Work Text:
"I'm pretty sure we passed that wall yesterday," Hyrule cheerfully informed.
His companion threw her hands in the air, frustrated. She was like Warriors, if he'd been fun.
By which fae meant she'd skipped what had looked like the path to go check out a weird pedestal thing, and when the whip they'd found had turned into a snake had run after it.
And now they were lost.
But that was just part of the adventure.
"Or, wait, not yesterday. I think that might be the one from the day before, actually," he amended.
"... They might have been the same wall," Linkle replied after squinting at it for a moment.
Fae squinted too, then shrugged.
"I don't see it."
"Do you see anything?"
"I'd like to think my eyes are good!"
"Is your memory?"
Her raised eyebrow and her hand on her hip were familiar, and so was the banter. Oh how he'd missed Legend over the past three days. Hyrule still wasn't convinced the explosion in the morning of the second day they'd spent in this place hadn't been him.
Hopefully they were fine. Hopefully everyone was fine.
When he'd waken up without any of his thing, with some random lady that seemed to know Warriors, fae'd been worried to say the least.
Now he was starting to get used to wandering whatever maze they'd been thrust into, but was starting to get tired of walking around looking at similar-looking walls and eating whatever rations they'd found on that one room.
"Do you think the snake's found the exit by now? Or any of your friends," Linkle asked as they kept walking.
"If anything, my friends will have found the snake."
"Semantics."
"No, you."
"... What?"
"What?"
"You know what, doesn't matter. I hope we find something soon. I miss the sky."
"I also miss it. And the other Sky."
"You're the worst."
But the smile on her face revealed she was amused.
Not much different from when Time made the worst puns in all of Hyrule's history and the entire Chain groaned while smiling.
Hopefully they would find the way out or someone else soon.
Legend cursed and jumped down from the stupid spinner thing before it crashed into the wall and clattered to the ground. Spirit called out to them, and he just offered a thumbs up back.
They moved to scoop up the thing, heavy and clunky as it was, before it managed to slide off the platform and they lost their only potential way out. Not that it looked like it would be getting them anywhere else soon, at all.
"Wanna give it a spin yourself now?" they asked, offering it up to the younger hero.
Spirit got up from the steps where he'd sat, watching Legend fumble their way around the platform on the damn thing, and dusted off his pants before he took it.
He turned it around one way and another, like they hadn't looked at it for far more hours than it seemed to warrant over the previous day and a half. It had seemed like their way out when they'd found it a few hours after waking up in the lone cabin up in the second platform, but now Legend wasn't so sure anymore.
It spun when one of them stepped no it, but not only was it hard to direct, it also lost power quickly and didn't have the space for both of them to ride it together comfortably.
They'd used it long enough to get down to the platform they were currently on, riding it together along the rail on the pillars connecting both, but the next portion didn't have any of those. Trying to ride it over the incredibly narrow, spiral-shaped path down sounded like a quick way to die, if they didn't manage to find a way to control where they went first.
"Do you think your friends are in similar situations? Maybe they're on their way to help us down," Spirit asked, like they hadn't talked about it twice just that day already.
"They probably went to that explosion that woke us up on the first day, first. If they're somewhere they can see the platforms from, though, they probably would try coming this way. It's an easy landmark to find, I imagine."
Legend didn't want to admit it out loud, but they were worried over the potential cause of the explosion.
It was likely to be one or several of the Chain... if they'd been awake.
If like, them, they'd been asleep, it could've been some sort of surprise attack.
Even just an accident could've been deadly, if they hadn't woken up on time to get out of the radius of an explosion as big as that one had sounded like it was.
He couldn't wait until they managed to get down and find someone, anyone, else.
Vio stabbed at the vines in their way again, with not much luck, while Twilight strained all its senses. They were still headed in the direction of the explosion they'd just heard, the first sign of anything in the four days they'd spent wandering the vine-covered maze, but it couldn't for the life of it hear anything else.
If it had been some sort of battle, it'd expected to hear swords clashing, grunts, screams, maybe smell fire if the explosion had lit any of the many plants around.
And yet they hadn't. Nothing.
Twilight like to think it knew its companions. If there had been an explosions, the likelihood that one of them was at the very least nearby, if not behind it, was high. So despite the negative amount of anything they were finding, it still seemed like the smartest direction to head in.
"I hate this thing," Vio complained again, like he had at any point liked the trident-shaped spear he was using to attempt and cut a path forward through the thick vines.
"Hopefully one of the others has a better blade, or we find something," it answered, again.
