Chapter Text
The roaring haze of dark magic dispersed without warning, leaving Time sprawled across the rough stone floor of a cavernous space much like the one they’d left behind, albeit long-ruined, rain-smoothed and overgrown. Remnants of that same murky energy flurried through the air around him, shimmering in the dull orange light that spilled down through the skylight and the cracked ceiling that surrounded it. For several long moments, the disoriented hero could do little more than slowly blink his scattered thoughts back into some semblance of order.
‘Time?’ Hyrule called from somewhere nearby. He sounded stressed, and that, if nothing else, was enough to get the older hero moving.
Time forced himself up on his elbows and wheezed back, ‘Here. I’m alright.’
Hyrule was somehow already up on his feet. Wild sat nearby, crouched in a shuddering ball with his fingers digging into his temples. Both of the two appeared unharmed, if spooked, so after a brief stretch of worried staring at Wild’s huddled form, Time went on to scan his surroundings for the last of their group. He let out an involuntary cry of alarm and jumped to his feet as he spotted the lump of dark grey fur half concealed by a pile of rubble.
The wolf – and clearly Twilight had accidentally transformed along the way – stirred as soon as Time’s hands made contact, giving an inquisitive growl followed by a startled bark as his eyes shifted down to his own paws and then up to the murky orange sky.
Time breathed out a sigh, pressing his head down against his protégé’s. ‘Scared me for a moment there, pup,’ he murmured. ‘You’re not hurt, are you?’
The only response was another sharp bark and an insistent nosing at his chest. Time ran soothing fingers through Twilight’s fur, frowning as he searched futilely for the cause of his distress. ‘Sorry pup, but I think we’ll need you in human form for this one,’ Time whispered. ‘I’ll cover for you while you transform.’ With that said, he turned and began to walk back to the others. To his surprise, Twilight padded right after, pressing into his side. Utterly baffled, Time petted him idly and filed the odd behaviour away for later.
‘Everyone alright?’ he called. ‘Hyrule? Wild – Wild, are you ok?!’
Wild certainly didn’t look ok. He looked pale and terrified, slouched in on himself with white-knuckled fingers carving into his skull. Time got about as far as raising a hand to Wild’s forehead – immediately taking worried note of cold and clammy skin – before the teen collected himself enough to brush Time away. ‘I’m fine,’ he replied, unsteady tone no more convincing than his agitated posture. ‘What about you? She didn’t hurt you, did she?’
‘Hurt me?’ Time asked, taken aback. ‘No, I – of course not. Were you hurt? Where?!’
Wild slapped his hovering hands away once again. ‘I said I’m fine,’ the very-not-fine-looking hero snapped. ‘Just… what the hell was that?!’
Time pursed his lips unhappily. He reached into his bag, produced a spare cloak of just the right size and wrapped it around Wild’s shoulders before he answered, ‘Our guide did promise to send us to Legend’s location. Admittedly, I could’ve asked more questions about the how and where of that. At this point, my guess is as good as yours.’
Hyrule’s guarded stance stiffened further. ‘Are you absolutely sure she told the truth?’ he asked warily. ‘This whole place feels like a trap, and I’m not seeing Legend anywhere. Could your friend have tricked us somehow?’
Time’s mind strayed once again to that last image of Fado, laughing raucously even as tears spilled from her eyes.
‘Kokiri don’t lie,’ he said distantly. ‘Whatever this place is, Legend would have to be somewhere nearby. Well… there’s room for interpretation as far as “the place where he went” goes, but she couldn’t have flat out lied. True Kokiri don’t do that.’
There was an odd, painful twinge to that statement which Time decided not to think too hard about. Instead, he scanned over their surroundings once again. ‘I’m starting to think we’re not in Twilight’s era anymore,’ he ventured. ‘This looks like an older version of the temple we were just in. I think we’ve gone forwards in time – by several hundred years, if not more.’
Twilight gave an odd little whine, ears flicking as he copied Time’s sweep of their surrounds. Time watched with concern, but before he could begin to inquire further, Wild asked, ‘What about the others? Wind, Four, Warriors and Sky, I mean? If Fado’s the one who sent us here: does that mean we’re all separated now?’
