Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Uh…Wild?” Hyrule said pointing at the now glowing Sheikah Slate. He picked it up and upon seeing the Sheikah eye symbol on the screen, showed it to the young Champion. “There’s something going on with your slate thingy…is it broken?”

Wild paused from choosing between putting swift carrots or tough pumpkins into the soup and looked at the screen. When he saw the blue dot he dropped the vegetables and seized the device, eyes wide and focused. “No…it’s…”

“Activating?” Four suggested, alerted to their conversation after hearing the thud of pumpkins hitting the ground. “You haven’t been able to turn it on for a while and now suddenly it’s glowing-?”

“What’s going on over there?!” Legend called out joining them along with Sky and Warrior.

“We think Wild’s slate might be working again!” Four said, alerting the rest of the camp.

“Yeah it’s glowing and stuff,” Hyrule added, marvelling at the entrancing blue hue.

“I think…” Wild began as the other gathered around him. Twilight approached to place a hand on his shoulder and Wind bounced over to get a better look. “I think, it’s responding to something…”

“To what? This isn’t your Hyrule,” Warrior said, hand on his hip and sporting a sceptical look.

“The slate was made by the Sheikah, it could be reacting to another old Sheikah relic,” Time offered, eyeing the device carefully.

“A relic this far back in the timeline?” Four said, “Seems unlikely.”

“No- Time’s right- it’s responding…but not to a relic,” Wild said, his breath hitched and his heart began to race as the realisation hit him. Hastily, e tapped the screen and began to do all the inputs Purah and Zelda taught him to hopefully bring up a map.

“If it’s not a relic then what is it?” Wind questioned as he and the others observed the Champion operate the device.

Eventually the screen sprang to life. No map was displayed, which was to be expected without Sheikah Observation Towers, however something much more valuable to him appeared.

A bright blue dot on the black screen accompanied with faint dark blue gratings. That dot had an arrow which moved with Wild whenever he shifted the direction of his device. Even better, that arrow was now pointing towards another blue dot.

“I-I can’t believe it…How…?” Wild gasped.

“What is it?” Twilight quietly asked, patting his shoulder supportively. The others crammed in closer to get a better look and waited for Wild’s explanation.

“Okay, you guys see these two blue dots? Well, the one with the arrow is us- see how it moves along with me? And the other dot is coming from another Sheikah Slate, that means there’s another Sheikah Slate user here!” Wild explained. “And we’re too far into the past for it to be any of the Sheikah from 10,000 years before my time. So it has to be…but how? I don’t understand-?!”

“One thing at a time,” Legend said crossing his arms. “Who do you think it is?”

“It has to be y/n!” Wild said, an ecstatic grin gracing his face. “They’re here! I don’t know how…? But...”

He moved away from the others, inadvertently shrugging off Twilight’s hand as his speech divulged into giddy mumblings. He may not understand how they did it, but he knew why and was determined to find them first.

The others watched in surprised confusion as he raced over to his stuff and started packing his things.

“Wait, hang on. What are you doing?” Time asked cautiously. He’d been slumped down near the campfire, watching the boys practically dogpile each other as Wild tried to make sense of the situation. “We can’t set off now, not when we’ve just finished setting up camp.”

“Relax old man, I wasn’t planning on dragging you guys with me,” Wild said, feeling adrenaline shoot through his system. “I’ll get to them faster if I go alone. Once I do, we’ll find you.”

“That’s absurd,” Time said slowly getting up, the roaring flames illuminating his figure, “You can’t go alone. None of us are familiar with this version of Hyrule, we haven’t eaten all day and we’ve just come out of difficult battle.”

“Yeah,” Legend agreed, instinctively placing a hand on the bandage that covered his lower arm, “And besides it might not even be them.”

“It has to be them,” Wild insisted, continuing to pack his things even though Hyrule and Twilight had come over to try and stop him.

“Ok fine, let’s assume it is this y/n,” Four said, “There’s no reason we have to go now. If they have a slate too then they know where you are right? That dot hasn’t moved, meaning that they’ve probably stopped to rest for the night. And you should too.”

Wild heard a couple of the others mutter in agreement as he finished up packing the essentials. “They could’ve stopped because they’re injured.”

“Fair enough, but do you expect us to wait around here for you two to show up?” Warrior asked sarcastically. He was irritated, but also tired and didn’t have the energy to get any more involved outside of just giving his opinion. He also had to prioritise nursing his concussion and sprained ankle.

“Please Wild, you can’t go out there without backup,” Sky said, grabbing Wild’s sheathed sword just as he was reaching for it and holding it to his chest. Wild stared him down with an intensity Sky didn’t expect. He took a step backwards. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Give me the sword,” Wild said slowly in an attempt to sound calm in spite of his growing frustration.

