Legend's tail whipped to the left, propelling him to the side. His scales of green and fins of pink shimmered under the watery sunlight, camouflaging him well amongst the coral reefs on both sides. He swam through schools of fish, ignoring the grumbles of the sea creatures around him. The Veteran knew he should not have left the Wind under the Sky's care while they were anywhere near the sea. The moment they got close to a water body, the Sailor would not waste a second jumping in and not coming out until mealtime.

As far as Legend was concerned, finding missing reincarnations was not included in a hero's job description. Yet, here he was, searching for a wayward selkie who probably had gone miles away from shore to Hylia-knows-where. He would not have stepped into the water if the only other person who could naturally breathe underwater was half the swimmer most of them were. Wild was decent in short distances, but any larger than a lake would be exhausting for him. Warriors could probably survive underwater but had no tail or fins. It would take the vampire days before he could even cover half the distance the dragon could reach at that time.

Then again, this was not the first time the Veteran had to look for one of their own. He always had his hands full with Hyrule and, sometimes, the pixie's partner-in-getting-lost. It was frustratingly ironic because the Champion was supposed to have the best grasp of their surroundings, with him being a dragon, survivalist, and pyromaniac gremlin.

If he were in Twilight's position, he would have eaten his own arm long ago. Screw being a mentor. He would flip a finger at Hylia's grand plan and skedaddle the shit out of there. It was just too bad that the Rancher had a goody-two-shoes gig going on to think about rebelling.

Legend scowled and whirled around, smacking a tiger shark by the snout. The bastard had been stalking him for a while now, and it was getting on his nerves. He bared his sharp teeth in a threatening display. "Hey! Get lost! I'm not your lunch."

The merman must have slapped his tail hard that the shark looked genuinely shaken. It turned around and retreated in a hurry, not even offering an apology before it left. Rude. The Hero of Legend huffed - him being in the water had gotten a rise out of him. His patience was running thin, and he had not seen a flipper of Wind anywhere.

Had the Sailor returned to the others? It was possible, and Legend was very eager to have two legs again. It was not like that before - he had loved the ocean more than anything - until he met and lost her. Since then, the word alone was enough to trigger bad memories, and he had been avoiding it.

This is a sea. The merman repeatedly reminded himself. Not an ocean. He tried to keep his line of thinking strictly on that, but the mind was a traitorous bitch in the worst times. The sea is still part of the ocean.

"Oh, fuck you. Fuck me." The Veteran muttered under his breath. He swore he would bring the Sailor back to the surface even if he had to drag him on the way and vent everything on the next unfortunate horde of monsters they would encounter. He would not have Ravio scolding him for failing to 'manage' his emotions.

The Hero of Legend was about swim upward when he saw a dark spot in the distance. His eyebrows furrowed, thinking that the tiger shark had returned for revenge. However, it was smaller than a shark's, even as it approached closer to his direction. He finally made out its blue eyes, brown and gray coat, and…Wait. Why were those familiar?

Before the merman's mind could catch up, a shrill Legend! reached his ears, and the selkie barreled point-blank on his stomach. The impact sent the two heroes crashing into a coral reef and scaring the sea creatures away. Indignant shouts filled his ears, and he swore he inhaled more dust than water. Fortunately, they hit a colony of soft corals. The Veteran was not keen to explain the bruises and scrapes on his backside to the others. He could imagine them laughing and joking about how he, the most experienced among them, had met his match with the Sailor.

The merman got his bearings back and glared at the offending hero despite the throbbing pain in his abdomen. His hands gripped the aquatic fae underneath the flippers, ensuring he would not be able to swim his way out of this.

"Sailor, what the fuck?"

The little shit had the audacity to tilt his head and look at him with those wide blue eyes as if he did not just go cannonball at him just a few seconds ago. It was adorable, yes, but Legend knew better than to get carried away by that face. He had seen others fall to the Sailor's charm and lose more rupees than they usually spent. He had experienced it once, and that was enough - the selkie is far more dangerous than Ravio.

Wind nearly bounced with energy under his webbed hold. "Legend! Legend! Listen! You wouldn't believe what I found!"

The Hero of Legend decided it was better to humor the other for a while. It was bearable that way. "What?"

The Sailor grinned giddily and spread his flippers. "A shipwreck!" He wriggled out of his grasp and swam in circles around him. "Come on! Let's go explore!"

Ah, there it was. The magical word that meant trouble in the Veteran's vocabulary. He crossed his arms and scowled. "No."

"Oh, come on! Don't be a killjoy."

Legend grabbed the selkie and squished him gently. The latter's face pinched in an amusing puddle of fur and blubber. "We're going back."

"Nooo!" Wind kicked up his tail. "I don't wanna! I want to go exploring!"

"You already went exploring!"

"That's scouting!" The Hero of Winds countered. "That doesn't count."