Time winced. ‘We’ve… we’ve been separated before,’ he said gamely. Technically true, though they hadn’t been separated in quite this way before. And wasn’t this exactly what Time had been afraid of when it came to their little jaunt into the Lost Woods? ‘And,’ he quickly added, ‘if there was a way to get here, there should also be a way to get back. We just have to find it.’
‘After we find Legend,’ Hyrule said tersely.
‘Of course,’ Time obliged. ‘I suggest we scout out our surroundings and see if we can find any useful clues. Erm… and while we do that… Wolfie, would you be able to find Twilight for us? He should be somewhere around –’
Time cut off as “Wolfie” shook his head and gave another low whine, tail and ears dropping downwards.
‘You… won’t?’ Time asked confusedly.
Another whine.
‘You can’t?’ Time tried instead. A small, sad nod confirmed his guess.
What did that mean?
For all of Twilight’s own wariness about the magic he wielded, Time had never been given any reason to doubt his control. Of course, dark magic was still dark magic: Time knew full well just how easily it could be corrupted. As far as lifting the effect… there were a few options Time could try, but the problem was finding space to try them. Twilight’s unwillingness to reveal his “secret” did complicate things.
Speaking of which.
With all the confidence of a terrible liar cursed with low self-awareness, Wild helpfully narrated, ‘I guess Twilight got left behind when we were all sent over here. Or, I mean, maybe he’s still somewhere nearby, and we’ll run into him later. I wouldn’t worry too much, either way: he’s tough, and he’s familiar with this area. I’m sure he’ll be fine. Right?’
‘Right,’ Time agreed distractedly, still contemplating curses and curse-lifting music and items.
‘Sure,’ said Hyrule. ‘And in fact, maybe it’s actually a good thing that Wolfie’s here instead. I was thinking –’
‘I mean, you can be a little worried?’ a bemused Wild interrupted. ‘He’s your friend, after all. On the off chance he was to, uh, somehow overhear this conversation, it’d be bad if he thought we didn’t care.’
Caught between wanting to laugh and wanting to cry, Time very carefully and deliberately did neither of those two things. ‘Very true, and very kind of you, Wild,’ he acknowledged aloud. ‘I may not always show it, but I do frequently worry about Twilight.’ It wasn’t even a lie.
‘Ditto,’ Hyrule said impatiently. ‘More importantly –’ and Time couldn’t help but feel a little indignant about that ‘– Wolfie, can you find a scent trail for Legend? He’s supposed to be nearby, right?’
Twilight’s drooping ears flicked upright as he dropped his snout to the ground, tail wagging at the chance to do something helpful.
(Such a good puppy, that one.)
Time shook the usual intrusive cooing from his mind, along with the brief and unfortunate surge of hope at Hyrule’s suggestion. ‘Wolfie’s senses are short range,’ he explained reluctantly. ‘Unless Legend was right here in this spot, we might have to –’
Twilight gave a raucous, full body sneeze followed by a high-pitched whine of complaint as he dropped his nose back to the ground, tail wagging frantically.
Wild leaned in curiously. ‘I think he found something,’ he suggested. ‘Is it Legend?’
Twilight paused, then gave a half-hearted whine. Stepping in as translator, Time asked, ‘Is that a no? A maybe?’ The wolf hesitated at the first option and then nodded quickly at the second.
‘Better than nothing,’ Hyrule suggested dubiously.
‘As he says,’ agreed Time. ‘Lead the way then, Wolfie.’
The longer they spent following the trail, the less likely it seemed to Wild that said trail actually belonged to a life-sized Hylian, let alone an injured one.
At each flight of stairs, “Wolfie”’s nose appeared more interested in the balustrade than the steps. From there, the trail clung close to the wall, only to dart out again across ledges too narrow and fallen branches too thin for even the wolf himself to stand on, followed by a crack in the wall that only Wolfie’s snout actually fit through. All in all, significantly more time was spent scouting out alternate paths and looping back rather than progressing, the upside of that being the perfect opportunity for Wild to finally confront their canine companion.
Pausing long enough to confirm that Hyrule and Time were still, with the combined use of Time’s hookshot and Hyrule’s ladder, making their way down the latest of several shattered staircases, he knelt to whisper into the wolf’s ear. ‘Hey, Twi?’
‘Woof?’
‘You know, I’m starting to think I was pranked about that whole “Wolfie being a secret” thing.’
‘WOOF?!’
