#lu sky
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“Many places I have been
Many sorrows I have seen
But I don't regret
Nor will I forget
All who took that road with me”
-The Last Goodbye by Billy Boyd
This is an Adjuration by @not-freyja, after 86 chapters, 300k words, and 10 months of joy, laughter, tears, heartbreak and love, has finally reached its end.
Adjuration is a tragedy that is nothing short of an act of love. That much is clear in the passion and dedication put towards the story, the characters, and the message Freyja is trying to convey. This fic will teach you about love. About death. About the inevitability of existence and why despite knowing it will all come to an end, there is still meaning in trying and hoping and loving each other. In loving yourself. You will laugh, you will cry, you will hope and you will despair as you read this story, but you will not be able to put it down.
It’s hard to say goodbye to something that has been so important to and loved by so many people. So we won’t. Instead, we will say thank you for this incredible journey and the community this fic has built. For the friendships that have been made and the endless inspiration you have given us. Thank you for wanting to tell a story, and for letting us join you around the campfire to listen.
Thank you.
(If you like Linked Universe and haven’t yet read Adjuration, see below for spoiler free reviews of this fic and artist credits.)
This is an Adjuration is the kind of story you fall in love with, the kind of story you think keep thinking about long after you put it down. The kind you keep finding hidden details in after you think you’ve got it figured out.
The characters are distinct and people with their own voices, motivations, relationships and histories. You’ll have your favourites but love them all. They influence how you’ll see the characters in everything else.
It’s full of moments where everything clicks and everything before is recontextualised in a way that’s so satisfying and make the whole story very re-readable. A time travel story where all loops are already closed, where you can know but not yet understand what will happen. It’s long, complex, and beautifully, meticulously planned and detailed. It’s clever and considered, funny and heartbreaking.
A story that whispers ‘it matters’ over and over. It is worth it to love, it is worth it if it doesn’t last forever, it is worth it to give someone a little more time, it is worth it to fight. It’s about loving others and your world and finding grace for yourself.
It’s loss and tragedy and the cruelness of fate. It is the sacrifice and the breaking.
Full of heart to both fill yours and break it in the best possible way.
It’s about love. Always.
By @toyouhellohowareyou
Sometimes, it’s hard to explain to others why art moves us.
I could tell you This is an Adjuration will make you cry, laugh, and sit at the edge of your seat in anticipation. And it’s probably true - I did all of that as I read, often with a coffee in one hand, early in the morning as I got ready for the day.
But that’s not the reason why I’m writing this.
The real reason is how it followed me during the rest of the day.
You see, at a certain point I realized this isn’t a story about Links going on adventures. Well, it does feature Links, and they do go on adventures, so let’s talk about that for a minute.
The first thing that caught my attention about this book was the characters. Each individual is unique, interesting, and exciting to follow. Not only are the Links individually compelling, but one thing that stands out in Adjuration is how the relationship between each Hero and their own worlds matter, and these connections shift, evolve, break and grow as the plot progresses.
Freyja does an incredible job of bringing together impactful storytelling with humor and heart. This is an Adjuration starts with an interesting premise, and then twists and turns in directions you wouldn’t expect. It’s rich in thought-provoking moments, soft joy and intense action, blended in with carefully crafted time travel and magic.
Adjuration sucked me into the world it builds, combining believable characters with fascinating stories, an unnervingly devious antagonist, plot twists, and lovingly crafted details that slip unnoticed until you’re surrounded on all sides. It made me cheer for characters I feel as if I’ve known intimately for years, made me worry for their safety as I would for that of a loved one, kept me hunting for hints and hidden references, pulling on a thread to try to find the end only for it to twist and loop into itself and show me a completely new side to the story.
Yes, This is an Adjuration is a fanfiction piece that explores the winding river flow of the Legend of Zelda timeline and how the stories of each Hero merge into each other. It also stands out for its heavy emotional content, and it doesn’t shy away from angst and hurt.
But to me, Adjuration is an epic journey that taught me how the choices we make, make us in turn. It’s a tragedy that deals with pain and healing, and it bares naked the non-linear nature of grief. It’s a celebration of the things that make us unique, of our flaws, an essay of the impact of little acts of love. Indeed, it’s a story about love.
I can tell you now, This is an Adjuration moved me. It still does. It has a special way to surface in my mind in unexpected ways at seemingly random times, from something as simple as tossing an apple core, to watching a lightning storm in the distance, or finding a picture of an old friend.
And every time, without fail, it makes me think about love.
By @sunny-porridge
This is an Adjuration is a wonderfully and beautifully crafted story about love, loss, and choice as the various incarnations of Link come together and travel through time. Freyja seamlessly weaves a tapestry of setup and payoff across different timelines and loops, in the best-constructed time travel plot I’ve ever seen on page or screen. Even at its surface, Adjuration is an emotional rollercoaster involving tragedy and the soft moments that make that tragedy worth it. But the deeper you look, the more meaning you can pull from every chapter of this amazing work. This work has made me cry, squeal with delight, and think more deeply about its themes all while having an absolute blast reading it. So in summary: READ IT. READ IT. READ IT NOW. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.