The merman swore under his breath, making a series of clicks and chatters that would make a dolphin blush in embarrassment. If there was anything he had learned from Hyrule and Wild, there was no stopping a Link from exploring if they wanted to. Stubbornness was a shared trait among the heroes, after all.

"Fine!" Legend relented. "But just for one hour. Any longer than that, and I'm dragging you back whether you like it or not."

Do seals smile? Yes, they do. Are they cute when they do that? That was debatable in the Veteran's book, and he was not keen on finding out more. That would be more of the Smith's forte. The Sailor looked incredibly happy that the merman almost felt guilty letting him have only an hour. Almost. Again, he knew better than to be influenced by the selkie's charms.

Wind waggled his flippers. "YAY! You're the best, Vet!"

Legend fought back the smile on his lips. "Don't even bother with the praises. Flattery will get you nowhere."

The Hero of Winds giggled, and the merman let go of him. The latter followed the younger hero above the coral reefs and further away from the coast. They reached the edge of the continental shelf - the slope extending downwards gently to the seafloor. The Veteran's eyes seemed to glow like a cat's as he surveyed the abyssal plain below them, looking for any sign of danger coming from the dark depths. He knew better than to let his guard down - his homecourt was as dangerous as the surface.

The two heroes reached a group of seamounts, and Legend noted their eroded peaks were barely breaching the surface. It was a natural death trap for any ship, and he was not wrong. Just ahead of them, a shipwreck lay atop a guyot. The Hero of Legend could make out a jagged gash along its rotting wooden hull, even from a distance. The craft must be at least a century old, given how thick the algae covering it is. Schools of fish darted in and out without caring what or who made the ill-fated vessel.

The merman mapped the direction they came from and anything that stood out in his head before following the aquatic fae. He slipped into a crack on the starboard side and found himself inside the cargo hold. Wooden crates and barrels scattered across the area - some of which were reduced to bits of wood. Non-perishable goods lay among the debris - most of which were half-buried in the sand that spilled through the ruined floor. None captured the Veteran's attention, and he followed the Sailor to the upper floors.

"Vet, over here!"

Wind waved him to a small room that looked suspiciously like the captain's stateroom. The merman's speculation was confirmed when he took a peek inside - no area in a ship was more luxurious than the captain's room. Well, except the one that a higher power might use. If he were to surmise, this vessel might belong to the royal family of this era.

"I'll bite, Sailor." Legend said. "What are you looking for?"

"Treasure, of course!" The selkie answered as he peered between toppled shelves at one corner. "The captain's stateroom is the best place to look for some."

The Veteran picked up a round object on the floor and brushed away the sand and dirt, revealing a compass. The case was made of solid gold, with the outer lid decorated with a mosaic. The design made of precious metals was surprisingly intact, and the compass itself was still working as it should. Huh. Not bad. Ravio might like this. He did not have his bag with him, so he decided to just carry it by hand for now.

The merman turned to see the younger hero flitting around. "Well, now that's surprising. Have you done this before? Like, I don't know, your princess' pirate ship?"

"What? No! Tetra will kill me!" The selkie nosed away a dusty cloth sheet and whistled at his find. "Ooh! Legend! Look what I found."

The Hero of Legend floated next to the younger hero and raised an eyebrow. Well, that was fast. The trapdoor was behind a covered marble bust, just out of sight to anyone looking from most angles. Together, they pushed the statue aside to uncover the entirety of the door and tried to pry it open. It took a few times on Legend's part - he was the only one with opposable thumbs between them - but it finally relented and revealed a passageway large enough to fit him.

The Veteran had to admit - he was curious about what was inside the secret compartment - but he was not a fan of the unknown. There was a high possibility of traps inside, considering this place was well-hidden from prying eyes. The captain, whoever he was, had some big secret to hide.

Wind popped his head into the narrow corridor, and Legend had to fight the urge to yank the Sailor back and tell him off. "Looks safe." After that quick assessment, he turned to the merman with a wide grin. "Come on, Vet!"

"We're not going inside that."

"What? But there might be treasure!"

"Or traps." The Hero of Legend crossed his arms. "I'm not risking my neck just for something that might not be there."

"What's treasure hunting if there aren't traps?" Wind's eyes gleamed as he flipped in circles giddily. "Come on! Come on, Vet! We still have time, right? I wanna see!"

There it was. The Sailor's secret weapon. The pup seal's eyes. Legend pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing that he was anywhere but here. Sure, he could resist the selkie's other charms, but not those eyes. Especially not those eyes. It was a tragedy that he did not have the Old Man's iron will or the Rancher's and the Captain's big brother's discipline when it came to this situation.

"Alright, we'll do it. So, stop that." The Veteran scowled. "But we're getting the fuck out of there immediately if it gets dangerous. Got it?"

The Hero of Winds saluted with a grin. "Aye, aye, Captain!"

It was official. He had gotten soft. Legend reluctantly took the front as they descended into the dark passageway. It was narrow, nearly suffocating, and the Veteran struggled to keep his breathing even. The Sailor did not seem to mind it and simply followed enthusiastically behind him.

