Disclaimer: I do not own and/or claim to own any recognizable and/or licensed material appearing in this work of fiction in any way, shape. and/or form. All recognizable and/or licensed material appearing in this work of fiction belongs to the owner/s of the material in all ways, shapes, and/or forms under the law. I am not attempting to and/or making a monetary profit in any way from this work of fiction in any way, shape, and/or form.
AN: Well, enjoy this little piece.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" The Hero looked up as the younger Hero of Time sat down next to him, his customary smile on his face despite the somewhat dire situation they found themselves in, the army's morale was at an all-time low after one of their Generals and the Hero had nearly been killed if it wasn't for the almost impossibly great skills of the boy currently sitting next to him coming to their rescue in the nick of time, saving them, and Link, from Cia's dark magic.
Link merely looked at the young doppelganger and the child eventually let out a sigh, shifting the yellow mask he wore to rest on the top of his head as he observed his depressed older self for a few seconds before he began talking again.
"Yeah, I know it looks bad but trust me when I say this isn't even on my top 10 for bad so that means it isn't for you either since we're one and the same." The Hero of Time smiled at him again but Link merely looked away. "Trust me, things always get bad like this but this is why we're the Hero, we have to push through these type of times and get to the light at the end."
Link remained silent, the Hero of Time sighing as he spotted the depressed look on his older doppelganger's face before he looked down at his feet.
"Hey, come on." The Hero of Time nudged his shoulder with his. "You can talk with me, I'm basically you."
Link still refused to look the Hero of Time in the eye, he was a failure and right next to him was one of the greatest Heroes to ever live, someone who had risen to legendary status as a child that had seemingly never failed at his quest, something Link found himself doing far too much now.
"You know, I've felt like this a few times believe it or not." The Hero of Time leaned against Link as he seemed to remember something. "Especially after I first met Ganondorf and he just tossed me aside, I felt like I was worthless and no matter what I would do I would always be a failure for that night. I eventually got over it through, I figured I would beat him the next time we fought and I did. As the Hero, and this is coming from experience, we all fail at first but we need to admit it and get better so we can stop failing and save the people we care for."
"It's different when you failed, you were alone on your quest and didn't have to see the men you'd lead to their deaths. If I was stronger, faster, anything I could have saved them all but I wasn't, I'm nothing but a failure to this army and Hyrule."
"No, you did your best but we lost, sometimes that happens so we have to learn to live with it." The Hero of Time looked down at his hands his smile fading. "Sometimes you lose and sometimes you win but you have to keep going no matter what, even if it hurts you to keep doing it and you want to quit. We have to keep going as the Hero, no matter what happens we can't ever give up because if we do then evil like this wins and everybody suffers."
"Easy for you to say, you're the legendary Hero of Time, the Hero that saved Hyrule from Ganon at ten." Link sighed, mirroring his younger self earlier, as he placed his head in his hands. "All I did was fail when people needed me and because of that, most of my men either hate me now or are dead because of me."
"So we didn't win the battle, that doesn't mean the war is over with." The Hero of Time smiled at him again before jumping up from his seat. "Anytime I got down on my journey I just thought about what I could do to make sure it never happened again. Sure, bad things can happen once but you can stop them from happening twice."
"If I was stronger than more soldiers would be going home."
"If I was stronger, Ganondorf would be dead." At the child's deadpan answer, Link's eyes widened before the Hero of Time smiled again.
"We've both messed up and we've both failed a few times but we've helped a bunch of people and saved a lot more people because we're pretty good most of the time. That what it means to be a Hero, to be someone who accepts what they did wrong and fix it, making sure it doesn't happen again. Example: I once thought I could beat a Gibdo with a Deku Stick, tried it and I learned to use a sword from then on. You tried your hardest today but exhausted yourself and your Magic so you couldn't battle Cia when she arrived so you had to wait for reinforcements to come and help you causing some soldiers to die so you've learned-"
"-to pace myself and keep my Magic stored up for when I need it, not for when I want it."
"I was going to say to carry a few more potions with you but that's good too!"
"Thanks, Link."
"Don't mention it, Link!"
With his piece said, the Hero of Time happily ran off, the mask on his head switching to a pair of bunny ears as he ran through the camp, obviously running to find the warriors from his Era and probably drive them mad with his antics.
Link let himself laugh a little as the Hero of Time, his younger self in a lot of ways, ran into Darunia and the Goron began rolling after him, Link laughing all the while as the Goron tried to keep pace with him.
"We are heroes I guess." Link leaned back on his seat, a knocked over log, and looked up towards the clear night sky above the camping army.
"We can fall but we always rise, we always face trials we have to overcome."
There was more wisdom to the words of the Hero of Time than many of the older Generals and Captains Link had come to know in the army, something Link had noticed was an odd trait of the Hero of Time. Along with that, Link saw a kindred spirit in many ways with the young Hero, he was at many times the only person who could always, without a doubt, be someone he could talk too without the feeling of being judged.
Lana was a close second but she always tried to make any of their conversations quick or rush off halfway through, shouting about having something to do to help track down Cia or generally something to do with magic.
Zelda, well she was the Princess of Hyrule and the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom. He would be hard pressed to ever be able to talk to her without the feeling of a child talking to an adult despite their relatively similar ages.
Impa…the less said about their conversations the better since most were basically, "Quit complaining, you're the Hero of act like it".
Midna was more likely to tease him about his problems than offer any solutions.
Darunia, while a great friend to both him and the Hero of Time, was somewhat hard to talk to for him, perhaps because the Goron sometimes didn't know his own strength when compared to Hylians like himself.
Ruto dedicated most of her time to being very much like a mother to the Hero of Time, a role he seemed unused to from his confusion from time to time at the way she acted around him.
In many ways, Link was the only one the Hero of Time could talk to without having to act like the Hero of Time the same way Link saw the the young Hero as the person he could always talk to no matter what.
"Thanks for the talk, Link."
AN: Well, hoped you like that pretty short oneshot.
Peace.