Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They had all heard about the roommate. Warriors wasn’t exactly subtle about it. From one first, offhanded mention to Time, Twilight, and Hyrule when they had first met him (a quiet ‘I hope he’s not too worried’), the mysterious roommate was a constant in Warriors’s stories. Not that any member of the chain was complaining, since it was clear that Warriors really cared about the guy, on a similar level to when he talked about his own Zelda.

“Oh, yeah, he’s my best friend,” he said once, when Wild had asked teasingly if Warriors still liked his roommate after he apparently stole Warriors scarf twice.

“I thought you said Linkle is your best friend,” Sky said, making Warriors laugh.

“I mean, they both are,” he said. “And Artemis, and Lana. Can’t a guy have more than one best friend?”

“No, it’s weird,” Legend said, but they’d been traveling together long enough for Warriors to see right through Legend’s words.

“Well sorry, Mr. ‘Everyone in the eight different kingdoms I’ve been in loves me’,” he teased “Some of us have to take what we can get.”

“It’s only seven kingdoms,” Legend corrected, a grin audible in his voice. “And Wars, sorry, I didn’t hear that. Did you just imply that not everyone loves you? That must be a blow to your ego.”

“Oh shut it,” Warriors retorted, rolling his eyes. “You’d hate the platonic love of my life anyway, he’s an annoying shit.”

“That sentence feels contradictory,” Four pointed out, but he seemed invested in the stories Warriors was telling. “But I get the feeling. How’d you meet him, anyway?”

“Oh, we fought together in the War of Ages,” Warriors answered easily. “He was one of the best at keeping everyone’s spirits up when we weren’t fighting.”

“Wait,” Wind said, a small grin starting to form on his face. “Are you talking about the guy with the ears?”

He made some sort of motion up by the top of his head that clearly was supposed to be the aforementioned ‘ears’, but it looked like a nonsense motion to the rest of the chain. Warriors nodded, though.

“The very same,” he said. Wind laughed loudly.

“Oh, man, he seemed fun! I wished I got to talk to him more, I don’t even remember his name. Is he as weird as he seemed?”

“Absolutely,” Warriors agreed. “Drives Arty crazy sometimes, but she likes him too, even if she says she doesn’t. None of his antics are ever illegal, so she couldn’t stop him even if she really wanted to.”

“Okay, as much as we all know exactly who you mean when you say your roommate, does he actually have a name?” Twilight asked. “You talk about a lot of people, Wars. Names help keep them all straight.”

“He goes by Ham,” Warriors said, his face open and fond. Legend raised his eyebrows.

“‘Goes by’? Is that a nickname?”

“He said pretty early on that he didn’t want to go by his name,” Warriors answered, shrugging. “I didn’t press. We were in a war, any way to find comfort was encouraged. I know his real name, but he shut down any nicknames people tried to give him based on it, so we just stuck to Ham. You can blame Linkle for that name, but he liked it immediately.”

“Ham is cool,” Wild noted, leaning back on his hands around the fire pit. “Gives me a pretty good idea of his personality too.”

“Yeah, it does,” Warriors agreed. “I mean, it’s a little weird, but so is he.”

“It’s not really that weird,” Hyrule countered. “I met a guy once named Error.”

“There’s this old dude in my village named Sturgeon,” Wind chimed in.

“There are eight brothers in my Hyrule whose names all end in Blade,” Four added dryly. “One of them is a ghost.”

“You literally go by Warriors,” Wild pointed out. Warriors rolled his eyes.

“Alright, alright, it’s not that weird. I mean, I guess anything is better than my parents naming me and my sister Link and Linkle, so I can’t say anything about his choice. Anyway, like I said, it fits him. He uses his real name for one thing and one thing only, and he’s a shit about it, so I’ll stick with Ham until he explicitly tells me not to.”

“I never realized that he was from your Hyrule,” Wind said, his leg bouncing in excitement. “Did you know him before the war too?”

Warriors winced slightly. “Uh, not exactly.”

“What, did you not get along?” Wild asked. Warriors hesitated to answer for just a second.

“No, I mean, he’s…not exactly from my Hyrule.”

Wind froze, his face turning sad.

“Oh,” he said, his shoulders falling. “Did he…not go home?”

Warriors sighed, leaning on his knees. The humor was gone from his face now, replaced with a guilt that the whole chain knew was misplaced and incorrectly aimed at himself.

“He tried,” he said. “A portal brought him to my era like everyone else, but when portals showed up to take you all home…nothing showed for him. Lana worked with him for nearly three weeks trying to manually open a portal, but apparently nothing would be stable enough to use. She said that she can’t just open a portal to somewhere he tells her, her magic needs a link to him to stabilize, and her portals want to send Ham back to the same place he was taken from but…something’s wrong. I’ve got a hunch that he knows what, or at least has a guess, but as long as he told Lana to try and fix it, I don’t need to know. I’m not gonna make him talk about it, not when it makes him upset to just think about the home he can’t go back to.They’re still trying, but…I’m pretty sure he doesn’t think it’s ever gonna work.”

He shrugged slightly, the frown not leaving his face.

“So for the foreseeable future, my Hyrule is his home. I’m more than happy to have him live with me as long as he needs.”

“Even if he steals your scarf?” Wild said, trying to lighten Warriors’s face again. It worked, and a small smile found its way to his expression.

“Never,” he said. “If he steals it again, I’m letting Arty arrest him.”

The chain went quiet for a moment after finally getting Warriors to smile again, all of them glad that their soldier had someone like that in his home era. It was one of the things they all loved about traveling between the various versions of Hyrule. Seeing their brothers relax around people who loved them, and meeting the people important to each and every hero that had become family. They couldn’t wait to meet the mysterious, weird, annoying roommate that Warriors wouldn’t stop talking about, and it was just bad luck or the will of Hylia that kept their portals from forming close enough to his Castle Town for them to reach it in time. It made Wild wish his slate worked to teleport in the other eras, and all of them wanted Warriors to be able to relax the same way the rest of them have been able to (even Hyrule, as much as he let himself relax in his world).

Eventually, though, it was Legend who spoke up, making them all notice the deep, thoughtful frown that had etched itself onto his face as he stared into the fire.

“Lana can access other time periods?” He asked. Warriors furrowed his eyebrows.

“Kind of,” he said. “From what I understand about her magic, she can’t access them on command, more through an existing link. She wouldn’t be able to track or control the portals throwing us around through time, though. Unfortunately.”

“No, that’s not—“Legend cut himself off, a hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Could she just…see my era? Search through it? Fable can’t reach too far outside Hyrule itself, much less all the way to Holodrum or Labrynna, and…”

He hesitated, nerves visible on his face for the chain to worry about. Legend wasn’t nearly as emotionless as he liked to pretend he was, but he still rarely showed his anxiety even to the other heroes. For him to stall like this, searching through his words, it made them all aware that this was serious.

He sighed.

“There’s someone I’m hoping she’d be able to find,” he said eventually. “He vanished completely from my Hyrule a while ago, there’s been no trace of him, and Fable hasn’t had any progress any of the times we’ve landed in my era.”

Warriors frowned, seeing the tension in the lines of Legend’s shoulders, the way he was still looking towards the fire and not at any of them.

“She can try, for sure,” he said. “I can’t say if she’d be able to find anything, but I know for a fact she’d be happy to try. How long has he been missing?”

Legend’s eyes closed as his face shuttered slightly. “Too long,” he said, his voice low. “He’s not a fighter. I know it’s a long shot, but…I’d appreciate it if she even tried.”

None of them knew who Legend meant. They had only ever met Fable in his era, with a brief introduction to a girl named Irene when she literally dropped in to verbally spar with Legend for a moment, but there had been no indication from Fable that she was searching for anyone. But clearly, it was someone who meant something to Legend. A friend, family, a quest companion, someone who had entered a hero’s life and decided to stay. Someone he was worried enough about to drop any and all of his gruff pretenses, asking Warriors for help rather than continuing to tease him along with the rest of the chain.

So no one even considered teasing Legend for having emotions. They just watched, their own worry curling in the air, as Warriors nodded.

“Of course,” he said. “As soon as we end up in my Castle Town, I’ll ask her. She’ll do her best.”

After a few moments of silence, the mood shifted again as people began preparing for night watches, lightening slightly as teasing started back up and Wind began his nightly ritual of trying to steal Wild’s slate off his hip, but no one was unaware of Legend still watching the fire.

They didn’t know who he was searching for.

But they all knew they wanted to help their veteran find him.

Warriors just couldn’t help but talk about Ham all the time. He tried to keep it to a minimum, not wanting to monopolize their time for telling stories about their lives and worlds, but he really couldn’t help it. He talked a lot about Linkle, too, and Artemis and Lana featured heavily in his stories, but Ham was someone who was still new to Warriors despite the fact that they fought in a war together and have been living together for almost seven months (less if you take out the few months he’d been on this quest for, too). He grew up with Linkle, he was too used to her to remember that his stories about her could be just as weird sometimes. Talking about Ham was like when Four kept talking about his cat Shadow, or Sky waxing poetic about Sun every five minutes, or Wind regaling them with pirate stories each night around the fire.

And when the stories kept making the others laugh, it just solidified for him that he really wanted them to meet Ham. He knew all of them would like him, except maybe Legend. Ham was good at getting people to warm up to him, though, despite his naturally annoying presence. And even though Warriors knew that Legend would deny it until the day he died, the fact that Warriors liked Ham would go a long way for getting the vet to like Ham as much as Wars knew the rest of the chain would.

He did keep some stories to himself for now, though. He tried not to mention some of the things that he wanted them to experience in person first, like his…interesting fashion sense or his propensity for scamming people out of all their money, but he kept that quiet for noble purposes. Definitely not so he could watch Wild get talked out of his thousands of rupees by a crafty asshole merchant in a rabbit robe.

