Ok, the jig is up. This is a crossover story! More specifically, one dealing with the Multiverse! I know the multiverse is a tired concept in movies nowadays, but I still wanna do this! It's been a dream of mine to bring together characters for something fun! Enjoy!
-Joost

Shattering the Stars
Chapter 1: Reflect

The wounded Link slowly grew aware of his surroundings. His sight was deeply blurred, his eyes struggling to work from the loss of blood. All he could do was breathe, but even then, just barely. When vision returned to him at last, he found himself lying in a bed he didn't recognize.

The room, however, seemed eerily familiar. His weary brain worked to connect with the images he saw, but nothing came to mind. Everything was foreign to him, as was the scent of the room. It felt different, yet the same to his own home of Hyrule in many regards. Sounds of crackling embers populated the soft, dim air, aiding in relieving the tension in his muscles.

Then, Link noticed that he wasn't alone. There was slender man leaning against the side of the fireplace, wearing a white shirt and red bandana, with a sword and shield on his back. He had his arms crossed and was staring at the floor, seemingly lost in thought. It wasn't long before he noticed the one in bed was looking at him.

"Hey Link! Guys, he's awake!" The fellow hollered. The sound of rushing footsteps could be heard before the door burst open. There, the wounded man was stricken with shock.

The two Links locked eyes with each other, both astonished. Though the one at the door was less surprised than he had been yesterday, he still couldn't quite comprehend what was before him. A similar, but not exact copy of himself. He noted that his variant didn't have the silver portion in his hair that he received from Bellum a couple years ago, nor did he seem to have the Gilded Sword. Instead it was an odd form of the old Kokiri Sword and another sword he didn't recognize.

There were dozens more differences Link could point out, but he brushed those pointless thoughts away and focused on the real dilemma. The fact that something had happened to this version of himself. Something horrendous. He was enervated by some unknown attacker and left in this broken state.

"Link? Is he awake? Is everything alright?" The former hero heard the distinct voice of his surrogate mother, and he quickly shut the door so no one else could disturb the wounded man.

"Okay, okay, let's not get too excited, alright, mom?" Link did his best to keep his own voice down, unsure about how sensitive his other self was. Anju, along with Kafei, Romani, Jim, and the recently arrived Tatl, Tael, and Navi, all garnered around the bedroom door.

Anju, still the keeper of the Stock Pot Inn, was arguably the most baffled by the unexpected news when her son came to visit town the other day. The idea of another version of him, in a horrifyingly wounded state, reminded her of that dreadful evening when her boy returned to the inn unconscious and on horseback, bleeding profusely after suffering a beating in Ikana Canyon. It'd been so long since that incident, yet the memories flooded back like a river during a downpour.

The fairies, Tatl, her brother Tael, and her partner, Navi, all rushed from their humble hut just outside of the Southern Swamp to see if it the letter deemed urgent held any truth. Tatl and Navi's relationship in particular had grown considerably in the past year and a half, with them finally tying the knot just a month prior.

"Ya know, Link, if I had a rupee for every time we had to rush to down because of some emergency, I'd be a rich fairy!" Tatl was easily the most furious of the bunch, having been taken away from a nice retreat with her beloved.

"Sorry, you two. I know I interrupted something special, but this couldn't really wait," Link explained himself, the sound of his soft but prolific voice somewhat soothing the person in the other room.

"Nonsense, Link! Tatl's just being a bit dramatic," Navi elbowed her wife in the side as she spoke. "Whatever happened, we're sure it's important!"

"Yeah, that's one way of saying it," Link rubbed the back of his neck like he used to do when he was younger.

"Just a warning, it's a little… intense…" Kafei chimed in, his words of warning making Tael sweat a little. It wasn't often that the purple-haired innkeeper spoke esoterically.

"Okay, just you three, join me in the room," Link said, Tatl, Tael, and Navi gathering by his shoulders, like old times. "Only us, because I don't want him to get too alarmed."

As he stepped to the door, the former hero looked to his own wife and smiled worriedly, mouthing the words 'I love you'. She did the same as he turned to knob to the bedroom and walked in.

The fairy trio stifled their gasps as they looked upon the wounded Link, who had closed his eyes to try and sleep. He was aware of the visitors, but too bothered to acknowledge them. His own misery was far too overwhelming to power through it. Navi, especially, saw so much of the hero she had fought the great King of Evil within the man that all the color drained from her face. It was as if the man she gazed upon had never been returned to his childhood courtesy of the princess of Hyrule.

