Never the Same

Hateno

Link was watching his counterpart sleep.

Yes, it might be creepy, but he wanted to look at himself. As he was gazing at the third degree burn scars that covered the entirety of the boy's left side, he wondered.

What could have possibly caused that scarring?

The hylian champion jumped as someone came in. He looked over his shoulder, and saw a white eagle rito walk into the house. They were camped out at his house in hateno, with his father and sister visiting Kakariko, it was empty. Except for the 11 people in this house.

"It's mortifying isn't it?" Teba said. Link just sighed and shifted in his chair so he was facing the rito.

Teba continued, "The first time I saw Link was at the flight range in hebra. The scars on his face alone, shocked me into silence. Then I noticed his clothes." Teba snorted, "This kid was wearing nothing but the hylian travel clothes. No jacket. The determination was keeping him warm, or so he says, he can be quite dramatic at times." He chuckled.

Teba's gaze pierced Link. "When I hear stories about the silent knight who watched over Zelda, I am reminded of that same determination. You are just as impressive as all of the other champions, and I-"

The white rito was interrupted by movement on the table.

All of a sudden, there was a burst of speed as the scarred boy jumped off the table and grabbed Link in a choke hold, a dagger against his throat.

___________

Link was grasping the Mirror image of himself in a chokehold, and with the other hand, got a dagger out of his slate and held it against the other boy's throat.

"What kind of Yiga tactic is this?" he ground out.

The boy had stopped struggling as soon as he felt the cold steel against his throat.

No answer

Then Link heard commotion in the front of the house, and pulled the boy along with him to the window. He slowly opened it, and as he got it fully open, shoved the boy forward and before he could turn around, Link was gone.

He ran. And ran. He ran until he could no longer. And once he reached that spot, he climbed. He climbed up the Hateno tower, and when he reached the top, he fell to the floor, and cried.

He cried till his eyes were dry. And then he cried some more. He cried until he fell asleep.

—---------------------------

Riju was looking out the window, where he had disappeared. She was baffled. When they came into the house, all they saw was Teba running forward to catch the link of this time, and a glimmer of a hylian cloak through the window.

She had been half paying attention when Teba told them what happened. Mostly she was wondering what Link had been thinking.

Teba had mentioned something like Link mentioning a Yiga tactic, but she had no experience with the yiga, except for when the thunderhelm was stolen. She wondered what Lady Urbosa would think of that, and if she would be disappointed in the young gerudo.

Riju was startled out of her thoughts when the Rito champion suddenly exclaimed "No more facades." he gazed across the ones from the future, his cat-like eyes scanning the ones from the future. "You need to tell us why your Link is acting the way he is."

The four of them shared a glance.

"I honestly don't know that much about his quest brother. Just the bit with Rudania" Yunobo said, scratching the back of his head.

"From what I know, with what the other Zelda has told me and what Link has told me himself, the calamity had awakened, on Zelda's 17th birthday, and she had yet to awaken her powers. It took control of the divine beasts and guardians, killing the champions." Sidon winced and looked at mipha with a look of longing. "Link was tasked with taking zelda to hateno, before circling back to clash with the calamity, without the princess."

Riju sat down, toying with some nuts that were set out, and continued Sidon's story with a sad smile. "Somewhere en route, they were ambushed by hordes of guardians. Link's shield broke, so there was no way to deflect the lasers from the mechanical monsters. That's where his scars come from."

"Link was exhausted from taking blows and dealing his own." Teba picked up, "but there were still thousands. I think the queen's own words were 'You couldn't see the grass between the fire and the guardians'. As Link raised his sword to clash with the guardians, Zelda could see that this would be his last battle. Her powers awoke, in fear of losing another. She deactivated all of the guardians. But it was still too late".

Riju smashed a nut with her fist. "He collapsed. Be it from exhaustion, or his wounds, he essentially was on death's door. But Zelda took him to the shrine of resurrection, and saved him so that he could fight another day. But the wounds were so bad, it took 100 years for him to fully heal. He lost his memories. He couldn't even mourn you, until he awoke, one hundred years later. At that time Zelda had been keeping the calamity inside the castle, and thousands of lives were lost during that time, so much so that only 7 different establishments now thrive in hyrule. Nature replaced the monarchy." she said with a certain fondness. "It's beautiful"

Sidon took over. " When he awoke, he conquered all 4 divine beasts, got the master sword back, and sealed the calamity. Long story short, he thinks you are dead, and he thinks you-" he pointed at the pre-calamity link and Zelda, "are impostors."