Linked Worlds

Chapter Two: Wild

The Hylian Champion sits in a tree above camp. He scrolls through the photo album on his Sheikah Slate, letting a smile slip occasionally.

The past week, he's been traveling with a group of heroes. Having never travelled with so many other people before, his anxiety levels have been through the roof. They seem like nice people, but with the damn Yiga Clan ambushing him every few steps, he can't seem to trust anyone.

Well, at least if they're Yiga, they've been really patient with his choppy sentences and constant fidgeting.

He scrolls to a picture of a bird they had seen in the forest they had first camped out in. He had taken the picture to show Zelda, she would be fascinated for sure. Then the sailor had asked what he was doing.

"Whatcha doing? Ooo, is that some sort of pictobox?"

Of course, he was still having issues talking around them. So, he signed.

"Sheikah Slate. Takes pictures, stores materials, and a bunch of other things."

"Wow, that's amazing! My pictobox can only take pictographs, but it's still awesome! You won't believe some of the things I've managed to capture!"

The youngest Link showed the champion a picture of his own. He and a girl who looks just like him sit side by side on a beach, hugging.

"That's me and my sister, Aryll. I had my grandma take this for me."

That had struck something within him.

"You have a sister?"

"Yep! I'm a big brother!"

Flashes of a memory flew by. Red hair, and a name that sat on the tip of his tongue. He couldn't remember anything else about whoever she was. Her name had started with an 'M'. Molly? Max? Mar..... Mar something. He could figure it out later, when he was back home, not traveling with a group too big for his taste.

The next picture is of a flame blade. They had switched worlds- Hyrules- times? Whatever, they had switched, and had ended up near Mount Hylia in his time, and fuck if it wasn't cold. They had managed to get to warmth near the Old Man's (King's?) house relatively soon, but he had equipped the flame blade to keep warm. He then realized he hadn't added it to the compendium. How? He had no clue, but ended up taking a picture anyways. He would have deleted it after, if smithy hadn't came up to him first.

"Whoah, that's a nice sword."

It was nicer than the one he previously had equipped, which was a travelers sword that was close to breaking. The blacksmith probably didn't see stuff like this from regular customers. The champion decided to try his hand at talking.

"It... it was forged in Death Mountain. Found it in..... um, in a... a shrine."

"Cool." The smithy was trying to keep his composure, but he was failing to hide the spark in his eyes. His eyes which were also... purple? Huh. Link could've sworn that his other self had brown eyes.

"Do you... wanna, uhhhh..... wanna take a look at it?" Nice. He was very proud of his sentence that only contained two pauses and one uh.

"Really? You're- you're cool with that?"

The champion nodded in response, offering his sword soon after. The smithy then spent the entirety of the break examining the flame blade and theorizing about how it worked, handing it back to the champion with thanks when the short rest was over.

That photo wouldn't be deleted anytime soon now. What if he lost his memory again? That seemed like a moment he'd like to remember. Bonding a bit with his new companion, and being able to talk with him.