Okay so maybe not entirely noble. But he felt that was a worthy reason to keep some of Ham’s traits to himself for now.

It also helped to keep him from missing his annoying roommate too much while he was on this quest. He was a bit pissed at whatever entity kept dropping them in his Hyrule too far from Castle Town to ever actually get to catch up with anyone, or spend a single moment in his own home to get to show his new brothers around. He’d seen almost every town in Wild’s Hyrule, been to Wind’s favorite islands, seen Skyloft and the budding colony that would become Hyrule, and been to Lon Lon Ranch often enough for Malon to treat all of them like they were her own kids. But Warriors? Fuck him, apparently, because all he had to offer was stories until the portals decided to throw him a bone.

It was a good thing he had a lot of stories to share. For all that he’d only really known Ham for less than seven months, the guy did a lot of weird shit. And that wasn’t even getting into the antics his bird got up to. That was a topic that Warriors wasn’t even sure how to mention in his stories, much like how they all had demanded more information when Twilight offhandedly mentioned the clowns that shot him out of a cannon. Mentioning that Ham had a bird who he could definitely talk to somehow, and that liked to participate in whatever fleecing Ham was currently doing to a customer? He knew he’d be asked for more details on that, and it was something better explained in person.

So he stuck to things like the time a cat startled Ham and sent him scurrying up a tree, where he got stuck until Wars helped him down. Seeing Four nod sagely at Ham running away from a little kitten was almost funnier than the story itself. They all knew the little smith hated cats for some reason, but he was fully on board with Warriors’s best friend’s complete overreaction to the sudden appearance of a tiny calico right behind him. Ham tried to claim later that he was worried for Sheerow’s sake, but he was too defensive for Warriors to ever actually believe that.

It was when Warriors was on watch, polishing his shield as he wondered just how far Four’s hatred of cats went, when a voice startled him.

“You know,” Legend started out of nowhere, nearly making Warriors drop his shield on the ground, “he’s not my friend.”

The night was quiet, moonlight filling the clearing where the chain was resting, and Legend’s voice barely broke through the silence. It had a strange tone to it that Warriors couldn’t place, even though he knew he’d heard it before. It was…softer than Legend normally spoke, not even having the amused edge that he got when he made fun of the other heroes. It was just…flat.

“Huh?” Warriors asked once he finally recovered from the sudden words.

“The guy who went missing,” Legend clarified, and Warriors looked over to see him lying back on his bedroll, staring blankly up at the stars. “He’s not my friend.”

“Oh,” Warriors said, confused. His gaze fell back to the grass. They hadn’t talked about that again since Warriors promised to ask Lana for help a week ago, but they had all been thinking about it. Legend’s expression that night didn’t match the words he was saying now. Warriors had never seen that level of raw worry in Legend’s eyes before. “Um—“

“—he’s my husband.”

Legend’s words cut him off bluntly, sending something sharp down Warriors’s spine as his head snapped back over towards where Legend was lying. Though blunt, the words had been so achingly small, quieter than Legend had ever spoken before, and Warriors never wanted to hear another word from the vet sound like that. Moonlight glittered off the many rings on Legend’s hands, and something cracked through Warriors’s chest.

“…oh,” he echoed himself, his own voice just as quiet as Legend’s. “Fuck, Legend, I’m sorry. I didn’t—“

“—You didn’t know?” Legend finished. He huffed a short, empty laugh. “Of course you didn’t. I never said anything. Why would any of you assume I’m married when we only ever see Fable in my era? I’m definitely not married to her.”

Married. Legend was married. If Warriors wasn’t also dealing with the realization that Legend’s husband was currently missing, he’d be nothing but happy for the other hero. For his brother. If any of them deserved that kind of happiness, it was the one of them who had been dragged through the wringer by Hylia five times over.

But he couldn’t even have that, could he?

Warriors couldn’t speak for a moment. He was too busy imagining what Legend’s husband might be like, and how much he wanted to meet him. Eventually, though, he broke the heavy silence.

“…do you want to tell me about him?” He asked, sure that Legend would say no. He had said his piece, revealed to Warriors that he was married for a reason that he still didn’t fully understand, so surely Legend would roll over and go to sleep and leave Warriors to reckon with this new information for the rest of the night. Legend sighed, though, the sound tired and sad.

“He’s an idiot,” Legend said, but his voice was too fond for Warriors to believe he meant that at all. He sounded the same as when he called the rest of the chain morons for forgetting potions, or jumping in front of each other to take hits. Warriors already knew it, but this proved that their surly veteran never meant a word he had said about them. But he’d take a thousand insults, real ones, over hearing Legend sound this exhausted and melancholic. “But smarter than most people give him credit for. He gave me one of my more useful items as a gift, but just told me it was some old thing he found that became a good luck charm.” Legend snorted a flat laugh. “Fucking liar.”

“What item?” Warriors asked, unsure if he would be able to ask more about the husband without stepping over some emotional line and making Legend stop talking. Legend shook his head.

“You haven’t seen it.”

“If it’s one of your more useful ones, why haven’t you used it?”

Legend laughed again, and this time it wasn’t as low. “I never said that. I said you haven’t seen it.”

“Oh fuck you,” Warriors shot back, something setting in his chest as the corner of Legend’s mouth quirked into a wry grin. He was still staring up at the sky, his hands fiddling with his rings, but that sad frown was gone.

A beat of silence passed between them before Legend spoke again, the grin still there but turning bitter as it twisted.

“He says he’s a coward,” he said to the stars. “He says that I’m the brave one, and he’ll just cheer me on from the sidelines. But, fuck, we met because he came to ask for my help, because he’s not a fighter and if he tried to do what he needed to on his own, he was sure he’d fail and he didn’t want to die. That’s not cowardice, that’s being fucking smart. I know our whole thing is the spirit of Courage, but there’s a line between courage and stupidity, and I think we cross it sometimes. Being afraid to die is the most normal thing in the world. I think we should try it more often.”

Warriors wondered how many times Legend had wanted to talk about his husband with the others, but stopped himself. How many times he’d thought about saying those exact words, defending his husband from an accusation none of them would make and one that he’d clearly argued against a lot already.

Warriors couldn’t say he was wrong, either. They all had their fair share of stories where they knew they should have died, and where they probably should have been more scared than they were.

“I think Time has said something like that before,” he replied, leaning onto his knees as he watched Legend stare into what he knew had to be memories. “And I agree. I know I have a lot of people who have told me that being a hero doesn’t mean I have to face every danger in the world.”

“Just the ones that no one else can,” Legend agreed. “He and Fable say the same thing. And even then, they’d prefer if I didn’t. I think…being married makes that sink in a little more. I’ve never had more to lose if I die. And now with you all around…I get why he asked for help. I know he wishes I was better at it.”

Warriors wished that this conversation wasn’t the one that had gotten Legend taking his many walls down a little. Warriors didn’t need Legend to say the words for him to know that the chain meant something to him, that they were his family the way that he was theirs. Legend already said those words, in his own way, and they all got the message. But Legend was…forlorn, quiet, and Warriors finally was able to place that strange timbre in his voice. He wished he couldn’t, though, because now he couldn’t stop hearing the color of grief in the words. He couldn’t forget the way Legend’s face had changed when he first told the group that the person he was missing wasn’t a fighter. For all that Legend was a hero, and had won his many battles, he also wasn’t nearly the most optimistic of the chain. And Warriors wished he could help his brother believe that his husband wasn’t already dead.

“I think he’ll be happy you’re with us, then,” Warriors said, “since we won’t let you take hits you don’t have to.”

Legend rolled his eyes. “Yeah, by taking hits that you don’t have to.”

“Well, you know what they say,” Warriors shrugged. “The spirit of Courage also comes with hypocrisy.”

“And each hero needs at least one person to call out that hypocrisy,” Legend agreed. “Who’s yours?”

“Linkle, since we were kids,” Warriors answered easily. “Ham more recently, though. The guy is a serious mother hen when he wants to be.”

“Oh, I get that,” Legend said. “The worst part about being married is that now Fable has someone else to gang up on me with.”

Warriors wasn’t sure when hearing that word would stop feeling like touching an electric chuchu. It wasn’t a bad feeling, because it was a reminder that Legend had people who loved him, and that would never be a bad thing. But when he imagined the heroes in their group getting married, he pictured Time and Malon, or Sky finally getting to tie the knot with Sun. Wild and Flora, and the smile on Wild’s face as he said he was excited to platonically marry his best friend one day. Four, as he lit up and said that he and Dot had talked about the same thing. Wind, making exaggerated disgusted faces every time marriage was brought up, because he was thirteen and their youngest brother and it was his duty to be grossed out by their love lives.

He never imagined Legend. And maybe that was his fault, not giving Legend any kind of opening to bring up his partner to them by not even considering the idea that he had one. Maybe it was all of them, never asking him because they never thought about him having that special someone waiting for him. Maybe if he had considered it, it wouldn’t feel like he had been stabbed to realize that his brother had been hurting like this and none of them even noticed. Legend had said that he never said anything on purpose, that he didn’t expect Warriors to know, but Warriors still felt bad. Here they were, a ragtag family of time-scattered heroes, and Legend was holding tight to his chest the secret that a man he loved is lost somewhere.

Did he think they’d tease him for being in love? Maybe eventually, but never while they knew his husband was missing.

Warriors wanted to know everything, but he’d take whatever Legend was willing to tell him.

“When did you get married?” He asked eventually, because while Legend wasn’t the youngest of the heroes by far, he was younger than Warriors. He saw Legend’s face soften slightly as he watched the clouds move across the sky, and Warriors thought that he looked even younger like that.

“A bit over a year ago,” he answered. “As soon as we both turned eighteen. Fable and Hilda, his sister, fought over who got to officiate. Then…half a year later, he was nowhere to be found.”

