Author's Note: This one is nice and long. Fifteen and Sixteen were written together, but I decided it was too long and split them up.

This chapter relies heavily on the timeline theory I follow:
Minish Cap - Four Swords - Four Swords Adventures - Ocarina of Time - timeline split -
---Child Timeline: Majora's Mask - Legend of Zelda - Adventure of Link - Link to the Past - Link's Awakening - Oracle of Seasons - Oracle of Ages - Twilight Princess
---Adult Timeline: Wind Waker - Phantom Hourglass - Spirit Tracks.

Wind Waker and Twilight Princess occur at the same time in different worlds. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks therefore have not happened at the time of this story.

Hope that isn't too confusing. For more details on the timeline split or different theories, send me a message or look it up on .

The stuff described in this chapter is not by any means foolproof, or entirely accurate by Zelda canon. However, I have tried to fit it as well as I can into both the story and the timeline used. Review and let me know if you find anything too out of place.

Sorry for the long note. Hope you like it. I do not own Zelda, the characters, locations, plotlines or timelines. Runs in the Family is my idea, though, and especially the ideas in this and the first chapter.

Chapter Sixteen: Linked

They differed slightly, but each of them was definitely Link. The one whom we are following looked at each one.

The first, to his right, was his grandfather. The Hero of Time. He was clad in the green clothes Link was wearing…then Link realised that all of them were. He had a Master Sword in his hand. Link looked down quickly to check that he had it too. He did.

The next was the other man who had attacked Ganon on the clifftop. The middle aged one with the huge sword.

"Are you…my father?" Link asked in astonishment. The other man smiled as he approached, but then held up a hand when Link opened his mouth to ask more.

The next Link…was right next to him. He looked old and wise. Link saw years of experience in his eyes. He had a strange sword in his hand, if you looked hard enough, you saw four swords, not one.

To the left, another boy. This one was about twelve. He was shorter than all the others were, and had a cheerful, almost comical face. He had the Master Sword, but it did not quite look the same. It was thinner, more like a rapier. He grinned.

As the Links moved forward, some of them changed. The old Hero of Time, his son (Link's father) and the wise looking one with the four-in-one sword turned from grown adults into children not more than ten years of age. Link felt a slight change in himself, too: he seemed to have less scars, like when he first drew the Master Sword. Looking left, the twelve year old Link now looked about ten as well.

"Heroes," the ten year old to Link's right, still with the wise look in his eyes, spoke.

"You are assembled here to destroy the evil you see before you once and for all. However, before that, a few introductions are in order."

Link looked at him.

"Excuse me, er, not to sound rude, but shouldn't we do something about Ganon first?" he waved a hand.

"No need. He'll stay put." A strange smile.

"All right then."

***

"Two of you – " he looked at Link of the Twilight and the cheerful cartoonish Link beside him, " – may not be familiar with what is going on here. Allow me to explain."

"All of us have been chosen to vanquish the evil that threatened our land at different times. All of us bear the Triforce of Courage, and it has been passed down through generations to the next hero who will need it. As a result, the people who see here today, heroes, are either your ancestors, immediate family or descendants."

"The clothes you wear, and the Blade of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword, are also part of our inheritance. The clothes offer protection from harm, and help store items through magic, as you know."

"Everything you see, and everything that is associated with each one of you, has gone through many names over the ages. The Master Sword, the White Sword, the Magical Sword…different names for the same blade. Hero's Clothes, Hero's Tunic, Kokiri Tunic…different names for the same set of garb."

"Introductions. I am Link." He laughed at his joke. "We are all named Link. I am the ancestor, the multiple-great-grandfather of each of you. I fought the same evil thrice, but the first two times it was in the form of the wind sorcerer named Vaati. I saved the Picori, also known as the Minish, Vaati's original race, small humanlike creatures with magical abilities, from him. And so I was known as the Hero of the Minish."

