The Hyrulian Valhalla Saga
By Queenie Z

(Happy 100th story everybody! A massive thank you to all my readers who have supported me over the past year, I appreciate each and every one of you!)

The Centennial Hero's Ball, Part 1 of 2

The Links all considered themselves a family of sorts, and like any family, they often enjoyed their meals together as a group. This morning's breakfast was no exception; their table filled to the brim with platefuls of freshly cooked eggs, sizzling sausages, warm bread with butter and jam, tea and coffee prepared to everyone's taste, and, of course, more than enough milk to go around, the Heroes ate heartily and chattered merrily amongst themselves. It was a time of good food and good friends, and each of them enjoyed every moment they got to bask in each other's company.

One member of their little brotherhood, however, was nowhere to be seen, a fact that Duo suddenly realized just as he finished spreading some strawberry jam on a slice of bread. He blinked, scanning the room for a moment before frowning slightly.

"Guys?" he asked, "I don't think Brown's made it yet."

"Yeah, you're right," said Engie, reaching for the coffee pitcher and refilling his mug. "Guess he overslept or something."

Green shrugged. "Ah, well, he snoozes, he loses!" He turned to Twilight with an outstretched arm. "Hey Twilight, pass the sausages, will you?"

Finishing his glass of milk with a satisfied sigh, Twilight wiped his mouth, then handed the plate of sausages to his successor. "Sure thing," he said with a hint of suspicion, "but don't you dare eat all of them like you did last — "

Suddenly, the group heard the dining room door being thrown open and slamming against the wall. They turned their heads towards the noise simultaneously, and there, right on cue, was Brown, his face fixed in a deep, vexed scowl.

"Er," said Sky, his fork still in his hand as he tilted his head curiously, "Brown? What's wrong?"

Brown held up what appeared to be an envelope, flapping it around angrily as he spoke. "Just when were you guys going to tell me about this!?"

"About what?" asked Wind as he munched on a fried egg.

"This!" Brown tossed the envelope on the table. As it landed, a card with a gold-stamped design slid out, and Mini reached over to take it. He opened it and glanced over it quickly.

"Oh," he said, nonplussed, "that. Yeah, that is tomorrow, isn't it?"

Time leaned over to get a look at the card himself. "Right, the Hero's Ball." He snickered, then glanced back towards Brown. "You just now got your invitation? Ours came weeks ago."

Brown grimaced slightly, then crossed his arms and huffed. "…Well, maybe I waited too long to open it." He then pointed at the group, his scowl returning. "But that doesn't change the fact that you guys are supposed to tell me about these kind of things…!"

"We didn't?" Duo asked before turning to his predecessor. "Light, weren't you going to tell him about the ball?"

"Why would I be the one to tell him?" replied Light, prodding Duo's shoulder with his fork, "He's your direct successor."

"That doesn't matter!" spat Brown. "All I wanna know is what this Hero's Ball business is all about and why Zelda wants me there so badly!"

After a short, awkward silence, all eyes turned to Sky. As the eldest, he was always considered the most suited to answer these kinds of questions. Knowing that the burden of explanation had fallen on him, he sat down his fork and rested his elbows on the table.

"You see," he began, "the Centennial Hero's Ball is a tradition the Zeldas started - well, Mini's Zelda, to be exact. She always felt like she was never able to celebrate his accomplishments the way she would have liked to in life, so once they both got here, she had a grand party thrown in his honor." He scratched his cheek somewhat bashfully. "Of course, you know my Zelda, she got me dragged into the whole thing, too. Then Time's Zelda hopped on board when he finally got here, and so on and so forth, until eventually they decided to make it about celebrating the cycle as a whole and the accomplishments of every Hero." He lowered his hand and smiled pleasantly. "So now, every one hundred years, the Zeldas throw a ball for us, and we're pretty much obligated to go."

Brown's anger seemed to subside slightly at the explanation. He sighed heavily and slumped his shoulders. "I was afraid you'd say that," he said. "I hate formal stuff."

"How do you know you won't like it?" asked Duo, "You've never been to a formal event before."

"I don't need to go to one to know I won't like it!"

"Then tomorrow will be your first," said Time, frowning slightly at the reluctant Hero. "You said your Zelda wanted you to go, right? Surely you're not going to disappoint her."

