“Link! Hey, Link! It’s time to wake up!”

Erich grimaced and tucked his head further into the crook of his elbow, trying to block out the high-pitched voice and the weird, tinkling swish-swish that accompanied it; he had no idea who this ‘Link’ was supposed to be — or why he was sharing a… room? Tent? Whatever with them — but he wished they would get up so he could have some peace and quiet.

“Ooohh, how are you still like this?” the high-pitched voice continued, followed by another series of tinkling swish-swish noises and an impatient jingling chime that sounded suspiciously close to his ear. “Link! Link, get up! We’ll never reach Kakariko today if you don’t get up!”

Erich snorted softly at the insistence, even as unease began to crawl up his spine—

(Kakariko?)

(That… didn’t sound like any town or village he’d ever heard of before…)

(Except… except it also did sound vaguely familiar, almost like something from a dream…)

—and curled his arms more firmly around his head, feeling the shift of an undershirt against his skin and the flex of… of fingerless gloves on his hands?

(He never wore fingerless gloves.)

(Much less wore them to sleep in.)

(What in the world—)

“Link, you lazy boy, get up!” the voice shouted, even as something settled on Erich’s ear and tugged—

Erich flinched, hand instinctively darting up to swipe at whoever was yanking on his ear, only for his fingers to brush against— against—

“Hey, watch it!” the voice chided as the tinkling swish-swish darted away from his hand and then came back. “I know you must be tired, since you apparently dyed your hair after I went to sleep, but Link, please. Hyrule is depending on us, we can’t just laze about!”

Nothing made sense. He swore he didn’t know a ‘Hyrule’, didn’t know a ‘Kakariko’, didn’t even know a ‘Link’ much less why the voice would be saying that he’d dyed his hair overnight because… because he’d never dyed it. He would remember dying it, wouldn’t he? That wasn’t something that could just happen without his awareness… right?

Even worse, his ear…

He traced a finger over his suddenly very pointed ear, marveling at how long it was, how straight the edges, how sharp the noises all around him were now that he was paying attention.

“Link?” the voice asked, a sudden uncertainty in the tone making his stomach sink.

(Whoever it was, he was about to be discovered as an impostor.)

(He… suspected that wasn’t going to go over well.)

Erich took another moment to breathe, eyes squeezed shut and leather-covered palm pressed against his newly-pointed ear, trying desperately to piece his memories together. He remembered… he remembered chasing Kurosaki into the Soul King’s palace. Remembered facing Yhwach, his mouth dry and despair in his heart. Remembered fighting—

(Yhwach’s laughter, cruel and vicious.)

(Struggling, his mental fists beating futilely against Yhwach’s control.)

(Blood, his summoned blade slicing through Kurosaki’s side, his body acting without his consent, fighting against his allies, against his grand-nephews—)

Remembered the desperation that sank into his mind, into his very bones, even as the air practically vibrated with power.

And then… and then—

Something — someone — else was in his mind, a gentle, curious nudge against his consciousness. A nudge that turned sharp-focused-intent once it noticed his predicament. A nudge that shifted him aside. Flooded his veins with strength. Burned Yhwach’s control from his body and—

Struck.

Struck with a blade Erich had never seen before, never summoned before, using his left hand as easily as breathing when Erich had never trained himself out of using only his right. The stranger had fought well, had listened well, had been focused-intent-driven as he circled Yhwach, mind awash with calculations Erich could barely parse—

The stranger had taken advantage of Yhwach’s self-importance. Had darted away then dove back in and wounded him with the strange blade — made stranger by how it glowed, how it resisted Yhwach’s ability to unmake the damage — and then taken advantage of Yhwach’s desire to monologue in order to find an opening and strike—!

Yhwach had toppled like a felled tree. Had been decapitated by another ruthless strike, ending his reign of terror before he’d really had a chance to do more than begin it.

The stranger had scowled. Had swept his blade through the rising miasma then nudged Yhwach’s fading body with one booted foot. Had stepped back with a lilting hum and examined the room, mind a welter of color-image-sound that Erich could barely parse. Some bits had stood out enough for him to react to, to give answers to, but most of it… most of it was too fast, too jumbled, to make much sense.

