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A Mask!Wild Fic

Chapter One

There was no new calamity.

When Wild stepped through the portal that had opened only for him, he hadn’t been sure what to expect so had been prepared for anything. His sword was drawn and ready in his hands, his shield raised to defend from oncoming attacks. He had knocked back a potion to enhance the power behind his strikes and his armour was upgraded for the maximum protection that a Great Fairy could bestow.

He had stepped into the portal, his body still warm from the parting embrace of his brothers, his ears still ringing with their tearful goodbyes, and had prayed that somehow, some way, he would someday meet them again.

Approaching the portal’s end, he prepared himself for whatever was going to be thrown at him. For an army of monsters. For a platoon of guardian stalkers. For the Great Calamity itself, risen from its unholy grave.

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Bringing Up Baby

Chapter Five - Forever?

“Hey Twi?”

“Yeah, kid?”

“What if I never get back to my mama and papa? What if - what if the portals don’t bring me home?”

“Of course you’ll get home, kid. Your mama and papa are gon’ give you the biggest cuddle too.”

“Hmmm.”

“Baby?”

They were sitting in the guest berths of Wind’s ship, the gentle swell of the ocean rocking them gently from side to side. They had arrived in his era a few hours ago, the portal spitting them out right in the middle of the main deck and directly on top of where Niko had been trying to swab the deck, sending his mop-bucket flying.

Oops. Sorry, Niko.

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A Curse of Blood - Chapter Four

It was raining by the time that the Chain, with the aid of Hyrule’s birch ring, found their way to the hideout. They were all seasoned adventurers and were not easily put off by a bit of drizzle, but like everything else in this world, the rain was nothing but ordinary. It stung where it hit their faces and steamed where it struck the ground.

“Acid!” Four shouted as he realised what was happening. “It’s acid! Everyone - cloaks up! The rain is acid!”

Immediately all of their hoods shot up and Time, carrying Hyrule, pulled the blanket they had wrapped him in over his head. Whatever acid was in the rain to make it sting like it did was not strong enough to make it through the waxed wool of their cloaks, and they all breathed a sigh of relief as they hurried on. Still, the very existence of rain that burned as it fell was enough to remind them that they may have gotten Hyrule away from the monsters, but they were far from home free. This world was hostile to them, and they were fugitives with the whole era out for their blood.

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Bringing Up Baby

Chapter Four: Stormy Night

The Chain were, by now, more or less used to the excitement with which Baby viewed portals.

To him, they were just another fun, mystical part of the grand adventure he was having, each one leading to a new and wondrous world for him to discover. Honestly, they couldn’t really blame him for that; he didn’t seem to suffer from any of the adverse effects that portals left on some of them, after all, and each of the places they visited did seem to have stepped right out of a book of fairy tales.

Baby got to fly on giant birds in Skyloft. He cuddled goats in Ordon. He played chase with the local children in Hateno. When they went to Legend’s word he was doted on by Ravio and by a neighbouring witch called Irene, who Legend insisted he had never seen pleasant before.

Aside from that first, horrid experience with Dark Link, portals were, for Baby, an adventure.

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A Curse Of Blood - Chapter Three

Wherever Hyrule was, it was so cold.

Or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was warm and muggy but the curse pulsing through his veins was stopping him from feeling it, instead freezing his blood and chilling him to the core. He didn’t know. He didn’t know anything.

Thinking was so hard.

None of Hyrule’s thoughts were coming in coherent lines. He felt as though he was buried under snow, lost in a thick fog, drowning deep, deep underwater. He was vaguely aware of movement in front of him, of light and dark. When someone touched his arm he sort of registered it, but by the time he got his body to respond he’d already forgotten what he was doing. He barely had the strength to form the beginning of thoughts, holding onto them was impossible.

The fog swirled over his mind, and Hyrule was subdued. Held down. Sometimes he was pretty sure he was given instructions, and while he couldn’t consciously parse any real deeper meaning in their words, it was easy enough for his subconscious to take control and obey.