“Lana will do her best,” Warriors said, feeling the need to reassure Legend that they weren’t making him deal with this alone. Warriors would find Legend’s husband if it meant fist-fighting the Dark Link trying to kill them. “I can’t…promise that she’ll find anything. But I can promise that she’ll want to.”

“I know,” Legend said. “I know you’re wondering why the hell I told you this. I was hoping that my wedding ring might help her. Maybe…help her lock onto him, or something? Again, Fable tried, but she’s very…connected to Hyrule.”

“From what I understand about how her magic works, I think that will help,” Warriors said, seeing something release slightly in Legend’s shoulders. He knew that Lana had searched through Ham’s things with him to try and find a tether that would work for him, so surely Legend’s ring would be like that. Warriors remembered when Ham came back to his house after those three weeks he spent practically living in the castle with Lana. He had a few of his items in his arms, the possessions he was most connected to, the ones he had sounded sure would work. That was the last time Warriors had called him anything except Ham, because he hadn’t been insistent on it until his stay in Warriors’s Hyrule became a bit more permanent. Warriors had seen the dejected look on his face as he used a free hand to push his hood back slightly—just far enough that Warriors could see shadowed green eyes and a twisted, disappointed frown. He had tried to comfort him, called him Ravi, and the pain on his face had just gotten worse. So Warriors stopped completely, welcomed Ham into his home for as long as he needed, and was the one to urge him not to stop trying to make the portals work. Maybe the tethers didn’t work for him, for whatever reason, but something had to.

Warriors hoped that Lana’s help with Legend would have a happier ending. He didn’t want to see that same mournful look on his younger brother’s face, or worse, see Legend try to hide it.

“Do you want to know how we met?” Legend offered, another sentence that Warriors wasn’t expecting. It made him wonder again how many times Legend had almost told them.

“Yeah, sure,” he said immediately, trying not to sound too eager. He would never tell the rest of the chain without Legend’s permission, but once they did find out about Legend’s marriage, he would definitely lord over them the amount of information he had learned before them. “You said he came to ask you for help with something, right?”

“Eventually,” Legend said. “I was already on track to help with it, I just didn’t find out that he had a stake in it until later. First, though, he found me passed out and decided to drag me into an empty house and just wait until I woke up. Just so happened that the empty house he found was actually mine.”

Warriors laughed, trying to keep it quiet and not wake any of the others up, but he could hear the smile in Legend’s voice and it made a weight lift from his chest. He wanted to get Legend talking about the happy parts of being married, the parts that made Time’s good eye soften whenever he told them stories, not the parts about the past months that reminded Legend of the bad things. That was all he could do right now, until they got back to his era, and by Hylia was he going to do it.

“You were passed out?” He teased. “How’d you do that?”

“Heroism,” Legend answered with an audible grin. “Obviously.”

“Uh huh. The same kind of heroism that has Wild face-planting after trying to land without his paraglider?” Warriors asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Hmm…” Legend thought for a moment. “More like…the heroism that led to Wind getting launched into the side of a tower.”

Warriors stifled a louder laugh. “You hit a wall?”

“Listen, asshole, not my fault the guy turned into a painting at the last second,” Legend shot back. “Even Time ended up in stupid situations when he didn’t know his enemy yet.”

“Is this better or worse than getting trapped in a deku scrub body?” Warriors mused.

“Better,” Legend countered immediately. “Clearly better. I woke up an hour later in my own house.”

“And met your husband,” Warriors needled Legend slightly, because if he didn’t, Legend might think he was dying. He knew he just said he wasn’t going to make fun of Legend for being in love, and he wasn’t. But going back and forth with Legend was natural to him at this point, and it just came out before he could remember he wasn’t going to tease about that. But it was the kind of teasing family did, and Warriors hoped Legend could tell that.

From the way Warriors could still hear him smiling, he thought Legend did.

“The shithead pretended the house wasn’t mine for so long,” Legend replied. “Be glad you have a roommate, and not just a freeloader.”

“Well, Ham doesn’t pay rent,” Warriors admitted, “but it was kinda my era’s fault that he’s stuck there, so I’m not gonna make him pay to have somewhere to live.”

“Wrong choice,” Legend said, shaking his head slightly. “It’s your house to lose, though. Unless you marry your roommate, I guess that was my solution.”

“Fascinating proposal,” Warriors said, “but not something either of us would be interested in. I think that’s just a you thing.”

“Huh,” Legend said suddenly. “I just remembered that Flora kind of stole Wild’s house from him. Is this a Link thing? Why does Hylia like people stealing our houses?”

“Ham isn’t stealing my house,” Warriors said, rolling his eyes. “So this seems like a ‘you and Wild’ thing. Maybe you two should consider not marrying or planning to marry the person who steals your house?”

“Idea considered,” Legend said, “and discarded. Fuck you.”

“Maybe when we find your husband, he’ll have stolen a house for you this time,” Warriors said, before immediately wanting to hit himself. They’d gone almost ten minutes without talking about the fact that Legend’s husband was currently missing. From the way the air seemed to sour, the reminder had done exactly what Warriors had been trying this whole conversation not to do. “Shit, Ledge, sorry, I—“

“—It’s fine,” Legend interrupted his apology, but it didn’t quite sound fine. “Not like I forgot he’s missing, I couldn’t if I tried. I…appreciate the ‘when’, though. Fable is the optimistic one. Hilda and I…”

He sighed, shaking his head.

“You know, I even asked Hylia to make sure he’s okay.”

And nothing in the entire conversation had shocked Warriors as much as that statement did.

“You…prayed? To Hylia?” Those words didn’t sound right when referring to Legend. Legend, who once got the silent treatment from Sky for four days after one particularly pointed comment at the goddess. Legend, who only ever used the names of the Golden Goddesses, and outright called himself the number one Hylia Hater?

Warriors couldn’t imagine how Legend must have been feeling to finally have him turn to Hylia for anything.

“I mean, after Din, Nayru, and Farore, because they’ve actually done shit for me before,” Legend clarified, “but yeah. I don’t know if she gives a shit about him or me, but I tried everything. So…even if Lana can’t do anything, she’ll probably do more than Hylia.”

When no sudden bolt of lightning decided to smite Legend for that comment, Warriors said, “Thanks for telling me all this, vet. We’ll help you find him.”

“Thanks, Wars,” Legend replied quietly. “I think you’d like him.”

And Warriors knew that he would, whenever he got to meet him. For all that they called Legend ornery, and for all that he could be a bit of a bitch (they all could, admittedly, but Legend clearly enjoyed it), there was no part of him that wasn’t happy to hear that his brother was loved in his home era. And loved for more than just being the hero.

When Legend finally fell asleep, letting Warriors sit in the quiet of the night, the moonlight kept catching on his rings.

Warriors wasn’t much of the praying type either, but he found himself staring at those rings and asking whichever goddess was listening to let them find Legend’s husband safe and alive. And he knew he’d never admit this, especially not if Legend managed to notice, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to help being a bit more protective of Legend than he usually was. Because fuck if he was letting anything happen to the vet before they found his husband.

When Warriors woke Sky up for the next watch, he knew sleep wouldn’t come easily for the next few hours.

So he just stared up at the stars and tried not to think about the worst case scenarios.

“Wild, are you kidding me?” Warriors asked, rubbing his temples. “You really didn’t consider that this might happen?”

“How was I supposed to know it would only work partially?” Wild retorted, eyes glued to her slate. “I expected nothing to happen! Not…this.”

“I mean, we are where we wanted to be,” Wind offered with a slight wince. “We’re on Skyloft, right?”

“…technically,” Sky said. “Did you mean to teleport us below where you set that medallion thing? Because we’re definitely not in front of the goddess statue.”

“No, of course I didn’t mean to do that,” Wild countered. “We got an answer, though. I can technically teleport us when we’re not in my Hyrule using my travel medallion.”

“It’s just…not accurate,” Twilight filled in flatly, staring around them with a tired expression. “At all.”

“Sky, how do we get out of here?” Time asked, joining Four and Legend in walking the perimeter of the room by the door they could see, which was currently leading to a blank wall.

“Great question,” Sky answered with a sigh. “I don’t quite remember how the rooms were set up the last time I was here, but I think that through that wall should be the front room. There’s a way to move the rooms around in there, where we can make this door actually lead somewhere, but…”

“But we’re not in that room,” Warriors finished. “So we’re stuck?”

“I can try and teleport us ag—“

“—No.”

“Shit, fine, no teleporting outside my era,” Wild held up her hands as every other member of the chain cut her off. “You guys have no sense of adventure.”

“You can joke about that when we’re not currently stuck in one of Sky’s dungeons,” Warriors said.

“What are you all even looking for?” Wind asked, peering over at where Four was looking at rocks for some reason, and Legend was trailing his hand over the wall by the door. Time was looking at the rest of the room, but from the way Sky had described the Sky Keep, getting to that front room was the only way out. “Sky, I’m assuming we can’t just blow up the wall?”

“No, Wind, we can’t blow up the wall of the temple built by Hylia,” Sky said. “Besides, even if we tried, I really don’t think it would work. We need to find one of the control panels, but this doesn’t look like one of the rooms that has one. And, of course, it doesn’t look like any of the shortcuts are still open.”

“All we need to do is get through to the other side of this wall?” Legend asked, examining a tiny crack in the seam between the walls, far too small for any of their items to get through.

“You say that like it’s easy, vet,” Twilight said, eyebrows raised.

“I might be able to, if I can just find—“ Four started, kicking over another large rock and frowning at whatever was (or wasn’t) underneath. He was cut off, though, by Legend grinning at Twilight.

“Because it is,” he replied, his hand still on the wall. Then the bracelet around his wrist began to glow purple slightly, and the chain watched as Legend’s hand sank into the stone, followed by the rest of him.

