The Champions were gathered at the ranch once more, standing outside of the barn. They were in the midst of a heated argument about their next move when the air stirred. There was a loud crack as if lightning split the ground, but there wasn't a storm cloud in sight. They turned to the source of the sound only to see Link on his hands and knees, gasping from the wounds that marked his body. To their surprise, he was not alone. Rusl stood above him, looking down at his son, his face pale. Their silent gazes moved between Rusl and Link before Daruk finally spoke.
"What the fuck?" he muttered.
Mipha hurried to Link, dropping to her knees beside him. Link tried his best to push her hands away, but she pushed back harder – easy enough to do in his weakened state – and began to heal him as quickly as possible.
"Where have you been?" Daruk hissed.
Link winced as Mipha worked, looking up to briefly meet Daruk's gaze. His eyes narrowed. "Working."
Daruk scowled at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Saving the world," Link growled. "Kicking Yiga ass."
"It looks like you're the one that got your ass kicked," Kit said.
Link spat blood at the ground. He pushed Mipha away, getting to his feet before she had finished healing him. She searched his darkened blue eyes, catching flecks of red still in them. When he turned his eyes to her, she tore her gaze away.
"So," Revali started. "Are we going to address the giant fucking elephant standing right fucking there?" He gestured a hand to Rusl.
Their gazes moved back to Rusl. Link stared blankly at his father, almost as surprised as the first time he saw him, as if he hadn't expected him to be there. His face creased in disbelief and confusion. And then, after a moment, anger, as his brows furrowed together. "You," he hissed. "You lied to me." It wasn't a question. His teeth grit together. "You lied to Aryll."
"I did what I had to do," Rusl said sternly. "To keep you both out of this mess."
"This mess?" Link sneered. "Aryll was eleven years old. I had to tell her her father died." His nostrils flared. "Is this a joke to you?"
Rusl, too, started to grown angry at his son's accusations. "Do you think I would have done this if I had a choice?" he hissed.
Link bit his tongue in an attempt to remain calm. Already, he could feel the darkness start to cloud his mind. He had to stay in control. His eyes flashed threateningly dark and he pulled his gaze away from his father. "Fuck you," he hissed before walking away.
Rusl watched as his son disappeared into the barn, then turned his attention back to Link's friends. They stared at him with a mix of emotions, though Revali,
Daruk, and Kit seemed to regard him with disapproving stares. His brows furrowed angrily, and in a huff, he turned and marched away in the opposite direction.
"He faked his death," Kit said bitterly. "That's fucked up."
Urbosa frowned. "He wouldn't do that without good reason," she said. "There's more to this than we realize."
An uneasy silence fell over the group. Mipha stepped away from the group and hurried after Link. She found him in the barn where he was pacing angrily and cursing under his breath. He paused when she stepped over the threshold of the barn and met her gaze. His shoulders dropped, his stiff posture instantly relaxing as she approached him.
"Where's Aryll?" he asked quickly.
"She went out back with Talon to help him fix some fencing." Mipha hesitated when he did not respond. "Are you… alright?" She didn't necessarily mean it in regards to his father's sudden appearance. She studied his eyes carefully, but he seemed to be back to normal.
"Fine," he muttered. While the darkness seemed to remain at bay, his emotions ran wild.
Mipha pressed her lips together. "She's worried sick about you," she said softly. "Goddesses, what the hell were you thinking?"
Link sighed through his nose. "I thought I could take care of everything myself."
"How did that turn out?" Mipha said dryly. "Will you stop with this impulsive shit already?"
The corners of his lips tugged into a small smile. "I know," he started, and the smile quickly disappeared. "I'm sorry." He pulled his gaze away. "I wanted to do what I could before…" He didn't need to finish the sentence.
"You're not going anywhere," Mipha said.
Link glanced at her. He was not as confident as she was, but he didn't bother voice his thoughts further with her. Though, if one good thing came out of it all, it was that Aryll would not be alone if something were to happen to him. At least she would have her father, no matter how much he hated him in that moment.
Rusl leaned against the paddock fence on the other side of the house. He put out his cigarette on the wood post as Kit approached with two bottles in hand. He stood beside Rusl, popped open one of the bottles, and offered it to Rusl. He took it wordlessly, but offered a nod in thanks. They drank in silence for a moment before Kit finally spoke.
