Archive of Our Own ^beta

There was something majorly wrong with Legend, Warriors noticed. More wrong than usual.

It wasn't anything to do with Marin, the bird and the dream girl. It wasn't about his uncle. But there was something severely off about Legend.

He was more withdrawn from usual. He constantly whispered to himself about how “ they can't know ” whatever that meant. Warriors liked his privacy just as much as the others so he never asked Legend about it, especially since the last time he did get into the other man’s business he nearly made things go straight off a cliff and into hell.

Maybe he still wasn’t completely over the Marin thing actually. Marin the seagull had been around pretty often, but as of recently she disappeared. She was gone, and neither he nor Legend knew why. It didn’t bode well for things to come.

Or maybe he was overthinking things again.

Whatever it was kept Legend up at night. The shorter man wasn't slick. Warriors noticed. He knew Legend was awake whenever Wind or Wild needed comfort from a nightmare.

No one else did.

No one ever noticed the little things Warriors did.

-

At this point Warriors couldn’t say he was surprised things got worse. It’d been going well for far too long. For the most part everyone was happy. Legend was still a bit of a mood killer but at this point he kind of expected and accepted it. He knew Legend was just venting his frustrations about himself outwardly but didn’t want people to swarm him with affection. It was understandable, he got what Legend wanted.

Then, then came the enemies.

Warriors heard the stories about how Legend’s knights of Hyrule had been corrupted by a disguised Ganon’s magic to attack him (and all the heroes apparently). It wasn’t surprising everyone had a hit list for the hero no matter where they went, but for the knights of Hyrule it hit a little too close to home for Warriors.

As he said before, everything had been going fine. Legend lead the way through the mysterious woods as quietly and carefully as possible. They could all hear the heavy footfalls of the soldiers far off in the distance.

Legend made a seemingly unrelated gesture to Hyrule. Anyone could have passed it off as him scratching his nose, however Hyrule nodded and silently disappeared through the thick of the forest.

He could feel someone wanted to ask what just happened. But thankfully they were all smart enough to keep their mouth shut for the time being. To not alert the defectors.

Minutes passed and Hyrule didn’t return. Wild, Time and Twi exchanged glances. Of course they did. Could it be possible they believed Hyrule left them? Or gotten lost? Honestly both options seemed like viable thoughts those three would have for Hyrule. He just disappeared suddenly that was a little suspicious. But Warriors knew Legend’s gesture meant something. It had to or else Hyrule wouldn’t have fucking nodded.

Those downfall boys and the way they handled things was something Warriors greatly admired.

Still he couldn’t shake off the feeling something was up with Hyrule. Something that wasn’t good. He was gone for too long, and...no Hyrule wouldn’t leave them. He wouldn’t betray them. And neither would Legend.

Right?

Something akin to a piercing bird call echoed through the otherwise silent forest. Legend’s head snapped towards the direction Hyrule had gone, the uneasiness in his face quickly morphing into pure panic.

In a momentary lapse of judgement the hero of Legend shouted, “Hyrule!!” as he sprinted off into the woods.The rest of them quickly followed after Legend. They knew he would have alerted the soldiers, and in his current state of mind, he would need all the help he could get.

Legend was fast, the Pegasus boots and Pegasus seeds together made him remarkably quick if Warriors could say so himself. Now the rest of them, between age and terrible stamina, they all trailed far behind. Whatever Legend was thinking, clearly wasn’t thought through all that well. Warriors guessed it had to do with him being so close to Hyrule. Legend was pretty protective over the young man, though he had a weird way of showing it, kind of like the weirder way Legend showed he cared about Warriors himself.

He got that.

But dammit Legend, they all cared about Hyrule, please slow down a little. Warriors wasn’t one to complain, after all he was usually in the same position as Legend but, by Hylia, he was too fast even for him.

And just as suddenly as Legend started, he stopped. They’d been lagging far enough behind that they thankfully had time to stop before anyone could crash into him. Legend held one hand up, possibly signaling for them to be quiet.

Nothing was there. Warriors was suspicious. Why would it be so silent if Legend thought something was there. He was arguably their most experienced hero, having been on six adventures and all. He knew a lot of things from experience. And with Hyrule on the line, despite running off being a dumb decision Legend wasn’t completely stupid. He realized his mistake. He still knew what he was doing, and how to keep himself and everyone else safe.

Something wasn’t right...

“Legend wh-“ Wild’s call was cut off by sudden loud rustling in the nearby bushes.

That’s when things went from worse, to downright shit. Warriors just fucking knew it would. Eights hands instinctively reached for their swords as the rustling grew louder.

What they weren’t expecting was Hyrule bursting out of the trees trailed by four green armoured possessed soldiers.

Warriors had imagined things much differently. He expected a possessed soldier to have a glazed over look in their eyes or maybe acted stiffly, or they had greyed out skin and looked really disgusting. Anything that indicated they were different.

These soldiers did not. With the exception of the scowls on their faces nothing told him they were any different than a regular soldier...and it terrified him.

Had this been his own Hyrule, Warriors may have mistaken them for a friend, an ally, someone he could trust. But nothing indicated they were corrupted by darkness. Nothing . They looked so normal .

So many friends, allies, and good men were lost to corruption, Warriors knew this better probably than any of the others there. But they were his enemy now, and his new family was in trouble. He couldn’t let it happen again. He...he had to…

There was a reason everyone called him Warriors . The first time the Links saw him take down an entire horde of monsters on his own barely breaking a sweat, the were terrified. Sure, they knew he was a Captain, but they thought it was because he was a great tactician who could also wield a sword. After all the banter and good natured jabs, they’d become blind to it. This was a reminder of who Warriors could really be.