“Don’t do it Sky,” Legend ordered, coming to his side, anticipating a tussle.

“Just give it,” said Wild, with less restraint.

“No. You’re being selfish.”

“This isn’t a big deal. You guys can manage a couple meals without me.”

“I mean…can we?” Wind muttered glancing at Traveller, who caught his look along with that of a few others and raised an eyebrow at them.

“Obviously we need you here for more important reasons than that,” Legend spat, “Now drop that stuff, you’re not going anywhere.”

“5 seconds or I’m taking the Master Sword,” Wild said.

“Look- this really isn’t necessary. We’ll all set off tomorrow, as a group,” Sky said, and he took a breath before saying, “I understand how you feel. But it isn’t fair to-”

“Don’t even go there.”

Sky expected that response and didn’t press further. “…I’m not giving you the sword.”

“Forget this,” Wild muttered bitterly, and he stalked over to the Master Sword that sat regally by a fallen tree. He reached out to take it only to be stopped by Wind, who grabbed the sheathed blade at the same and tried to pull it away. “Wind…”

“Come on man, you know they’re right,” he said, “Now can you go back to making dinner please? I’m starving.”

Wild tugged unjustly hard on the sword. He had intended to take it clean from the sailor’s hands and was surprised when he didn’t let go. The sailor himself was surprised at the amount of force Wild used and staggered forward as he was pulled from where he stood.

“Make it yourself.”

The tone of his voice was hostile. Clearly he’d given up on trying to leave peacefully and was prepared to use force if they kept trying to stop him. Wind didn’t take to kindly to his tone and his face crumpled. Instead of waiting for Wild to inevitably yank it away he let go of the Master Sword, letting it fall into Wild’s hands.

“Fuck you,” the tiny sailor quietly cursed and he went over to Warrior, who had been passively watching the scene play out.

As he sat down the Captain reached out and ruffled his messy hair, putting a fleeting smile on both their faces. Meanwhile rest of the group spoke their disagreements out loud, almost talking over each other in their attempts to dissuade the Champion.

In the pandemonium, the fed up Hero of Time swiftly stalked over to Wild, stopping when he was right in front of him. “That’s enough. I see you really want to go, I’ll allow it…if you defeat me in a duel.”

This shocked everyone and for a moment the camp went quiet. The aging hero’s challenge echoing through the uneasy silence.

Wild looked up at Time in disbelief. “This is a joke, right?”

He in response raised a silent eyebrow and stared him down with a cold glare.

Twilight frowned at his predecessor. “You shouldn’t be swinging a sword in that condition.”

The tired man’s patience was waning and he wanted this to end. Sighing heavily, he simply asked Wild, “Answer?”

The Champion didn’t even consider it. Their leader was no state to fight. Looking at the makeshift cast around his left arm, bloodied clothes, numerous cuts and bruises made it clear that just standing up was agonizing.

Wild relented, wordlessly dumping his bag with the rest of the group’s belongings under the watchful eyes of his teammates. He exchanged swords with Sky, who nodded in understanding as he took back the Master Sword and returned Wild’s scavenged blade. Wild picked up the vegetables he’d dropped with Hyrule’s help and then returned to the cooking pot.

Chapter Text

The camp had an air of fabricated peace; the kind built on lies and half-assed promises.

They were all watching him, closely. Each movement made was scrutinized. Every time he strayed from the cooking pot to grab a few more ingredients, at least one member shifted, as if ready to spring into action. Legend was the worst, practically glaring daggers at Wild and silently daring him to make a move.

Hyrule and Twilight weren’t as bad, but they were being irritating in another way. By being strangely attentive when they helped him prepare dinner, something they don’t normally do. Whenever they helped out they always had to asked first, but this time both just decided to help- Sky and Four even offering too, though Wild curtly rejected them.

That being said, at least Hyrule had the sense to keep quiet and only keep any sort of conversation strictly kept to what time the soup needed to be stirred, or how small to cut the carrots. Twilight however, seemed hell bent on torturing Wild by interrogating him about y/n.

“What do they look like?” “How long have you known each other?” “How do you think they got here?” Were questions he asked along with many more, but Wild didn’t give answers to any of them. After all, if Twilight really cared, he’d let him go to them. Every second spent here was another wasted getting to them.

Wild wondered about sneaking off at night. He was sure he’d be able to evade whoever was on first night watch, but it’d only be a matter of time before they noticed he was missing. And even if he was far enough away where he’d get to y/n before they could drag him back, he’d be putting the group in danger by forcing them to search for him at night. For as much as they were annoying him, for how unfair they were being, he couldn’t worry them like that.

Especially Twilight. Even if the rest were to give up, he would without question comb the woods in wolf form looking for him.