In a blink, Legend was gone, and in his place was…

“What the fuck?” Wind muttered. Warriors had to echo the sentiment.There was a painting of Legend on the stone wall, one that had a very smug expression, and one of the hands moved in what might have been a wave before the painting of Legend walked to the side through the tiny crack by the door.

“Damn it,” Four cursed, giving up on his rock search. “He seriously has an item for everything, doesn’t he?”

“That’s so cool,” Hyrule said, watching where Legend vanished.

Underneath their feet, the temple seemed to rumble slightly, and within a few seconds, the formerly blank wall now led to an open door where they saw Legend with his hands on his hips, a smug smirk on his face.

“Well?” He said. “Thought we wanted to get out of here?”

“What is that item?” Wind asked as he darted out of the room and towards Legend. “Why haven’t you used it before?”

“Just because you haven’t seen me use it doesn’t mean I haven’t, squirt,” Legend retorted, but he let Wind look at the bronze bracelet around his wrist. Now that he knew to look for it, Warriors remembered Legend wearing that bracelet since they met him, but it blended in with all the rest of his jewelry pretty quickly. Something about it felt slightly familiar, but Warriors knew it was probably just because he’d been seeing it for months without actually registering it.

“You can turn into a painting?” Hyrule asked.

“It’s surprisingly versatile,” Legend said, taking his wrist back from Wind as the rest of the chain entered the front room of the Sky Keep. “Got it as a gift from a friend. Who, of course, said that it was a piece of junk that did nothing, because he’s an asshole like everyone else I associate with.”

“And you kept it?” Four asked, eyebrows raised. None of them argued the asshole comment. “Without knowing it was magical?”

“At first it was collateral, until he actually paid me rent for letting him live in my fucking house,” Legend said, glancing down at the bracelet and shrugging. “Then it saved my life, so…”

His eyes lingered for just a moment on Warriors as the group made their way to the entrance of the Sky Keep, not that they needed to. Warriors had already put it together. There had been no mention of their midnight conversation, as Legend predictably pretended it had never happened, but that didn’t mean Warriors forgot about it. How the hell could he? So that bracelet was the item Legend had mentioned, the gift from his husband. Warriors understood now why Legend called it one of his more useful items. He wondered how it saved his life, though.

“Guys!” Hyrule called, looking over his shoulder from where he had stepped outside the Sky Keep. “Portal!”

“Here?” Wind asked. “It couldn’t show up in the other room and save us the trouble?”

“Of course not,” Warriors said. “That would be way too easy.”

“Alright, everyone have all their gear?” Time said, stepping around Hyrule to be in front of the group. “Pair up, Four and Twilight with me.”

Four rolled his eyes but hefted his bag further on his shoulder and walked up to Time. He was always put into the group of three for the portals, but he couldn’t exactly argue against that placement when seventy-five percent of the time he passed out on the other side. Having two people there in case they were put into a fight immediately was just the safest option.

Warriors snagged Wind by the tunic and dropped his arm around the younger boy’s shoulders, making Wind look up and stick his tongue out.

“What if I wanted Hyrule as my partner, huh?” He said. Warriors grinned.

“Good luck prying him off Legend, sailor,” he said. “C’mon, maybe it’ll be the Great Sea.”

That got Wind to light up and start nearly dragging Warriors towards the portal, right past where Legend was letting Hyrule look at the bracelet for a moment. Warriors knew that if anyone but Hyrule or Wind asked, they’d get deflected immediately, but Legend would never admit to the soft spot he had for those two.

Warriors kept his hand on Wind’s shoulder as they went through the portal together, wincing past the slight nausea he felt, and he knew Wind would be disappointed the moment he didn’t smell salt in the air on the other side. Blinking his eyes open to the sunlight, he saw Time waiting for them, Twilight holding a groggy but conscious Four as the smith pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes with a groan. Seemed like this time was just a really shitty migraine for him, which was good. Behind him, he heard Wild and Sky step through the portal, and he finally looked around them to see where they were if it wasn’t Wind’s home. Immediately, he felt a smile spread across his face.

“Good news, guys,” he said, drawing everyone’s attention as the portal vanished behind Legend and Hyrule. “This is mine! And Castle Town is right over there.”

He pointed off at the distance, where the spires of Hyrule Castle reached the clouds. He already felt himself relaxing slightly. He had never seen the castle in the distance the other times they’d landed in his home, and he knew that they were close enough for them to make it there long before nightfall. He’d actually get to sleep in his own bed tonight. He’d get to introduce the chain to Artemis and Linkle for the first time, explain where the hell he’d been for the past three months better than he could in the hasty note he wrote before entering that first portal with Time, Twilight, and Hyrule, and the chain could finally meet Ham! And he could get Legend some help in his search, hopefully. Finally, the portals weren’t being a bitch to Warriors specifically.

“How far to get there?” Time asked, and Warriors politely ignored how he could tell that Legend was very interested in the answer too.

“Doesn’t seem too far,” Warriors guessed, since he could see the lower spires of the castle over the nearby hills. “Maybe two hours? No more than four, though.”

“Let’s start now, then,” Twilight said, glancing down at Four before clearly making the judgement that their smithy would not be walking and simply adjusting his arm under the smaller boy’s back. Probably for the best, since Four hadn’t reacted to anything they’ve been saying and so it seemed like his senses had been fucked with by the portal too.

Warriors adjusted his bag on his shoulder as Time gave him a small smile, their leader clearly aware of Warriors’s relief and excitement. He motioned Warriors forward, the path to Castle Town right there in front of him for the first time in months.

“Lead the way, Wars.”

Chapter Text

Warriors had never been more excited to approach the walls of Castle Town. Sure, they had to fight some packs of monsters on their way there, and so it wasn’t what one could call a peaceful walk, but Warriors had been waiting to get back home for months now. He’d fight a hundred bokoblins to sleep in his own home for once. And when none of them got badly injured, and Four was lucid enough to protect himself after just the first fight, he took that as a sign that their stay in his home era was going to be a good one for them. Barring the…incident trying to teleport to Skyloft, their latest jaunt through Sky’s slowly expanding Hyrule had been pretty alright, but a group of black-blooded monsters encroaching on the small surface colony had kept it from being a very relaxing stay. They all were hoping to get a break, despite their collective abysmal luck.

Warriors felt his steps grow a little lighter as the gates grew visible in the distance after a bit over two hours.

“So, we can drop our gear off at my house first, and then we can go to the castle to check in with Artemis and let her know I’m not dead,” he said. “Lana should be there too, and hopefully she isn’t busy with anything. I have no idea where Linkle might be, but I hope you guys will get to meet her while we’re here.”

“I think we should meet her too,” Legend said, and Warriors knew that wasn’t all he meant when he glanced over to see the small shitty grin growing on his face. “Anyone who put up with you growing up is someone I already respect.”

“Oh fuck off, vet,” Warriors said, turning forward again to hide his own grin. “Linkle is worse than me, you’ll see.”

He saw when the guards at the gate recognized him, their stances growing more professional as they started waving to him. His smile grew as he waved back.

“Captain, you’re back!” One called as he got closer. Warriors couldn’t see his face well enough to put a name to him, but he knew the voice. “The princess said not to worry, but it’s good to see you’re alright. Are you headed to the castle?”

“Not immediately,” he answered as they reached the gate. “But soon. If you could send word to the castle so that the princess knows to expect me, that would be great. Has there been any trouble with monsters lately?”

The guard (Warriors was pretty sure his name started with a T…goddesses he was bad with names) frowned slightly, but shook his head. “Not anything too bad. There’s been sightings of unidentifiable monsters up north, but they haven’t strayed too close. We had an incident with those strange monsters you were investigating about two months ago, but there were no casualties and while we didn’t kill them, we managed to keep them out of the city.”

“Good, I can check out those strange monsters while I’m here,” Warriors said. “It’s good to be back.”

“Good to have you back, captain,” he replied, stepping aside to let Warriors and the rest of the chain into the town. As they got further inside and away from the gates, Wild spoke up.

“You know, sometimes I forget that you’re, like, actually a knight,” she mused, and Warriors looked over his shoulder at her.

“Why, I’m too pretty?” He joked, and she laughed.

“No, you’re like me. Too fun. From what I remember, my knights were never fun.”

“I do my best,” Warriors said, leading the chain through the main market and towards the residential section of town. He hadn’t always lived so close to the castle, and Linkle still lived farther away where she could keep her cuccos, but he was glad he had moved when the war started and he had somewhere to go that wasn’t too far from the castle for comfort. The market was fairly busy, as the midday rush slowly began to wind down, and Warriors got some waves and tried his best to avoid getting dragged into a conversation. The eight other armed people behind him helped that fact, he thought. It made him look like he had important business to be doing.

Which he did. The important business of finally introducing his family to the people of his home like they had done for him.

He hadn’t noticed where in the market they were until Wild let out a short laugh. Glancing back, he saw her and Legend looking off at a store to the left, Wild looking gleeful and Legend looking like he’d been hit. Following their eyes, he felt his grin grow wider as he echoed Wild’s feelings. Right above the door of the shop they were staring at was a large wooden sign, and it was the ugliest thing Warriors had ever seen, in the best way possible. He had helped make it, after all. Half of the sign was a large, obnoxiously purple rabbit head, and the other half loudly proclaimed ‘Ravio’s Curios! Hyrule’s best items, at their best prices!’. It was no wonder Wild liked it too, given the clutter of her own house, and it was no wonder Legend clearly hated it. His house was neat and tidy despite all the shit the vet owned, and the gaudiness of the sign was worse than the flashiest of his rings. The store was the one thing Ham put his actual name on, and it was solely because of the rhyme. To make it stick in your mind, he had said, a proud look on his face, but Warriors knew that it was just to make the sign more annoying.

“Oh man, yeah, that’s a damn lie,” he laughed, shaking his head at the shop’s tagline. “It’s practically highway robbery, but Arty likes him too much to shut it down. It was the one thing he asked her for, anyway. Looks closed now, so he’s either at the castle or at home.”