By @life-in-winter
While I love that every chapter is emotionally enthralling, with carefully woven, visceral tension you crave in any good story, yet Adjuration is more than that, and you feel it in the careful weave of each character and plot point. Nothing is lost or unanswered. It's the kind of story that, by the end, makes you stop and take a hard look at your own life. Are you appreciating the now? Are you savoring joy? Are you so wrapped up in fear that you can hardly take care of yourself? Do you know who you are?
This story is more like an external experience. It's riding atop a tsunami. How do you handle that ride, Link?
There aren't enough words to describe how amazing this fic is.
@needfantasticstories
Artist credit
Legend: @gia-d
Hyrule: @bittirsweeteer
Time: @toonblade
Sky: @noorahqar
Warriors: @whitewinterstar
Wild: @weavingstarlight
Twilight: @bluury2
Wind: @thewitchdoctor39
Four: @lunaopus
Red: @peepthatbish
Blue: @glowingmin
Green: @winterfen
Vio: @waterfallstream
Shadow: @deleetrix
Wolfie: @linkiscool333
Fierce Deity: @awildsilver
Ravio: @lele5429
Malon: @tooner-tastic
Dink: @passerinesoncaffeine
#linked universe#linked universe fanfic#linked universe fic#this is an Adjuration#this is an adjuration#lu legend#lu hyrule#lu four#lu red#lu vio#lu blue#lu green#lu sky#lu wild#lu warriors#lu time#lu twilight#lu wind#lu shadow#lu colors#lu fanart#lu dink#yiga clan
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What fandom events would you love to participate in?
Big bangs? DTIYS? WTIYS? Prompt events? Ship events? Bingo boards? Something you’ve seen in another fandom? A custom idea?
PLEASE SHARE!! All are welcome!! And if you don’t have an idea, please reblog to spread the word!
#linked universe#linkeduniverse#fandom events#lu time#lu Warriors#lu sky#lu twilight#lu Wild#lu Legend#lu Hyrule#lu four#lu Wind
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#linkeduniverse#legend of zelda#lu four#lu legend#lu wind#lu hyrule#lu sky#lu wild#lu time#lu twilight#lu warriors
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No excerpt this time, just me politely informing you that this is, in fact, the last chapter.
I did it. We did it.
What a ride.
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The Links On Vacation
Since summer is almost here I have to wonder what kind of vacationer each of the Links are…
Wild - Does not sit down. Explores everything. Takes lots of pictures. Eats at every restaurant (rip his wallet) and makes friends with the chefs. He’s the kind to drive in a random direction just to see what he’ll find. No plans, no maps except for a severely outdated atlas, just a camera and ready to explore. You probably won’t hear from him for the whole vacation (both because he forgot his phone and because he left the boundaries of cell service 3 hours ago). But then again Wild is just Like That everyday.
Hyrule - is hanging out with Wild most of the time. Also explores places, but prefers going to natural parks and the like. Ran out of cell service 5 hours ago probably decided to camp with the bears.
Wind - glued to the beach. He doesn’t leave the beach. He’d sleep on it if he could (and he has). You’re lucky if you manage to pull him out of the sea long enough for him to eat lunch. Always covered in sand. Has a perfect tan.
Warriors - the usually over-stressed parent who’s decided that THIS is the vacation on which he relaxes. He spends 90% of his time chilling on the beach ignoring the chaos. Gets the worst sunburn known to man, cries about it for 3 days (both because it hurts and the beat red face clashes with his hair).
Time - doesn’t know how to vacation. He tells himself he’s going to properly relax this time, but he ends up doing work instead because he doesn’t like doing nothing. His preferred vacation is staying home and doing work around the house. He will enable the others’ shenanigans, though. Gave Wild $100 to drive wherever, packed sandwiches for Hyrule for when he disappears. Time also always gets the best deals on rentals. He knows people, but never elaborates on how he knows them. The Links have various theories.
Legend - the itinerary man. He’s the vacationer who has every moment of his vacation planned down to a T. Knows every place he’ll stop, every place he’ll see, the exact time of the wait lines… except Hyrule and Ravio always force him to change his plans. If he’s the one renting, he always somehow finds the most overpriced places. He’s not allowed to make the rental plans anymore because of this.
Twilight - the over-stressed parent who needs a vacation from his vacation. He’s the one making sure he knows where everyone is because if he doesn’t he’ll implode. He doesn’t actually know what he’d do on an actual, relaxing vacation because he has to worry about Wind getting sunburns, Wild vanishing off the face of the earth, and Hyrule getting eaten by bears
Four - the “sleep is for the weak” vacationer. He knows how to vacation, he just doesn’t do it. He doesn’t like to sit still, his mind is too loud, so he tends to prefer to go to huge attractions over the wilderness any day. Will take a city over a beach in a heartbeat.