They didn't know what to think of this aspect of Four they'd woken up with, but it thought at least he was a less annoying frustrated companion than a lot of the Chain would've been.
Four had always been one of the calmer, more level-headed members of their group, and though Vio wasn't quite what Twilight was used to in the shorter hero, he was still similar enough. If they didn't find anything soon, though, even his patience might run too thin.
The spear caught on the vines again, its shape really not good for what they were doing, and they spent a moment detangling its dangling accessories.
Who had thought it was a good idea to give a weapon those, Twilight wanted to have words with them.
They knew it was one of Wild's most precious belongings, though, so they were trying to actually carefully detangle them, not break them off. With a bit of luck, they'd find the other and manage to return the trident in good condition.
"Dude."
Wind meaningfully looked down at the bananas that had dropped from the tree. He'd caught them just fine, but he was pretty sure they were supposed to hit him on the head.
"Seriously?" He looked back up at the tree.
A mask stared back down at him.
This was really not Wind's idea of a good morning, although at least they weren't fighting each other. Rather, this Yiga person, as Wild had called them last time they'd run into one, seemed very intent on staying up in the tree. Forever, apparently.
"Come on, we can be civil!"
"Maybe you can!"
They pointed an accusatory finger down at the innocent little bee Wind had freed from a jar labeled 'Buddy'. It buzzed near a flower on the ground harmlessly.
"That is a bee."
"A monster."
"Dude, aren't you guys supposed to be like, assassins or something? That's a bee."
He could feel their glare. But honestly, he didn't get what their problem was.
And he couldn't even just leave them up there!
Not because he was any amount of worried about them, but because the area they'd woken up in had walls too tall for him to climb on his own. They could ditch each other the moment they were on the other side, probably, but he still needed help getting there.
"What if I put it back in the jar? I can try to put it back in the jar," he asked, giving up on convincing them the bee wouldn't somehow kill them.
They nodded, and Wind left the bananas on the ground to grab the jar back out.
BOOM
He startled, the jar falling from his hand. The ground rumbled with the strength of the explosion in the distance.
Wind looked around, alert, but couldn't see anything in their area, nor smoke drifting up from beyond the walls. Whatever that had been, it wasn't close enough to see.
But that had to have been a strong explosion, if it was so loud from far away enough that he couldn't see any smoke, nor hear any sort of aftermath.
"What was that?" called out the Yiga, still up on their tree but now stood on a branch.
"Can you see anything from up there? That sounded like an explosion."
"No, not really. It looks like a maze out there, and it's a big one."
"And three!"
Wild threw out her hand, closed in a fist, right as Shadow did the same with two fingers extended on his.
"Yes!"
"Damnit."
Shadow grumbled, and handed over the fire rod.
The path on the left it was, then.
They'd been walking all day, so what Wild really wanted was to sit down somewhere before it got dark, but with the light from the rod and a lack of shelter, she didn't mind continuing to walk for now, especially if they were going the way that seemed better to her.
Shadow suddenly thrust an arm out in front of her and gestured for her to be quiet.
"I sense monsters ahead," it said, squinting at the path.
It was getting dark. Maybe they should have stopped to rest, or taken the other path, then. She wasn't too tired yet, and Shadow had told her he was perfectly capable of fighting as well, but she didn't like the possibility that they would get into a fight while alone and only armed with a fire rod.
"Should we turn back?" she asked.
Shadow closed its eyes for a moment, then shook its head.
"There's only a couple, I think. We could take them out and use their camp, they might have supplies we can scavenge."
"I like the way you think. Let's get closer, carefully."
They sneaked forward together, walking slowly and keeping their ears peeled.
When the camp came into view, a plan began to form in Wild's head. She grinned.
"See those barrels?" she pointed with her head, raising the fire rod slightly.
Several bokoblins and a moblin sat around a camp, with a fire burning in the center and an entire wall of explosive barrels behind them. This would be fun.
"One blast from this, and we blow them all up."
"Oh I love explosions." Shadow's grin mirrored her own. "You shoot or I shoot?"
"Together."
Time stared at sword.
Sword stared back.
As much as a sword was capable of it, but leaf was sure that it was.
Green also stared at sword.
It was embedded on a slab of rock, with a complicated starburst pattern that had it at the very center.
It was the Master Sword.
"I checked the other room," Green informed, neither of them taking their eyes off the sword. "Found a cryptic inscription about matching symbols, but nothing else."
"So we need to pull it?"
"So we need to pull it."
They couldn't sit there and wait for someone to find them, although the rest of the Chain probably was. Time didn't imagine they were the only ones in such an awkward situation.