When the fairies flew in closer to see the battered and bruised man, his ears shot up. It would be a cold day in Death Mountain before he failed to recognize the sound of his oldest companion. He forced his eyes open and his head to turn, all so he could see her again.

"N-Navi?" The man sounded gruff, and particularly older than the Link that the fairies knew. They flew back at the unsightly scene of his damaged face, but the subtle warmth of his newfound smile brought them forward.

"You… You know me?" Navi said, letting go of Tatl's hand, which she didn't even realize she was holding, to land on the nightstand just next to the bed.

"How-" The Link tried to sit up on the sheets, but a scorching pain in his hip forced him back down. "H-How could I ever forget that blue glow?"

Navi's mouth went agape, a stream of thoughts exploding through her head as countless questions festered at the surface. She kept her mouth shut, however, knowing that it'd be a terrible idea to ask him anything at the moment. She simply flew back over to Tatl and took hold of her hand again.

"B-But what are you doing here? I thought you were…" The Link in bed paused when he realized what he was saying. He retreated into himself and leaned back in the bed. "I-I'm sorry."

"For what?" Navi tilted her head.

"I j-just realized… you're not my Navi," said the damaged fellow dejectedly.

"What do you mean, 'not your Navi'?" Tatl looked almost defensive at the man's statement. To her, there was only one Navi.

"Well, you see, it's a bit-" Before he could finish, he started coughing. Drips of red were flung from his lips and onto the blanket that covered him, but he thought nothing of the sight. "…a bit complicated. The fellow that did this to me… he and his lackeys came from another realm, I think."

"Wait a moment, someone did this to you?" Link pulled up one of the chairs that was nestled by the table near the fireplace and sat down. Tael hovered beside him, still a bit offput by the whole situation.

"Yes, it was Sha-" The wounded man held his tongue, not daring to deem the moniker of that monster a slice of verbal dignity. The cutoff left Link confused, with an eyebrow raised and thoughts provoked.

After a minute of silence, and careful thinking, Link made a decision. "Alright, I think you guys should go. I'll stay with him so he's comfortable," Link said, standing back up.

"Sure," Navi said, breaking out of her own little trance.

All three fairies got up and left the room, with a small commotion erupting just beyond the door when Link shut it without joining them. The boy could faintly hear his mother asking for him, along with a bit of Romani sounding worried. For a moment he stared at the floor, thinking about just what to say.

"So, who are you?" Link turned to face his wounded reflection.

"You already know the answer to that question," The man replied. He knew he and his other self were about to engage in a lengthy conversation.

"Romani doesn't like this!" The town guard, currently at liberty, slowly sat down on the plush bench of the lobby.

"Neither do we, honey," Anju said from the counter, looking to Kafei. The two innkeepers were worried for a multitude of reasons, but with their daughter-in-law so distressed, such worries only grew. "But we just need to trust Link for now."

"I don't understand why Grasshopper has to talk to that man alone!" Romani ran her fingers across the arm of the bench repeatedly, trying to do something to get her mind off it.

"Sweetie, just because he's there alone doesn't mean he's in trouble," Anju's motherly voice soothed a bit of Romani's exhausted mind, but not by much. The ranch woman had gotten a lot of that from her older sister.

"Yeah! Besides, you know him best, Romani!" Tael tried to lighten the mood, but with the uncharacteristic silence from his sister, he felt like a lone soldier fighting a war.

Romani, now much older and womanly than she used to be, still bore signs of her youthful self, recklessness and all. Ever since she met Link, that part of herself had been fueled by his heroism, courage, and complexity. And the same was true for Link, who had managed to break away from his own insecurities and find a better part of life from her, far from all the fighting. But now, with that man in the bed upstairs, the lady felt like there was a new part of the equation, one that could ruin everything she and her partner had managed to find. As she pondered, she didn't even notice she started to strangle the arm of the bench in nervous anger.

"Romani, remember, you need to just stay calm. You're on maternity leave for a reason," Kafei scolded Romani's childish rage, recalling when she and Link were younger, how Cremia told of her little sister throwing fits when she couldn't see her best friend.

Romani looked at her hands, which had been constricting around the leather arm rest, and let go. She looked down at herself, her 6-month large abdomen, and rubbed it gently, relaxing as she felt the warmth of her and Link's child within her. She sighed, her eyelids narrow, wondering why she was being so anxious.

"Perhaps… uh, just think about something else for the time being, alright?" Anju's suggestion got Romani reminiscing.