Sky - the “sleeps the whole time” vacationer. His life is usually so hectic and busy, he ends up sleeping 16 hours the first day and missing out on all of the fun stuff. Then he’ll go to bed early the next because he got exhausted from trying to do so much, then sleeps too long again, then—it’s a cycle.
+Bonus!
Ravio - the splurger. He’s usually so tight with his money, but Ravio wastes no expense on vacation. Will be booking every trip to the spa, sauna, and hot spring he can find. Will be eating at the most expensive restaurants. Will be making Legend pay.
Malon - the only one who gets to relax vacationer. Malon refuses to let her vacation be ruined. The Links know and respect this. They also know Malon will fight anyone who gets in the way of her vacation.
#linked universe#lu wild#lu hyrule#lu wind#lu warriors#lu time#lu legend#lu twilight#lu four#lu sky#lu ravio#lu malon
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DIP PEN DRAWINGS (+halftones practice because why not) OF THESE BOYS WHO WON THE POLL...
Iforgothowtodrawintraditionalimsosorryfortheweirdanatomy
#linkeduniverse#linked universe#lu wild#lu twilight#lu sky#my art#this took more time that I expect it#sighhh#who wants a watercolor drawing now
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The First's Fury
(I would like to do a complete version of this, but I don't think I have the time, this sketch took like 3/4 hours??? But I have very happy with the result)
#linked universe#lu#lu fanart#godslayer sky#lu sky#lu legend#lu four#lu time#lu twilight#lu wind#lu warriors#lu hyrule#lu wild#lu dink#lu dark link#sketch#fan art#my art#don't worry#Sky wounds Dink#and he has to escape#the others are injuried and exausted but none of them are cursed#they all survive
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Which Link do you think would wear sandals? Wild for sure, and Hyrule probably. Legend would probably wear one if he have to, tbh I think he'd do pretty much anything if he have to, but he won't like it. And I think quite a few would be horrified by them, but I'm wondering who would have the strongest opinion.
On the topic of footwear, Four would be so attached to steel capped boots. Protects your toes from dropped tools AND destroys (other's) ankles in a single kick? Yes please.
WIND, he comes from an island i know the others have to force boots onto him in order to protect his feet. I headcanon he prefers sandals or to just run around barefoot, but that’s not the best idea when on rocky terrain or in a forest, so he does have closed toe shoes but he doesn’t like them very much. he definitely hates the texture of socks too
I could see Sky wearin’ sandals but not super often, Twi too
Warriors I think would be against the idea of any form of footwear that wasn’t boot-like because how is he supposed to hide a knife or dagger in a sandal? (dont let him think too hard about it, he’ll find a way)
FOUR DEFINITELY HAS STEEL TOED BOOTS. AND HE KICKS MONSTERS WITH EM, I KNOW IT IN MY HEART
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nice hair
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It may be June but nothing will stop me finishing Febuwhump!
Yes, it will be late, but I promised continuations and baby they will HAPPEN!!!!
In other news: Time is suffering, Sky is Pissed and Warriors needs a hug and a shoulder to cry on. He's not getting either of those though >:)
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Thank you for the birthday wishes! I had a lot of fun <33 but I see you reblogged something about human Sky and rushed back as quick as I could cause HUMAN SKY HUMAN SKY HUMAN SKY ! <33333
Our favorite skrunkly <3 but also had a thought, I asked about Twilight or Tears being stronger than the other, and suddenly, it hit me that I never even thought of Sky </3
I feel like, out of all of them, Sky would technically be the strongest, but only when he’s filled with adrenaline. And like, there’s different ways to get adrenaline, mainly through fear, which then had me thinking of say, reader with the Chain, and the reader being in danger, and the adrenaline that would fill Sky. Rip whatever caused the danger
~🍀 anon
you're welcome, I'm glad you had a good time <333
AND YEAH HUMAN SKYYYYYYYYY - THE BEST BOYYYYY
I think each of them can be the strongest for their own reason but adrenaline?? the rest cannot hope to compare to what adrenaline can do for sky. yes twi can throw goats and tears has his ultrahand but sky? Lover boy can be down an arm bleeding only to get back up and keep on fighting through sheer fight or flight ALONE.
I like to think that he simply doesn't tell the chain about him being a human, cause of how groose treated him when he was younger. He knows that the chain won't but at the same time there's this voice in the back of his head always making him second guess himself and ruin his hopes for them accepting him. the one he'd be most likely to tell is twi but only after ordon. or after twi figures it out himself.
I think that it would trigger less with the chain in general because ske knows there's less of a threat to them, they're all heroes, they all know how to fight. they can handle themselves. there's no need for it to fully kick in.
when he's fallen for you though? when he's got you to care for? A future to imagine?
it's going to go into overdrive.
the others may have assumed the strength of his adrenaline comes from being a godslayer (if they knew) but it's the otherway around. there's no hope for a simple hylian to take down a god. That's why hylia needed her little hero to be a human.
she knew that and made him human despite her own distain for them.