Hyrule was scared. There wasn’t enough of his mind free for him to really understand what he was afraid of, but he was scared, nonetheless.

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Bringing Up Baby

Yes, No, Maybe

“So….” Baby hummed, brow furrowed in concentration. “You want me to take the clams… ”

“Yep!” Spirit agreed cheerfully.

“And… put them in his shoes?”

“Absolutely.” Wind confirmed, beaming wickedly from ear to ear.

Baby hummed, considering this dastardly plan that his two older brothers had laid out before him. He frowned, crossing his arms.

“Seems like a waste of good clams to me.”

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A Curse of Blood - Chapter 2

Hyrule lay on his makeshift bed, thin and pale and drawn as he stared into empty space. His eyes were glazed, his face expressionless. One moment he had been sitting up, crying as he looked at Legend in horror and slurred out his apology, and the next…

It was like Hyrule was a puppet and someone had cut his strings.

He sat there, staring blankly somewhere to Legend’s left. His face slack. His body still.

“R-Rulie?” Legend asked. “Hyrule?”

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Bringing up Baby

Chapter 2 - “Don’t do that!” - “But…”

Travelling with Baby at the Chain’s side was… a new experience, to say the least.

In a way, nothing had changed. They still had battles to fight and journeys to go on. Baby wasn’t a fighter, so they didn’t have someone else’s fighting styles and techniques to learn and adapt to and his presence didn’t stop them from being tossed unceremoniously across the timeline on the goddess’s whim. In a way, everything was more or less the same as it always had been.

But… also, everything had changed. Baby was there. He was a tiny, vulnerable ball of fur who could not defend himself (although not for lack of trying) and so, suddenly all of the Chain’s fights had to be adapted to ensure that he was safe and protected. Where they could, that meant one of them picking him up and carrying him out of the field of battle to wait out the fight in safety, but sometimes they were caught by surprise and surrounded, and getting him away wasn’t an option. In moments like that the entire battle revolved around keeping him safe, even if Baby was clearly of the opinion that he could fight a lynel just as well as any of the rest of them.

(In his defence, his teeth were very sharp, as evidenced by the time that Warriors tried to wake him up early in the morning and his hand got a little too close to Baby’s face.)

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A Curse of Blood - Chapter One

Hyrule did not lie.

He was half fae - though he kept that particular fact close to his chest - and while he technically did have the ability to tell falsehoods, they tasted bitter on his tongue and burned as he spoke them. He didn’t even particularly like being around lies, if he had the choice. They smelled foul, like something rotten, and left a cloying, thick taste in the air around him.

If Hyrule had the choice, he stayed away from liars and he did not lie.

But…

Hyrule did not always tell the truth.

He didn’t lie! He just… didn’t always answer with the level of honesty that people might have thought. He turned questions back on askers. He responded with facts that, while true, were not the answer they may have wanted. He laughed them off and moved conversations on, twisting his answers to just skirt around the edges of a lie.

He used every fae trick his mothers and sisters had ever taught him to avoid speaking the truth when he truly did not want to -

But he did not lie.

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Bringing Up Baby

Chapter One: Left! Other Left!

A Flufftober story

When the villagers said that a group of monsters had taken over a nearby cottage, the Chain had - perhaps foolishly - assumed that they would find the building in smoking ruins. It was a sad fact of the lives they lived that this was something they were all used to in one form or another. Wild and Hyrule came from eras where evil had ravaged their kingdoms and left nothing but ruins, but all of them had seen the sad consequences of invasion, by monsters and by mortals alike.

Monsters destroyed what they encountered. It was a fact of life.

The cottage, they were told, was only a little out of town and belonged to the miller and his family, although they had all fled at first sight of the invading force. The Chain had been happy to volunteer their services to go and check on it, but in their heart of hearts they expected to find nothing but rubble and a quick, dirty fight.

