Chapter Text
Wild groaned as he sat up, cold biting at his nose.
When he opened his eyes, he noticed the snow dusting the land before them, and while this wasn’t unusual for the wintertime, he just didn’t expect it to be this frigid.
A loud and overdramatic groan sounded near him, where the resident drama queen lay face down in the snow.
“Legde, c’mon, get up.” Wild lightly kicked his brother’s shin, causing him to stir.
“No,” he grunted, muffled by the snow his face was currently buried in, “let me suffocate here.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to that idea.” Warriors smirked as he stood, brushing off snow from his thick tunic.
Legend flopped over, mock gasp complimenting the hand that flew to his forehead, “You want me dead!”
“I didn’t say that,” He said smugly, helping a disgruntled Sky off the snow covered ground.
Legend pushed off the dirt, resting on his palms, “You implied it though!”
“Okay, okay, no one wants no one dead. Legde, need help gettin’ up?” Twilight offered, hair matted with bits of snow stuck in it.
“Nah, I’m fine, but you should check up on Wind, since-” he unceremoniously picked up a clump of snow, “y’know.”
“Don’t worry ‘bout me, ’m fine.” the Sailor mumbled as he ambled his way to them, “jus’ cold.”
“It’s okay Wind, we’re right outside of Hateno, you’ll feel all better once you’re warm,” Wild reassured as Wind crashed into Sky’s side. The poor kid never did well in the cold. Out of all of them, he barely knew cold, let alone winter. Sure, he sailed through storms and rain before but snow? The kid didn’t even know it existed before that first December with the chain. Oh, that December.
Sky combed a hand through the Sailor’s hair, smushed into his side, face flushed and shivering. “What’s the headcount?” Sky softly asked, watching Warriors and Time wander over to them, shaking the white fluff off their clothes.
“Uhm, 1, 2, 3… 5, 6… 8- wait, yeah 8, 9.” Twi counted off, “That’s all of us.”
“We’re in my era, right outside Hateno, barely a five minute walk,” Wild pointed to the wooden sign in the distance, “We can say hi to Flora and take proper showers at my place, and, y’know, rest.” He suggested.
“Sounds good to me, champ, lead the way.” Time gestured to the cleared path.
Wild took his spot at the front of the group, leading them into the surprisingly bustling town. It had been a minute since he’d been home but he didn’t expect the town to double in size. Women and children were wrapped up in their thickest doublets and animal pelts, faces dusted pink. Men were seen carrying bundles of wood, for their fireplaces no doubt, while chatting with other town folk. The town murals had also been changed from gorgeous paintings of him and Flora as king and queen to poinsettia flowers and various other holiday traditions.
It’s Christmas time.
He waved to familiar village faces, greeting those who came up to him with an easy smile. Even some of the kids run over to him, peppering him and the other heroes with questions. Embarrassed parents rushed up to their rouge children, apologizing profusely with red faces. Wild’ll just blame that on the weather.
Once the bridge came into view, his heart skipped a beat. Not that it was beating in the first place but, y’know. He began walking faster, barely contained excitement bursting out of him until he was running to the door. The chimney was puffing out smoke and light was gleaming behind the windows. His wife was definitely home.
Stopping before the door, he went to knock when it swung open under his hand.
Behind the now open door was Flora, breathless and wide-eyed, staring at him.
“LINK!” She laughed, flinging herself into his arms. He had to step back a couple times to regain his balance, giggling alongside his gorgeous wife.
“Hi honey,” he breathed, “missed you.”
She sniffled, gripping his back tighter, “Me too.”
Detangling herself from him, she tucked her hair behind her pointed ear, smiling at the conglomerate of boys behind him. “Sorry about that, been a long time, y’know.”
“Yeah, we know,” Time chuckled softly, “Good to see you, dear.”
“You too,” She said, eyes bouncing off each boy individually, “oh, come inside!! It’s freezing.”
Once they were all ushered inside and Wind thoroughly bundled up in some of their thickest blankets with the fire burning brightly, the boys each took turns using the shower. Of course, only after Wild and Flora assured them that, yes, the water stays warm the whole time and no, they do not get charged for water usage (“That’s dumb. It’s water. ” Flora stated plainly). Legend had just finished his and thankfully his limp was gone. Time got up, grabbing his tattered toiletries bag and mouthing a quick “thanks” before heading up to the shower.
