#midna is based on a dragonfish btw | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

attllhak · 2 years

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I promised more merAU content during this month and then haven’t posted anything. I’m changing that, so here’s the thing I did with some of Wild’s memories. Also introducing Dusk and Midna!

And @tortilla-of-courage you’re still the only person I’ve got listed down for the tag list of this fic.

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Twilight approached his brother cautiously, not wanting to upset him.

Wild was sitting on one of the big rocks along the shoreline by their house, holding his tail tight to his chest but still wearing the old, and slightly too small, shirt of Twilight’s they’d found for him, as everything else Twilight owned was too big on Wild’s smaller frame. He clearly hadn’t been swimming, though he also wasn’t wearing the skirt Malon had made for him to make the switch from land to sea easier either.

Wild was staring out at the water, lips pulled slightly down in a frown.

Twilight knew what this meant. Wild had remembered something, and was missing his original pod.

Flora, the Zelda on the marine research ship who had known Wild before, was still out trying to find the new reef Wild’s pod had moved to, to let them know Wild was alive and safe if nothing else, but hadn’t yet been able to. Not that anyone knew what would happen when she found them.

“Wild?” Twilight asked gently, sitting down in the sand next to his brother.

Wild didn’t say anything, so Twilight just leaned back on his arms, looking out over the water. He wondered, briefly, what Wild saw when he looked past the shore.

“I was a guard,” Wild finally said, voice quiet enough that Twilight barely heard him. “In my pod. I trained with a pair of mer who were also named ‘Link’,” Wild chuckled, and Twilight couldn’t help but grin at the repeat coincidence. “We had nicknames. Sky and Warriors, and they called me ‘Knight’. We were friends, I think,”

“Do you want us to call you Knight instead?” Twilight asked, watching his brother carefully for a response. It was always dangerous territory, to speak when Wild talked about his past.

Wild shook his head. “No, I’m not really Knight anymore anyways,” he lifted his head finally, squinting into the horizon. “I don’t know why, but I’m really worried about Warriors. I think, something I don’t remember might have happened, but I don’t know what it is,”

Twilight frowned, shifting to reach out and set a hand on Wild’s tail. “I’m sure he’s fine, whatever it is that happened to him. If he’s anything like you, then he’ll recover,”

Wild looked at him, and Twilight forced what he hoped was a reassuring smile onto his face. Wild nodded, and looked back out to the water.

Twilight didn’t know how to help his brother, and he hated that more than anything else.

(---)

‘Well, it’s good that he’s recovering his memories,’ Dusk offered.

Twilight was floating in the mouth of the trench, ranting about how helpless he felt not being able to help his brother feel better.

Midna and Dusk floated nearby, the three of them hidden from the rest of the trench mer in a small cave near the opening of the trench.

Dusk wasn’t a trench mer, but a deep sea mer born in the nearby pod that Time had come from. She was fully mer, and so couldn’t visit Twilight on land, so if they wanted to hang out it had to be underwater. She was sitting patiently on one of the small outcroppings, her purple and black tail curled neatly out of the way of Twilight’s pacing. Her name was also Zelda, thus the nickname.

Midna was a trench mer, the only one who was able to brave the waters above the trench. Like all trench mer she was all but covered in scales, even on her face, and if Twilight didn’t know her better, she’d be terrifying to see. Her tail was far longer than any mer outside the trench that Twilight had met, like she was an eel or something, her mouth was filled with daggers sharper than even mer and shaped like thorns, and her skin was tinted grey-blue. She didn’t bother curling her tail out of the way, the turquoise marked black tail something Twilight had to dodge as he swam in circles.

‘I don’t know what you’re ranting to us for,’ Midna rolled her eyes, her flashing taking a bit to translate since the trench mer had different markings used for speech, and they’d had to adjust to the difference when they first met. ‘I mean, I don’t know about Dusk, but I am not a good soundboard for family things. I mean, you’ve met my family,’

Midna waved out the cave entrance, towards the trench and the hungry, shadowy mer within it.

Midna was technically the matriarch of her pod, but Twilight and Dusk had learned quickly that this only meant she got first pick of a meal and the others didn’t try to fight her over stolen food.

Midna’s status as matriarch was the only thing keeping the trench mer from tearing Twilight and Dusk limb from limb, and even then they never went deeper than they had to.

Twilight pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, taking a long, slow breath. He sank slowly to the bottom of the cave.

He looked up when a hand landed on his shoulder, looking up at Dusk.

‘Midna is right, we don’t have a lot of experience with stuff like this,’ she began, biting her lip a bit. ‘But most people don’t really have experience here. We’re willing to help where we can though,’

She gave Midna a serious look, and the trench mer rolled her eyes.