There were almost a million better things Romani could think about. Dozens of happy moments in her life. The day she met Link, when she first went to the Carnival of Time, when she and Link had that sleepover at the ranch and they confided in each other, when she was first accepted into the Clock Town Guard, or when she finally married her best friend. Her mind rested on a common theme, Link. While yes, she did think of her husband often, now, it was all that was on her mind.

Link had been such an influential part of her life, but to see another version of him, helpless and in a heap on the beach as she waited for Jim and her Link to return, she couldn't help but see a bit of her husband. Her husband, damaged and dying before her, with her powerless to do anything. It haunted her for all those minutes that she waited, holding the man's hand as he slowly bled out. It was a miracle that Epona and Ivory, Jim's horse, were fast steeds.

Out of nowhere, a kick from her stomach brought her back to reality, and Romani blinked. She silently thanked her child for getting her out of those terrible thoughts. But when the movement didn't cease, Romani thought of what the matter could be. The child held a sort of sense that its parents weren't together and grew rowdy at the elongated time they spent away from each other.

"Romani's going up to see him," The ranch woman slowly stood from the bench and steadied herself, arching her back as grunting as she stretched.

Anju cocked her neck as if to speak, but Kafei reached over and held her arm. One look at his face told her that Romani was alright to go. Without a word, the pair held an unseen conversation, and came to an agreement. As Romani disappeared up the stairs, Anju huffed, dwelling still on that awful feeling in her head.

"Hey, what's up?" Jim turned to Romani casually, his gear shifting on his back. Jim, the leader of the Bombers Secret Society of Justice, with his red comma of hair peeking from under his trademark bandana, always looked to his friends punctually.

Jim was now an accomplished fighter, having been trained to the fullest by the Swordsman Teacher in West Clock Town. For so long he wanted to be just like Link, who had respectfully turned down the opportunity of mentoring Jim personally. Now, he was Number Eight on the Clock Town Guard, the latest soldier to join the ranks behind Romani, who was Number Seven.

"Romani needs in, now," The ranch woman was quite blunt with her request, startling Jim a smidge.

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

After a quick contemplation by the Bomber, he complied, turning around to open the bedroom door and allow Romani inside. The second she stepped in, she was greeted with the sight of her Link, hunched in a chair, almost looming over the other Link as they talked. The one in the bed ceased whatever he had been previously explaining and did a doubletake at the sight of Romani.

"Malon?" The man's words made Romani's Link freeze on the spot, having not heard that name in years.

"Oh, Romani!" Link scooted away from his seat and helped Romani into the room. Such a habit had become of helping her around. His own personal fears of her getting hurt couldn't stop him, primarily because she was expecting.

"Romani came to save you," Romani explained, putting her arms around Link's shoulders and trying to bring him close. He relented, letting her embrace him, and he nearly melted in her arms, oblivious to the fact he had been tensing up ever since he started talking to his variant.

"Thank you, hon. I'm saved," Link retorted, thankful.

The wounded Link cleared his throat in an effort to gain the others' attention, and Link parted from his wife.

"Right, terribly sorry," Link started, making Romani roll her eyes. She found he apologized too frequently. "This, uhm, is Romani…" The stutter was coming back. "She's my-uh… W-Well she's my wife."

The bedridden man's eyes widened. He blinked twice, thinking he was delirious. No, he was seeing correctly. This Link's significant other was almost the splitting image of the woman he knew of as Malon, from home. He'd had quite the relationship with her, but now wasn't the time for such thoughts. The only real difference from this 'Romani' and Malon was that the woman before him was a bit taller, wearing a robin-egg blue gown, and existed with a certain maternal glow.

"A-And… who's that?" The Link asked, pointing to Romani's torso. A fierce reddening of the cheeks gleaned over the former hero's face.

"Oh! Well, that is… That is… Heh, we don't really know, actually," Link's bashfulness had finally returned, much as Romani hoped it would. Her own presence brought out the best in him, she'd discovered. "We plan to keep it a surprise."

"Huh. Well, congratulations, both of you." The compliment felt comfortably genuine coming from such a damaged man. That signature nobility that Link's possessed hadn't been taken from him yet. "She came at a great time, actually, as I wanted to get some sleep."

"I see," Link replied, facing Romani. He paused before following through with his intrusive idea that had just congealed itself inside his head. "Do you think we should stay the night, Firefly? Just to make sure nothing goes wrong?"