That was not what they found.

The cottage was still standing. There was honeysuckle blooming around the crisply painted blue front door. Smoke billowed from the chimney. There was a light poking out from behind the lace curtains.

It all looked very peaceful. Domestic.

Un-ravaged.

It was definitely a trap.

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Step by Step - Chapter Six

Stepping out of the golden, effervescent realm of that in-between place, the real rushed up at him all at once. In the heartbeat between one step and another, Wild felt reality reassert itself. He was no longer on that gleaming path of water and sunlight, walking in the company of a god: he was back in the temple, stepping through an old stone arch into a room lit by flickering torchlight.

His mask was back in place and tight against his skin. He was once again wearing the fine, kid leather gloves that both hid his hands from view and also protected the fine scar tissue from damage. He was no longer barefoot, though his sturdy boots seemed to be crusted about the sole with a layer of fine, white sand.

Wild couldn’t help but smile at that.

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Step by Step - Chapter Five

Considering that he was in an unsolved dungeon with an active boss only a room or two away, in the arena of a vicious supernatural battle that had happened only a few hours before, Wild slept pretty well.

The next morning - or as close to morning as they could judge, given that they were indoors and without a view of the sky - it was almost pleasant to set up one of his portable cook pots and make frittata for breakfast. After all, they had at least one more room to go through, and Wild had a rule about going through dungeons on an empty stomach.

Namely, that you didn’t do it.

As Wild took his own portion to one of the nearby antechambers to eat, he hummed lightly to himself. It always was a little awkward, even after all this time, to excuse himself for mealtimes. His brothers had never once made an issue of it, but Wild was still very clearly drawing a line between himself and his brothers. It was a line drawn out of necessity, yes, but it still very much set him apart from the rest of the Chain.

And now, for the first time, Wild almost felt… silly.

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Step by Step - Chapter Four

Wild knelt on the ground, holding his position as he waited for the blow.

None came, though he could still hear the battle raging above him. Holding his pose, he took a shaky breath and dared to shout again.

“It’s the poem!” he cried. “You have to kneel! Be humble before them!”

There was clatter of another sword falling and Wild hoped beyond hope that it was one of his brothers listening to him and not someone being struck down. But a second later he heard Time’s low voice bellow DO IT! and then the sound of more weapons being dropped and the rustle of more of his brothers falling to their knees, bowing before the dead.

Wild’s heart was in his throat, but overhead, slowly, the sounds of battle ceased.

He held his pose, terrified. What did they do now? Did they move? Would they be punished? He dared to peek up and saw with a jolt that the stalfos - ten of them, one for each hero - had lined up in a neat, horrifying row.

Wild took in a shaky breath. They were standing at attention, like soldiers waiting for orders - or like executioners waiting at the scaffold. He swallowed heavily. Either way, they were waiting. Wild really hoped he was right about what to do next.

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Step By Step - Chapter Three

The next few days were spent in a sort of chaotic calm.

Hyrule had made it clear that under no circumstances was Wild to try and travel or fight or otherwise strain himself while he recovered and honestly, the champion felt rough enough that he was happy to abide by these terms. Legend was happy enough to be home that there were no complaints from his end either, even as he spent every day apparently bickering with his husband over the upkeep of the orchard and garden, the flashing, neon signs on the roof advertising ‘hot dealz’, and the fact that their front room now doubled as a sales room.

There was no way that Legend and Ravio’s house could be described as anything less than chaotic. It was full of all manner of merchandise, both magical and mundane, and there always seemed to be something going on that was either going to or had already led to a good-natured shouting match. But there was a joy to it all and despite the chaos, the Chain were more than happy to let themselves begin to unwind.

Still, they were all Links and nothing resembling peace can last forever when they’re about. After a few days as they all relaxed and Wild recovered, they all began to develop something like an itch under their skin. They had been in one place for too long, had been idle for too many days. They wanted to move on, to fight something, to see some adventure.