“Wait, that’s your roommate’s shop?” Sky asked, his eyes lighting up in interest. “Is that his actual name?”

“Yeah, it’s the one thing he wanted to use it for,” Warriors answered.

“So what’s the story behind Ham, then?” Four asked. “I don’t see the connection.”

“Oh, easy,” Warriors answered as they all stopped staring at the impossibly loud sign and started making their way through the market again. “He really didn’t want to fight in the war, but once it became clear there unfortunately wasn’t another option, he was pretty vicious with a hammer. Add on the fact that Linkle used to have a pet rabbit named Ham, and it just kinda stuck once he decided he liked it.”

Warriors had hated that Ham had to fight. He hated that Wind and Mask had to fight, too, but at least those two hadn’t been positive that they would die from the battles. Ham really wasn’t confident in his fighting, but from what Warriors saw, it was entirely unwarranted. Get the guy out of his head and he could smash bokoblins with the best of them. It was only fitting that the hammer got featured in his nickname, and he had seemed pleased by it too. Ham was clearly a creature of nicknames, as Warriors could count on one hand the amount of times Ham had actually called him ‘Link’, so he had taken Linkle’s bestowal of the name with a grin and a proud swing of that very hammer.

“So, Wars, where do you live?” Legend asked suddenly, appearing next to Warriors as he came out of nowhere. He was staring straight ahead into the crowd, his eyes narrowed slightly, and Warriors hoped he started to relax now that they were in the town and safe.

“Just three more streets up and then to the left,” Warriors answered, motioning down to the sign a few streets ahead that marked the residential area. Legend nodded.

“How long ago was the War of Ages?” He asked next, and while it was a wild topic change, Warriors supposed it made sense. Castle Town had recovered amazingly well, and Ham’s shop was pretty big for only existing for about five months. And given the new adventure he was on, it sometimes felt like it had been over a year since the war.

“About seven months ago,” he replied, steering the group around a fruit stand.

“And…have you ever seen him without his hood on?”

“I mean, kind of?” Warriors answered easily, giving another wave to a vendor that recognized him. “He’s pushed it back sometimes, but it makes him feel more comfortable so I’ve never asked him to take it off completely. I know enough of what he looks like anyway, I don’t need to—“

He cut himself off as he looked down at Legend. “Hey, wait, how—“

Before he could finish asking Legend how the hell he knew Ham wore a hood, Legend was taking off at a sprint down the street startling the entire chain into movement. Warriors ran after Legend, but the vet’s pegasus boots let him easily keep a good few yards between them. Four pulled ahead with his own pegasus boots, chasing after Legend, but Legend’s head start let him turn down the residential road before they could get him to stop and explain what the hell he was doing.

Warriors knew it was obvious which house was his. Ham had insisted on making their mailbox flag another little rabbit head (Branding, Captain!), and as a housewarming gift, Linkle had gotten him a little garden gnome that had a scarf matching his, which stood proudly on the small stoop by the door. Legend ran slower for a split second as he scanned the houses, but when he spotted the mailbox, he sped right back up to a full sprint. Warriors pushed forward, running faster until he reached the edge of his tiny yard.

“Ledge, wait!” He called. “He’s very easily startled, you’ll scare him!”

The last thing Warriors wanted was for his brothers to scare Ham the first time they met him.

Legend stopped right in front of the door, the chain quickly approaching from behind, and he turned slightly to look at Warriors. And…Warriors couldn’t read his expression. He couldn’t tell if Legend was angry, or…simply very emotional. But Warriors didn’t know what had set him off, or how to tell which emotion he was feeling.

“I know,” was all Legend said before he was testing the doorknob. Unlocked, like it always was when someone was home. Warriors reached the stoop right as Legend threw the door open and stalked inside.

“You couldn’t freeload off me, so you found another Link to scam, Rav?”

Warriors skidded to a stop in his own doorframe.

What?

A light thud and a small ‘eep!’ came as Warriors saw Ham trip behind their kitchen counter as Legend startled him, Sheerow fluttering at the noise and perching atop the cabinets. Warriors wanted to say something, to let Ham know he was here too and that Legend was safe, to ask Legend what was happening, but…no words came. Of the many nicknames that Warriors had tried before Ham simply decided to come up with something new, Rav had been the one most vehemently denied. Not meanly, Ham was never mean, but with a sharp shake of his head and a few quick blinks as he tried to pretend his eyes weren’t watering with whatever reminder of home the name brought him. But here Legend was, pulling it out of nowhere as the first thing to call Ham? And his words were stuck in Warriors’s mind.

Slowly, Ham stood from behind the counter, moving stiffer than Warriors had ever seen him, and he made his way to the entryway of the kitchen with a hand on the counter like he was steadying himself. Legend was standing, staring with his arms crossed tightly over his chest, and Warriors couldn’t see his face to tell if he was angry. He slowly inched a bit more into the house, but Legend’s face was turned straight at Ham and was still at the wrong angle for Warriors to judge his expression. Had he met Ham somewhere? Did they not get along? The one word keeping him from thinking that was right was the easy Rav dropped at the end of Legend’s outburst.

Then Ham spoke. And something in Warriors’s chest hurt.

His voice was so, so small.

“…Mr. Hero?” He asked, his tone almost something like awe, and he immediately reached up to fully push his large purple rabbit hood off of his head. For the first time, Warriors saw the entire face of his newest best friend. And despite the disheveled dark hair, the freckles, the bright green eyes that were wide and brimming with tears…Warriors would now recognize that face anywhere. The colors were wrong, but Ham had their veteran’s face, down to the ears whose points curved up more than any other member of the chain except Sky. He even had a small streak of purple in his dark hair, right where Legend’s was pink. It was like looking in a funhouse mirror, but there was nothing fun about the stunned, sad hope in those watering green eyes.

Warriors was frozen. Both at the sight, at the way Ham perfectly resembled Legend like a twin, and at just how easily he had taken off that rabbit hood. Warriors hadn’t been lying, he’d never felt a need to see underneath it, but he knew that it made Ham feel more comfortable.

But here he was. Mere seconds after Legend entered the house, removing that security blanket and meeting the eyes of Warriors’s surly younger brother with no fear or anxiety of any kind. Just…longing. It made Warriors feel like he wasn’t really looking at ‘Ham’ anymore. He thought maybe, for the first time, he was actually looking completely at Ravio. And Ravio only had eyes for Legend.

He was starting to get an idea, and it made something ache right by his heart.

Legend’s next words were clearly supposed to sound harsh.

“Don’t fucking call me that right now,” he snapped, but his voice broke on the last word, and Warriors didn’t need to see his face anymore to know that it wasn’t anger making Legend’s shoulders so tense.

Ravio sniffed slightly.

“Link,” he said instead, and then he was running at Legend, wrapping the vet in a tight hug and burying his face into Legend’s shoulder. Legend’s hand came up to rest on the back of Ravio’s head as he hugged him back, and the many rings on his left hand glittered in the lighting of Warriors’s living room. For the first time, Warriors noticed one plain silver ring among the jeweled ones, resting on Legend’s ring finger. Looking down to find where Ravio was holding Legend like he’d vanish into dust, Warriors found a matching gold ring, something he’d seen before but never once considered the significance of. Maybe some part of him hadn’t wanted to, knowing that Ravio had been stuck in his era. But now it was staring him in the face.

He’d been living with his brother’s missing husband for months now.

He fought in a war with his brother’s missing husband.

What if he hadn’t been able to keep Ravio safe? What if he had died in the war? There had been casualties, and Warriors had just been eternally, selfishly grateful that Wind, Mask, Ravio, and his other close brothers-in-arms hadn’t been among them. But they easily could have been. And Warriors couldn’t help but look at Legend holding Ravio just as tightly, and think about a timeline where he had failed to protect the crafty, sly merchant who he had grown so fond of. A timeline where it would be Warriors’s fault that Legend no longer had someone he loved.

That timeline wasn’t real, Warriors knew it, but the one they were in right now still made him feel bad enough.

His brother had been hurting, and if Warriors had just put the pieces together, he could have helped Legend realize months ago that his husband wasn’t dead.

But Ravio was here, and Legend was here, and at least Warriors could do this.

Glancing next to him at the doorway, Warriors saw the faces of the rest of the chain, watching the two in the middle of the room with confusion and concern. It was clear that something was happening, something important to Legend, and Warriors was grateful that Time seemed to be gently ushering a few of them back a few steps, so that the front entrance wasn’t crowded. If Warriors knew Legend at all after the months of their adventure, and he felt he did, Legend would not like the reminder that there were people watching this reunion right now. The less crowded the room was, the better.

After a good few minutes, Ravio unwrapped his arms from around Legend, but moved back just far enough to lean forward and put their foreheads together, emphasizing the fact that they were the exact same height too. Ravio had grabbed Legend’s hands, and Warriors was pretty sure that the eight other heroes had vanished for both of them. Good, honestly. If Warriors could sneak back out the door without ruining the moment, he would. But as it was, he just stood still, and watched as Ravio’s thumb found that single silver ring on Legend’s hand.

“…I tried to come back,” he whispered, his voice thick as Warriors could see tear tracks down his face. “I promise, I did. It wouldn’t work.”

“I know,” Legend said, matching the same volume. “Of course I know. We never thought you were gone because you wanted to be.”

“It’s just—her portals wanted to take me back to where the first one was,” Ravio kept talking, staring down at their linked hands as he started rambling like Warriors had grown so used to him doing. Usually he didn’t sound like he was seconds from starting to cry again, though. “But they also wanted to take me home. I guess the portal was meant to grab someone from Hyrule. Probably you. It would explain why your triforce never tried to send me back. I don’t think her magic can even find Lorule. All my items are from Lorule too, even my ring seemed to count since its mine now even though Zelda gave it to me, and—“

“—Rav,” Legend cut him off, knocking their foreheads together gently. So gently, as his voice also sounded horribly like he was holding back tears of his own. Warriors had never seen Legend cry, even when injured, and he knew it would hurt to witness. “It’s okay. You’re okay. We’ll figure it out while I’m here, yeah? And worst case, well…I’ll know you’re safe.”