"So, back from the dead," he said with a grin, but Rusl did not appreciate the joke. Kit's grin quickly disappeared and he stared into his bottle. "You know," he said after another moment. "I met Link and those stupid ass friends of his five years ago." He smiled lightly at the memory, then chuckled. "They came stumblin' in, barely after noon. The kinda guys I get at that time aren't the kinda guys I thought they were." He shook his head and drank his beer. When he finished, he continued. "Nah, these guys were dressed to the nines, lookin' all fancy in their dumbass suits." He shrugged. "Figured it was some kinda bachelor party still drunk from the night before, yanno?" He used his bottle to point in front of him, as if he were gesturing to the three men that entered his bar. "But I recognized them almost right away, of course. Who wouldn't, right? Hyrule's heroes. Except Link - he didn't have that same dumb baby face I used to see on the news. Sure, he may have grown up a little bit since then. You know. Definitely not maturity wise." He snorted and grinned, glancing over at Rusl, but Rusl did not meet his gaze. His eyes were hard as he stared at the ground, listening to Kit ramble on.
"Anyway," Kit continued. "I was ready to totally exploit the hell outta them, you know? Come to my bar - Hyrule's Champions drink here! What better way to take in new customers?" He took another sip of his beer. The bottle barely had a chance to leave his lips when he spoke again in a tone that suggested he had heard the most interesting thing in the world. "Turns out," he started, "they had just left your funeral." Kit let his words hang in the silence between them for a moment. He stared ahead, but felt Rusl's gaze on him.
"He never left my bar after that," Kit said softly. "For five long years, I had his beer cold, open, and waiting for him at his usual seat in the corner. Mostly, he'd just sit and stare at nothing. But sometimes we'd talk. Sometimes, we'd drink. Sometimes, we'd waste the night crawling around the city looking for something to distract us from life." He paused. "Five years," he repeated. "Five years I watched him drown." His brows furrowed and he turned his gaze to Rusl. "That damn kid's a mess, you know. I think the only thing that kept him going was Aryll. He did everything he damn well could for her. To make her life as normal as possible. Isn't that what everyone deserves?" He turned his gaze away and finished his beer. "He sure as hell didn't get that."
"Do you think I need to be reminded that I'm a shitty person?" Rusl sneered.
"Nah," Kit said, shaking his head. "I'm sure it eats you the fuck up." He hesitated. "I just hope to hell there was a good fucking reason for putting him through all that shit. He deserves the truth."
"I know," Rusl said softly. He pinched the bridge of his nose, then hung his head.
Kit shrugged. "But I'm just a bartender," he said. "I bring beer when times are tough, and sometimes offer a little wisdom." He finished his beer. "If you're gonna be back from the dead, at least be there. Stick around for a while." He tipped an imaginary hat at him before leaving Rusl alone once more.
Rusl stayed where he was for a few minutes more, finishing his beer, before finally deciding to find Link, who he had admittedly been trying to avoid since he stormed off. He always hoped he could be reunited with his children again, though this was not the way he had imagined it. He couldn't blame his son for being so angry with him, however. At the very least, he owed his son an explanation.
It didn't take him long to find Link. Though it was still daylight, the barn was dim and cool. He shuffled inside without greeting.
Link glanced over his shoulder, but seeing it was only his father, he turned back to the stall where hungry goat eyes looked up at him. He tossed in the flakes of hay and closed the door. "What do you want?" he muttered.
"I'm sorry," Rusl said. "I know things haven't seemed fair -"
"Fair?" Link snapped, turning to face his father. "What would you know about fair?"
Rusl sucked in a breath in an attempt to remain calm with his son. "Look," he started, but Link cut him off.
"No," he snarled. "You have no idea what we've been through. There's a damn gravestone with your name on it. You don't get to talk about fair. You were gone. You left us alone. I gave up everything. I took on everything. I raised Aryll. I stayed up with her every night when she cried. I covered her ass when she got suspended from school. I worked a hundred damn hours so she could have a friggin place to live. And you think you can just come back from the fucking dead and everything will be the same?"
"Nothing will ever be the same," Rusl hissed. "That's what you don't get, Link."
"Then why don't you enlighten me?" Link snarled.
"The Yiga are hunting you," Rusl said. "They've been hunting you since the day you were born, and they won't stop until they have you."
"Well, I hate to break it to ya," Link started, "but they already got their damn hands on me."