Despite knowing how hated he would be for it.
or maybe because of it.
she knew her reincarnated self being nice would have a human bond faster than a hylian who'd been treated well from day one after all.
she just didn't know how hard and how dangerously he'd fall for another human.
#I have THOUGHTS about the relationship between hylia and humansssss#so so many#like girly pop preffers the race named after her ofc#but what if it's cause she made them based off of humans to worship her#hence why she doesn't like humans#ughgghhghgh#it tickles my brainnnnnnnnn#moss✦writes#link x reader#linked universe x reader#yandere linked universe x reader#yandere linked universe#yandere link#linked universe#lu sky#lu sky x reader#yandere sky#human sky#humans are space orcs
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More LU College Theater AU as Things My Friends Have Said
(Also, this AU now has a name! It is "The Biggest Little Theatre" AU)
--
Hyrule: The cast meeting today is an intervention for Legend to stop eating Tic Tacs.
Legend (shoving a handful of Tic Tacs into his mouth): Huh?
-
Wind (Telling a story): So, as you can imagine, shit hits the fan like a dozen different times... simultaneously.
-
Twilight: How many sugar plates did you break!?!?
Wild (surrounded by broken sugar glass): ...a number between one and all of them.
-
Spirit: Autism is a hell of a drug.
-
Time: What is a waifu?
Warriors (chokes on his drink): WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT!?
-
Sky (Talking to a fly): I'm going to turn you into a Walk if you don't stop buzzing around.
-
Red: Can I taste the fog juice?
Blue: Please don't.
Red: (Tastes the fog juice anyway): It's sickly sweet. I kinda like it.
--
(P.S, It's been a while but my ask box is open if you want to know more about this AU! I also take writing requests!)
#linked theater au#Biggest Little Theater au#linked universe#lu warriors#lu wind#lu legend#lu wild#lu sky#lu hyrule#lu twilight#lu spirit#lu time#lu red#lu blue
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While I headcanon Sky as fairly chubby, he does have some serious muscle. He's squishy and huggable but could throw Time with armour on. Like, at no point during Skyward Sword does he get any strength enhancers, and he manages to wield a massive sword during one of thd boss fights and dual wield clawshots
There's probably more, but I'm tired to the point of nearly passing out rn
#tloz#lu#linked universe#lu sky#sleepy rambles#does this make sense?#probably not#i am tired#goodnight lovely people
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Extinction
Whumptober Day 27: I misread Alt Prompt #7 Examination, so I guess this is now a Skies-specific prompt of Extinction. Though if you wanted to get poetic about it, I guess ‘Scars’ would also work.
Characters: Sky, Four, everyone’s kind of there especially in the first part
Trigger warnings: Panic attacks, grief, dehumanisation, it makes sense in context
Read on Ao3!
–––
“No, see, wolves are to wolfos what unicorns are to horses,” Hyrule is explaining to a perplexed Wild. “And rabbits to a pols voice. Y’know, the non-monstery version.”
“Out of curiosity, what the fuck do you think a unicorn is?” Legend asks, visibly fascinated by the whole conversation.
Hyrule thinks for a moment. “I’m pretty sure it’s like a horse with fairy wings? That doesn’t want to kill you.”
“Okay, I think we need to introduce you to more horses than Twilight’s monster.”
“Oi!” Twilight protests, looking up from his leatherwork.
“Last week she stomped and then ate a deku baba,” Legend says flatly.
“So?”
“Oh my god,” Legend mutters. Then, as Time walks up, his patrol apparently finished, “Hey, old man! What’s a unicorn to you?”
“Horse with a horn,” he replies easily.
Wild wrinkles his nose, clearly struggling to imagine it. “What’s the horn for?”
“For stabbing people, obviously.”
“What?! No!” Indignant, Four looks up from his book. “They cleanse water and purify poisons! There are no legends associating them with the battlefield, except for one country that uses them as the heraldry device for medics!”
Time shrugs, clearly unbothered.
“No wings, then?” asks Hyrule, slightly crestfallen.
“Nah, that’s a pegasus,” says Warriors.
“Like the boots?” Legend squints at the wings on his own.
“I think so? It’s a horse with, like, bird wings. One of the noble families back home uses them in their heraldry. There’s a lot of mythical creatures on heraldry, actually.”
“Rabbits ain’t mythical,” says Twilight.
“I’ve never seen one before.”
“Wait, back up – what’s a rabbit?” says Wind.
“A non-monstery pols voice.”
Wind isn’t pleased with Hyrule’s answer. “And what the hell is a pols voice?”
“It’s like…” Hyrule is stumped by the question. “It’s like… a, a blob with whiskers and long ears, except then it opens its mouth and it’s ALL mouth, and all teeth, and –”
“Oh, those! Huh, I never knew what they were called. I only came across ‘em once. And a rabbit is…”
“Smaller and less evil,” says Legend dryly, which which for some reason makes Twilight sputter with choked laughter.