“So, how’s castle construction going? Last time we were here you said it was going smoothly with only a few hiccups.” Sky asked, a smile genuine on his lips even if Wild saw the tightness around his eyes. He knew how much pride Sky took in building the castle that continued to live on for eons after him. He knew how Sky crumbled to the ground when he saw the castle after the calamity. He knew the anger that boiled under his skin for Ganon. He knew, sadly, the blame he pinned on himself.
“Ah, that.” She winced, weaving another stitch in the torn shirt in her lap, “Well, it was going smoothlyi, until one of the left wing’s stairs collapsed and then the weather started so we had to patch holes in the ceilings which postponed everything. Plus, this weird fever was going around, so I paused all construction efforts until the end of this year.” She frowned, breaking the thread and tying off the knot. “Besides, the holiday’s right around the corner, it can wait a week or two,”
“Holiday?” came Wind’s muffled voice from under his cocoon of blankets,
“Yes, Christmas,” Flora answered absentmindedly as she cleaned up the shirt's loose threads.
“What’s that?” Wars cocked an eyebrow at the couple.
Huh.
“Y’know, Christmas, the whole green and red stuff?” What? Do they not have Christmas?
“Red and green…? No, what’s that?” Time questioned as he walked out from the shower, damn that was quick.
“Wait, wait, wait, you don’t have Christmas in your eras?” Now Wild was severely confused. He knew there would be differences between eras like language and tradition but a whole holiday?
“No, at least I don’t,” Hyrule answered slowly, brushing through his shoulder length hair- when did it get so long?
“Same here.” Legend echoed. Soon, almost all of the heroes, including Sky- which didn’t surprise Wild too much- shared the same sentiment. They didn’t have Christmas. Weird..
“I guess it would make sense, possibly the tradition started after one of you passed away.” Flora supplied dubiously, hand on her chin.
“How’d it even start? When did it even start?” Wild questioned, memory foggy as he tried to remember any fact about the 25th of December.
“When the peace treaty between America and Hyrule was forged,” she scanned the room full of confused faces, “Do- do you guys not know what America is?”
Silence.
“Oh Hylia, it’s another country!!” she shouted exasperatedly.
“There’s more outside of Hyrule…?” Wind said mostly to himself.
Flora turned to Wild, “Please tell me you know about America.”
“Yeah.. yeah. I do.” He winced, he was not a good lair.
“I know what America is, also where it is.” Four piped up from his crisscrossed position on the ottoman, eyes a violent purple.
“Thank goodness!” Flora threw up her hands, barely missing Wild’s face, “Finally, someone who pays attention in school.”
Four chuckled, “I don’t know what Christmas is through, care to explain?” He offered, ears twitching. Vio always wanted more knowledge and had this adorable habit of turning his ears to hear more, like he could miss anything.
“Yes, right! My apologies. Christmas is an annual tradition where people join together, enjoy feasts, sing seasonal carols, pass out gifts, and other things. Me and Wild have been trying to keep the tradition alive after the Calamity so if you see a bunch of red and green lanterns around town, that’s my doing. The murals have changed too.” Flora smiled, messing with her wedding ring. Wild knew how much these holidays meant to her, it reminded her of a time before everything got so complicated .
Twilight threw his hand up lazily, “I have something similar in my era, Hylia Day. But it’s not red and green, more yellow and white for Hylia.” He shrugged, “We do pass out gifts but that’s really it.”
Soon, the room was filled with different holidays from different eras. Some didn’t even have Hylia Day, while others had full months dedicated to Hylia.
Why? Wild’s nose scrunched, She doesn’t need it.
“Link,” Flora whispered, “May I braid your hair? It’s getting so long.”
“Sure,” He grinned, sitting on the ground at her feet and snatching a brush from the coffee table. He passed it up to her and almost melted into her touch as she scratched his scalp with her long nails.
She hummed softly above him, easily sectioning 3 bundles of hair and weaving them together. His hair was healthy under her hands, perhaps a little dead at the ends but nothing a trim couldn’t help. Her stomach twisted with jealousy. How come he got to roll around in dirt, fight, not shower for days, and still get glorious hair?! She works tirelessly to get her hair to corporate and even with the best, high end royal products it’s still a thin, knotted mess.
Welp, live vicariously, they say.
Eventually, they both tuned back into the conversation, somehow talking about whether or not you could drink salt water and survive. No. No, you cannot.