And then the stranger lifted their hands, spreading their fingers and staring at their palms, then lifted a hand and ran it over the edge of Erich’s ear, thoughtful-considering-wary, before suddenly information flooded through Erich’s mind in another confusing welter that overwhelmed him immediately. He’d lost control in his surprise, his guard dropping and pain flooding in from the edges where he’d shoved it, overwhelming him— overwhelming both of them—

Kurosaki had called something out to them in that moment, Erich thought, though he couldn’t quite remember what. Could only remember the way they’d been grabbed, the way more pain jangled up their shared nerves, bright-hot-vicious in its intensity…

And then Erich was here, wherever here was.

“Link…?” the voice repeated, muffled by the hand Erich had placed over his ear but still decidedly worried in a way it hadn’t previously been.

And now that he was waking up, was paying attention, there was a… presence lingering in his mind. A presence soft with sleep and threaded through with gentle music he’d never heard before.

A presence, he suspected, that was the same person who took control of his body in the Soul King’s palace. Meaning that somehow, some way, Erich had… ended up inside the other’s body in turn.

(Fuck.)

With a groan, he let his hand drop from his ear and used it to heave himself over — Link apparently enjoyed sleeping on his stomach, of all positions — only to wince as something large and metal dug into his back. It was a shield, he discovered as soon as he twisted enough to yank it out from under him, the edges shiny steel and the field deep blue with a red, stylized bird design below three golden triangles. The grips were comfortably worn and the surface bore the signs of care and use; clearly, Link both knew how to care for his gear and needed that gear to survive.

Which was… going to be a problem, if Erich couldn’t cede control back to Link; he didn’t use a sword and shield, had never even trained to use such, and he had the sinking feeling that this world was a bit more personally dangerous than he was accustomed to.

(The Great War might have been horrific, might have resulted in more death and destruction than any war before it, but it was… impersonal.)

(Death often came without warning, without chance to defend or escape or sometimes even realize.)

(This shield… it implied personal combat was the way of this world.)

(…exactly like what Link had done with Yhwach…)

Erich sighed, set the shield back at his side, and stared blankly at the rock overhead, wondering what he’d done and if there was any way to undo it.

“You’re not Link,” the voice stated darkly, dragging him from his thoughts in time to see a tiny figure dart into view; he couldn’t see much of them, their body cloaked in a bright, pale blue glow that obscured their features, but he could see the pair of delicate, dragonfly-like wings that fluttered behind them.

Erich hesitated over his answer, taking a moment to just watch the… fairy?… flutter around his head, before finally giving in and saying, “I’m not.” Except his words didn’t come out as he expected, mouth shaping sounds that weren’t right even as his brain understood it and— and he didn’t know what he expected; the idea that his world and Link’s world would share a language was absurd. He was lucky that whatever had happened had given him a proper grasp of the language, even if it was the weirdest feeling he’d even had, thinking in one language and speaking in another he didn’t understand, the physical sounds clashing with what he ‘heard’ in his head.

“Then who are you?” the fairy asked suspiciously, swirling closer to his face and peering at him. “I warn you, if you’re a spirit sent by Ganondorf to disrupt our quest…”

“I’m not,” Erich repeated with a frown, squinting into the brightness in front of his eyes. “I don’t even know who you’re talking about.”

The little fairy barked a disbelieving laugh and swirled away from him, little motes of power trailing after her. “You don’t know who Ganondorf is? He really didn’t pick a smart spirit to invade Link’s body, did he?”

“He didn’t pick anyone,” Erich grumbled, rubbing his face in exasperation. “Look, I’m sorry. I have… no idea how this happened, but the last thing I remember is fighting someone named Yhwach who claimed to be my ancestor and who could control me, and then suddenly someone else was in my body and took Yhwach down for me. And then I woke up here.”

Silence greeted his words, which wasn’t unexpected but was disheartening; he had no idea how he could prove himself — his story was pretty outlandish and he knew it — but he knew he somehow had to. If he was right about Link being the one who saved him — saved all of them — from Yhwach, then he owed the other so much more than whatever this situation was. If there was a way to reverse or undo this mess, he needed to find it, and find it quickly; though perhaps he should offer his own help in repayment first? He had no idea if there was anything he could do for the other, but… maybe. Hopefully.