“Oh, yeah - Sky,” Hyrule turns around to address him, “Sky, you’re the earliest -”
“I have never seen a unicorn,” Sky interrupts. “And I’m not sure what a rabbit is, but there’s a lot of flora and fauna on the Surface we’re still struggling to figure out, and I haven’t seen much of it that’s familiar while travelling with you. Things must change a lot through the eras.” He feels his face fall as his heart does. “Like loftwings, I guess.”
“What are loftwings, anyway? You’ve mentioned them before.”
Sky’s brow furrows. “Have I not explained loftwings yet?”
“You got partway through and then we were attacked by those chuchus and got distracted,” Wild offers.
Sky pulls a face. Right, and then cleanup had taken forever, because chuchus. Of all monster species, why were those ones so universal? They were barely even functional! “Okay. Loftwings are… huge birds, I guess is the easiest way to describe them. Each Hylian gets a loftwing partner when we’re young, and we grow up together. It’s - everyone has one. It’s been really weird to me that none of your eras have them. Since we’re on an isolated series of islands - or, well, we were - loftwings are essential to carry us from place to place.”
“They carry you? How big are they?”
“Pretty big.” Sky squints for a moment. “Crimson’s wingspan would stretch between that log and where Twilight’s sitting, easy.”
“Giant birds?” Wind screws up his face. “Like the Helmaroc King? Don’t like that.”
It’s Hyrule’s turn to make a face. “What’s a helmaroc king?”
Wind shrugs. “Massive bird monster. Oh, hey, maybe that’s what happened to Loftwings?”
“Hm?” Sky blinks back from where he’d been imagining Crimson sitting between Twilight and Warriors, sneakily tugging the captain’s scarf whenever he looked away. Goddess, he misses him. “Sorry, what was that?”
“You said it was weird that they don’t exist in any of our eras, right? Maybe it’s because they turned into monsters over time, like wolves and rabbits!”
Sky doesn’t know what noise he makes at that, doesn’t know what his face is doing. He feels cold, and sick, and horrified, because no no no that can’t be what happened please tell him that’s not what happened -
But why did the loftwings disappear? Left behind only in heraldry and insignia, not even their names left to history? How could they have been forgotten so completely?
“No,” he chokes out, “no, that can’t be. Loftwings aren’t monsters.”
“But sometimes animals can become monsters when they’re exposed to lots of dark magic over many years, like with wolfos. It would make sense why we’ve never heard of them, right, if they all became, like, kargarocs or something.”
The voices of the others die away to an indistinct hum. Sky thinks he should be concerned about that, except he’s already occupied with the sudden chill against his skin, the way his heart feels simultaneously too large and too small for the space it occupies, straining and racing, the way his lungs burn when he tries to breathe and ache when he doesn’t.
His head hurts.
His heart hurts.
Slowly, the buzzing fades.
“If we find a unicorn, do you think we can smuggle it back to my Hyrule?” Hyrule is asking.
“The hell do you want one of them for?”
“If they can really purify water, then –”
They’ve moved on from the conversational bomb that had rocked Sky to his foundations. Accepted the explanation without comment or question. To them, it’s just another strange fact about the world, like the way monsters in Wild’s Hyrule will all spring back to life when the moon turns red, or that there’s magic trapped in music. Over time, animals can turn into monsters.
And Sky just – doesn’t know how, doesn’t have the vocabulary to explain to them that loftwings aren’t animals – they’re people.
(He’s never had to explain it before. On Skyloft, everyone knows this, from the smallest child to the most forgetful elder: loftwings are your partner, the other half of your soul. They’re people.
When they can’t even understand that much, how does he even begin to explain how horrifying it is to think of them becoming nothing more than monsters, over the millenia?)
–––
Maybe this time, Sky thinks. Maybe this time the portal will take them home.
To his home, at least. He’s never been away so long before. And his jaunts to the Surface had in no way prepared him for the loneliness of being eras and countries away from his friends and his family and his loftwing. And maybe - maybe with it all close to hand, the feelings at his fingertips - he’ll be able to explain it better to the others. Explain it so they’ll understand.
The saturated colours and faint burr of magic through the earth raise his hopes briefly, but - no. This isn’t Skyloft. Isn’t even the Surface beneath it. It’s - it’s easier to define it by what it isn’t. The Surface has lain untouched by Hylian hands for centuries, ancient and wild. This place - it feels tamer. Steadier. Young, almost, but not in the sense of age - in the sense of, of rawness in its magic. It feels new.
And for all that - he knows the days of Skyloft and her Knights are long behind this place.
“Mine,” announces Four, unknowingly confirming Sky’s thoughts. “We’re not far from Lake Hylia, from the looks of it. Anyone wanna watch Wild go fishing again?”
“Hell yeah!” Wind cheers immediately, over Twilight’s groan of frustration.
“Cub, really -”
Wild brightens. “We should compete! See who can catch the most fish for dinner!”
“Now that’s jus’ not fair, Wild, yer explosions will scare off any fish they don’t kill -”
Always happy to stir the pot, Legend says, “Sounds like a skill issue,” and grins at Twilight’s dark look.