"The next time I faced him, I needed the weapon known as the Four Sword," he held up his strange blade, "which split me into four Links. I sealed away Vaati and later used the same blade to defeat Ganon." The others nodded in understanding.

"To my right, the Hero of Time. Speak."

***

Link's grandfather spoke.

"I was raised by the Kokiri race in the forest less than a hundred years ago, with no idea as to my parents or ancestry. The Great Deku Tree that protected us was poisoned one day, and I defeated the evil creature inside it, but could not save the Tree. It told me I was to be a great hero, and spoke of a man named Ganondorf who had done this fell deed."

"As a ten year old, I found three Spiritual Stones and received the Ocarina of Time from the Princess, Zelda. I used these to reach the Master Sword, but was sealed away for seven years because I was too young to wield it."

"I awoke the Seven Sages that controlled the elements, when I was freed, then seventeen. We defeated Ganondorf, or Ganon and sealed him into another realm, and I was returned to my childhood."

"I went looking for my fairy companion, who had then vanished, and ended up in Termina, which had three days before its possessed moon fell onto it. I stopped this, replaying the three days with the Ocarina, and destroyed the spirit Majora that had caused the moon's descent. I then returned to Hyrule to live out my days, teaching new heroes the way of the sword."

The Hero of the Minish spoke again.

"Son of the Hero of Time, Hero of Seasons and Ages, speak."

***

Link's father spoke.

"I am the son of the Hero of Time. I was trained by him as a boy, and rescued our princess from Ganon, who had returned, by piecing together the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage that Ganon had shattered. Next Ganon turned the Sacred Realm into a Dark World, and I had to stop him again, going back and forth between worlds."

"As guardian knight of Hyrule, I sailed to Holodrum and Labrynna, where I freed the Oracles from Ganon's lieutenants, Onox and Veran, and prevented civil war."

"My son is the Link you see across from me, who was born just before I left for Holodrum. However, returning from the two islands, I was shipwrecked, and spent years trapped on a dream world called Koholint. I had to awaken the guardian deity of the island, the Wind Fish. When I did so, the entire place turned out to be a dream of the Wind Fish, and I had to struggle to sail back home. I reached only a few days ago."

***

"And you?"

Link fumbled at first. He was not good at relating stories. Or so he thought. The others listened, spellbound, as he told them of the Twilight, Midna, how he removed the darkness and then journeyed to the realm itself to defeat Zant, then came back to face Ganondorf. He spoke of saving his friends and discovering Hyrule, of Zelda, of his wolf form. Something told him not to mention the Hero's Shade. His grandfather's eyes twinkled.

"Thank you, Hero of Twilight."

***

Link listened as the child beside him, the Hero of Winds, told his tale. Of a Great Sea that covered Hyrule, of Ganon kidnapping his sister and journeying with pirates, and of prayers restoring the Master Sword's power. The boy narrated how he fought Ganon in the remade Hyrule, but of how it collapsed when he defeated him, forcing him to seek a new Hyrule Kingdom with the pirates' leader.

Something about the boy seemed so…familiar…like they were the same person, but in different worlds.

"Link of Twilight, the Hero of Winds and you are the same. You were born in the timeline in which your grandfather returned to live out his childhood. He was born in the timeline in which your grandfather remained an adult, and when Hyrule was flooded decades later. Going back and forth in time can do strange things to the world."

***

"And since we all know each other, know you are assembled to remove this evil for good. To purify it with your Master Swords…oh, pardon." He raised a hand, and his Four Sword vanished, as did the massive sword in Link's father's hands. He went on.

"The Picori Sword and Biggoron's Sword, while mighty, do not serve our purpose here." Master Swords appeared in their hands. He went on again.

"Heroes, return peace to Hyrule. I take it you are all good with a sword." The First Hero paused. "It runs in the family."

Ganon's prison vanished, and he charged at the five Links. They ran forward with their swords.

Light always triumphs over darkness.

***