(He didn’t like being in someone’s debt, and right now he owed Link his life.)

(Link deserved so much more than being bound to Erich against his will.)

“If— if you’re telling the truth, then what happened to Link?” the fairy finally asked, suspicion coloring her tone. “Have you switched bodies? Do we need to somehow hunt your body down to find him?”

Erich made a thoughtful noise, then shook his head and let his eyes slip closed, reaching back-back-back into his mind to where the sleep-soft presence remained lurking. He gave it a gentle prod, then another, then huffed in amusement as the only response was a sleepy grumble and the sense of the other tucking his head under a pillow. “I’m… pretty sure he’s here, he’s just… asleep. Still. And I just woke up first,” Erich settled on, unable to resist a wry smile. “I see now why you were so exasperated when I wouldn’t acknowledge you.”

“Oooh, that boy, why am I not surprised,” the fairy stated with a sigh, then fluttered back down and began bobbing in a small circle over his head.

“He did fight on my behalf with little to no warning and in a body unfamiliar to him,” Erich felt the need to point out.

“Sleeping in,” the fairy declared with feeling, “is normal for him.”

Erich snorted and pursed his lips to hide the smile that wanted to form. “Sometimes I wish I could sleep in,” was all he offered in response, before turning his attention inwards and beginning to poke the presence once again.

The presence rippled. Shifted. Tried to push him away. Grumbled when he refused to let up, and then—

A jolt rippled through them as the other finally snapped awake, confusion flooding their mind before realization hit and—

(::Oh…::) the other — Link, Erich was now certain — breathed, before a cascade of images-feelings-sounds tumbled across Erich’s senses, drowning him in sensations he could barely parse. And then it all cut off, like a wall slamming down between them, and a soft (::sorry…::) echoed through the suddenly-barren space between them.

(::It’s… you’re fine,::) Erich murmured, pressing the heels of his — their — hands to their eyes and struggling to regain his equilibrium. (::It just took me by surprise.::)

Disbelief tinged with exasperation rippled through them, followed by Link shoving the sound-feel-sense of Erich cringing and curling inwards, clearly overwhelmed, at him.

Erich clenched their jaw and forced himself to breathe, setting his embarrassment aside in order to say, (::I’m not… accustomed to sharing sensations like this, but I’ll adapt.::) He considered his words, considered what little he could sense of Link’s emotions, then swiftly added, (::You don’t need to force yourself to think like I do. Just… be patient with me while I learn?::)

Agreement settled over them like a blanket, and Erich breathed a sigh of relief; he had no desire to force Link to communicate in a way that was convenient for Erich, not when he could sense exactly how hard words were for the other.

(::It’s easier when there’s less to handle,::) Erich offered after a moment, remembering the focused precision of Link’s thoughts during the fight against Yhwach. It was only in the aftermath, when Link tried to share something strange and tangled and vast that he’d lost his footing. And here, now, the cascade of sensations when Link truly woke was like being thrown headfirst into a raging river.

When he offered that thought to Link, he felt the other hum and the wall between them softening, sensations bleeding through at a gentler pace: concern over Erich’s presence here instead of where he should be, worry over the fallout of Link fighting in Erich’s body, and confusion at how tangled they were.

(::I don’t know,::) Erich had to admit. (::I… did something I probably shouldn’t have in order to save someone else, but… I don’t know how that could have led to this.::)

Link hummed and gently nudged worry back at Erich even as he slid closer, his presence calm-steady-thoughtful as he traced careful mental fingers over their connection.

(::Everything should be fine back there,::) Erich answered the wordless question. (::You killed Yhwach, and the only others around were on my side. Which… thank you. You saved my life and the lives of my grand-nephews, and likely the entire world as well.::)

“And now you’ve gone all weird,” the fairy — Navi, Link’s memories automatically supplied — complained, as she darted closer with the familiar tinkling swish-swish. “You’d better have a good reason!”

“I’m figuring out what Link and I know,” Erich told Navi dryly. “Give us a moment more, please.”