‘Right, helpful, trying. Got it,’

Dusk gave her a sour look and turned back to Twilight. ‘What is it that Wild remembered?’

‘He was a guard in his original pod,’ Twilight flashed. ‘He trained with two other Links, and he thinks something happened to one but he doesn’t remember what and he’s a bit worried,’

‘Why don’t you get him a spear then?’ Midna suggested.

Both Dusk and Twilight turned to look at her.

‘What? He clearly knows how to use one. It might make him feel better,’

Twilight swam up and seized Midna in a hug, which threw her off quite a bit. He pulled back a bit, holding her shoulders.

‘Midna you are a genius!’ Twilight grinned wide.

‘Thank you!’ Midna blinked at him. ‘I think?’

‘Do you even know where to find a spear?’ Dusk asked.

Twilight shrugged. ‘Dad had a few fishing harpoons in a shed. That’s close enough, right?’

‘What’s a fishing harpoon?’ Midna asked.

Dusk shook her head at both of them and put her head in her hands, sighing.

(---)

Twilight held out the harpoon to Wild, grin on his face.

Time floated in the water behind them, next to Ruto and Mipha, watching the exchange.

Wild slowly took the harpoon, eying it carefully.

‘This is crappy quality for a weapon,’ Wild said finally.

Twilight hunched up his shoulders and shrunk a bit, fiddling with the harpoon in his own hands. ‘Well, they weren’t supposed to be weapons, but, they’ll work, right?’

Wild eyed the harpoon a bit longer, then spun it in his hands.

‘It’ll do,’ Wild nodded after a moment, looking up at Twilight. ‘So, you wanted me to teach you to fight?’

Twilight nodded, hoping his grin wasn’t too eager. He’d tried asking his father to teach him several times over his life, but Time always insisted that Twilight didn’t need to know that particular skill (he didn’t know just how often Twilight visited the trench, nor that he considered one of the mer there a friend), so he was pretty excited that Wild might be willing to teach him instead. It helped that it was a way to offer Wild something that he used to have.

‘Okay,’ Wild nodded. ‘Here, copy me and hold the harpoon like this,’

Twilight was happy to do so, mirroring Wild as best he could.

(---)

Twilight had one of the harpoons strapped to his back the next time he visited the trench, just in case. Dusk took her spear with her, after all.

Time caught him when he came home, having been curious about where he was going with a weapon, and had gotten quite upset.

Well, he was upset until Dusk followed Twilight up with Midna in tow, and both girls quickly made it clear why they gathered in the trench instead of somewhere safer.

Twilight was grounded for a week, but the day the punishment lifted Time had presented Twilight with a much stronger and sturdier harpoon, something that he could actually use as a weapon if he needed to.

Wild was very happy to have Time agree to teach them both a few techniques he learned in his pod and from the zora who lived closer to the coast. Twilight was as well, but was careful to keep why Time agreed to himself.

No need to worry Wild about his various ventures to the trench, right?

(---)

“Here. I uh, I got this for you,”

Twilight looked up from where he was just floating to turn his head at the voice.

Wild was floating a ways away, and Mipha was treading water across from him, thrusting something silver that Twilight couldn’t make out from his angle at Wild.

Twilight kicked his tail once to try and bring himself to a better angle.

‘You didn’t have to,’ Wild said, taking the silver thing from Mipha, eyes running over it with awe. It was a trident, Twilight learned, one that looked identical to the Lightscale Trident on Mipha’s own back.

“I know,” Mipha said, looking down a bit embarrassed. “But, I saw how much you enjoyed sparring with your brother, and a fishing harpoon isn’t much of a weapon, so I thought, maybe,” she trailed off slightly, looking up just a bit hopefully.

She was even more helpless than Wild was, and that was saying something.

‘Thank you,’ Wild offered her a shy smile, and Twilight reached up to cover his mouth. ‘I really appreciate this,’ he hugged the trident to his chest.

Twilight really needed to find a way to get those two to just admit they were in love, this was almost painful.

“Of course!” Mipha grinned. “I mean, I figured, I just, um. I’m glad you like it,”

‘I do, very much,’ Wild nodded quickly. ‘Um, also, I uh, I don’t think I’ve ever used a trident before. Would you, maybe, be willing to spar with me? Help me get used to it?’

“Yes! Of course!” Mipha nodded. “I’d be happy to!”

Wild and her both did these sort of relieved, breathy half-laughs, and Twilight rolled his eyes, banking back towards the shore. This was getting painful to watch.

Maybe he’d grab his harpoon and head out to the trench, bother Midna for a bit.

At least Wild was feeling better.

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