Sitting at the base of a tree - or slumping, more accurately - Sky watches their antics with a quiet gaze and no interest in joining in himself.
He’d known it wasn’t likely. The number of times they’ve gone to a familiar Hyrule are far outnumbered by the times no one can identify, and even then, there’s eight other time periods they could land in. He can’t help the disappointment, is all.
Is this what homesickness feels like?
It kinda sucks. No wonder Wind was so miserable.
He’s drawn from contemplating the pooling unhappiness under his ribcage by Four inching closer, hands tucked behind his back. He looks - nervous. Not like he’s going to try to drag him into the water fight now happening on the lake’s shore, at least. Just uncertain. The smile Sky musters for him is probably not a very good one. “Something up, Four?”
“I, um.” Four rocks on his heels, looking almost uncertain. “I… wanted to show you. Something.”
Sky doesn’t actually want to be left alone with his thoughts, so he nods agreeably and hauls himself to his feet. “Lead the way, then.”
Four takes him far enough into the forest that the shouts and laughter and echoes of Wild’s small explosions fade entirely, before choosing a wide clearing to pause in. “I, um.” Four spins, clasping his hands behind his back again. “I noticed that you - well. When the others were talking about loftwings the other day. You got really upset when they were talking about them becoming monsters, or going extinct.”
Ice shoots through Sky’s heart, freezes over his throat for one critical moment. “Yeah,” he finally rasps. “I don’t - it’s - they don’t -”
Four shakes his head. “It’s okay. You don’t need to explain it. I just wanted to show you -” He fumbles with his pouch, pulls out a child-sized ocarina that’s not quite too small for his hands.
The tune he plays sounds almost like a birdcall.
It’s pleasant, if mournful. Sweet-toned and piping like wind instruments tend to be. Sky wonders why Four had moved them so far away just to play him a short song, and then -
Wingbeats. Loud and unmistakeable.
He startles and looks up as a shadow passes overhead - a shadow too large to be any of the birds of Four’s era - and all he can see is a half-silhouette framed in the sun, but his heart leaps at the familiarity.
And when they land -
A loftwing.
Small, but distinctive: the beak broad and long and golden, the curl of their crest and their tail. Pure white, save the bars of colour across the feathertips - Sky’s never seen one like them and he’s never been so relieved.
“Her name is Zeffa,” Four says, from where he’s half-wrapped around the loftwing’s neck in a hug.
“You never told me you had a loftwing,” Sky breathes, stepping forward to greet them - to greet her, as she reaches out in curious welcome.
Four shrugs, feathers ruffling against his back. “I never knew what they were called. She was always just Zeffa, to me. She came to me when I was eight, in the middle of my first adventure. She saved my life,” he adds, snuggling his face into the side of hers as she ducks down and croons at him.
Sky takes the opportunity to look her over more closely. Definitely smaller than average, but with Four as her rider they’re perfectly proportioned. Her feathers are all clean white, no countershading or freckles or markings except the traditional wing bars, the gold fringed by something he’s never seen before. He’d thought it was a simple deep blue at first but it keeps changing colour as Zeffa shifts and the light hits it in different ways. Green one way, red another; a rainbow trapped in keratin fibre.
Sky can feel the grin creeping across his face; wouldn’t dream of trying to stop. “She suits you.”
Four grins back. He looks so comfortable, standing in the shade of Zeffa’s beak and leaning up against her. “She does, doesn’t she?”
Her mind is different to Crimson’s, all shades of cool water instead of open sky and cloud, but it’s still crystal clear. Greetings, Chosen Hero.
“Been a while since I heard that one.” Been a while since he’d last spoken with a loftwing, for that matter; he hopes he’s not rusty. Hopes she can sense his delight and fondness and gratitude, for the care she shows to Four.
She clacks her beak at him, pleased.
“Do all the loftwings call you that?” Four asks, riveted, and Sky’s heart swells at the knowledge that Four can hear her too.
“Usually just the ones who don’t know me personally, or the ones who are making fun of me.” He steps closer, with her approval.
The top of her head barely clears his own. Taking that into account, Sky thinks her beak is a little smaller, too. She smells of feathers and ozone and rain. She smells like home.
“So loftwings do still exist.”
She regards him with something like sorrow, and his heart drops.
I am the last.
I was born towards the end of your reign; the last true loftwing born to Skyloft. And I knew even then that I would be waiting a long time for my beloved. I was born knowing it.
You grieved that, even then. I was too young to tell you, but I will say now, in hopes you will remember: I do not regret the waiting. They were worth waiting for. She tugs Four’s headband playfully, making him shout in protest when it slips over his eyes.
“How long did you have to wait?” Sky whispers, heart aching. Even if she says - he knows it’s a long, long time between Four’s era and his own.
She shrugs, wings settling back against her sides. Who can say? What is time, and how does it pass? Is it truly waiting, to simply live?
