Chapter Text
Wind thought that the new addition to the Chain was, well, rather odd.
Truthfully, they were all odd. Time with his cryptic demeanour, Legend with his constant cursing of the Goddess (which in all honesty, Wind could definitely relate to), Hyrule with his sudden quietness, Four’s constantly changing eye colours and shifts in personality, Warriors switches between lightheartedness and mental anguish, probably from his war, Sky, who often disassociated from his usual perky demeanour with no warning, and Twilight who always seemed to had rather… canine-like qualities.
Yes, Wind could understand that they were all rather an odd bunch.
He supposed that was just the mark of a Hero. Going through everything that they had, it was no surprise that they were all scarred in some way or another. Wind himself found himself perpetually terrified of dreaming sometimes, or rather murderous to any larger-than-normal birds.
But the new Hero was odd in a different way.
Wild, as they had decided to nickname him, seemed to take the knowledge of travelling with a bunch of heroes from different eras with stride, as if he were used to being ordered and told what to do. He was quiet, not in the way Hyrule was, but as if he’d been trained to be that way- as if silence was far safer than words.
Their first meeting was during a thunderstorm, raining heavily in a new Hyrule that they weren’t familiar with. Wild then appeared, thinking them threats (he’d called them “Yiga” while brandishing a whole multitude of weapons), but after explaining, he’d ducked his head into his hood and retreated entirely.
The Chain was delighted to have another companion, another brother, but Wild didn’t seem so keen on the idea. Later they managed to figure out that it was because he’d travelled completely alone so far with nothing more than a disembodied voice giving him orders. He’d died, slept for a hundred years and awoke with nothing more than recollection of anything, of who he was or what he’d been through. Just that he was tasked with defeating Ganon and restoring peace. He did it, but was never quite the same person as he’d been before he died.
It took more than a few days for Wild to start opening up.
At first, he was clamped up tighter than a fisherman’s knot, never quite contributing, finding solace in being told what to do.
Wolfie was the first to get through to him. The fluffy creature had a habit of appearing no matter what Era they were in. Legend had often joked that the wolf must be a Hero too, otherwise it wouldn’t be able to join. They’d all stopped questioning it at some point, especially since the wolf seemed to show them no harm.
No one could resist petting his fluffy coat or feeling that spike of safety when they were around him, and that seemed to extend to Wild, who began warming up to the creature, eventually showing a softness in his eyes that no one had seen yet.
Twilight was the next one to form a connection. The Rancher had made some obvious attempts to get the new addition to drop his walls, even a little. For a while, they had no effect, Wild just shifting his gaze away and looking slightly uncomfortable; it must have eventually paid off though, as one day, Wild stopped looking so uncomfortable and answered back. Soon, he’d warmed up to Twilight enough to speak proper sentences, even a small smile here and there. Twilight proclaimed him as his protégée after they’d taken a watch together. Wind had no clue what they talked about, but he felt genuinely delighted for the new Hero, relieved that he’d finally found some sort of footing.
Time was next, his protective aura and calm demeanour most likely helped a lot, never quite pushing unless it was necessary and allowing others their secrets. Wild seemed to relish in this dynamic, often sitting with the older man without even saying much, but the tension was non existent and the hero actually looked comfortable.
Legend was next, very surprisingly. He’d spent the time so far with his usual snarky comments, attempting to rile up Wild in any way he could, only stopping momentarily when Hyrule pulled him back with a small chiding that perhaps he was going too far.
Honestly, Wind was worried that Legend would give off a completely wrong first impression, he himself had taken it very wrong when he first joined. But no, once they’d figured out that Wild could cook spectacularly well, he’d taken to making the meals, and served soup one night (it left Wind with a bitter taste in his mouth, flashes of his Grandmother and everything he’d left behind appearing with every bite and he couldn’t finish it, lest the nausea win.). Legend had made his usual comments, until Wild reached into that slate of his and pulled out some sort of frost-tipped spear and tapped the bowl of soup, flatly telling the other man to “chill.”
The silence that followed was endless, Wind frantically coming up with ideas to prevent the fight as Legend stared at his frozen soup. But the moment eased when a snort of laughter fell from the Veteran’s lips, chipping away at a frozen piece of soup and popping it in his mouth with a surrendering gesture. It was the first time Wind had seen Wild laugh.
After that, the two of them forged a tight connection. Wind was happy, ecstatic even, that Wild was settling in, his older brother tendencies easing a little. But he couldn’t help the spike of bitterness in his chest; even after all of their time together, Wind’s connection with Legend wasn’t that strong, and he doubted it ever would be.
The rest seemed to follow with ease after that. Four won him over with his sharp comebacks and continuous lectures about his weapons, which seemed to warm a spot in Wild’s heart. Warriors lectured the other man against his ‘wilder’ tendencies, but often slipped him materials and ingredients that would need rather morally dubious collection methods. Hyrule wasn’t surprising, after all, who could ever dislike Hyrule? Not when he was so kind, so genuinely thoughtful; Wind had even stopped plaguing him with his less-than-perfect pirate tendencies, lest he see the downtrodden look on his face.
Wild soon formed a connection with everyone.
Everyone aside from Wind.
He tried not to feel bad about it, but it was becoming harder. He tried his best to get the other man to warm up to him, but nothing seemed to work. Wild could never meet his gaze or seemed to shrink away from him completely, barely uttering a few words.
He would’ve accepted it and moved on if Wild had been some sort of jerk or bully, but he seemed increasingly fun and chaotic the more he came out of his shell, things that Wind would absolutely love to bond over.
He resigned himself to constantly being on the outside of this new connection between the Chain, ignoring how it made his chest squeeze painfully.
He’d try not to eavesdrop on their swapping of tales, Warriors, Legend and Wild often trading stories of their adventures and near-death moments. Wind was so good at stories! Had gone through almost dying enough times to draw a gasp from all of them.
Yes, they were his brothers, but they didn’t know much about Wind’s adventures, his stories. He often told similar ones spun differently to keep the questions away- to keep the looks of pity that he had to go through something so young away. To get closer to Wild though? He’d endure every look.
He’d try not to look to hard when they were showing off their items, Wild had such an amazing collection and the pirate in him that was drawn to valuable things itched to have a good look, but if he even got close, Wild would clam up again.
He was starting to become frustrated. Hurt, even.
Had he done something to offend him? Something he said? Wind mentally went through the few interactions they’d had and came up with nothing that could suggest offence.
It wasn’t like Wild seemed to hate him or something. He’d occasionally caught the man looking over at Wind with an odd flurry of expressions in his eyes- awe maybe? Intrigue? Puzzled? As if he was waiting for Wind to do something, only to quickly retreat back like an Octorok into the water if Wind met his eyes.
It was beginning to eat him up inside. He wanted to feel like he was with his brothers again, all of them this time. Wild seemed like such a cool guy, crazy enough to fit right into Wind’s ideas and he knew, given even the smallest chance, they could become great friends.
Sadly no, it seemed like Wild would never give him that opportunity.
And it hurt, a lot.