Thankfully, it was not a long dive, and they found themselves in a tiny space. The room was empty, save for a covered frame tucked at the farthest corner. Much to the selkie's dismay, there was no shining treasure trove nor anything thrill-worthy to be found. Legend admitted he was disappointed too, but at least he sensed no trap in the area.

The Veteran moved towards the frame, with the Sailor trailing behind him with a pout. Something about the item was drawing him in, and he grabbed the hem of the fabric. He tugged the cover off with one swift movement, revealing a painting hidden underneath. It was impressively preserved - the colors still vivid before the heroes' very eyes as if it was just made recently. Words in an unfamiliar Hylian alphabet were etched on the bottom portion of the frame, though Legend could tell it included a date and year underneath.

The painting depicted a family - the uniformed man he assumed to be the captain and the father. But what drew the merman's attention was probably the youngest child. The kid looked five or six years of age, with ginger blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The eyes looked familiar, almost reminiscent of most of the heroes. The hue was the closest to the Champion's, and he could practically see the kid wearing green and blue and wielding the -

"- Vet!"

Legend jolted and whirled sharply in the aquatic fae's direction. His heart hammered in his chest, and his gills by the neck closed and opened fast that they ached. The trance he was in seconds ago faded into confusion. What was he doing again…?

The Sailor floated next to him and carefully tapped a flipper on the merman's scaly arm. "Are you okay, Vet? I called your name earlier, but you were just staring at that painting. Did you know them?"

Did he…? The Hero of Legend was unfamiliar to all but the kid. He did not know precisely what he could recognize about him, but it felt like he had known him for a long time. It did not make sense since they were not in anyone's era - this one was unknown to them. Whatever the reason was, Legend would rather not think about it in uncharted territory like this.

"No, I don't." The merman's tail stirred the dirt on the floor as he turned toward where they came from. "We should go. The others will look for us if we stay out any longer."

Wind looked unconvinced but did as he was told to. They emerged into the captain's stateroom and decided to cover the trapdoor like before. The Hero of Winds went ahead outside the room while Legend stayed around for a moment. The latter stared down at the compass in his hand and set it back where he had picked it up.

Legend was a hoarder, yes, but something about this place felt too sacred to be taken from. It would be better to leave it undisturbed in most parts out of respect for those whose lives were taken away by the sea. They and the people who loved and missed them had already suffered enough.

The Veteran cast one last glance at the room before turning away with finality. The two heroes swam side-by-side as they left the sunken ship to its watery grave. Only when they reached the continental shelf did the merman let out a breath of relief. It only lasted a second when the realization that he had just gone into an impromptu exploration sunk into his mind. If Hyrule and Wild were to find out, they would riot.

"Sailor."

"Hm?"

"Don't tell the others," Legend told him. "I'll give you my desserts for a week."

Wind understood quickly what he meant and grinned. "One month. Plus, exclusive rights to use your magical stuff."

The Veteran scowled, but he knew the selkie would not be dissuaded even if he tried. "Fine. Just don't touch the cursed ones. I don't want to deal with a parrot shrieking at my ear every minute to turn them back to normal. Now I think about it. I still have to get back to the Captain for that."

"I could help you," The selkie offered. "Also, it's a deal. I saw nothing. You just went out to find me, and we returned to the others. That's all."

The merman grinned at him and patted his head. "Right. That's what I did." He agreed. "Now, about your offer…."

Wind's innocent face pulled up into a familiar impish expression. "I have a few suggestions. Want to hear them?"

Needless to say, the vampire had one of the worst days in his life, and the rest of the heroes had learned to think twice before touching any of the Veteran's items.

AU Lore #5:

The merfolk is the most well-known aquatic race in Hyrule. They are half-human, half-fish people whose forms vary in shape and color. Mermen tend to be more colorful than mermaids due to courting reasons. Their hands are scaly and webbed, their teeth sharp enough to break through shells, and their reflective eyes can see through the dark depths of their watery home. However, the third trait only works well at night on the surface. They breathe through the gills on both sides of their neck but exchange them for lungs when on land.

Merfolk can not transform into a terrestrial form, requiring magical artifacts to take on human forms. However, such items are rare; most prefer their home court over the surface. Despite this, they have many nature-related powers, but the most well-known is their beautiful voice. It is their first line of offense and defense against enemies and intruders. Thus, sailors take special care not to violate any rules set by the race when traveling above their territory. Rumor has it that only a selected few have psychic and prophetic abilities, but this remains unconfirmed.

Legend is dominantly green, with pink fins behind his ears, back, elbows, and tail. His caudal fin is also pink, trailing like a betta (Siamese fighting fish). Green scales cover the back of his arms and his nape down to his waist, where his tail begins. Like any other merfolk, he has an inherent ability to speak with aquatic creatures using all forms of underwater communication. Less than an eighth of his race live on land, and much lesser are those who stay longer for months. The Veteran is one of them.