatever reason.", I explain, and he nods, laying his head on my lap yet again as he allows me to pet him, distracting me until the others wake up.

"Are you sure you're reppeling the magic properly?", Legend asks, and I look at him confused as I wake up...before noticing my hair. I really should've just stayed in my cat form!

"Fuck!", I swear out, seeing my hair was clearly black, though thankfully it kept the hair the same length and style. Is it a style when I only keep it down?.

I manage to turn it back to normal, letting out a sigh of relief even as Legend looks at me half suprised, half suspicious. Even though he knows I use dark magic, seeing this would still be weird

"What happened to your hair over there?", he asks, clearly more on guard than earlier, but I don't blame him. I would likely have the same reaction if it happened to someone else I knew.

"...Blonde isn't my natural hair colour. I use a spell to keep it coloured and tidy since hair dye is rare and expensive.", I say, a slight blush appearing on my face. At least it happened in front of Legend and not Warriors.

"Is that colour looked down upon in your era?", he asks, shuffling closer.

"It's usually associated with evil, so you could say that.", I chuckle, going over to wake some of the Links up, being careful not to accidently get biten since they sometimes do that if I'm too agressive.

I manage to wake everyone up with no new injuries, although they don't seems very happy, especially when looking around and seeing that we're still in the dark world.

I open Wild's slate which I've been taking care of since he couldn't carry it himself. I look through the food and ingriedents, finding that there's not much left of both.

I'm unsure on just how long we've been in here. Normally, I would ask Time, but I can't communicate with him at the moment. But even so, I think we've been here for around 2 weeks.

Yeah, but stocked up on potions and some ingredients, but not anything that could last that long!

"We could potentially continue down here for a few more days, but then we'd have to hunt again. But an annoying amount of enemies down here have black blood, and I don't know what would happen if we eat that. And we really need to be careful about our magic reserve. I say. I know if a way to quickly get magic, but I would rather avoid it.

"You think the magic here is messing the portal up? I can understand why we were sent down here, but I believe that hunting down all the black blooded monsters is impossible down here.", Legend asks, and I nod. Either Hylia truly believes we can fix something here...or she simply can't reach us—the portal did feel off, after all. Either way, it's already been 2 weeks and we want out.

"...I have an idea how to get out, but I need you guys to promise me to not ask any questions.", I say, and the rest of the chain looks suprised, but listen intensly.

"I know how to make portals, and I think I may be able to make one to get us out of here.", I say, not being able to look at any of them as I reveal it. Here goes my plans of trying to keep it a secret...

"How?! If you could make them, why didn't you do it to get us out of bad situation?!", Legend yells, but I only glare at the bunny boy, and he visibly flinches.

"No. Questions. I'll let us rot here forever if anyone starts asking questions.", I say, and Legend promptly shuts up.

I take a deep breath. Now is really not the time to get angry. Making portals takes a lot of magic. And truthfully, I don't have enough. But...

"Trust me, okay?", I say, and they nod. I let out my magical aura, not bothering with hiding it anymore. It isn't long before I run up to some poor enemies, and easily kill them. Finally, some real blood!

I let my fangs out, and bite. The blood tastes just as bad as I remember, and it makes me kind of neasous, but I have to ignore it. Instead, I have to focus on the fact that is replenishes my magic like how a potion would.

I don't know how, but monster blood tastes a lot worse than a potion.

I take a deep breath, releasing my aura as I don't have much reason to hide it anymore. I can vaguely notice the others shock. I haven't used any obvious dark magic around them—outside of the intimidating tactic I did 2 weeks ago, and when I rescued Legend—so not weird that they're suprised.

I focus on my magic for now, knowing it could all go wrong if I get distracted, or at least transport us somewhere unsafe.

The portal eventually appears infront if me, and they all go in groups like usual, although Legend staying last instead of Time.