“Oh alright,” Navi huffed as she swirled over his head, wings fluttering and tiny sparks of power trailing behind. “But try to be quick about it! We really do need to get going soon if we want to reach Kakariko before dark.”

Erich made an agreeable noise even as he turned his attention inwards once more, letting his eyes close as he joined Link in considering the connection that bound the two of them together.

It wasn’t a simple connection by any means, Erich confirmed after only a moment’s contemplation; it was no thread that bound them, nor even a rope, but a web, hundreds of branching points of connection tying the two of them together at a soul-deep level.

Link frowned and pressed forward, thoughts flickering past too quickly for Erich to grasp but, thankfully, still shielded by the wall Link had placed between them. The brief glimpses Erich caught were confusing — a dimly lit house coated in cobwebs and a gigantic tree infested with equally gigantic spiders — but when he aimed curiosity at Link the other just shook his head and brushed the wordless question aside.

(::I don’t think we can break this on our own,::) Erich decided at last, pulling back from the tangle that connected their souls.

Concerned agreement, Link sent back, though he spent a bit longer poking at the mess, careful mental fingers plucking at a few strands here and there. Curiosity rippled between them as Link managed to neaten up a bit of the tangle and something seemed to… settle a bit more firmly.

(::That… might be something?::) Erich agreed as he pulled his attention back to their connection. He had no idea if the feeling of settling was a good thing or not, but now that Link had drawn his attention to the fact that the web was more of a tangled mess than a true web, he couldn’t help but wonder if untangling it would help at all. (::Though I think you should leave that mostly to me, while we’re here in your world,::) he offered a bit sheepishly. (::If we can trade places, that is. Your Navi is getting a bit impatient, and I am not capable of fighting like you.::)

A flicker of amusement washed over him as Link finally pulled his attention away from their connection and back to Erich, followed by a contemplative pause, and then Link started… crowding closer, pressing in like he meant to squeeze past Erich and—

It was… not exactly easy, to step aside, to give Link space, but with a little mental jostling the two of them managed it.

“Oh!” Navi cried as she darted closer. “Link, your hair!”

Being a passenger in someone’s body was odd, Erich decided as he watched Link tug a strand of now-blond hair in front of his eyes, almost like watching a show instead of being entirely present.

“So, I guess you can switch places, then?” Navi asked, before making a thoughtful noise when Link nodded his agreement. “And the other… he really is from somewhere else?”

Link nodded immediately, then paused and sent a gentle query towards Erich; it felt much the same as what he’d tried to ask at the very end of their fight with Yhwach, except… contained. Simplified. Vast concepts pared down to the bare minimum in an effort to keep from overwhelming Erich.

And not a single bit of it was familiar.

Not, Erich admitted, that he knew every inch of his own world, but… Hylians, Hyrule, Kakariko, the Zora, the Gorons… none of that was familiar. He could, with a bit of effort, come up with some vaguely similar legends here and there, but nothing like what Link lived.

Link frowned in reaction, then glanced over at Navi and spread his hands as far apart as he could.

“He’s from really far away, huh?” Navi interpreted thoughtfully, then darted through the air around Link’s head when he nodded in agreement. “Well, I guess we can try to figure out how to help Blue as we go around saving Hyrule.”

(::Blue?::) Erich couldn’t help but grumble, then huffed at the wash of amusement-curiosity that Link sent his way. And when Link prodded a short memory of Kurosaki saying “Rerugen-san” Erich’s way, he made an agreeable noise and said, (::That’s my family name, though -san is just part of the language, not a part of my name. Erich is my given name.::)

Link hummed and stared down at his hands for a moment, then nudged the strangest… alphabet? maybe? Erich had ever seen towards him, clearly trying to figure out how his name was spelled and…

The two of them paused as Erich tentatively offered up a memory of both German and Japanese writing, picking out his name in both, and then tried to compare either with Link’s language and… coming up short. They poked at the differences for a moment, briefly fascinated by how utterly alien each other’s languages were, before setting it aside to deal with later.

“Link?” Navi prompted, darting down to hover over his hands as she did.