Wild inspected the animal’s panicked gaze with a critical eye. ‘That seemed like a genuine reaction,’ he allowed. ‘But you have to admit the facts are not in your favour. Right?’
‘…Woof?’
Wild ticked it off on his fingers. ‘Well, for starters: there was Hyrule’s lukewarm reaction to Twilight’s sudden disappearance and Wolfie’s sudden reappearance just now. Yes, he’s a bit distracted, but he still should’ve had more to say than that. Then there’s the part where you mentioned Legend having somehow learned the truth on his own. I didn’t tell him and I doubt Time would have broken your trust either. And sure, maybe you were the one who told Time and maybe Legend figured it out himself and maybe he was the one who told Hyrule, and maybe everyone else has no idea who Wolfie is, but that brings me to my third point, which is that the entire concept of “Wolfie” as an independent being who is your pet that you just happen to never be seen in the same space at the same time as is just fundamentally not that convincing. So, now I’m wondering: am I being pranked? Is this one of those hazing rituals where you tell the new guy something dumb just to see how gullible he is?
‘I guess I am pretty gullible, after all,’ Wild went on. ‘You knew that, right? You already knew I was a massive dumbass. So yes, shame on me for that, but also: wow, way to punch up. At a baby. Being me, the gullible dumbass newcomer barging into an established group of deeply respectable heroes from across the ages. And we’re not even on my turf right now and I honestly feel a bit weird about that, exciting as it is, so sure: way to prank that guy. Real big of you.’
‘Woof, woof!’ Twilight said vehemently and deeply incomprehensively.
‘You know I don’t speak wolf, right?’ Wild reminded him.
Twilight gave a sad whine and shoved his snout into Wild’s neck, rubbing his head against Wild’s chin. Wild made a face, even as he raised a hand to obligingly pet the shapeshifted human (who was really hamming up the whole pretending-to-be-an-animal thing if Wild was honest). ‘You know I have no idea what that one means either, right?’ Wild stated. He sighed. ‘I guess we may as well park this until you can actually talk. Just keep in mind that I’m onto your shit.’
With a huff of what sounded like exasperation, Twilight continued to press against him. Wild took revenge by continuing to run fingers through that oh-so-pettable fur. Ha, take that.
‘All good there?’ Time’s voice called.
Wild jolted. Not without regret, he freed himself and rose to his feet. ‘All good,’ he replied. ‘Wolfie found something interesting, though.’
He strode over and extended his hand to display the collection of cracked seeds he’d retrieved.
Time frowned as he cupped that hand with both of his own, thumbs brushing at Wild’s wrist. ‘Wild, you’re still shivering,’ he stated unexpectedly. ‘Are you quite sure you’re alright? Need another cloak?’
‘Just how many conveniently me-sized cloaks do you even have in that bag of yours?’ Wild asked irritably, then quickly added, ‘No, don’t answer that; I don’t even want to know. The seeds: give them a sniff, would you?’
Time gave him an unhappy look but obligingly leaned in, only to recoil from Wild’s offering. ‘What on earth?’ he choked out.
Nose wrinkling, Hyrule leaned in to conduct his own investigation. ‘It smells like blood mixed with urine mixed with fear sweat mixed with rotting meat,’ was his scientific assessment.
Well, that was oddly specific. Wild shrugged. ‘There’s a flowering tree over in the south-east of my Hyrule with a similar scent, though it’s a bit less… potent. Still not something I’d voluntarily spend much time around, though the seeds themselves don’t smell that bad until you crack them open like this. Either way, I’m not seeing any trees nearby that could’ve dropped these, let alone in such an odd location. Or, more to the point: in such an ingenious location.’ He grinned. ‘Did either of you notice how there are no monsters around here?’
‘Should there be?’ Time asked warily.
Wild rolled his eyes. ‘Why are you asking me, Mr Dungeon Logic? But sure: there should be, and there were, earlier. Let me show you where they went.’
He led the way over to the large section of cracked flooring that made up the back half of the room. There, far below, was what looked like the collapsed ruins of an old cellar: windowless, doorless, and, importantly, covered in fresh monster corpses. Some of those corpses looked quite large, though it was difficult to make out the details amidst the gloom.