"I — " Brown sulked further, his expression guilty-looking. "Well… no… but what do I even do for one of these? I don't even have anything nice to wear…!"

Mini grinned. "Well then," he said, hopping out of his seat and approaching Brown, grabbing the sleeve of his shirt, "we'll just have to find you something, now, won't we?"

"Huh!?"

With a small laugh, Sky also left his seat and walked over to Brown. "Mini's right; we need to find you a handsome outfit quick!" He lifted his gaze to Green. "Hey, Green, want to lend us a hand?"

"Me?" Green said with a puzzled expression, "Why me?"

"I'm afraid mine and Mini's tastes will be a little too old fashioned," explained Sky. "We need the input of someone from a modern era."

At this, Green snorted and smirked. "Well, in that case, I guess I can help you old geezers out!" After stuffing one last sausage in his mouth, he left the table to join the others as they dragged Brown out of the dining room.

"W-Wait," said Brown, "what about my breakfast!? I haven't even gotten to eat anything!"

Mini darted back to the table, took a piece of buttered bread from Twilight's plate, then ran back to Brown, stuffing it in his mouth before helping Sky and Green shove him out the door.

"Hey!" cried Twilight, "That was mine, you twerp!"

"Take it easy," laughed Time, "there's more bread where that came from."

Wind nodded at Time's statement. Then, he took one of the loaves and bread, cut off a large chunk, and spread some butter on it. "Here you go," he said, handing it to Twilight.

With an irritated grumble, Twilight snatched the bread from his hands and took a bite.

While Sky, Mini, and Green were off trying to find Brown some proper formal attire, the others finished their breakfast and set out to prepare their own outfits for the Hero's Ball. Unfortunately, a hundred years was more than enough time to allow many of them to completely forget where they had stored them since the last ball. This was why Light had offered to help Time search his house for his clothes, with Time agreeing to return the favor once they'd been found.

They started their search in Time's attic, where, if he remembered correctly, most of his old memorabilia from his time as a knight was stored. There, they found an old chest, and after clearing away the cobwebs that had formed on the latch - though the Heroes themselves never aged in this paradise, their furniture still did - Time opened it up.

"Ah, here we are," he said with a grin as he pulled out a blue jacket that was lined with a thin layer of dust, "I knew it'd be somewhere up here!"

Light scratched his nose. "Wow, Time, you sure let your dress uniform get in bad shape…"

Time stood and inspected the old uniform more closely. "Nothing a little soap and water won't fix." He then flapped the jacket up and down, shaking off the dust and causing Light to cough.

"Geez, watch it!" said Light as he covered his mouth, "You're gonna make us both choke!"

"Oh," said Time sheepishly once he stopped, "sorry, Light."

After catching his breath, the younger Hero cleared his throat. "…Anyway, I still can't believe you've only worn it for the Hero's Balls - I mean, you look back on your time as Captain pretty fondly, don't you?"

"I do," said Time, folding the jacket over his shoulder and kneeling down to collect the rest of the uniform, "but as far as nostalgia's concerned, I've always preferred wearing the armor."

"The one with the weird horns?"

"Yes," chuckled Time, "the one with the weird horns. I only ever wore the dress uniform when Zelda made me wear it for parties and ceremonies. It's nice, but a knight can't exactly fight for his country in a double-breasted suit and dress shoes, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah, I see your point," said Light, peering into the old chest and eyeing the pins and medals inside. "But, still, fancy parties at Hyrule Castle during the kingdom's glory days… bet those were a lot more exciting than the ones from my era."

"I wouldn't say that." Time reached in and picked out his decor, rubbing the dust off of each award on the hem of his tunic. "They were still kind of boring for the most part. Not only that, I was a kid from the forest mingling with nobles and royalty whose lives I couldn't understand - I was like a fish out of water at those events." He smiled. "But the fact that Zelda was there with me made them a little more bearable. She would always go out of her way to make sure I had a good time, at least a little bit."

Light couldn't help but smile as well. "That generosity runs in her family," he said. "My Zelda was always there for me to talk to when things got boring."

"I bet your psychic connection with her helped with that."

"You wouldn't believe what a life saver it was!" He chuckled to himself. "My Zelda, she had a way of seeing the truth in people's intentions; she always said that she preferred my company over the fake and insincere socialites trying to suck up to her and her father."

