Archive of Our Own ^beta

Link never thought he’d be back on another journey, surrounded by other swordsmen, including one who looks like he stepped right out of the royal records, telling tales that match up with the shadow box tales of pirates he grew up hearing from Nico. He never thought he’d be so far away from Zelda, after spending so long inseparable, after so much time together trying to save her. He never thought he’d be pulled away to all the Hyrules of myth and even more that never came to be in his timeline.

No matter how much he scoured the records after the events of Malladus, he never would have considered himself a hero. No goddess chose him, no triforce adorns his hand. He’s just an engineer, a guy who was in the exact wrong place and then stepped up to the plate. Yeah, he’s a bit more connected to the spirits than the average person, but that has to be because of his time using the spirit flute and manning the spirit train, not because he’s some divinely chosen fighter. 

For the spirits’ sake, he couldn’t even keep Zelda from losing her body. He was right there, at the right time, yet his failure could have led to the demise of New Hyrule and the entire world. All he could do was lay on the grass as she was taken away. Yes, he and Zelda put things back in place, but how many people were injured by monsters in the meantime? He watched Byrne be struck down in front of his own eyes. He had to say goodbye to the Lokomo, he watched them depart this plane. Zelda reminds him that it's just because their duty to restrain Malladus is over. But he can’t help but wonder if they could have stayed if their energy hadn’t been so exhausted by holding back the Demon king. 

If he hadn’t been so weak to begin with. 

Yet here he is on a journey, pulled through portals of darkness, so different from the glowing golden ones he used on his train, to find an adversary that had been lost to history in his era, nothing but a footnote in the Hero of Time’s story, since erased. Here he is, working with 9 other heroes. He’s used to teamwork in a way few of the heroes have been, the Hero of the Four Sword and the Hero of Warriors the exceptions. But that doesn’t mean it’s any less disorienting to be surrounded by so many capable fighters, other people who have faced endless evil and persevered. 

But different evils nonetheless. Ganon, Vaati, and Demise. He’s heard those names mentioned in long chats around makeshift fires. Different though they may be, they’re all connected. And then there’s Link. The only one who can feel the spiritual energy that surrounds them all. The only one without any of that golden energy for himself. The only one who faced a disconnected evil. The one who failed, who let his Zelda be on the brink of death the whole adventure. Yep, that’s him. 

He didn’t have watch tonight, and they’re in a fairly comfortable clearing in the Hero of Time’s Hyrule, on the way to the ranch. This should mean he sleeps well, but it’s never that simple. His dreams were full of golden lights fading into the distance, a pull in his chest towards everywhere and nowhere, a giant dark train barreling towards him until it faded away into a lifeless body swallowed in pink fabric. The whirlwind of images should jolt him awake, where he can make some warm water with honey and recover. But instead the images loop, slight differences each time, and he finally opens his eyes to being shaken by the Hero of Hyrule, feeling more tired than when he closed his eyes, as always, unsettled by a world where he can’t feel the pulse of the spirit tracks anywhere. 

Everyone else, sans the Hero of the Skies, who is still being shaken awake, seems in low spirits as well too, the indescribable brightness of their souls cloudy. 

“What happened overnight?” Link finds himself saying before he’s fully processed it

The Hero of the Wilds looks up from the cooking pot with a wide gaze and the Hero of Legends scoffs. 

“Just monster attacks near every hour. Not that you’d know since you slept through ‘em all. I thought behavior like that was Sky’s thing” Speaking of, he’s stirred at this point, slumped on a stump nearby and speaking around yawns

“Yeah, even I woke up and fought a few rounds. You were dead to the world. Did you have nice dreams at least?” The Hero of Skies doesn’t have the sharpness in his words that the Veteran did, more amused than anything

“I didn’t…I had no idea. I didn’t even sleep that well, I would’ve thought I’d wake up.” He pauses, flashes of disappearing tracks and storm clouds in his mind “Any injuries?”

“Thankfully just some bruises, the monsters weren’t black blooded and it was more an annoyance than anything. They came irregularly and in small groups, just means that nobody got much sleep last night. And we need to keep an eye out on the road today in case there’s a larger cause for their strange behavior” The deeper voice of the Hero of Time startles Link and he looks back to a wary glance from the older hero. 

“And you let us know if anything’s going on. It’s not like you to sleep through something like that, Spirit” the Hero of Twilight is already working to pack things up, even before the food is ready. The previous night must have put everyone in the mood to move. 