‘When I ducked my head down there earlier I could spot a few that were still alive, but I think they’re stuck,’ Wild offered. ‘And see that ledge on the opposite side?’ He pointed to the thin scrap of intact flooring still clinging valiantly to the foundations. ‘That’s where I found the seeds. The trail Wolfie was following led over there too. Now, watch this.’
Wild plucked one of the broken seeds from his collection, displayed it briefly to the others and then dropped it down below.
Movement surged within the shadows. The quiet ambience of the ruins was broken by a monstrous growl as the survivors flared up in agitation, milling around the location of the fallen seed.
‘Some kind of chemical lure, I think,’ Wild concluded gleefully. ‘A pretty strong one, too. I mean, I already knew it was possible to bait monsters with food, but I’ve never seen that kind of reaction before. Wouldn’t mind Flora’s eye over these.’ Ah, the possibilities.
Hyrule brightened. ‘Hold on: I’m pretty sure Legend has seeds like that! Or had them, at least. His second or third quest, I think? But –’ He deflated. ‘But Legend doesn’t have any of his things with him right now. Not even his sword.’ Hyrule’s gaze flickered gloomily to the weapon strapped to his right shoulder, still faintly glowing from whatever Fado had done to it.
‘It’s not like seeds need any special manufacturing,’ Wild argued. ‘You’d just need to be able to recognise the tree and grab a handful or so to take with you. And once you’ve got them, it’s easy enough to crack them open. A dagger would work, or even a rock. Teeth if you were really desperate, though it’s probably not a particularly pleasant thing to put in your mouth.’ Actually, they did look a bit gnawed on if Wild looked closely. Gross. ‘Either way… well, I don’t know for sure or anything, but maybe it’s a good sign?’
Hyrule nodded slowly. ‘You could be right,’ he conceded. ‘This whole set-up definitely seems like something Legend would do.’ With renewed vigour, he turned to Twilight and asked, ‘You still have the trail, right? Shall we keep moving?’
Twilight let out a bark of agreement, tail wagging as he dropped his nose back to the floor and scurried off towards the broken doorway to the far side of the room. Hyrule followed close after and Wild made to do the same, only to abruptly hesitate, glancing back towards the makeshift pit trap and its disaffected new tenants.
Just leaving them there like that seemed… a little mean, really.
Not that Wild was some kind of monster sympathiser or anything, of course! He was a stone-cold monster-killer with the title to prove it. He’d slain hordes. Over and over again, every time the Blood Moon rose. Didn’t even think twice about it. They didn’t call him the Hero of the Wild for nothing.
His traitorous hands proceeded to drop several hunks of perfectly seasoned and meticulously flame-grilled meat into the pit.
‘Wild,’ said Time.
‘Just to taunt them,’ Wild clarified quickly as he pivoted from the scene of the crime. ‘I mean, there’s no way they can climb out, and a little extra sustenance isn’t going to change that. I just thought it’d be funny to –’
‘Wild,’ Time said seriously, ‘you’re still shaking. What’s wrong?’
‘Oh,’ said Wild, looking down at hands that were, in fact, still shaking. ‘Right. It’s uh, it’s fine, though. I’m fine. Don’t worry.’
Time proceeded to give him the puppy dog eyes. Startlingly convincing puppy dog eyes, really, coming from a grown man much taller than Wild. Why was he so good at that?! Did he get it from Twilight or something?! Madness.
‘Please, Wild,’ Time entreated sadly, ‘tell me what’s wrong. Is there anything I can do to help?’
‘I…’ Wild looked away, for occupational health and safety reasons. ‘I’m fine, alright? I’m not hurt, or sick or anything. Promise. Just something about this place… about the air of it or something… I don’t know, it just…’ He brushed awkwardly at his arms. ‘It’s just cold and weird, and it makes me feel twitchy. It’s kind of –’
Abruptly, he recognised it. ‘It’s like the Shrine of Resurrection,’ he realised aloud.
Time jolted. ‘The Shrine of Resurrection?!’
‘It’s not the same, just… similar somehow,’ Wild backpedalled. ‘The chill in the air, the… I don’t know what. Forget it; I’m ok. I just get twitchy sometimes. Sorry.’
Wild was relatively sure that the puppy dog eyes had returned at full force over his head, so he wasn’t entirely surprised by the hug that followed. He was surprised at how nice that hug felt, considering all the plate armour in the way. Was Time just that good at hugging?