Ravio blinked rapidly as a few more tears streaked down his face. “No, that’s not gonna happen, I’m not leaving you alone. I can’t leave Hilda alone! Not again. It’s been nice while I’ve been here, but it’s not home.”

“I know,” Legend said again. “If I have to fight Hylia myself to get you home, I will. But you’re okay, and that’s…all I really needed to know.”

“…I missed you,” Ravio breathed out. Legend finally stepped back slightly, but he didn’t drop their hands.

“I missed you too,” he said softly, and Warriors saw all the other heroes watching with wide eyes. If he hadn’t known already that Legend was married, he’d be right there with them. But he’d known, at least somewhat, to expect this kind of reunion. It was still jarring to see a Legend that was clearly letting most, if not all, of his walls down, but Warriors knew that if anyone could do that, it would have to be his husband.

His husband, Ravio. Fuck, that would still take some getting used to.

“I can’t believe you’re actually here,” Ravio said. “I mean, when the Captain’s note said something about other incarnations of the hero, I…didn’t want to get my hopes up.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t believe you apparently fought in a war,” Legend retorted, bringing a slight pink flush to the tips of Ravio’s ears. “Finally believe me now, asshole?”

Ravio stalwartly shook his head, but he was unable to squash the smile on his face. “Never. Pure luck that I fought as well as I did.”

“Sure,” Legend replied dryly. “Pure luck, and some good people watching out for you.”

At that, Legend turned his head just enough to look at Warriors, and Warriors felt warm at the way he could read the gratitude in his expression. Warriors gave a small nod his way, hoping Legend knew that Warriors would keep Ravio safe again in a heartbeat, even if he didn’t know about the rings on their hands.

Ravio looked over to Warriors too, letting go of Legend with one hand to reach up and wipe off the tear tracks on his cheeks.

“This, uh, must be a surprise,” Ravio said to him, but Warriors shook his head.

“We knew he was looking for someone,” he said. “I am surprised it was you, but it makes sense.”

Warriors figured he shouldn’t be surprised that Legend knew he was there the whole time. He was probably completely aware of exactly where each of the other heroes were standing, and for once, he just didn’t care. His eyes had already left Warriors, drifting back to Ravio’s face, and Warriors remembered that it had been seven months since the war. Which meant it had been seven months since Legend started thinking Ravio was dead. And Legend said he’d vanished after they’d only been married for six.

No wonder he couldn’t care that he was being watched.

Ravio peered slightly over Legend’s shoulder at the door, where the rest of the chain was trying their best to wait patiently and give Legend a moment. He gave a little, slightly embarrassed, wave to the group, prompting Legend to drop his other hand and turn to face the chain.

“Ah, hello, um…other heroes,” Ravio greeted. “I assume you all are named Link as well?”

Warriors gave a short laugh. “Wait, is that why you never call me Link?”

Ravio wrinkled his nose slightly. “It’s…a little strange. How do you all do it?”

“We don’t,” Warriors said. “Can you imagine? Bad enough having three in the war.”

At that comment, Wind ducked underneath Twilight’s arm, going right up to Ravio.

“I’m Wind!” He said, grinning. “Remember me?”

Ravio’s smile widened. “Mr. Pirate! A very fitting nickname. Good to know Link has some fun people around when I’m not there.”

Legend rolled his eyes. “Fun, or annoying?”

“To you, those might as well be synonyms,” Ravio teased, poking Legend in the arm. Then he turned his bright grin on the rest of the chain, only enhanced by the fact that the slight shine hadn’t left his eyes yet, and he was still very much within Legend’s bubble of personal space. “I hope he hasn’t been too grumpy. I’m Ravio, it’s very nice to meet all of you.”

Still slightly confused by everything that was happening, the chain couldn’t help but return Ravio’s awkward wave, and they went down the line with introductions. No one seemed to want to ask how exactly Legend and Ravio knew each other, but Warriors saw more than a few glances towards where their arms were still basically pressed together, and he wondered if Legend was even trying to get through this without revealing his marriage. When Ravio turned to him with delighted intrigue in his eyes, Warriors gave a small mock bow.

“They call me Warriors,” he said. “You’re welcome to as well, since you clearly won’t be calling me Link any time soon.”

He couldn’t say he was surprised by that. They all had the people in their home eras who called them Link, and Ravio wasn’t from his era, so Warriors wasn’t Ravio’s Link. He wasn’t offended at all, because he knew that Ravio was a person who showed affection through nicknames anyway.

“And you?” Ravio asked, rounding on Legend. “What do they call you?”

Legend just raised his eyebrows at Ravio, but was clearly holding back a small smirk. Warriors decided to fulfill his job as the older brother, and answered Ravio for him.

“Legend,” he said, and Ravio laughed sharply, a small snort entering the sound as he leaned onto Legend. Legend rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s my hero title, I didn’t pick it.”

“Legend,” Ravio repeated gleefully. “Oh, I’m sure Zelda and Hilda love that too. Be careful about your ego, now, Mr. Legendary Hero.”

“My ego?” Legend asked, pointing his thumb in Warriors’s direction. “You’ve been living with him.”

Warriors flipped him off, Ravio looking between the two of them with wide eyes—thankfully filled this time with amusement rather than tears.

“Hey, Legend, I thought you said the guy you were looking for wasn’t a fighter?” Wind spoke up, making a motion towards Ravio. “I’ve seen him fight.”

Ravio’s hand flew to his heart as he gasped in offense. He turned to Legend with his affronted expression, his other hand on his hip. Legend wasn’t fazed, giving him a flat glare.

“I never said you can’t fight, Ravio, I said you aren’t a fighter,” he said. “Are you going to argue with me on that? Or do I need to mention the dozens of times you hid behind me for an octorock?”

Ravio pouted, the expression so much more vibrant now that Warriors could actually see more than a small portion of his face. Honestly, the fact that Ravio was still somehow expressive while wearing that hood should have prepared him for what that would mean about seeing his whole face, but it was still a slight surprise.

“Well, no,” he admitted, crossing his arms with a slight sigh. “Fighting was never my calling. I was meant to simply be an honest merchant.”

Warriors barked a laugh in unison with Legend, who looked at Ravio in what seemed like disbelief.

“You?” He asked.

“Honest?” Warriors added.

“My prices are very fair!” Ravio defended himself, and it almost seemed again that the chain disappeared as Legend faced him completely and scoffed.

“You fleeced me out of nearly eight thousand rupees when we first met!” He countered, making Warriors’s eyes widen. Oh, so Legend had liked Ravio from the start, no matter what he might say to the contrary. Warriors couldn’t imagine anyone managing to con thousands of rupees from the vet. Not unless Legend was already charmed in some way.

Ravio huffed. “I sold you invaluable items that kept you alive! I couldn’t clear those dungeons, but I sure made it so you could.”

Legend rolled his eyes, the argument not landing in the slightest with him. “You were running a shop out of my house without my permission, while I saved my kingdom and yours. You making me pay anything for those items counts as fleecing me.”

While Warriors was glad that the mood was brighter, and that Legend and Ravio were clearly enjoying the argument they were having, he couldn’t help but startle slightly at Legend’s words. My kingdom and yours? He supposed he had never asked Ravio if he was from Hyrule, and didn’t he mention something earlier about the portal probably meaning to take someone else? But Lana could still reach other kingdoms, so long as it was the same era.

He wanted to ask, but there was no opening to interrupt the argument currently entertaining the rest of the chain.

“Not my fault I like rupees!” Ravio replied, seemingly offended. “Some of us have to make a living, love, we aren’t all heroes.”

Warriors only saw Twilight, Time, and Sky startle at the pet name, and he wondered if the chain needed to work on their observation skills more.

Legend was quiet for a moment, almost speechless, and Ravio started to look a little smug. Then Legend reached out and grabbed Ravio’s left hand, holding it up.
“Ravio,” he said flatly. “You are literally, by definition, a hero. You cannot pull that argument. How many times do we need to have this conversation?”

Ravio turned his nose up. “At least five more times,” he said petulantly. From his angle, Warriors could see a slight shine on the back of Ravio’s hand, and it looked…almost uncomfortably familiar. But it also made no sense, and he knew something else had to be going on. “Heroes save things, Link. What exactly have I saved?”

Legend didn’t answer, merely giving Ravio a look. Warriors saw the tips of his ears go pink. After a moment, Ravio seemed to realize whatever he was trying to imply, and flushed.

“Aww,” he said, taking his hand from Legend’s and lightly hitting his arm. “Sap.”

“So stop arguing with me,” Legend said, clearly trying to pretend that the color wasn’t spreading from his ears to his face. “Also, your sister is a queen. You don’t need money, you sell things because you like scamming people, don’t lie to me.”

Now that was a little fact that Warriors had never known.

“A queen?” He repeated, making Legend look over at him. “Where are you from?”

“Also, are we allowed to ask why you look…the exact same?” Wild added, as she leaned on the doorframe next to where Four was watching all the proceedings curiously. Legend sighed.

“All of you just get inside, why is the door still open?” He said, that familiar bite in his tone that, weirdly enough, made all of them relax. The seven other heroes made their way inside, the door was shut, and Legend glanced over at Ravio.

“Rav?” He asked. “You want me to?”

“No,” Ravio said, shaking his head. He turned to face Warriors. “Sorry I just never said I’m not from Hyrule. It felt like a lot to get into, because…I’m not just from another kingdom. I’m from Lorule. A world slightly adjacent to Hyrule.”