But of all the people to be left in a room with the Master Sword where the door would only open when the sword was pulled... The goddesses had a cruel way of doing things, sometimes.
Leaf didn't know what Green's situation with it was, but considering Time wasn't too keen on sharing leaves own issues with it, leaf wasn't interested in questioning it either. One of them would need to pull it, though.
Soon.
At some point.
Any minute now.
"Fuck!"
Blue stumbled as she landed and an explosion in the distance startled her.
They nearly fell from the wall they'd landed on as their ankle twisted, but Sky managed to grab her by the hood of the tunic, avoiding what could've been a deadly fall considering neither of them could see the bottom of the pit in front of them.
Great.
"Thanks," they mumbled, and hissed when they tried to put weight on the ankle again. "Shit."
"Hold on, sit down."
She did, and obediently extended her leg out for him to gently take the shoe off and prod at the ankle. It hurt, which didn't bode well for the jumping around from wall to wall.
"Sprained," Sky said, offering an apologetic smile. "Hold on, we can at least wrap it."
Blue nodded, and he tore a strip of his undertunic to wrap it up with. It wouldn't do much, but given neither of them had any supplies it was at least something to do.
They were lucky they'd found Wind's Korok leaf nearby when they'd woken up, honestly, or they wouldn't even have gotten as far as they had. Hopefully the others were faring better, wherever they were.
"There we go."
Sky helped her put the shoe back on, and then stand.
Still painful, and she didn't even want to think about what landing when jumping would be like now, but they could push through it until they somehow found their way out of the stupid maze.
"Let's climb over this way," Sky suggested, pointing out the way the wall went up almost in steps.
"I think it gets closer to the other wall over there." Blue nodded and pointed beyond the steps, where they could see the tall walls curving towards each other, although they didn't seem to ever quite meet. It would make it easier to get onto a different one, if they didn't see a better path once they were up there.
And up they went.
"Alright, careful now," Warriors cautioned, holding the ladder firmly.
Or as firmly as he could, considering it was mostly suspended over a gaping hole on the ground, but hopefully firmly enough that it wouldn't slip from the other end.
Not only would they be without their only useful item if they lost it, but if it slipped while Aryll crossed Warriors doubted she would survive the fall. He couldn't see the bottom.
Aryll nodded at his words and carefully stepped over him and onto the first rung. She carefully lowered herself, holding onto another rung with her hands to minimize the chances of losing balance and falling off the side.
If they'd had a choice, Warriors would've preferred to not take the chance at all.
Unfortunately, the switch was on the other side of the pit, and the door refused to open without it. Which made sense, considering they'd had to work together to get the ladder untangled from the wall of the very same room.
"Got it!" she exclaimed once she was on the other side, and Warriors allowed himself to relax while she headed for the switch and turned it.
It seemed to get stuck for a moment, but then she leaned her weight on it, and with a loud click it turned.
Getting her back to the right side and opening the door proved easy after that. Then they high fived, and he mirrored her excited smile. He wasn't nearly as cheerful about the situation as she seemed, but was glad she could take it so well.
"Onwards we go! Towards my brother!"
"Towards my idiots!"
"Before they burn something down!"
"Or explode the place!"
Giggling, they walked through the door.
Red lowered the ocarina from her lips and took a deep breath.
It had taken them three weeks to finally get to Time and Green, and now they had the last answer for the puzzle.
"The star orb," she reminded Secret as it moved to the orbs on the table.
When they'd first woken up together in a strange room full of orbs, Red had been honestly scared. By now, she almost knew the talking moblin better than she did the rest of the Chain.
Seven months.
They'd spent seven months, in increments of about one week before they had to use the ocarina and go back, going in every direction to try and find the others, to try and solve the puzzle that would finally open the exit door to the maze and supposedly bring them all to it.
Honestly, she was just glad they'd found the ocarina in the room they woke up in, alongside the music sheet, or they would've all died on that sixth day, when the entire place went up in flames.
From Warriors trapped underground with Wind's sister, to Legend on a couple platforms high above with a new Link for their group, everyone had been so scattered, behind so many puzzles, that it would've been impossible to find anyone in one week.
And oh, they'd tried.
Seen how far they could get in one go, how many of them they could get to within the span of the same six days, but the place was just too impossibly huge for it.
Hopefully, now that they'd found the answer to the last bit of the puzzle, they could all get out together.
With a click, the orb with a star on it slid into place, right in the middle of the slab with a partially faded starburst pattern painted on it.