“I’m alright. I’m not sure why I didn’t wake up” he felt trapped. He’d normally bolt awake sometime around when Zelda gets taken down. Just not last night. “I’ll be sure to take second watch next time we need it to make up for being down for the count”

“Not your fault, and nobody got hurt, just let us know if anything’s up, Spirit” the Rancher uses that name again. Yes, Hero of Spirits is technically his title, but he’s no hero like the others. And comparing him to the spirits that are the real reason things went back to normal…it always puts him off balance. He just nods and breakfast and packing up moves on without him. 

Link is sure he eats and packs his stuff but he can’t recall any of it, nothing else until they’re in the middle of Hyrule field and he comes to with a thought that they’d be so much faster on a train. But his train isn’t here, and oh spirits he hasn’t seen it in weeks now. It feels like everyone else has been back to their era at least once, but since he was swept away by this goddess they barely have stories of, New Hyrule hasn’t been on the itinerary once. He supposes that means they haven’t been needed there, which is a good thing. But he feels incomplete without the spirit train. The panflute he carries sounds as hollow as his heart feels. 

He feels a hand on his back and looks down at the Hero of the Four Sword, one of the only heroes he’s taller than.

“You back with us, Spirit?” His eyes glint with red for a moment

“I haven’t…gone anywhere, right?” His eyes take in the surroundings. They have to have been walking for at least an hour or two. 

“You’ve been walking with us, but your brain’s been elsewhere. Here, it helps me to be doing something with my hands” Link feels a small metal…medallion placed into his hands. 

“It’s a kinstone” The other explains without prompting “The two parts fit together magnetically, so I will mess with them to keep my hands busy. They’re good luck too, born of people’s feelings of happiness, at least that’s how the story goes. Don’t think they spawn treasure chests in this world though” He chuckles to himself “Now let’s keep up with the group. Not long to Lon Lon Ranch now” He gives Link another pat on the back, and he feels like he’s been pulled back into place as they half-jog to join the main group. 

He hears the Wizzrobes before he sees them, a gleeful giggle that rings in his ears, bringing to mind crooked smiles and broken towers. 

3…no 4? He turns to try and face them but they are every which way and blinking in and out of existence. Some look the way he remembers, others are taller and pointier with electricity, or with different colored robes and hats than he’s seen before. The Lokomo sword is in his hand before he can do much more analysis. 

But it’s not fast enough as he sees the Hero of Warriors drop like a stone as electricity runs through him. The rest of the chain slips out of focus, Hyrule Field a void background to what he needs to do. He’s fighting in a way he hasn’t in a while, turning and stabbing relentlessly and only barely bristling at the fireballs and beams that graze him. His vision grays over once the last Wizzrobe disappears in a puff of smoke, Warriors fading into a vision of Byrne before Link’s sightline fully goes black, the cool metal of the kinstone in his pocket not grabbed fast enough. 

He opens his eyes (or were they open the whole time?) in a well-worn rocking chair, seeing the Hero of Winds staring at him from a few feet away. His body jumps despite the shock not registering for a moment later.

“There you are” he smiles wide “I knew the blanket would work!” 

Blanket? Yep, sure enough, there’s a soft, knitted blanket draped over his shoulders, a comforting weight. 

“You doing better, Spirit?” he turns the engineer’s face over in his hands, only dropping it when Link looks like he wants to respond

“I’m fine, Sailor” he’s still putting things together, did the Hero of Warriors make it out alright? Or did Link fail again, another slumped body to add to his list of failures? 

“You feeling up to telling anybody what happened back there? I know adventure stuff gets rough so you don’t have to, but we wanna know what helps if this happens again” How does he know it’s adventure stuff? And why is he acting like this is normal? Like Link deserves this kind of treatment after he couldn’t protect the people he needed to. 

“Is the Captain alright?” the chain trained him out of using people’s full titles (at least out loud), but he still doesn’t tend to use nicknames. 

Wind chuckles slightly “He’s fine, a potion and some warm soup got him right back on his feet. Especially since you took down those Wizzrobes in a flash and we were less than an hour from the ranch. You’re the one we’ve been keeping an eye on really, after all the weirdness last night and how out of it you’ve been”

Oh. They’ve been spending their time worrying about him. 

“You don’t need to be worrying about me”

“But you’re part of the group, we want you at your best, we want to help. We heroes stick together! I especially wanna make sure my successor is doing alright” He ruffles Link’s hair

His eyebrows drop. Can’t be a successor if he’s not a chosen hero

“I don’t know why I’ve been so out of it, but I’ll try and make sure it doesn’t hurt you guys anymore”

“We’re not hurt, Engie, we’re worried” same thing

The silence stretches on. Like most of the Links, words never come easy but right now they’re impossible. 