(Was Wild maybe just a little touch starved?)
He quickly shoved both Time and that deeply unnecessary thought away as Hyrule and Twilight poked their heads back into the room, the former calling, ‘Wild? Time? What’s going on?’
‘Nothing!’ Wild replied with a bright and hopefully convincing smile. ‘We’re coming!’
He hurried off to join the others, thoroughly ignoring the reproachful eyes burning their mark into the back of his head.
They were just starting their ascent of the final set of stairs, with Time’s brain still frantically spinning through Worried Dad Mode (not that Wild or any of the others except maybe Twilight had actually accepted him as some kind of father-figure, mind you; it was just a turn of phrase), when Wild suddenly spoke again.
‘Time?’ he began cautiously, ‘Can I ask a question? Kind of, uh… kind of tied to what we were talking about earlier?’
Time’s ears perked up. ‘Of course. What is it?’
Wild hesitated. ‘What was… what was Fado talking about before? I mean, the part where she said that… well, she called you “Other Link”, and she said that the Link that she knew was already long dead. And that he was younger than you when it happened. What was that about?’
That wasn’t what Time had been expecting at all.
Maybe his resulting blank expression had been a little off-putting, because Wild quickly added, ‘Obviously you don’t have to tell me. Just, I mean… are we undeath buddies or something?’
‘“Undeath buddies”?’ Time repeated confusedly.
Wild flushed. ‘Look, I don’t know. Is there a club for that sort of thing? We can form one if you like. Special exclusive club for people named Link who died and then got brought back to life by science or magic or whatever?’
‘Oh,’ said Time. ‘Well, uh… it’s not exactly, the same, but I suppose we are “undeath buddies”… in a way?’
‘In a way?’
‘In a “time shenanigans” way?’ Time suggested dubiously. ‘I think that’s what we’re calling them. Basically –’
‘Link was definitely dead back then,’ Fado had confidently stated.
‘I don’t know how exactly, but I’m relatively sure that the person we just met came from another timeline,’ Time said heavily. ‘A timeline where I failed and died young. Specifically, that’s Legend and Hyrule’s timeline.’
‘And Wild’s,’ Hyrule contributed from ahead.
Time startled – he hadn’t noticed that the other hero had been listening. He glanced over to see that Twilight had turned his head back as well, though the wolf quickly dropped his nose back to the ground when their eyes met.
‘I didn’t realise you’d figured out where Wild fit into all this,’ Time commented.
Hyrule turned back to the front. ‘I didn’t realise you’d figured out where your alternate self fit into all this.’
‘Legend gave me a bit of an overview yesterday,’ said Time. ‘Although…’
He thought back to that conversation: to the tragic tale of a hero who gave his life to fend off an unbeatable demon, to the hints of a great and terrible war that had followed, to the slow and steady recovery of the land. He weighed it against Fado’s own story and against what Time himself had seen of Legend’s era: from the choked, polluted waterways to the landmines hidden in the grass, to the veritable hordes of overpowered monsters. He weighed it against Legend’s dismal self-esteem, Hyrule’s jumpiness, Wild’s scars –
‘I do get the sense he glossed over a few things,’ Time concluded.
‘Legend likes you a lot,’ Hyrule said sharply. ‘He likes his… predecessor a lot too. A surprising amount, really. If he did gloss over things, I doubt he did it to deceive you.’
‘A… surprising amount?’ Wild echoed.
‘What is there to say?’ Hyrule said bitterly. ‘The Fallen Hero of my own era was an over-glorified footnote to Legend’s far more impressive tale. I hadn’t thought much of it until we all met like this. And then, fancy that: turns out there’s a parallel universe where that hero never lost and wasn’t killed, where Ganon never gained the Triforce and never became the Great King of Evil or the Calamity or anything.’
A sudden chill crept through Time’s veins. ‘What?’
‘Yeah, what?’ asked Wild. ‘What’s this about the Calamity?’
Hyrule’s shoulders slumped. ‘Well, that’s how I knew where Wild fit into the timeline: “Calamity Ganon” only exists in our version of history. Or rather, there’s an event called the “Great Cataclysm” described in an old prophecy. It’s not unreasonable to think that that became the “Calamity” of Wild’s era.
‘It goes like this: “if a person with an evil heart claims the Triforce, a Hero is destined to appear. He alone must face the one who unleashed the Great Cataclysm. If the evil one destroys the Hero, nothing can save the world from its wicked reign”.