“A mirror world,” Legend clarified. “But its own separate kingdom, too, to them Hyrule is the mirror. My last adventure brought our worlds into contact, and we just never closed the gates completely.”

Huh. That made a weird amount of sense, now that Warriors thought about it. Ravio knew a lot about Hyrule, but sometimes said the strangest things that didn’t feel quite right. A mirror world wasn’t what Warriors was expecting, but it definitely fit. Especially now that he was looking at Ravio and Legend standing next to each other, and he’d easily use the word ‘mirror’ to describe them. It was Four who frowned thoughtfully.

“So…you two are mirrors of each other? Does Lorule have a triforce?”

“That’s a very long story,” Ravio said with a slightly awkward laugh. “And one that would get into the entirety of Link’s quest. But yes, we are essentially mirror counterparts of each other.”

“A fun fact you didn’t tell me for weeks,” Legend muttered. “That damn hood.”

“Hush, you love the hood,” Ravio brushed him off. “If we’re done with all the drama for now, would anyone like anything to eat? I’d love to get to know Link’s family. Captain, care to help me?”

“Of course,” Warriors said, following Ravio to the kitchen. Legend tried to follow too, but Ravio put a hand on his chest.

“Nuh uh, you sit down, and relax, because I know you and you’ve been stressing yourself sick for months now,” Ravio said, eyebrows raised and his green eyes firm and unrelenting. Warriors still expected Legend to argue, because it was Legend, but all he did was narrow his eyes at Ravio for a moment before huffing and turning to join the rest of the chain in the main living room.

“I’d say you have to teach me how to do that, but I imagine that’s just a ‘you’ thing,” Warriors said, making Ravio laugh.

“Me and Zelda,” Ravio agreed, moving over to the cabinets. “And that’s not even guaranteed, you know he loves to argue.”

After pulling out some glasses, Ravio paused, looking over at Warriors as his shoulders relaxed slightly.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said, his expression soft. “I knew you would be, because you’re a hero, but it’s still nice to see for myself.”

“I’m good,” Warriors assured him. “It’s good to see you happy like this. And to see him…”

Warriors didn’t know how to describe what Legend was like right now. Relaxed? Kind of, but it was more relieved than relaxed, and that was only a portion of it. He wasn’t vulnerable, because this was Legend and Warriors was pretty sure that even in his own home when there was no quest, Legend would keep some element of his paranoia around. Happy felt too generic, and fond was only a part of it too.

The look on his face had definitely been familiar, though. Most recently, he’d seen it on Sky, the moment he saw that Sun was still okay in the surface colony.

Legend was in love, and maybe it was that simple.

“Yeah,” Ravio said, not needing Warriors to finish his sentence. He looked over the counter to where the chain was trying and failing to ask Legend any more questions. Legend had just taken one of Warriors’s books off the shelf and was stalwartly reading it, now that Ravio wasn’t in the room with him he clearly had no incentive to answer anything. Ravio’s entire body seemed to soften a bit. Warriors could still see the remnants of the tear tracks in the kitchen light. “You said you knew he was looking for me?”

“He never said a name, but yeah,” Warriors said. “We could tell that whoever was missing was important to him, but that’s all he said. To them, at least.”

At Ravio’s curious glance, Warriors looked pointedly at his hand with the golden ring, and Ravio’s face flushed red.

“Oh,” he said, not that far off from a squeak. “Sorry I never mentioned—“

“—You have nothing to be sorry for,” Warriors cut him off, moving to lean against the counter next to him. “Unless it’s for giving him that cool bracelet and not me, in which case you’re not forgiven.”

As Ravio laughed, Warriors asked the question that had been on his mind since Legend first burst into his house.

“…what do you want me to call you?” He asked quietly. Ravio looked at him askance, confused. “I assume it was because he wasn’t around that a lot of your nicknames got shut down? Do you want me to use your name now?”

Realization hit his face, and Ravio nudged his arm with a small smile.

“Whatever you want, Captain,” he said. “Just…maybe not Rav. The rest of it was hard to hear when I knew he was worrying about me, when I knew that Hilda and Zelda must be worried too, when I was dealing with not being able to get home. Now, I don’t think I’d have any problem with it. And Ham does feel like a name to me now, so you can keep that one if you want.”

“Sorry again that we couldn’t get you home,” Warriors said. Ravio hit him lightly.

“Stop that,” he said. “You did everything you could, Lana too. And I really did enjoy living here with you. I don’t want you to think that you were…a substitute Link, until I got home.”

“Never once crossed my mind,” Warriors said. “I’m clearly the better one anyway.”

Ravio giggled. “I always knew you two would act like that. Once you realize that Link rarely means what he says, he’s very easy to read. And you never know when to stop poking a bear.”

“I have no idea what you mean,” Warriors said, grinning. “You’re married to an asshole, Ravio.”

The name sounded weird in his mouth, but not wrong. Just would take some getting used to. Ravio lit up.

“You say that like I’m not an asshole, Warriors,” he said, clearly getting used to Warriors nickname as well. “We are mirrors of each other.”

“Can’t believe you married yourself,” Warriors teased, helping Ravio get snacks together and letting the weight of their quest off his shoulders for now. He was home, and he had helped his best friend and his younger brother reunite. What was there to worry about right now? “He’s right, though, even if I don’t know specifics. You are a hero.”

“Oh, don’t you start too,” Ravio said, grabbing the platter and making his way to the entrance again, Sheerow coming down to rest on his shoulder like usual. He left the kitchen before Warriors could insist on anything, and so he just rolled his eyes fondly and grabbed the other plate of drinks for the chain as he followed Ravio to the living room. They all thanked Ravio for the food, pretending to be far more polite than they actually were, although Warriors bet that Ravio saw right through it given the company he normally kept.

The conversation was light, as Ravio asked for details on their recent adventures, and listened with rapt attention as each hero described their home eras for him and the various places that the chain had visited. He was fascinated by Skyloft, much like all the chain had been when they first saw the precursor to Hyrule, and he engaged Time in a conversation about what owning a farm was like. Wild’s stories got the most questions, as her Hyrule was sprawling and massive, her distinct regions each showcased well with the many pictures she kept on her slate, and Ravio seemed to very much enjoy Wind’s pirate stories, even though Warriors knew he had heard some of them already from the war.

It was when Four began describing his Hyrule that Ravio asked his first question about their names. No one was surprised, since Four’s name was the one that usually got the strangest looks, right behind Hyrule. When Four easily answered, “because my title is the Hero of the Four Sword,” Ravio gained a very interested look in his eyes. He turned to Legend, who seemed to anticipate something and was already giving Ravio a rather half-hearted glare.

“Oh, like from the books!” Ravio exclaimed, making Legend lean his head into his hand.

“Books?” Four asked, leaning forward with the beginnings of a grin spreading across his face. Ravio, either not noticing Legend’s reaction or just not caring, looked brightly back at Four.

“The history books he has,” he answered easily. “He has a few that mention you!”

The colors swirled briefly in Four’s eyes as a sort of glee set itself on his face. All the chain turned to Legend too, because he had never mentioned knowing about Four before the quest, much less having books about him.

“You read about me?” Four asked with an amused delight. “Ledge, I’m honored, really.”

Legend sighed deeply, raising his gaze to level Four with a dry look. After a beat of silence, where the chain began to look forward to the teasing/verbal sparring match that they were sure was about to happen, Legend spoke.

“What can I say?” He said, raising his eyebrows at Four. “The historians always wrote about your adventures so…colorfully.”

Instantly, Four’s face flushed, and he seemed to melt into the chair a little.

“Oh,” he said. “Right. Cool.”

Legend, seemingly satisfied with managing to embarrass Four badly enough to shut down any teasing the smithy was planning, turned his attention back on Ravio. The other heroes glanced curiously at Four, who was not looking at any of them and seemed to be thinking very hard about something, before Legend asked a question they all were wondering too, and even Warriors hadn’t heard the answer to.

“So, Rav,” he started, his voice calculatingly level. “Since we’re asking personal questions now, how’d you even end up going through a portal to Wars’s Hyrule? Where’d it show up?”

Ravio went still for a moment, his eyes wide for just a second before he was leaning back into the couch from his perch on the arm next to Legend.

“Ah, well,” he hedged. “I noticed it from the house, in the orchard, and you were busy helping Zelda with her advisors, and I’d hate to send Sheerow to interrupt a meeting like that, so I thought I’d just look at it before I called you, but when I got up to it, I could just feel that it’d lead to some kind of quest and you’d been through five already and you kept saying that I only called myself a coward because of Lorule’s destroyed triforce, so I got just a little closer and then, here I was!”

When the word vomit ended, the rest of the chain reeling slightly at the casually dropped words ‘destroyed triforce’, Ravio looked hesitantly down at Legend. To the surprise of everyone, Legend just nodded, and turned back to the others as if to continue with the earlier stories about their eras. Ravio blinked at him. Silence continued in the room, Ravio’s hands still in the air from where he’d been motioning during his ramble.

“…Link?” Ravio said.

“Hmm?” Legend answered, not looking back up at Ravio.

“…you’re not going to lecture me about walking through a strange magical portal that appeared in the orchard without even remembering to write a note for you, Zelda, and Hilda?”

Legend shrugged. “Why would I?” He said. “I can leave that to Zel and Hilda.”

Ravio’s eyes went wide and he spun on the arm of the couch to put his hands on Legend’s shoulders.

“Link, please lecture me about walking through a strange portal in our orchard without letting you, Zelda, or Hilda know,” he said insistently.

Legend stopped holding back a grin.

“Nah,” he said. “It’d just be rude of me. Hilda was the last to know you were missing, simply because she’s in Lorule, I think she should get to do it.”

Ravio leaned closer to Legend, seeming like he was about to fall off the couch. “You have to protect me from our terrifying sisters, Mr. Hero!” He begged. “Hilda will kill me!”