The soldiers were corrupted by some greater form of magic than Agahnim or Yuga. It was vaguely familiar to Legend but he couldn’t quite place where. In what adventure had the real Legend been exposed to this kind of possession? Who could have done this?

His inattentiveness the final thing Warriors noticed about Legend before everything came crumbling around them.

“Watch out!” Hyrule yelled, a phrase so normal, but one that froze Time in place.

Twilight’s wolf friend, who was oddly enough seen without Twilight, lunged at a soldier who wanted to take this opportunity for granted. A few called Time’s name. No one noticed the arrow flying towards Legend.

Or perhaps that was the reason Hyrule called out.

It all happened in a matter of seconds. No one really had the opportunity to truly process what the whizzing sound was until a sickening thwip and Hyrule’s loud gasp altered everyone else.

“Legend!” Warriors yelled, turning his back from the final soldier as Four delivered the final blow.

He rushed over to the younger hero, who was preoccupied in trying to ward off the very concerned Hyrule and Wind. Now, normally Warriors would have been angry someone hadn’t bothered to remove a fucking arrow from inside their body. On the other hand they were very short on supplies, in the middle of the forest and that arrow looked pretty deep so removing it would only make Legend bleed...faster.

Legend wasn’t. He wasn’t bleeding at all. In fact, it almost looked like small, black whisps of smoke were seeping out of his body.

What in the name of the goddess Hylia-

“What the fuck?” he whispered.

That was the head turning comment. Time’s closed eye cracked open at the sight of Legend. At first Warriors wondered if it was from the same worry as his, but there was something unreadable about his expression. Maybe it was because his eye was completely white, and Warriors could see nothing, but there was something equally not right about Time’s eye as Legend’s situation.

The old man moved quicker than Warriors had ever seen. Where had this been earlier when they were going after Hyrule? Or anything else really? It was inhuman, just like the white eye.

He would stay quiet, listen to their leader. Swallow his pride for once. This was something he didn’t want to deal with.

-

Time recognized what stood in front of him. A man from the shadows, taking the likeness of one of his friends. It reminded him of the Water Temple, the damn Water Temple, and the shadow he fought. The one that fizzled away into nothing when defeated. The one created by Ganondof’s minions.

“Who are you and what have you done with the real Legend?” Time yelled, pointing the Biggoron sword at the imposter.

“You don't get it,” the shadow said, “I am your Legend.”

No...he couldn’t believe that. He wouldn’t believe that. There was no way it would willingly help them. The shadow was tricking them. That was his only explanation.

They needed to get rid of it quickly. But he still needed to be just, even if it was the enemy. It wasn’t fighting back. He’d grant that to the shadow.

-

“Tell the truth, shadow clone .” Time commanded.

Warriors didn’t know what to do. The man, his best friend was actually the exact thing he was supposed to be fight. To be saving the world from. He’d spent so much time with this person. He’d shared stories of his adventures, spilled secrets like a gossiping teenager, he’d comforted the shadow standing there.

Did he even know him? Did Warriors even know himself?

Sure Legend, or Shadow Legend, was a traitor, but wouldn’t that make Warriors one too? All of them? They were helping him. Saving him. What did this make Warriors?!?!

What did that mean for Hyrule? His hero was a fake. A fraud. Unless...oh Warriors sincerely hoped the real Legend was still alive somewhere. But knowing how shadow copies worked, he wasn’t too optimistic. Goddesses, looking at Hyrule was so damn difficult. Warriors knew he was younger than Legend and Legend was already pretty young by standards. And he looked up to Legend so much, the man in his stories. The hero of Legend.

Hyrule was probably questioning just as much as Warriors himself.

Time had been talking this whole time. Legend, tried so hard to deny who, what, he really was. But it was no use. They’d never trust him again. Not when he was the enemy.

Couldn’t Legend have killed them all in their sleep on his nights on watch?

Wild turned heel straight out of the forest. He loudly grumbled about people being the worst, and lying to him. Twilight (when did Twilight get there) tried to stop him. But it was no use. Wild disappeared with a few taps of the Sheikah slate. Where? No one would know.

The shadow pulled a bell out from his pack, quickly ringing it. Within moments a witch girl descended from the sky, picking up the shadow and flew off.

Four was shaking, whispering quietly to himself. Hylia, if he turned out to also be a shadow Twilight was going to rip all of his hair out. He could deal with Legend but not with Four. Normally calm, collected Four.

The sword clutched in Four’s hands began to glow, along with the shortest boy himself. The next thing they knew, four different coloured Fours stood in his place. A green, a red, a blue and a purple. How fitting of his original tunic.

Both the red and purple ones looked absolutely livid. They immediately began arguing with each other over the whole Legend isn’t actually Legend situation. The red one believed Legend had geen genuine the whole time, that he was actually trying to help them stop whatever brought them together. He didn’t want to hurt Legend because despite everything they were still family.

The purple one thought otherwise.

The green immediately went to diffuse the situation. The blue one was the only one still paying attention to the remaining Links.

“I hope you’re proud of yourself, Time.” Blue Four deadpanned.

And that moment Warriors knew, all hope had been lost for them. The family had broken apart. What were they supposed to do?