“I swallowed a bunch of salt water when I was sailing! Look how I turned out!” Wind smirked, an elbow on his knee while he pointed at himself with his thumb.
“Wind, the way you turned out is not something to be proud of.” Legend retorted.
“Hey! I turned out just fine!” He protested.
“You tried to see if your whole fist could fit into your mouth.” Four countered.
“It doesn’t. Now I know.” Wind frowned.
“He’s not wrong,” Wild added unhelpfully.
“Thank you, Wild! See! Someone gets me!” He gestured to the champion, whose braid was being decorated with little red bows.
Legend sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Idiots, all of you.”
“Right!” Flora clapped her hands together, startling the hell out of Wild, “-sorry love. So, I have decided that due to the current holiday, you all will not go and fight any black blooded monsters. You will be resting here, we have the rooms.” She smiled slyly as half of the boys were refusing, stating it was their duty and others just… not arguing. It wasn’t like it was a bad offer. Or command. Tomato to-mat-toe.
“If there are reports of these monsters I will have the training guard take care of them. They need the practice.” She added to silence any of the rejections.
“It’s fine, it’s one week, what could hurt?” Four interjected.
“Exactly!” She grinned, excitement buzzing under her skin. “I haven’t had guests in two years over for Christmas, it’ll be fun!”
–
Sooner or later, the chain began to filter out into the new rooms. Flora had them made just for the boys so they didn’t sleep on the loft floor. They all felt extremely guilty at the effort she put in for them but it couldn’t be unbuilt. Besides, the house needed a renovation. Two birds, one stone.
Time and Twilight paired up while Sky and Warriors occupied the room next to them. Wind and Four clamored into the room beside the living room as Legend and Hyrule took up the room across from Wild and Flora’s upstairs.
The couple stayed down in the living room, picking up after the chain quietly.
The idea hit Wild as soon as Flora began telling the boys about the upcoming holiday. He could get them all gifts. Now this was no original feat but he felt like they deserved some nice trinkets for safekeeping. But he didn’t want to tell them yet, that would ruin the surprise, so he waited until just he and Flor- he and Zelda were alone.
“Zel?” He whispered over to where his wife was folding up a flannel blanket.
“Hm?” She hummed.
“I had an idea and I need your help.” He lowered his voice to the point he barely heard it, but by the way her ear was still twitching, catching every word, he didn’t worry too much. “I want to get all of them gifts and need your help distracting them.”
She turned to him, eyes wide as a smile began to grow on her lips, “By the Three, you’ve changed...” Zelda breathed, chuckling softly, “Yes, of course, I will help you. I have a few household things I need some assistance with.”
“I’m sure they can help.” He shrugged, grinning ear to ear as he padded over to her.
Link wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him. They were pretty close in height, his eyes just above her eyebrows. Her hands slinked around his neck, watching him with her round emerald irises. He was grateful her scars didn’t affect her sight at all, especially the one that slashed through her eye. During their fight with Calamity, she took a bad hit with malice, burning her skin around her jaw as it tried to climb up her face. She purified it with her magic but it didn’t undo the damage done. Painted forever on her face was a reminder of one of the most horrific incidents of her life. By the Three, she was so strong.
“Let’s turn in for the night, shall we?” She offered, tucking her head into his chest. Butterflies exploded in his stomach, blush running up his ears. How did he end up with a girl like her?
“Let’s. I’m tired.” He yawned, leading them up the stairs into their shared room. It was a simple, rectangular room with a connected bathroom and balcony where they spent numerous full-mooned nights, holding each other with white knuckled grip and clenched jaws, watching each movement of that damn astral globe drift across the inky black sky.
Link slipped out of his casual trousers and into the softest sweatpants, deciding he was too tired to put on a shirt. Zelda had adorned a well worn lace tank and matching sweats, letting her hair flow freely down her back. Goddesses, he loved her shoulders, how strong and muscular they looked.
Damn, this woman’s hot.
The pair cuddled into bed, burrowing in the thick blankets. He was holding her around her ribs, tucked gently under his chin while she had snaked her legs around his and rested her hand on his shoulder blade.
As a waning gibbous poured light into their bedroom, Link couldn’t help but smile at the familiarity around him. All his brothers in his house his wife snuggling under his arms, this was his. Something that damn Goddess couldn’t talk away from him.
Finally, he let himself drift off, the safety of his home luring him into a peaceful night's rest.
7 more days.