"Of course she would," said Time as he gathered the last of his medals. Once he'd wiped it clean, he flashed his successor a slight grin. "Which is why I think she'd really appreciate you asking her for a dance tomorrow."

At that, Light startled. "W-What!?"

"Seriously, Light," laughed Time, "all these years, she's been the one to ask you - it astounds me that you've never even tried to return to the favor!"

The younger Link's cheeks turned rosy, and he looked off to the side. "I-It's not that I don't want to, I just get too…"

"Nervous?" With his uniform and accessories, Time stood, ruffling his successor's shaggy orange hair affectionately. "You're always so self-conscious and high strung - lighten up a little!"

Light flinched at his elder's touch. "Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. "A-Anyway, we've got your dress uniform - now we need to go and find mine."

"Okay," said Time, motioning towards the ladder leading out of the attic. "You first, Lieutenant."

"Yes, Captain," said Light with a slight scoff as he climbed down.

Wind and Engie managed to find their outfits relatively easily. The customs of New Hyrule were slightly different from those of the old kingdom; all those in the service of the crown were expected to attend formal functions in their regular uniforms rather than dress uniforms. Hence, all they needed to do was take their respective uniforms - guard captain's for Wind and senior royal engineer's for Engie - and clean them up a little.

After carefully washing their clothes, they left them hanging outside. While they waited for them to dry, the two gathered in Wind's living room to organize the awards, pins, and service medals they'd each received in life. Although their awards weren't unique - every Hero had an impressive collection of honors for their deeds as both Heroes and servants of Hyrule - that fact did not stop Engie and Wind from talking about them with great pride and perhaps the slightest bit of boastfulness.

Engie lifted a pin - a small, blue rectangle - and grinned. "Ten years of service as a royal engineer," he mused. Then he picked up a similar pin, colored red this time. "Twenty years." He then organized three more pins - one green, one silver, and the last, gold - into a vertical stack on the coffee table. "Thirty, forty, fifty…"

"I still can't believe you managed to rack up fifty years of service," laughed Wind, shaking his head slightly. "That's got to be a record!"

"I was the only engineer to ever serve for that long," said Engie, "and as far as I know, no one's broken my record since."

"It's impressive, that's for sure!" Wind collected his own similar pins, which only counted for thirty years of service as captain of the guard, and looked at them somewhat sadly. "…At the very least, it was much more than I was able to do."

Noticing his expression, Engie frowned. "Come on, Wind," he said, "you were the captain of New Hyrule's guards! The first, even!" He glanced over at some of Wind's other awards, which included a Medal of Outstanding Leadership, a Crest of Valor, and a posthumous award given to those who perished in the line of duty. "You gave your life for your country - fifty years of driving trains doesn't even hold a candle to that."

Wind looked back up at his successor, staring at him for a moment before breaking into a small chuckle. "You should never try to make someone else feel better about their accomplishments by belittling your own." He sat his pins back down. "You did great things as an engineer - you brought people together, you brought resources to those who needed them, you worked hard to protect every single passenger who boarded your train… and most of all, you served your queen as her personal driver and her dearest friend." He smiled. "What you did as a royal engineer was different from what I did as a guard - but it was just as honorable."

Touched by his predecessor's words, Engie smiled back. "You're right," he said, "I shouldn't have put my work down like that. Sorry, Wind."

"It's fine." Wind glanced over at the Crest of Valor belonging to Engie, given to him by his Zelda for helping to restore the Spirit Tracks and defeat Malladus. "…Though, if you want my personal opinion, you would have been a fantastic guardsman, too."

"I actually considered enlisting for a while," said Engie, "but, well… I'm a train guy, you know? I kept a sword with me to protect Zelda and my passengers, but I couldn't just stop being an engineer."

"Of course," Wind said, amused, "the siren call of the train whistle was simply too much for you to resist, huh?"

Engie laughed. "You bet!" he stood, grinning wryly at his senior. "After all, I'm not deathly afraid of trains, unlike a certain somebody I know…!"

Wind's grin turned into a scowl, and he shot out of his seat. "For the last time, I'm not afraid of them! They just go — "

"Yeah, yeah, they go too fast, you've told me." Engie waltzed toward the door, his grin widening as he continued. "You know, for a brave and valiant Hero of Legend, you're kind of a wuss sometimes."

