Chapter Text
They had been to quite a few places by now, but usually they found themselves in the middle of nowhere, they didn’t get put near a town very often, much less thrown right into the middle of a very crowded and very busy town square.
Despite their sudden appearance, no one in the crowd seemed to have noticed their arrival. That was weird enough, what was more alarming though was the expression that crossed their leader’s face as soon as they had taken in their surroundings.
Time’s eye had widened, darting around and then up at the sky above them. His shoulders visibly relaxed after a moment, the man bringing up a hand to rub his face.
“Time?” Twilight frowned.
“It’s fine,” the man had reclaimed his cool demeanor.
“Wow!” Wind gawked, completely ignorant to Time’s lapse. “Is this a festival or something?!”
True to their youngest member’s observation, the Chain found themselves in the midst of square filled with stalls of all kinds, a stage set up before the clock-tower in the center, performers, merrygoers in bright colors and vibrant masks, streamers, lanterns, the entire area was packed and bursting with energy.
“Been a while since I’ve seen one,” Four said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“We’d have some things like this in Skyloft but not like this!” Sky added, eyes darting around as he took in the festivities.
“I’ve never seen anything like it at all,” Hyrule chuckled weakly, but couldn’t hide the excited sparkle in his eyes.
“Does anyone know where we are, though?” Wars asked, brow raised. “Whose Hyrule is this?”
“It’s not Hyrule,” Time stated. “I’ve been here before, it’s called Termina.”
“A bit of a grim name, huh?” Sky mumbled, but seemed far more interested in their surroundings.
“It’s so cool! Look at all the stuff! The masks and the colors and the food and-“
“Wind, breathe,” Twilight ruffled the pirate’s hair fondly.
“So what’s going on, Old Man?” Legend eyed their leader.
“It’s a yearly carnival they hold,” he said, his eye scanning their surroundings, oddly lingering on the skyline. “Looks like we made it on the eve, the festivities officially begin at midnight.”
“Can we stay, please, Time, can we?!” Wind bounced up and down, grinning like a madman. “I’ve never seen anything like this!”
“I think I have?” Wild shrugged. “I don’t remember really.”
“We don’t really have uh, parties, in my Hyrule,” Hyrule said sheepishly. “It’s...it seems fun.”
“We don’t know why we’re here, we can’t just-“ Time began.
“Link!?”
The Chain collectively turned to see an aging woman with red hair carrying a basket, the woman’s eyes were wide and locked on their leader.
“That is you, isn’t it?” she gaped.
A soft smile curled into Time’s face.
“It’s been a while, I’m surprised you recognized me,” he said.
“To be honest, I recognized that sword first,” she said.
“Hm-? Oh, the gilded sword?” Time chuckled. “Yes I suppose I was carrying that around the last time you saw me.”
The woman giggled.
“That thing was too big for you back then, but look at you! You’ve gotten so tall!” the woman smiled and scanned the Chain. “Who are these boys? They look like you, are they your brothers?”
“Something like that,” Time said, turning to his charges. “Boys, this is Anju, she’s an old friend of mine.”
“Hi, ma’am!” Wind chirped, the rest of the Chain adding their own greetings.
“It’s wonderful to meet you!” Anju beamed. “Are you all in town for the festival?”
“No-“ Time began.
“What?! Why not?! C’mon, please?!” Wind cried.
“Can’t we at least stay for a little bit of it?” Hyrule said, fidgeting with his fingers. “I’ve never been to a party before- I mean, if we can’t, we can’t, but…”
“I actually think it’s a good idea, Time,” Sky admitted. “We’ve been running ourselves ragged, it’s good to rest now and then.”
“Morale, Old Man, morale,” Wars shrugged. “Gotta keep the troops’ spirits up, don’t we?”
“You’re just saying that because you want to get drunk,” Legend scowled.
“Getting drunk at a festival is the definition of a good time, you annoying gremlin,” the captain scowled.
“Wars’ idiocy aside,” Twilight spoke up. “I mean…it’s gonna be dark soon anyway, right? We don’t even know where we’re headed. We might as well stay for the night, and if we’re staying anyway…”
“There’s a shooting range!” Wild exclaimed abruptly, then ran off into the crowd.
“Wild-!” Time groaned, rubbing his face.
“I think your boys want to stay,” Anju giggled. “You’re lucky! I have room at the inn, we had a large party reserve that had to cancel.”
Time looked like he wanted to protest, but the pleading gazes of his group (minus Wild) bore into him and the man slumped with a defeated sigh.
“All right. One night. That’s it.”
The Chain erupted into cheers.
“BUT!” he interrupted. “No one is leaving town, understood? I expect you all at the inn by supper-“
“Seriously?!” Wars half-scoffed half-whined. “The party doesn’t even get started till midnight!”
“Come on, Old Man, that’s not much of a break,” Legend grumbled.
Time’s expression showed he knew he was fighting a losing battle.
“I could throw another night in for free,” Anju whistled innocently. “So you can all regroup?”
“Anju,” Time groaned. “Why? Why are you encouraging them?”
“Because you look like you need the break too, Link,” the woman smiled, patting his arm. “You look so tense and serious, what happened to the little rascal that ran around with the Bomber gang?”
“I was a child,” he sighed.
“And it’s good to be one now and then, besides,” her eyes narrowed. “You didn’t come to my wedding, after all that! I’d say you owe me.”
Time grunted in response.
“I’ll uh, find Wild,” Twilight said. “I’ll tell him what you said and where we’re staying- where was it?”
“Stock Pot Inn, it’s on the east side of town, by the bar,” Anju said, gesturing toward a stairway to their side.
“Bar, you say?” Wars turned on heel, already heading off. “Well, catch up with you at midnight!”
“A little early for drinking isn’t it?” Sky chuckled awkwardly.
“Looks like everyone else is,” Legend rolled his eyes. “I guess I’ll see what’s around-“
Wind darted off with a squeal of excitement and in the chaos the rest of the Chain disappeared as well.
Time sighed.
“They’re certainly energetic,” Anju smiled. “Why don’t you come back to the inn with me, so I can give you the key to the room? There’s…ten, of you?”
“Nine.”
“That’s perfect,” she said. “The big room holds ten, there’s a few bunk beds in there but it’ll work, I’m sure.”
“Thank you, Anju,” he managed a small smile. “And sorry about…whatever they’re going to get into.”
“No worries! Now come along, I’m sure Kafei would like to see you again.”
The man hesitated, glancing around again in an attempt to keep tabs on his boys. They’d be fine as long as they stayed in town, right? The moon wasn’t- everything was fine, right? It was all right for them to have some fun and relax…
Still, he’d go around town and check on them after he visited with Anju and Kafei a little. They couldn’t get into too much trouble, right?
…Hopefully no one would burn anything down.