While thinking about how to work around that, Wild went back into his supplies. He was looking for another spoon when instead he pulled out sleeping serum he’d brewed himself to take whenever he had a difficult night. Although, it was addictive so he learned not to take it too often. The bottle was a pretty large size, and he needed less than a teaspoon to be knocked out for a solid 8 hours…

He paused; looking at the cooking pot, then the bottle, then the pot again.

Getting up, he eyed the camp cautiously. There brief moment when Legend and the others weren’t looking his way, Hyrule was preoccupied with getting the bowls ready and Twilight took a brief break to rebandage his ankle. Wild seized the window of opportunity and quickly poured every drop of the violet liquid into the pot.

The second the last drop fell, he tossed it in his open travel bag and stirred it into the mixture. It initially turned the orange soup an ugly and suspicious looking brown, but luckily any trace of the purple serum disappeared. Just in time for Hyrule to walk over with the bowls.

Instead of serving each member one at a time, Wild filled all the bowls and make sure they all started eating at roughly the same time. Except Hyrule, he got a head start on clean up before collecting his meal.

“A bit much don’t you think?” Hyrule asked, watching Wild scoop an abnormally large amount of soup into his bowl. He had to pull the bowl away or else Wild would fill it over the top.

“Sorry Rulie,” he said, pulling away. “It’s just that I made too much- it’s not just you I gave everyone an extra-large serving. Thought it would help replenish our strength faster.”

Hyrule was just about able to balance the heavy bowl in one hand and use the other to pat his friend’s shoulder. “We’ll find them, first thing tomorrow. Promise.”

Wild pulled a smile and watched him slowly meander over to where Four and Twilight were sitting, taking sips as he moved to make sure none of it spilled. He looked around and saw that the others were eating as normal too, as he went about cleaning up.

“Wild, aren’t you hungry?” came Time’s voice. Despite the seemingly considerate question, the tone it was delivered in didn’t convey kindness so much as inquisitiveness.

Wild kept his back to him. “Not really.”

“But, you’re always hungry!” Wind cried, earning a few laughs.

“Funny,” Wild said, smiling at them. “And don’t worry I’ll join you guys in a second.”

“Well hurry up, because if you don’t I’ll eat your share,” Sky said, scarfing down his portion with great gusto. “Seriously, you’ve outdone yourself.”

“Yeah, it’s not bad,” Legend added gruffly.

“Ain’t this the recipe I gave you?” Twilight asked, slurping the rest of his soup straight from the bowl. “You must have changed it up somehow, it tastes different. And the colour’s darker.”

Wild’s eyebrows furrowed for a split second. “The dark must be playing with your eyes. It looks the same to me.”

“Well it at least tastes different,” Twilight said, setting his empty bowl on the ground. “Kinda sweet?”

“Yeah, I agree,” Four remarked, rubbing his eyes. His bowl also empty. “Try it.”

“Sure,” Wild said packing the last of the cooking stuff away. He went to grab his bowl and frowned. The colour actually was darker and it even smelled sweet. How did he not notice that?

“What’s…with that face?” Warriors yawned, his head hanging.

“Nothing. I just realised that Twilight might be right,” Wild said, noticing the others slowly begin to droop. “Oh man, have you guys really eaten without me?”

“It’s your fault for waiting so long,” Legend said, stretching back against Sky. “Your soup’s definitely cold by now.”

“Yeah, it is,” Wild said, nonchalantly taking a seat. “But I don’t really mind though. Judging by what you guys said it’ll still taste good, right?”

He waited for a few seconds, ears perked and bracing for a response. When it didn’t come, he slowly got up and surveyed the camp with baited breath. Anxious to see if everyone had succumb to the potion. It was a good thing that he’d made it fast acting, because as he stalked around his unconscious teammates not one was disturbed; even when he stepped on a stray twig right next to Four’s ear. Every one of them was sleeping, and after checking, Wild was satisfied that they had eaten enough of the soup to be out for a while. Long enough for him to leave and maybe even come back.

Wild swallowed and went to his travel bag to double check his supplies. Once he was prepared with food, items and weapons he brought up his Sheikah Slate and began working out where to go, feet unconsciously moving in that direction.

“You’re actually willing to take it this far?” A stern voice broke through the silence.

Startled, Wild froze mid-step. His head swivelled back towards the campsite, eyes desperately searching for the person still awake, even drawing his sword. But the scene was still exactly the same as when he last checked. Then he realised something. Since Time had been the first to go quiet, he hadn't checked him.

“Well?”

It came from right behind him now, and there was no mistaking it. Wild turned to face the man, taking a step back to create some distance. He pointed his sword at the old man, moonlight streaming through the clouds and illuminating the chill blade.