"You take that back, Engie…!"

With another laugh, Engie left the house to go check on his clothes. Then, after stewing a moment longer over his successor's impudence, Wind sighed, letting the matter go before following suit.

Twilight let out a satisfied sigh as he held a handsome, dark green tailcoat out in front of him, carefully inspecting its buttons. Having left it carelessly in the back of his closet for a century, he wasn't surprised to find one of the buttons missing. However, the Hero of the Twilight Realm was in fact quite skilled with a needle and thread. He had learned to mend his own clothes as a young man, and for him, sewing a button back on a coat was a piece of cake.

After determining that the newly-attached button was properly aligned with the others, Twilight folded the coat neatly and went to lay it down on the back of a nearby chair. Before he could, however, he heard a knock on the door.

"Coming!" he called out. After setting down the coat, he walked quickly over to the door and opened it, revealing a sulky Duo holding a thick, white bundle. "Hey, Duo, what's wrong?"

"Sorry to bother you, Twilight," Duo said with a small, sheepish smile, "but I really need your help."

"Sure, anything," said Twilight as he stepped aside to let in his friend.

Duo stepped inside, then unraveled the bundle to reveal a fancy white coat with large wrist cuffs and blue and silver trimming. Then, he reached down and lifted the coat's tail to reveal a noticeable tear in it. "My ambassador's coat got torn," he said, "I can't wear it to the ball like this!"

Twilight took a good look at the tear, scratching his chin in thought. Then, he flashed Duo a confident grin. "Oh, this is nothing," he said, taking the coat in his arms, "I can fix it up in a jiffy."

"Are you sure?" asked Duo nervously, "I mean, it's right in the middle of the fabric…"

"I used to make holes that the goats chewed in my clothes look good as new," Twilight assured him with a small laugh, "this will be a cinch." He sat down, then reached into the sewing kit on the coffee table and pulled out his needles, searching for one that was fine enough for the task at hand.

"Thanks, Twilight," said Duo, relieved, "I knew I could count on you."

"Any time," chuckled Twilight. He found the needle he was looking for, then pulled out a spool of white thread. After cutting a decent length of it off with his teeth, he tied a knot at the end and began the tricky process of inserting it into the needle's tiny eye. "You know," he said between threading attempts, "I always found it interesting that you became an ambassador - the rest of us would never have dreamed of taking a job in politics."

"A-Ah, well," Duo said, scratching his cheek, "I suppose it is pretty different, considering it doesn't involve using a sword or anything…" He smiled bashfully. "Guess that makes Engie and I the odd ones out."

"I meant it more in that we couldn't handle having to help run a country," corrected Twilight as he finally threaded the damned needle.

Duo shook his head. "That's not quite what I did, Twilight. I was a representative, not an administrator." He glanced at his coat fondly. "After saving Labrynna and Holodrum, I wanted to find a way I could continue helping the people there as well as in Hyrule. Furthermore, with Ganon and his servants gone and the Triforce safe in Hyrule, there wasn't really a need for more warriors. So Zelda suggested that I become one of Hyrule's representatives to our neighboring allies."

"Uh-huh," acknowledged Twilight as he concentrated on making tiny stitches to seal the torn fabric of Duo's coat.

Duo continued. "All I did was work to make the wants and needs of the people in each nation known," he said. "In that sense, I was just as much a servant of Hyrule as the rest of you."

Twilight nodded. "You're right," he said, "the way you helped people was just as important as the way I helped people as a member of the Adventurer's Guild." He stopped momentarily to grin teasingly at Duo. "Though I still think my job was way more exciting."

The younger Link pouted slightly in offense. "How so?"

"Think about it," Twilight said with playful derision, "I got to travel the world and explore uncharted areas; I got to fight bad guys and go on rescue missions. That's gotta be more exciting than what you did."

"I got to travel the world too!" said Duo, his pout deepening, "I got to meet all kinds of people and see all kinds of new things, and — "

"Duo," interrupted Twilight, placing a free hand on the younger Hero's shoulder, "I'm kidding."

"…Oh," said Duo, sulking again.

Twilight chuckled and shook his head as he went back to work. Poor Duo was a sensitive guy, and he knew he shouldn't tease him, but sometimes he simply couldn't help himself.