‘I used to think those words only referred to Legend, but it must’ve meant Time’s alternate self too,’ Hyrule went on, ‘because it’s true, after all: nothing can stop Ganon, now. Not permanently, at least. Not in our timeline. We can seal him away, or even kill him, but he’ll always come back eventually, one way or another. Even Legend couldn’t change that fact, for all that he managed to put it off for centuries in the end.’
‘Not quite the ten thousand years of my predecessor, then,’ Wild remarked, earning himself a well-justified “fuck you, Wild” from Hyrule.
Time barely registered the exchange. ‘So, in other words,’ he forced out, ‘if I hadn’t failed and died back then –’
‘Not you,’ Hyrule interjected wearily. ‘Your alternate self. And to be fair, I can hardly call that a failure, when I myself –’ He cut off abruptly and gave a short, self-deprecating laugh. ‘And in any case: considering how much Legend looks up to him, that person must have done something right.’ Hyrule paused to consider, and added thoughtfully, ‘Or Legend could just have really low standards.’
Well. That definitely made Time feel better.
‘Honestly, considering how much he also idolises me: that option makes way more sense,’ Hyrule decided.
Time bristled. ‘Now you just wait one Malon-damned moment, young man –’
‘Legend likes me too, I’ll have you know,’ Wild said loftily. ‘You really want to mock that spectacular taste?’
Hyrule flashed him a saccharine smile. ‘Wild, you’re great. Everyone loves you, not just Legend. I’ll be your undeath buddy any day.’
Midway through winding up for a retort, Wild cut off into open-mouthed confusion. ‘I, uh… don’t you have to have died for that to make sense?’
‘Yeah. And I have. A bunch of times, even. I’ll tell you about them sometime,’ Hyrule informed him. ‘Mind you, don’t tell Legend; I doubt he’ll be happy.’
Wild looked vaguely impressed. Time felt vaguely sick.
‘It’s a small and exclusive club, I hope,’ the latter offered faintly. ‘The “undeath buddies” thing, I mean.’
Wild glanced over at Hyrule. ‘Is it?’
‘Well, if anyone else among us died before, I don’t know about it,’ Hyrule offered.
‘Legend would’ve told you though, right?’ suggested Wild.
‘Legend isn’t in the club,’ Hyrule said sharply. ‘I mean, he’s basically unkillable, right? That’s his whole deal.’
‘Is it?’ asked Wild. His eyes shifted to the wolf padding at Hyrule’s side. ‘How about you, then? You want in, Wolfie?’
Time very valiantly did not collapse with relief at the withering look and subtle head shake Twilight gave them.
‘Just the three of us, then,’ Time posited before Wild or Hyrule could suggest any other temporarily departeds.
Hyrule made a face. ‘No way. Dying permanently in a parallel universe doesn’t count.’
‘Yeah, I’m with Hyrule on this one,’ Wild agreed. ‘Commit to the bit, old man.’
Time was relatively sure he was in his thirties. Time was relatively sure that most people would not have classified him as an old man. Time was also relatively sure that a good part of his hair had turned grey during the course of the conversation. ‘What?!’ he said exasperatedly. ‘Commit to what bit? What even is “the bit” in that context?’
‘Living,’ Hyrule supplied helpfully. ‘Legend deserves a proper predecessor after all. Even setting the whole Ganon thing to one side: better you than that other guy.’
Time had the distinct impression that he would regret asking, but went on to say, ‘What do you mean?’
Before Hyrule could manage to pull together a response, Twilight gave a sharp bark and dashed up the final flight of stairs towards the temple entrance. Time and his companions exchanged quick, startled glances before rushing after.
By the time they emerged, Twilight was already spitting out the mangled corpse of one small bat-like monster and lunging for the next. Time rushed to intercept a moblin club aimed at his protégé’s back while Hyrule swiftly stabbed the foe in its side. In the next instant, one of Wild’s arrows sprouted from a neighbouring bokoblin.
With the four of them working together, the fight didn’t take long at all. A few minutes later, Time wiped his claymore off on the dry, unhealthy-looking grass, then cast a curious glance up at the sky – bright orange and grey, thick with the same chaotic eddies of ambient dark magic that he’d noticed inside – followed by an exasperated stare at the wolf rushing heedlessly across the area with his nose to the ground.