And oh, her personality is shining through - mischief hidden under patience, the glee of being deliberately and annoyingly cryptic. No wonder Four didn’t know what she was. Every attempt to ask was probably met with a riddle until he gave up. Sky finds himself smiling again. Even though it hurts. “You still had to be alone, and for that, I’m sorry.”
There is no fault to claim. All things change. From the kikwi to the zora - as the world changes, all must change with it, or be left behind. She runs her beak through his hair, an attempt at comfort.
Sky buries his face in the side of her neck.
I am the last. But do not grieve us.
Four tugs on his sleeve, breaking the focus of his connection. “C’mon, I wanna - I’ve still got something to show you, Zeffa’s not all of it.”
Sky glances back towards the lake. “Is it far?” They’ve been gone long enough as it is, really, and he doesn’t want the others wasting their time searching for them in a panic.
Four shrugs. “It’s fine. I told Time where we’d be going. C’mon, hop on, it’s not far by air but I wouldn’t wanna walk.” He follows his own advice, clambering up Zeffa’s side with ease and sitting across her shoulders, legs in front of her wings. He doesn’t even seem to notice the lack of saddle.
Why would he? Sky thinks with another pang. Loftwing saddlers haven’t been needed for centuries. Does Four even know they existed? “Are you sure she can carry us both? I’m pretty heavy.”
Four looks offended on Zeffa’s behalf. “She’s not that small! And she’s taken multiple people before!”
I will be fine, your majesty. Zeffa clacks at him, amused.
Sky deliberately does not pay attention to that last part. “If you’re sure I won’t hurt her…”
“You won’t,” says Four, and he’s so confident with him that Sky believes him.
There’s nowhere to jump from so like Four he mounts up on the ground, Four in front and Sky behind. It makes him nervous, riding without a saddle - not because he thinks he’ll fall off, but because what if he hurts her? Crushes her feathers the wrong way, clamps down too tight without leather to buffer the force? And is Four sure she can take off from here, getting airborne is hard enough without carrying so much extra weight -
She turns her head to laugh at him with one large, dark eye.
Her wings spread wide. They’re beautiful in the sunlight, red and green flashing at the edges of her primaries. There’s even some purple in the shadows closest to her body, all four of Four’s tunic colours shining through her wings. Goddess, she fits him so beautifully.
Two steps and a powerful wingbeat and then the air is rushing up around them, catching them like they were already falling, and they’re in the air. It can only have been magic but Sky doesn’t know where it came from; can’t bring himself to care, when the forest is getting smaller and blurrier under their feet and the wind is streaming ice-cold against his face and neck and ears.
Goddess, he’s missed this.
The sky looks so much more beautiful from up here; the clouds like they could be solid enough to walk on (though he knows that’s not true). Laid out beneath them is the kingdom, in lines and squares and patches of colour, abstract and strange. Could he draw a map of this, Sky wonders? Could he figure out where things used to be, if he can find the right landmarks?
Four grins at him over his shoulder, delighted by Sky’s happiness.
True to Four’s word, they’re not in the air long before Zeffa is banking, beginning a descent that for the first time in years makes a pang of disappointment rise in Sky’s gut. Goddess, he wants to go home.
Four lets him jump off when they get close, but doesn’t follow. Sky has a moment of panic before remembering Four definitely has a gliding item, he’s not trapped up there, and then Zeffa’s actually landing with the Hero of the Four Sword still perched on her back. There’s another blast of definitely wind magic as she touches down, cushioning what might otherwise have been a heavy landing. That explains it. Does that happen every time? Is it something Zeffa learned, since there are no sky islands to jump off of here? He’ll have to ask her, later.
“Where are we?” Sky says as Four swings off the loftwing’s back. The ruins they landed in are ancient and unfamiliar, but he thinks - he can almost understand the text carved into stone, if he tilts his head and squints. He doesn’t know this place - it just - echoes, somehow.
“The Fortress of Winds,” Four says. He hasn’t moved from the centre platform, still pressed up against Zeffa as he watches Sky move around. “This is where I first met Zeffa.”
“Uh huh?” Sky’s listening, he swears, but there’s something about the letters on this stone tablet, almost but not-quite the same as his own. If he squints just a little - no, maybe this way -?
Four comes over to tug on his sleeve again. “C’mere, I think you’re moving too much.”
They both sit in the shade thrown by Zeffa, as she spreads her wings to sunbathe.
“Are we waiting for something?”
“Shhhh,” is all Four says in response.
Sky gives up and settles in. With Zeffa’s wing breaking the worst of the wind, and her dusty feather-smell surrounding him, Sky’s the most relaxed he’s been in weeks.
Then he starts to hear something.
High-pitched chitters and whistles, the beating of small wings. Four had said there were no monsters left in the fortress, but that sure sounded like keese to Sky. Slowly, so as not to attract attention, he turns his head to peer around the edge of Zeffa’s wing.
His heart leaps into his throat and stays there.
Birds. Brightly coloured, greens and blues and oranges, perching on the rockwork and hopping around the lichen-covered floor.