"I know," Rusl said through clenched teeth. He turned his gaze down at the ground. "I did everything I could to keep you and Aryll safe," he said. "That's why I was gone. I was tracking them down. I was trying to eliminate the problem, following Roham's orders, but they got to me first." He hesitated. "As far as anyone knew, I was dead. I should have been dead. I was there for years before I got out." He pulled his gaze away. "I couldn't just walk back into your life after that," he continued. "You were better off believing I was gone."
"I was, or you were?" Link hissed.
"What would you have done?" Rusl snapped. "If I came back?"
Link narrowed his gaze on his father. "I would have destroyed them."
This seemed to be exactly the response Rusl expected. His shoulders relaxed slightly. "And that's why I didn't come back."
Link stared at his father. He opened his mouth to speak, but his sister's voice caught his attention.
"Link?"
Link moved his gaze passed his father to where Aryll stood in the doorway of the barn. Her brows were furrowed as her gaze fell on the man that stood between her and her brother. After a moment, a wave of realization washed over her face.
"Dad?"
Rusl hesitated, meeting Link's angry gaze. He turned to look at his daughter over his shoulder and smiled at her. "Hey, Ary."
Aryll ran to her father and jumped into his arms. It didn't matter how much bigger she was since Rusl had last seen his daughter; he let her jump on him all the same and wrapped his arms around her. Aryll buried her face in her father's neck and sobbed.
Link's clenched jaw relaxed for the first time that day as he watched his sister and father together. Rusl kissed her forehead and she pushed herself away to examine him, as if to make sure he were real. Unlike Link, she didn't once question her father's appearance, but simply treasured the fact that he was alive and back in their world.
After a moment, Aryll turned her gaze to her brother, but Link's hardened expression had softened. Aryll was grinning, wider than he had seen on her in a long time. However, her brows furrowed when her brother did not seem as overjoyed as she was.
"What's wrong?"
Link shook his head. "Nothing."
Aryll held her gaze on him a moment longer. She knew when he was keeping things from her, but in that moment, she didn't particularly care. Her father was alive. Her family was whole again. She turned back to Rusl, grinning once more, though her vision had started to blur. She hugged him tightly again and cried quietly against him.
"Damn it, you're not ten years old anymore," Rusl said as he kissed her head.
Aryll laughed lightly. "Yeah, Dad, duh."
Rusl pushed her away and this time, he seemed to inspect her. "Goddesses, I missed you grow up." He wiped the back of his hand across his eyes.
"It wasn't that exciting," Aryll said with a grin.
Rusl frowned. He let his fingers brush her hair out of her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Ary."
She hugged him again. "I know," she said. "I forgive you."
They didn't pull apart until Link stepped around them, and without a word, left them alone in the barn.
Aryll stared out the doorway of the barn and frowned. She sniffed and wiped at her own tears. "Why… what… What's his damn problem?"
"He has every right to be mad at me," Rusl said.
Aryll's brows knit together. "No, he doesn't. Why can't he just be happy? He's a fucking idiot."
Rusl smiled. "Um. Language."
Aryll's expression turned suddenly guilty, and Rusl laughed.
"That's what happens when you leave me with that idiot," Aryll muttered.
Rusl frowned. "Why aren't you mad at me?"
Aryll met his gaze. "Because I know you didn't have a choice." She turned her gaze back out the door. "Just like Link." She sighed softly and met her father's gaze again. "He knows that, too. He'll come around."
"I'm not so sure," Rusl said. "I've kept a lot of secrets from him."
"Link thinks he can save everyone," Aryll said. Her voice softened. "He'll die trying."
"Yeah," Rusl muttered. "That's what I've been trying to prevent." He sighed. "I'm pretty sure the last conversation we had -"
"Was about my summer reading project before I started middle school."
Rusl smiled. "You hated that book."
"I set it on fire."
"Link let you play with matches?"
"Please," she said. "He didn't let me do anything." She shrugged. "You know how that goes. I turned into a rebellious teen." She grinned. "I think I gave him a few strokes."
"No wonder he's so bitter."
Aryll frowned. "Yeah."
"You can go back to being six years old, now."
"I would love nothing more," she said. "I'd much rather be coloring or something."
"Painting my toenails?"
Aryll grinned. "I'm guessing you didn't miss that."
Rusl hugged his daughter once more. "I even missed the stupid peanut butter and banana sandwiches."