Romani didn't state her mind, just sighing. She had a feeling he'd ask that, and knowing him, he'd find a way to stay. Even when he was twenty, he still had that young ambition that followed him everywhere.

"Alright, fine, but you're staying right next to me the whole time, you hear me?" Romani wasn't about to have any protest from her best friend. Link nodded his head, though not with much conviction.

With a voiceless deeming of goodnight, the couple left the room together. The battered man, now alone, fiddled with the blanket in his lap, thinking of all the things he'd learned from his other self during the evening. Before completely turning in for the night, he had another coughing fit, pressure in his chest and abdomen growing. He glanced at his hands and arms, noting how pale and clammy they appeared. A frown grew, but he didn't care. Sleep could help.

Meanwhile, Link and Romani walked to the next room over. The bunkbeds would be difficult to cuddle on, let alone sleep in together, but both partners had a copious amount of ideas about how to remedy the problem.

"Finally, alone time," Romani plopped herself down on the lowest bunk and beckoned for Link to join her. He first lit a candle that was perched on a nightstand at the crown of the bunk before returning to his beloved. "Romani doesn't quite like that man."

"Well, I don't like him either, but something…" Link trailed off, getting lost in his own words. Romani slanted her head quizzically, examining the clouded glaze in her best friend's eyes. "Something about what we talked about…"

"What exactly went on in there, anyways? What did you talk about?" Romani's ever-present curiosity made Link chuckle. He scooted onto the bed next to his wife and laid down.

"Well, it was a lot about life, you know? About what his own home is like. He seemed so interested in the fact that things were so different, even about how I live here, in Termina." Link's own recollection of the whole conversation was a bit muffled, but he clung to the important details. "He spoke of his own knowledge of what he calls 'alternate realms'. You remember how odd it was when we went to Hyrule?"

Romani nodded.

"Well, from what he knows, there's a lot more of things like that out there," Link said, ruminating on what he already knew of other realms. His thoughts went straight to Hyrule, and how the people of Termina reflected them only in appearance.

"Do you trust him, Grasshopper?" Romani snuggled up against Link, putting her hands to his chest.

"I do," Link said.

"Why's that?"

"Because… Because…" Link engrossed himself in a possible reason. In all honesty, he trusted him just from the look in his eyes. Not the wounds on his body or the sincerity of his voice, but the way his eyes conveyed his claims. "Because I do."

"Hmmm, alright, I trust you," Romani brought Link into her own warmth and the pair sighed. Although, they didn't fall asleep just yet, as a certain someone was still stirring. "Heh, they've been distressed the entire time you were away."

"D-Do you think they missed me?" Link was unendingly nervous about being a father, a fact Romani knew too well. She secretly hoped for a boy, so that he could grow up to be just like his father. Link, oppositely, wished for a girl, almost for the same reason. He didn't want to see his child wear a sword and shield like he did.

"Romani knows they did." The ranch lady reached up and played with the silver portion of Link's hair, smirking.

Later, in the dead of night, Link still remained awake. As Romani blissfully snored beside him, his own head debated something only known to himself. He considered against it for the longest time, but when he knew his wife was in a deep sleep, he peeled away from her and retrieved his item bag which clung to the chair closest to them by the table.

Link rummaged around in his bag for a bit, struggling to identify the items he grabbed in the dim moonlight seeping from the distant window. However, his own keenness served him well, as when he felt the Lens of Truth brush against his palm, he knew he found what he was looking for.

It'd been a while since Link even used any item from his bag, and even longer since the Lens of Truth proved useful. Magic wasn't something Link applied to much since he got married. But now, he knew he needed it. Looking to his boots leaned up against the wall by the door, Link decided to not put them on. Silence would be his ally. He slinked out of the room, carefully placing his feet on the floorboards that didn't creak and made his way to the Knife Chamber. A part of him felt like a Garo, the race of spies he defeated so many years ago.

Opening the bedroom door, Link spotted his double. He slowly made his way over to him and crouched down by the side of the bed. There, he held the Lens of Truth up to his variant's hip and activated it. With the holy eye of knowledge, Link was allowed to see inside of his opposite self, and dread laced around his mouth and consumed his face.

From what he was able to see, the wounded Link in the bed was bleeding, but on the inside. His lung punctured and taking on blood, it explained the coughing fits he occasionally had and the frequent lightheadedness he tried not to complain about when they talked just hours before.

It didn't matter if they had given him the strongest blue potion those hags in the swamp could produce, such an injury couldn't be mended. The reality set in, and the fate of this man was already sealed.