“No she won’t,” Legend refuted, before his grin widened just a bit. “Zelda might, though.”

Ravio let out a whine and flopped completely over, hiding his face in Legend’s tunic. The movement dislodged Sheerow from his perch, and the little bird only moved slightly to settle in Legend’s hair instead. Legend shook his head, but he wrapped an arm around Ravio anyway, clearly purposefully ignoring the eyes of the chain. But Warriors was with them. It was nice to see Legend this open, this affectionate even in his own prickly way.

Warriors turned towards the other heroes as they all seemed to wordlessly decide to give Legend another moment to just sit there with Ravio. Their light chatting didn’t drag Legend into the conversation, and they kept their questions to themselves for now. They were safe right now, after all. They would be in Warriors’s home for at least a few days, they could easily spare a few more minutes to let Legend pretend they couldn’t see him running a hand through Ravio’s hair as Ravio refused to move.

They had time.

Except for a quick excursion up north to fight the hinox that had found itself in Warriors’s era, their stay was calm. Well, minus the general dramatics that came from having nine heroes and Ravio in the same vicinity. Warriors wondered if Legend regretted letting the other heroes talk to Ravio at all, given the fact that the merchant had quickly bonded with them over making fun of Legend and seeing how agitated they could make him. It was made worse by the fact that Legend obviously couldn’t actually get mad at Ravio, even when Ravio laid across his and Warriors’s laps on the couch and casually told the chain that Legend liked to swap places with Fable sometimes and enjoyed trying on her dresses. (Although that might have been because the comment immediately led to Wild telling Legend about the fashion in his Gerudo town, and letting Legend borrow one of his circlets for a bit.)

The chain was enjoying getting to know Ravio, both as Warriors’s mysterious roommate, and also as the person that Legend had been searching for. Legend hadn’t brought up anything about the fact that he was married, and Warriors was pretty sure he wasn’t going to, but it was fairly obvious to everyone that Legend and Ravio were very close—a little closer than they might call ‘friends’. He noticed the small smiles that Sky tried to hide, the knowing glances from Time, and he knew that some of them were considering that they weren’t just friendly. No one said anything, though, knowing what Legend was like. It didn’t help Legend’s case either that Ravio kept his hood down basically the entire time, letting the entire chain watch him stare at Legend with zero disguised emotion on his face. It was nice to know that Ravio was so at ease now that he’d even keep the hood down when he just went on a trip to the market with Warriors and Wild, Legend staying behind and reading. He had been relaxed in the past, but it was clear that the uncertainty of what was happening in his home era had taken up a substantial amount of his thinking and added a lot of anxiety to his thoughts. Now, though, his eyes were always bright—and almost always trained directly on their grouchy veteran.

Despite the way everyone was having a good time just exploring Warriors’s Castle Town and learning more about Ravio, he knew there was a clock currently counting down. And the last thing he wanted was for a portal to appear and whisk them away before he got to fix the seven-month-long problem.

So after six days in his era, he took Legend and Ravio to meet Lana, the rest of the chain tagging along out of curiosity (or poorly hidden moral support, in Warriors’s opinion). Warriors had already met with Artemis a few days ago, assuring her that he was not dead, so he led the group through the castle to where Lana said she’d wait for them. He had informed her of the situation the other day, and she was (as expected) thrilled to help.

Obviously, it wasn’t that Warriors wanted to say goodbye to Ravio. But he would also never, in a million years, do anything to stop Ravio from getting home, or even to stop himself from helping. He knew from the start that the end goal was sending Ravio home, and it was really his fault for getting attached. It had to be a Link thing, though, because it had been three months and the chain was clearly attached to each other already despite knowing that the end of the quest would mean splitting up. So if the chain was already in agreement about working to the bone until they figured out a way to stay connected once they were back in their home eras, then Warriors figured it wasn’t too optimistic to think that Ravio wouldn’t suddenly be gone from his life forever.

“This makes…so much sense,” Lana said, looking at Legend. “He told me about Lorule, but failed to mention his Hylian counterpart is a hero. It tracks, though. This really should help.”

“So your magic just can’t find Lorule at all?” Legend asked. Lana shook her head.

“I tried. I could feel something just beyond the place where that first portal appeared, but I couldn’t reach it.”

“But you can reach my era of Hyrule?” Legend clarified, and Lana nodded. “So if you opened a portal for me, could he go through it instead?”

Lana thought for a moment, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked between Legend and Ravio.

“…It’s worth a shot,” she said eventually. “I don’t see why it wouldn't work. It’s been a while since you’ve been there, though, right? I’ll need a tether of some kind to narrow in on it.”

“Yeah, I should have a pretty strong one,” Legend said, moving to start taking off the three rings in front of his wedding ring. When Lana stopped him and said that he didn’t actually need to take it off, Warriors pretended not to notice the slight relief he could see in Legend’s shoulders.

He had been there for the first few attempts at opening a portal for Ravio, and this felt very much like one of them. It was a lot of watching Lana with her eyes shut, magic ghosting around her fingers as she touched Legend’s ring. Warriors figured that Hyrule would be more knowledgeable on what was actually happening, magically, but Warriors trusted Lana enough to not really need specifics on how she did her magic. He liked to know how it worked, but he didn’t need to know on that level of detail, not when he wasn’t very magically-inclined himself.

As the small sparks of magic behind Lana heralded the beginnings of a portal swirling to life, Ravio slipped away from Legend’s side and headed over to Warriors.

“I know it’s only been a few months, but it feels like ages,” he said, a little laugh in his voice. “Thanks for everything, Captain.”

“My pleasure, Ravio,” Warriors assured him. “Glad we can finally get you home, though.”

“Yeah,” Ravio agreed. Then he darted forward and hugged Warriors tightly, surprising Warriors for only a second before he hugged him back. “Stay safe, okay?”

“Always am,” Warriors said, making Ravio snicker a little. When Ravio stepped back from the hug, Warriors nudged his arm. “Don’t be a stranger, Ham. We’ll figure out how to be in touch.”

Ravio nodded with a small, but beaming smile. Turning to the rest of the chain, he pulled Wind into another strong hug, ruffling the younger boy’s hair and getting a jab in the ribs in retaliation.

The other heroes got a small bow and a bright wave.

“It was nice to meet all of you,” Ravio said. “Next time you end up in our home, I’ll show you all the hospitality that I know for a fact Link did not.”

Warriors saw Legend roll his eyes from where he was watching the portal grow bigger behind Lana. It was nearly full size, and it seemed way more stable than the prior attempts. It seemed like this would actually work. And as Lana let the sparks of magic die out around her hands, stepping back from Legend and turning her own gaze on the swirling magic behind her, it seemed like she agreed.

Ravio only had a little more time before he had to use it, or it would vanish. Lana would need at least a day before she could try again, given that she actually did make a portal this time. But Ravio took one more minute, stopping in front of Legend. With his hood still down, his expression was bare, open, and so obviously loving.

“…I know I missed the date,” he said quietly, but not quiet enough for the chain to miss it. They all went a bit still, watching curiously, as Ravio rocked onto his heels and gave Legend a small smile. “We’ll do something when you get home, okay, love?”

Warriors still saw some of them clearly not catch the name. But it drew more eyes when Legend smiled back at Ravio, reaching over his shoulder to grab the edge of the rabbit hood, pulling it up for Ravio and tugging it down over his eyes fondly. “Hold you to that, bunny.”

Ravio adjusted his bag on his shoulder, glanced over to make sure Sheerow was perched on the other one, then gave one last look to send another wave towards Warriors and Lana. The fabric eyes of his hood were familiar, and somehow just as open.

He turned to the portal, hesitated for just a moment, then turned back to Legend and quickly leaned over to kiss him, the hood nearly falling off again at the sudden movement.

“Happy late anniversary,” he said, and then he was hopping through the portal, leaving Legend watching him with a flush high on his cheeks.

Those of the chain who hadn’t seemed to put it together yet were staring with wide eyes, while the rest of them just watched the portal close with some happy and slightly proud glances at Legend. The room was quiet as the portal vanished, but no one seemed to mind. Ravio’s absence was already felt, even by those who still barely knew him, but Warriors knew it would be temporary. Legend hadn’t moved, his ears just twitching slightly as he watched the spot where the portal had been.

Wind booed loudly.

“Gross!” He shouted, shattering the silence and making Wild start cackling loudly. Time gently swatted the back of his head and Sky pouted down at him, but the sailor was unrepentant and sent Legend a thumbs-down.

Warriors swooped in to save Wind from Legend’s inevitable retaliation, as he could see the spar beginning to brew in the air, by walking over and leaning his arm onto Legends shoulder, keeping them both faced towards where the portal had sat in the air.

“Anniversary?” He asked casually, as he heard Wild continue to laugh behind them and could only imagine the facial expressions Wind was still making.

Without looking at him, Legend answered, “a month ago.”

Warriors wondered how close the date was to that first night by the fire when Legend asked for help. Even now, knowing that it had been resolved, Warriors could still remember that look in his eyes.

“He’s safe,” Warriors said, and when Legend finally took his eyes away from the now-empty space and looked up at him, Warriors saw once again that rare gratitude on his face.

Legend smiled at him, a small curve of one side of his mouth that spoke more than if it had been a beaming grin. From Legend, it might as well have been.

“Thanks to you,” he admitted, elbowing Warriors gently in the side. “Thanks, Wars.”

And if the chain spent the rest of the day, and really the rest of their time in his Hyrule, lightly nudging Legend into answering the questions that Warriors had already asked a few weeks ago? The stories that Warriors had already heard? If Legend answered them with the least convincing sigh of annoyance that Warriors had heard from him? Well. Maybe Warriors didn’t need to lord that over them right now.

He just watched Legend pretend that he was reluctantly recounting how he met Ravio, and he felt warm.