Their beaks are short and sharply curved. They’ve lost the long, flexible tails that streamed out behind them in flight, replaced by a fan of feathers that seems impractically small. The feather banding is missing, the white and gold of the goddess and the contrasting partner flashings.
And of course, they’re tiny. Small enough to sit on an outstretched arm; the smallest could sit on his hand.
But the crests are still there, three wispy, curling feathers on the back of the skull that flex and stretch as they chatter amongst themselves. There’s still a flash of intelligence in their small, dark eyes. The nearest hops closer and chirps in greeting, and he feels a press of joy! and welcome! and sneaky, mischievous play? Play! Play with us!
Sky doesn’t realise he’s crying until the tears spill over in hot rivers. Four shoots him a worried look.
“They’re still here,” he chokes out, and smiles.
After everything, the loftwings are still here.
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The Links and the Master Sword
Age: so how did you all get the Master Sword?
Sky: Well… I forged it myself
Legend: And I reforged it
Time: It was waiting for me in a temple
Wild: Zelda put it in the Korok Forest while I recovered. It took all my strength but eventually I pulled it. What about you?
Age: …
Age: I ran into it and it glowed
#to be fair#it was a little more epic than that#but that’s how Age of Calamity Link gets the Master Sword#linked universe#lu wild#lu sky#lu time#lu age#lu legend
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To get away
Chapter 3.5: Chain’s perspective.
(mainly legend)
Part 1, part 2, part 3
Warnings:blood, guilt, lots of self loathing😭
“We could just leave her here, you know. The towns are safe. They’re always safe. She’d be better off here than with us. She can’t fight, has trouble walking long distances… she’d thrive in this lazy town.” The vet suggested. In his mind he was killing two birds with one stone. You’re out of their hair and he doesn’t have to worry about you. You’re here, safe, and they’re far, far away from you by the time you wake up. He doesn’t have to feel bad!
“Absolutely not.” The old man shut down the thought. “She’s our responsibility now. What do we look like as heroes of Hyrule if we leave her here? Abandon a poor girl at an inn in a town she’s unfamiliar with.”
“That does seem kind of unfair…” Sky commented. “She’d be terrified…”
“So we let her sleep and when she wakes, we let her eat breakfast then get going. She’ll learn to keep up the pace, and we’ll all give her the benefit of the doubt. She might not be cut out for it, but we’re not just going to leave her.”
“It was just a suggestion..” the vet huffed, crossing his arms.
——————
For all the chain knew, you’d been asleep for a while. It was nearing noon. The vet was getting tired of waiting on you. There were things that needed to be done. They needed to get supplies and get back out on the road!
“Vet, go wak—“
Before the old man could get the sentence out of his mouth, the vet jumped up and bounded up the stairs to your shared room. He burst in. “Aaalright, you’ve had it good long enough, time to get up—“ he ripped back the covers and saw an empty bed. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked around the room before walking back out and running down the steps.
“Vet???” The sailor looked at him with a concerned expression.
“She’s not in bed.”
“What do you mean she’s not in bed? She’s not anywhere down here, we would’ve seen her.” The champion spoke.
“I know that, champion, that’s what im saying. It’s weird…. Maybe she… went back where she came from? She was just kind of dropped here, as she said… maybe as she slept whatever magic that put her here took her back…”
“That’s too simple of an answer. Scour the town, boys. She must have run off.” The old man said
“She probably heard us earlier…” Sky frowned.
“No don’t say that. Don’t blame yourself..” the old man replied, putting a hand on his back. “We can’t do that..”
“What other explanation is there?” The traveler crossed his arms. “We talk about leaving her here and now she’s gone.” He huffed, heading out.
“Wait, trav—“ the vet tried to put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, but the traveler brushed him off and went to go search for you. The vet sighed heavily. He was right. This is his fault. He brought up leaning you, he pushed hard for it… now you’re Hylia knows where, likely unarmed—you could be dead by now and it would be all his fault…
He set out on his own to find you, that familiar feeling of guilt settling deep and heavy in his chest, the weight of the world on his shoulders, all the horrible things you must be feeling, if you’re not gone onto eternity already…. He thought back to every mean thought, everything he’d said to you… that funny feeling of guilt. Self hatred….
Failure. He’d failed another. First Marin. Koholint… and even if he wouldn’t admit it to himself, he did care for you. That much was very clear. He wouldn’t be searching so fervently if he didn’t. There wouldn’t be tears in his eyes and a pit in his stomach as he saw a group of monsters gathered around something, cackling and jumping like they’d won… he wouldn’t be fighting them off of you so valiantly, and he certainly wouldn’t be dripping tears onto your shirt as he picked you up, blood drying in your hair and on your clothes and seeping into his own tunic. He wouldn’t be shouting for the others so loudly his throat hurt. He cared for you. And now he worried he wouldn’t get to tell you.
#linked universe#linkeduniverse#linked universe x reader#lu four#lu legend#lu hyrule#lu wind#lu twilight#lu sky#lu time#Lu wild#Lu warriors#Lu wars#farore au
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