"...Thank you.", the hero says, walking through the portal and leaving me alone, letting me take a deep breathe before I join them too, leaving this forsaken world—hopefully—forever.

We've been in Time's house for a few days now—thank Hylia for me being able to make a portal directly there—and we're mostly back to normal.

My hair is still blond, everyone is hylian—although Legend got a free trip to the stylist it seems, as his hair was just as pink as his bunny form—and no one is hurt outside of Warriors' self esteem.

"Aww, the little doggo can bite?", Legend teases, and I sit by Wind as prime entertainment is showcased right in front of us!

"I'd bite your head off, bunny boy.", they continue to bicker, and even Time is too tired to stop them as he only continues making—more like watching—dinner with his wife.

Since it's early in the morning, Wind falls asleep even as the two infront of us continue bickering. I won't try to wake him, though. The little sailor likely needs his sleep, as I know he snuck out tonight for some reason.

He eventually awakens by the smell of food, almost falling off the chair and practically drooling as he gets handed dinner. Sadly, the two heroes have stopped arguing as well, so I only sit between Wind and Time and slowly eat the food.

Wolfie—should I be calling him Twilight since he's revealed that they're the same?—lay by our feet, seemingly tired enough to not ask for food yet, although I bet he'll manage to convince Wild to give him some later whilst still in his wolf form.

I give Wolfie the bits of food I had left as I just simply wasn't in the mood for eating, but still sitting in between the the two heroes.

I know I don't need sleep, but...I can rest my eyes, right? No harm, no foul...

Will totally not fall asleep...

Another week, another portal. This time, we return to Warriors' Hyrule, for some strange reason. Wait, why were we only in Time's era for a week again? Is it because I made the portal? I don't understand why we haven't been to Legend's, Hyrule's, Twilight's and my era, but we can't really do anything about it anyways. Either way, we thankfully we arrive right by the castle, so we get our own fancy rooms.

But though the room is very pretty and the bed is godly, there is something I hate and want removed immideatly.

The mirror.

I stare at it, the mirror ignoring my spell and showing my hair as black and in a completely different style, my fangs showing up as well.

I remember all the stories the townspeople have spread around. How if you even think about having a mirror, you're an awful person and wish for demons to invade the town with you as their leader. I think I know where the stories came from, but even I—who clearly despise mirrors—think it's a bit overkill.

"Wars, can I destroy the mirror in my room?", I ask as everyone was eating by the absurdly long dinner table, but the Captain only looks at me confused.

"No! If you did that, you would definitely get arrested until we managed to get you out.", he says, but I only sigh. I continue to eat the food which isn't as delicious as Wild's, sadly.

"What do you have against mirrors?", Hyrule asks. Now that I think about it, we haven't been in his era yet either, huh...

"I think the townspeople have affected me too much...although, I've never liked mirrors either way."

"Why would the town have anything against mirrors?", I chuckle slightly, but let out a sigh as I think of everything Link told me about our little Hyrule Town.

"Mostly from stories from before I was born, it seems. They tell of the time there was a big mirror in the middle of town, but one day, monsters suddenly came out of it and almost destroyed the place! They only managed to stop them by destroying the mirror, and since then, it's been illegal to have any mirrors in the town."

"I can see why they don't like mirrors, but making it illegal? How do they even know what they look like?

"We use glass. The clothing store has a room that full of glass to look at your reflection, and quite a few houses has a room for that as well...But it's mostly the rich who have that."

Strangely enough, I notice Twilight only plays with his food as we talk about mirrors. Does he not like them as well? Well, he does have some kind of dark magic, so it wouldn't be too strange.

"Your town is weird...", Wind mumbles, but I only chuckle as dinner continues on normally.

We walk through a portal for what—the 30th time? I've probably been in less, but I stopped counting after 3. But what I encountered after walking through the portal is different.

The fae magic in the air, the distant smell of baked goods and iron, and the feeling of fullness as I breathe.

I'm...I'm home!