Link shook his hands, being careful not to hit Navi as he did, and then made a few gestures that Erich understood in the same impossible way that he understood the language Navi was speaking.

‘Doesn’t translate well,’ Link was signing, followed by a ripple of amusement and, ‘Not Blue, though.’

(::I’ll introduce myself whenever we have time for another rest,::) Erich promised, then gave Link a mental nudge and added, (::You should probably get moving, though.::)

Link sighed but agreeably rose to his feet and set about packing up his bedroll and then… tucked it away in one of the small pouches attached to his belt. At Erich’s mounting confusion, Link laughed softly and reached into another of his pouches, pointedly slipping his hand in far deeper than the small pouch should physically allow and then pulling out a bow as long as his arm and a quiver to match.

(::What…?::)

Link’s amusement swelled around him like the rising tide, even as he attached the quiver to his belt and then nocked an arrow, drawing and firing his bow with a single, smooth motion to kill the plant monster near the entrance to the cave.

“Are you… showing off?” Navi asked as she darted over Link’s shoulder.

‘Pouches surprised him,’ Link signed cheerfully after putting his bow away, then leaned down to grab his sword and shield in order to settle them on his back.

“Huh, he must really be far from home,” Navi said as she settled atop the sword’s pommel, staying put even as Link straightened back up and stomped his feet to settle his boots in place. “I thought everyone knew about storage pouches.”

(::We have nothing of the sort,::) Erich agreed. (::Do you know how they’re made?::)

Link tipped his head to one side, flickers of memories swirling past as he considered Erich’s question, then regretfully shook his head. The memory he finally offered — that of green-haired girl handing him his pouches, already made — did little to satisfy Erich’s curiosity, but there wasn’t much either of them could do about that. If Link didn’t know, then he didn’t know, and Erich wasn’t about to waste energy being annoyed by it.

Apology brushed against his senses, accompanied by a touch of sheepishness and scattered memories of lazing about in a forest alongside other children, including the green-haired girl of before.

(::You’re hardly at fault for having other priorities,::) Erich said with a touch of amusement, making sure that Link could feel his understanding. (::My curiosity isn’t a priority here,::) he admitted ruefully. (::As fascinating as your storage pouches are, we have significantly bigger problems at hand.::)

Link made an agreeable hum, mind already turning towards the tasks at hand, though he was careful to keep his thoughts from spilling across Erich.

Even so, Erich caught glimpses of Link’s thoughts as the young man stepped around the regenerating plant monster and headed towards the rainbow-shimmer of light at the other end of the tiny cave they were in. Flickers of the rolling hills they were about to cross, of the bridge and the river and the desolate walled town they were to pass right by, and of the village — much expanded from his youth — they were aiming for.

And through it all, warm-loving-proud glimpses of a powerful mare with a reddish-brown coat and silver mane.

(Her name is Epona, whispered the echo of a memory, a young girl humming a cheerful tune with a foal at her side.)

(She’s grown fond of you, fairy boy.)

Link stepped up onto the glimmering white pad and looked upwards towards the hole in the ceiling, mentally nudging Erich away from the memories as the glow around them brightened, intensifying even as the half-heard chimes grew louder, louder, rising in a sharp crescendo and—

They were pulled upwards, feet leaving the ground as Link squeezed his eyes shut and spread his arms slightly, the light so bright, so powerful that he could see it even through his eyelids and—

“Haaah,” Link breathed out as the magic released them and they dropped the final few inches to the ground.

(::Well that’s… different,::) Erich couldn’t help but murmur in shock, Link’s amusement rising as he peered through the young man’s eyes at the perfectly circular hole they’d just been lifted out of. (::Is that normal, here?::)

Agreement, Link sent back, followed by a handful of brief memories of the exact same thing happening over and over again. He turned slowly, giving Erich a chance to take in the small copse of trees around them and the rolling hills beyond, before he reached into one of his pouches and pulled out some sort of instrument — the Ocarina of Time, another shard of memory informed Erich — that shimmered a blue-silver in the sunlight.

Determination flooded the space they shared as Link lifted the ocarina to his mouth and took a breath. Focused. Called to mind the melody he needed and—

Played.