A sweet whisper of profanity swept the hero's tongue as he set the Lens of Truth down. Time was not on this poor fellow's side now. With what he saw, the man would be dead by tomorrow, and there was nothing he could do about it. Link cursed under his breath again before leaving the room, sorrowfully.

However, Link halted in the hallway, gripping the Lens of Truth. His mind swarmed with all the man had told him of his home. The princess he so adored. Zelda. She'd never see her friend again. The world he was forced to flee from would be without their hero.

With a lump of regret in his throat, Link returned to bed with Romani, but he didn't get much sleep. At least not much that wasn't plagued by terrible thoughts of what might transpire the following day.

A feeling of existential pressure made itself apparent on Link's shoulders, but he didn't know why. As he held Romani in his arms as he laid back down, the sense of danger rotted within his conscience, pleading for him to somehow save this man from death.

First thing in the morning, Link visited his wounded alter in the Knife Chamber. As much as he wanted to tell of what he discovered during the night, he couldn't bring himself to do so.

"So, what else is different in your Hyrule?" Link tried to hide his own pained remorse for the man stuck in a coffin of sheets and pillows.

"Hmmm, enough about my Hyrule. I grow tired of listing the details." The other Link forced a chuckle but ended with a cough. He felt more miserable than ever before, his heart beating a mile a minute, making his hands weary and unstable.

"Sorry, I'm just quite fascinated with it all," Link said, defending his own inquisitiveness.

"No worries, no worries, I understand. To be honest, I'm equally interested in your own story. How you chose to stay here in Termina and not return to Hyrule." The bedridden man spoke with a labored wheeze, his own breathing stunted. "A very quaint thing now that I think about it."

Link snorted at the comment. He had come to realize that the decision to stay was unusual, but so was Termina itself. In the end, he was glad he did. It allowed him to discover more about himself than he thought he ever could in Hyrule.

"Yes, yes, but I also… um, had another question." Link's words stagnated, his mind working on how to ask appropriately. The Link in bed seemed puzzled.

"How did…" Link paused. He then gestured towards the man's body and the blankets covering up his failure. "How did it happen? Who did it to you?"

The other Link froze, astounded by the request. His eyes darted around like an insect, almost paranoid whether or not there were unwelcome ears listening. The younger of the two stepped back, afraid he had unintentionally offended his other self.

"I-I-I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have asked that," Link started to take it all back, but the other held his hand up calmly and shushed.

"No, no, it's alright. I-I just wasn't prepared for such a question. But… are you sure you want to know?" The pair of heroes waited, the younger quietly giving confirmation. The damaged fighter collected his own thoughts.

But before either of them could speak, another voice from beyond the door caught their attention.

"Link? Hey, kiddo, could you come down and help Romani with preparing lunch? She seems so apt to take care of it for Anju." It was Kafei. Link, fearing for the safety of his lover, reluctantly left the room for a few minutes, giving the other Link time to meditate on what he'd eventually have to explain.

The distant sounds of pots clanging, metal utensils rustling, and food being chopped were all drowned out as the broken warrior found himself in a pensive mood. Even his own pain was outmatched by the insatiable lust for justice he felt towards the man and the goons that nearly took his life. He stared at his hand, and how it touched the hand of the enemy. It felt like heresy.

The extreme bout of silence that swelled within the bedroom was unbreakable, everlasting as long as life still flowed through the disgraced hero stuck in bed. His own heart raced as he struggled to come to terms with how he'd have to describe that man with a penchant for chaos.

The only name he knew to give that monster, the one he nearly spilled when talking to Navi the day before. He knew he'd have to share it with his other self. He needed to know.

"Hey, sorry that took so long," Link plowed through the bedroom door in a startling fashion, making the other Link jostle in bed.

"It's alright, don't worry," said the hurt warrior, easing himself.

"Would you like something to eat? Romani just finished whipping up some fruity tomato stew." Link held out a bowl of the simmered soup, hoping the man would take some.

"I'm fine."

The hurt man inspected the wholesome, homely face of his double as he put the bowl down. He truly wished to share some of his bountiful food with him, a near complete stranger. Finally, hints of admiration grew in the older man's eyes, and his fears of revealing who damaged him were extinguished.

"Now, you said you wanted to know who is responsible for this," the man threw back his blanket so that more of his scars and wounds were visible. When he saw the resounding nod from the other, he at last delineated the most recognizable feature of the depraved madman he so loathed.

"We call him… Shatterhand."