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Step by Step - Chapter Two

Wild woke slowly, his mind heavy and thick with fog, his body aching and his scars tight as a drumhead.

Everything felt so hazy and he wasn’t entirely sure where he was. It was warm, wherever it was, and his bed was a little lumpy. And… huh. There was something draped over his side, heavy against his missing ribs.

Despite the heat, all of a sudden a shiver wracked through his body, setting his teeth on edge and making his head pound. Ah, yes, that was it! He was sick, wasn’t he? And if he was sick, then he must be in his little home on the Great Plateau. He’d never let himself be away from home if he was ill after all. And then… that weight over his chest must be one of the cats. Marmalade, maybe, or Primrose. They both liked to crawl on top of him when he was bed, even after he made the cat tree for them to sleep on instead. Spoilt little princesses.

Wait.

That wasn’t a cat. It was an arm, an arm not belonging to Wild but wrapped around him, holding him close to a body and-

Wild jerked awake with a gasp, his memories flooding back to him.

He wasn’t on the Plateau. He hadn’t been for months. He was with his brothers, he was sick and he was with Warriors and Sky and -

And oh, Hylia. He’d taken off his mask! 

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Step By Step - Chapter One

A Mask!Wild Fic

Wild shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, hoping beyond hope that they had the right combination for the puzzle before them.

They had been in this dungeon for nearly a week now, slowly making progress through its apparently endless puzzles and minibosses. They had finally reached the end - Wild himself had struck the killing blow on the boss - and were trying to leave, only to find that there was one more puzzle to solve to unlock the door out.

Because of course there was.

It was an incredibly tedious puzzle, solvable only by the Chain going back through the entire damn dungeon to find the clues painted into increasingly cryptic murals on each floor.

It was long winded. It was annoying. It felt like lazy dungeon design.

And Wild really, really wanted to get outside.

The past few weeks had been hard on all of them. After a visit to a busy marketplace, Sky had fallen ill with what they at first thought was a cold and what had quickly devolved into a vicious vomiting bug. Then Four and Legend had fallen ill. Then Time, Wind, and Spirit. The sickness slowly began to creep its way through the Chain, another getting sick every time one began to recover.

Wild had tried to help out. He honestly had - he already wore a mask and he often wore gloves, so he already had an advantage when it came to avoiding infection. And even at that, he did his utmost to try and stay safe. The idea of getting sick while on the road, while surrounded by his brothers whose opinions he valued so much, was simply unacceptable to him. He couldn’t let it happen. He wouldn’t.

And yet it had.

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Aspects of an Aspect

Wherever Wild was, it was dark.

But not completely.

He blinked a few times, waiting for his eyes to adjust. The shadows were deep, but not so much that he couldn’t begin to make out some shapes and colours as they emerged from the darkness.

The first thing that he saw were twin specks of light, one above the other. They were a violet so startlingly bright that they were almost white, glimmering and glistening in the shadows as they darted and bobbed in unison.

Wild took a step towards them and the top one let out a small, high pitched whine, and they both darted away into the darkness, vanishing.

Wait…

It hadn’t been two lights. It had been one and its reflection as it flitted above a stretch of water. Wild squinted as his eyes adjusted and pricked his ears, listening. Only a step or two ahead of him, the stone platform that he stood on gave way to a wide stretch of water. The more his eyes adjusted to the dark the more he could see how far it stretched, a small lake of pale blue water, bubbling lightly and giving off the distinct, bitter scent of a hot spring.

He looked around. This place, wherever he was, was quiet, but he could hear the low bubbling of the spring before him, the low buzz of the Depths fireflies darting nearby, more and more of them the more his eyes adjusted. As he peered about, he saw structures emerge from the gloom. Ancient Ruins, his brain wanted to supply, but no. That wasn’t accurate. This place was not in ruins, it was new and fresh and more complete than Wild had ever seen it before.

Because Wild had seen it before. He had been here. He knew this place.

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