Wild dropped from the tree nearby, nearly giving Time a heart attack. ‘Is he lost or something?’ the younger hero asked. Glancing over, Time saw that Wild’s hands were stuffed with the same reeking seeds they’d found in the temple – fresh ones, in fact, plucked from that very tree.
Time frowned. ‘In order to come this way… Legend would’ve had to go past those monsters, wouldn’t he? Did he sneak past somehow?’
With renewed interest, Time pursued his descendant all the way over to the edge of the cliff, where a cord of thick wire spanned the deep chasm.
Time stared at the tightrope. Time turned his head and took in the far-more-functional (albeit creaking in the wind) wooden bridge that stood about ten-to-fifteen metres to the right.
‘I like that one better,’ he said faintly, only to find Twilight, in full opposable-thumb-lacking lupine form, already padding his way across the slender metal death trap. Wild apparently took that as his own cue to leap across, paraglider in hand, and narrowly avoid concussing himself on the opposing cliff-face.
‘Shall we?’ Hyrule asked politely, gesturing towards the bridge.
At least one of them had sense.
Without further ado, they both headed for the non-utterly-insane route. On arrival, Time held out an arm to halt his companion, instead carefully testing the way ahead with his own foot. Thankfully, the bridge appeared sturdy enough to hold his weight, which meant it would definitely suffice for Hyrule – Hyrule, who had not waited for this finding and instead already began to cross.
Time’s disappointed look received a raised eyebrow in response. ‘I can transform into a fairy if need be,’ Hyrule pointed out. ‘What was your plan?’
‘Oh,’ said Time, who had prepared no such thing.
Hyrule scowled. He bit his lip, staring off to one side, then turned back to Time and said, ‘You asked me earlier, right? Why it would be better for Legend to look up to you than to his real predecessor? Well, I have a question of my own.’
‘And that is?’ asked Time.
‘What does it mean when your unkillable hero looks up to someone very, very killable?’ Hyrule said quietly. He shook his head and went on, ‘What does it mean when the person who taught you how to survive anything thinks it’s somehow commendable to die a martyr? Or when you meet that person and find out that he’s a lot more reckless than you thought? That he’s the kind of person who wouldn’t hesitate to dash in front of a blow meant for you, that he’ll blame himself for every little thing that goes wrong, that he’ll hide his pain, no matter how much he’s hurting, that he’ll refuse to show weakness or ask for help, and…’
Hyrule paused briefly, then went on tightly, ‘And what if you rely on him? Whether it’s the real him or even just the hollow version of him sitting in your head. What if you rely on him too much, if he doesn’t rely on you at all, and all of a sudden you’re terrified, more terrified than you’ve ever been, that he might just –’
Hyrule broke off with a shudder and a deep breath. In an almost-normal tone, he concluded, ‘Well, that ended up being a lot of questions I guess, but here’s a statement to finish it off: you’re officially banned from the undeath buddies club. Cool kids only. Definitely no weird old Heroes of Time. Later.’
‘Hyrule, wait,’ Time pressed, grasping his companion’s wrist before it could move away.
He hesitated, thinking through that recent conversation with Legend once again. Truthfully, there was nothing irrational in Hyrule’s quavering words, but something about them and that other conversation didn’t quite mesh. What was it Legend had said exactly?
‘A miracle,’ Time muttered to himself. ‘He called it a miracle.’
‘You’re kind of a miracle to me, you know?’ Legend had said shyly.
‘What?’ Hyrule asked, and Time only then realised that he’d spoken aloud.
‘I mean,’ he quickly explained, ‘I think Legend has already realised some of what you’re talking about. I think –’ He hesitated. ‘I think he’s doing his best. You can have a little faith in him, I think.’
Only a little, Time conceded, considering how that conversation had occurred earlier in the same day that Legend had run off into the Lost Woods in a blind panic. Even so, a little was a very good start.
Hyrule tugged his wrist away. ‘I always have faith in him,’ he grumbled. ‘And I’m still not letting you into that club.’
‘Well,’ said Time, ‘damn. And there I was, so very ready to commit to that bit.’
And if the corner of Hyrule’s mouth just so happened to curve upwards as they made their way back to the others, Time decided that he’d count it as a win.