“Rulie thought it had something to do with your spirit magic. He says it’s been all out of wack since last night, you got any thoughts on that?” Link blinks, turning the idea over in his head

“I don’t…I’ve never had that much magic. I just have a connection to the spirit train and spirit flute. But that’s not…me” But he can see those golden auras the Heros have…and he could see Zelda when nobody else could. But wasn’t that just circumstance?

“I’d ask Rulie next time you get a chance, because he’s usually right about magic stuff, even if he’d deny that. It’s a Link trait to downplay your abilities” Wind almost looks smug at that. “Now come on, Wild is making honey milk candies in the kitchen,” and not for the first time that day, Link finds himself pulled along by one of the others

The rest of the day is a subdued affair, most of the chain either resting or getting put on various chores by Malon if they looked too restless. Link finds himself in one of the barns, doing maintenance on one of the milking machines. He might not be able to feel the tracks or the train like he wants to, but he finds his peace with machines like he always does. The easy oiling of joints and turning it over to understand how it works. It feels the closest thing to home he’s felt since he got pulled away from New Hyrule. 

“How does Time’s era’s farm equipment compare to your fancy machinery, Engie?” he looks up from his grease-covered hands to see the Hero of the Skies, with the Hero of Hyrule close behind him, both of them settled on hay bales against the wall, their easy smiles a balm on any surprise that would have come over him

“Well, it’s not fully autonomous for one. It needs to be fully operated by a human, more of an amplification of existing human abilities, but I bet it speeds up the process a lot. And it’s nice to have something complicated and metal made in my hands” He finds himself babbling, as he tends to when machines are involved. 

“Yeah, I bet. Anything close to home is a comfort eventually, right?” Link eyes the Skyloftian suspiciously at that. “Sorry, I was thinking of how it was 2 months between when I left and we went back to Skyloft. I don’t wanna assume, but I was thinking you might be homesick” 

The traveler continues a thought “And with how different the magic is in your era than anywhere else, I bet it feels like somethings missing even more. I feel that and my magic isn’t even that different from these eras” 

Link is quiet for a moment. “I mostly miss my train.” There’s this constant pull towards a machine that might as well have been swallowed into the void. “She’s my best friend at this point, and I can’t send her letters like I can with Zelda”

“I felt the same way with my Loftwing. He’s another part of my heart, and being without him feels like missing a limb” Something in Link leaps at hearing that. Hearing that he’s not the only one

“How do you handle it?” His hands place the machine back carefully and find the kinstone to fiddle with

“I talk to the others, I take care of the feather I have from him, and I watch the smaller birds of the other eras, knowing that he’s connected to all of them somehow. I know those exact things might not help you, but you were already doing something similar with that milker. Someday, the skills that make any machinery in this time will evolve into the skills that make trains. It’s as mystical to me as birds evolving from loftwings to robins, so in my mind it makes sense. I know it’s not the same though” his hands slow as his voice trails off

“Just know that…” the Hero of Hyrule picks up where he left off “there’s a lot of differences in our journeys, but we’ve all dealt with homesickness at some point. And if you have any questions about magic stuff I can try and answer to the best of my ability. I know you said earlier you don’t use magic, but you have a magical connection to your train at the very least, and it’s been getting more unsettled lately. I want to help”

Link swallows, the action hard as his eyes get warm “I…yeah. It’s been rough being away so long. I’ll try to keep that all in mind” He stands up and wipes off his greasy hands on his uniform, another comfort of home “You guys are too good to me”

Something in the traveler’s gaze drops “We’re exactly as good as you need” Link gets another ruffle of his hair and his throat gets thick again, “I know you’re the most recent addition to the group but it doesn’t mean you are any less a part of that. And that includes us listening to worries, okay?” 

The Hero of Skies smiles at the sight “I know it’s rich coming from us. It seems like every Link loves to keep their struggles to themself, but we’ll be here to listen whenever you wanna talk. Wild was just talking to me about how he wants to teach you more sign, so if words are hard that’s an option too. Okay, Engie?”

These heroes. They don’t know how much he failed, they don’t see how little he deserves to be among them. But they are kind…and he needs that kindness as his soul seeks something to fill the void that the tracks once took up. So at least for today, he lets himself be cared for. 

He nods and gives a watery smile

Sky gives him a hug, it’s warm and reminds him of Alfonzo, and just like that things feel normal. Hyrule suggests they go play cards, and inevitably every other person who sees them playing wants to join in until there’s a huge circle playing in the Ranch living room, voices gathering together and laughter racking the walls as the wood stove heats the room, the steel soothing Spirit’s soul, an ancestor of his train in a way, mechanical brethren to the things he misses so much about home. 

For now, this feels normal. And Spirit feels like part of a true strong chain, bigger than himself.