"He's gone.."

Those were the first words that the hero of legend heard as he ran breathlessly up to the front door of the in. He sagged against a rough beam supporting the porch. He didn't even register who had said them. He was exhausted.

"What do you mean.." He said shakily, wheezing. His head spun and he felt like his legs were going to give out. He'd run for miles without stopping and now felt sick.

Wars looked at him with misty faraway eyes. He simply shook his head, not able to form words. The Sailor had his face buried against the man's chest and seemed to be clinging to him for dear life. He wept, hard but silent. Wracking sobs shook his shoulders but no sound issued from the boy. He looked so very small in that moment and Legend's heart ached for him.

Another one…. He had lost another one.

"Oh.. oh no." Legend felt his knees finally give.

He wanted to scream. To cry like the boy, to do Anything at all to relieve this feeling but all he could do was sit there, staring at nothing. He felt his consciousness slipping as he retreated inward. He sat like that for what felt like days, not noting the old man quietly talking to the innkeep near the front door and paying for rooms for them all, he didn't notice Wild's absence or Four's. He barely registered Sky lifting him to his feet, and gently guiding him inside. He didn't notice the Traveler sitting vigil, weeping over a sheet-covered form in a room they passed as he was guided to his own. He sat on the edge of the bed, cold, unfeeling….hollow. Brittle. He sat like that for a long time. His candle burned low and eventually snuffed out, he could hear soft crying and hushed murmurs from the adjacent rooms, and eventually….silence as sleep claimed the world around him.

Finally, the tears came. Hot, angry… he balled his fists, his nails digging into the meat of his palms. The Hero wept.

Legend awoke to the sound of a shrill ringing. It was a sound both alien and familiar... Something he hadn't heard for an age. Old man Ulrira from Koholint came to mind with that sound.

Koholint…

He instinctively swiped around in the dark for the source of the sound to silence it and felt his hand strike something hard and rectangular. Still operating on instinct, he swiped his thumb over the object and pulled it to his ear.

"MMm-yeah?" he grumbled into it.

Ravio's voice, high and excited came through loud enough to make the man wince and pull the device from his face.

"Heya Buuuuuuuddy! You up yet? I just wanted to be the First to congratulate you on the new showing tonight! Din gave me a eensy-weensy sneak peek at some of the new paintings at the gallery and I. Am. Blown. Away. I will NEVER understand where you get your inspiration I mean like wow I-"

I..what? S-slow down.. a gallery? You're not making any sen-"….the hero froze.

Ravio had kept talking but Legend wasn't listening. Slightly more fully awake, he was suddenly flooded with memories of the night before. The Rancher…his friend; Twilight. Link. He was gone. He suddenly felt numb all over, he felt the object from which Ravio's voice still issued slip from his fingers as he curled in on himself. A thin moan slipped from his lips as his heart caved in. He hugged his knees to his chest. Again.. He'd lost someone he loved again. A brother this time. The pain was sharp and twisting. He couldn't breathe. He let the sorrow overtake him and he wept.

A hand gently touched his back and he flinched but didn't uncoil. Presumably, it belonged to whomever he was rooming with tonight, he couldn't remember. He wasn't in the mood to be comforted anyway, especially by someone who was hurting as deeply as he and just putting up a brave front. Another hurting brother.. Another broken Link. He didn't have it in him to comfort back. He needed to grieve, and he needed to do it alone. He tucked deeper into himself, letting the hot stinging, silent tears stream down the side of his face and into the pillow beneath him.

"Link?" A soft sleepy and altogether feminine voice called from behind him. He went rigid in surprise. He felt the bed shift as a warm weight pressed against his back. An arm snaked over his middle. "Honey are you having a nightmare?"

That voice..it..it can't be. He almost didn't want to turn around. He felt a soft breath and a gentle kiss on the shell of his ear. It sent shivers down his spine, he turned.

She was haloed by the dim pre-dawn, a thick cloud of mussed red hair teased up around her head. Her eyes were puffy and half-closed, squinting at him in the semi-dark, clearly still half asleep. She was older than when he last saw her but….but it was her. This.. must be a dream.

"Marin." He breathed, barely able to say her name aloud.

She frowned, and rather than answer propped herself up on one elbow and reached over him, pressing the back of her hand against his head. "Do you have a fever?" She stayed like that for a moment, and he didn't move, savoring this simple touch. Her big brown eyes looked into his in concern. "….No. No fever… Hmm"

She was about to say something else when the door burst open. Both of them sat upright in surprise. A little girl with flaming red hair and blue eyes came into the room in tears, a large green-brown blotch stained her pink frilly nightgown.

"Mommyyyyyyyy" The little girl wailed. "The dog threw up on me and woke me up!" She hyperventilated "It smells like green beaaaaaanns"

Marin gave Legend a rueful smile and kissed the tip of his nose. "Duty calls, love." She got up and followed the sobbing child out of the room.

She left him there.. laying in a bed, in a strange but familiar room as his bed buzzed with questions, his heart still ached with the loss of Twilight, just now though he was more confused than anything else. What was happening? Was he losing his grip? Was losing his friend the final straw for his already tenuous grip on reality? Was this real? ...Had any of it been…real?

A few minutes later Marin came back into the room holding two cups steaming cups of coffee and a plate with sweet-smelling flat frosted bread things. Legend took one tentatively bit into it. A soft guttural sound left his lips before he could stop it. This….treat was Marvelous! It was filled with a warm berry goo.

He inhaled the rest of it quickly.

Marin laughed and offered him the second pastry. "Looks like you're way more hungry than I am this morning!"

He took it gratefully, gulping down a mouthful of good strong coffee between bites. "What do you call this? It's incredible!"

Marin frowned at him again. "Babe… Its just a pop tart." She felt his forehead again. What is With you today. You don't seem yourself."

Legend finished chewing thoughtfully and brushed the crumbs from his chin. He took her hand from his forehead gently and clasped it between his own. He looked into her eyes earnestly.

"I… Marin… I can't say that I know what's going on, but.." he reached out and stroked her cheek, staring into those lovely doe eyes of hers. "I feel like I've been lost for a long time.. walking in a dark haze and seeing your face like this is like the sun finally coming up to dispel that haze. And maybe this is still just a dream… but-" He kissed her knuckles. "Even if it is.. I just need you to know; Marin..I I… I Love you."

He looked up at her hopefully. She just stared at him for a long time. Long enough to make him feel very uneasy, and eventually quite foolish, before she snorted and pushed him onto his back and climbed on top of him, straddling him.

"Ah! Marin- Wha-" He stuttered.

She laughed, "Laying it on thick this morning huh?...Ok ok… I'll bite. What do you want? Is this about Ricky's fishing trip this weekend?"

He just stared up at her, unable to form words, feeling heat creeping up his cheeks... By the Three she was beautiful...

She sighed heavily and wrinkled her nose at him shaking her head. "Fiiiiiiiiiine… Go." She smiled warm and real. "I'll take the kids to your uncles or something." She knelt down over him, and nuzzled his nose with her own causing Legend's heart to practically beat out of his chest.

"I-…." He began but his mind blanked as she nipped his earlobe "Ah!"

She giggled into his ear. "Ambi went back to bed for now… we have a little time before we have to be 'grown ups' again….you wannaaaaaaa..?"

She wiggled her hips in emphasis and then waggled her eyebrows with a grin.

"I…" He choked as she was already slipping her night shirt off over her head. "He gasped at the sight of her. "I…. Oh.. Oh my yes.." He breathed.

Marin smiled and leaned down to kiss him in a long sweet kiss.

"I love you too… you odd Odd man."