“Sky might not forgive you,” Time said, staring down at the Master Sword. His non-bandaged arm rested on his hip, forehead creased and the extra height he had over the younger hero only serving to amplify his aura of authority.

“He never likes it when I use it anyway. This is no different,” Wild retorted, holding a firm stance. “And how are you still a awake? You should be fast asleep like the other, unless…How did you know?”

Time's lips pressed together into a thin frown. “I dare say I used similar remedies in my youth.”

“Used?” Wild, lowered the sword while processing what that statement meant. Though he didn’t really want to give it much thought. “Not anymore?”

“Not as often.”

Wild sighed, fidgeting a little. “Was it what Twilight said that alerted you?”

“I have senses of my own champion,” Time said, before looking off to the side. “But I didn’t actually need to use them since I saw you tip all that purple stuff into the pot.”

“Fuck ok,” Wild cursed. Wondering if any of the others saw him do that too, but trusted him enough to not question it. “I guess you didn’t have any of it.”

“No,” corrected Time. “I had a little- can't go the whole night on an empty stomach. In a way, you helped those boys.” He looked over at the slump of sleeping heroes, not all of the positions they were in looked particularly comfortable, like Twilight who’d fallen over onto his head. He’d surely wake up with a sore neck tomorrow, but under the lull of the potion that didn’t matter for now. “Now they can get a peaceful night’s rest without the pain of their injuries keeping them awake.”

“Oh.” This new perspective decidedly made Wild feel a lot less guilty. “Still, I won’t give it to them for a while. It’s pretty addictive.”

“That must be some powerful stuff,” Time continued, raising an eyebrow. “Not even the Captain got suspicious that he was falling asleep quickly. I thought he’d have experience detecting these sorts of things.”

Wild shrugged. “Well, it is supposed to make you feel relaxed as well as sleepy.”

“Strange,” Time observed, taking a step forward. “How is it that you can have enough self-control as to not rely on potions like that and yet you’d go so far as to endanger your team like this. All out of a selfish desire to see someone a couple hours sooner.”

Wild’s expression hardened. “We both know it not just that. And besides, just a second ago you said what I did was a good thing!”

“In one way it is,” Time said gravely. “In another way, what you’re doing is leaving them alone in unknown territory, vulnerable to any kind of attack or even just theft.”

There was a pause. The old man watched the younger hero grapple with his words, certain that he’d been so single minded that he hadn’t even thought about that until now. Still though, whether he cared about that or not, Wild wasn’t going to let it stop him. “It’s fine. You’re awake, you can protect them. Besides, the potion won’t force them to stay asleep. If you really want them to wake up just give them a good shaking. That’s always worked for me.”

“And what if I had taken it too?”

Wild almost scoffed. “Then whatever happens to them would be on you too. Since that means you would have eaten the soup willingly knowing what was really in it. What kind of question is that?”

Time gave him an inscrutable look, his face partially covered in darkness. Wild was sure he was judging him, but he wasn’t quite sure what exactly prompted him to make that face, nor what he was thinking. Unfortunately for Wild, he didn’t express even a word of his thoughts, only asking, “How’s that fair?”

This question caught Wild off guard. He did a double take, and had to hold himself back from repeating the question out of sheer confusion. After a few moments he responded with, “Do you mean I’m not being fair to you? I don’t think I’m asking too much from the guy who’s taken night shifts day after day lasting hours at a time, and asked me to duel him when he could barely stand straight.”

At that moments the clouds parted enough for the full light of the moon to shine through. The pale rays illuminated Time’s aging visage to reveal his single working eye, wide and bright…he was surprised? Was that it? It didn’t matter, Wild had clocked the position of the moon and realised that he was losing time.

“Look, I have to go,” Wild said determinedly. “Are you going to let me through or are we going to have that duel now? Bearing in mind that you still can't stand straight.”

Time sighed and closed his eye. Wordlessly he strode forwards, Wild quickly locked himself into a stiff fighting stance but only watched as the man walked right past him and back to camp. He wondered if he was going to get a sword, but thankfully he just started shifting some the others into more comfortable sleeping positions and putting blankets over them.

Wild slowly sheathed his sword while backing away. Just as Time was sitting down to get himself comfortable for another long night watch, he took off.

Chapter Text

Sky woke up in a dreamy daze. He was comfortable, warmed by his heavy blanket and the sun high in the sky. Feeling strangely peaceful. The most relaxed he’d been in a long time.

However that state of bliss lasted all but a minute or so, for as his waking consciousness slowly fired up he became attune to some far away commotion. In the fuzzy din, his twitching ears faintly picked up snippets of incoherent conversations, frantic rustling and loud clanking.

Startled, he sat up and through half lidded eyes witnessed what could only be described as sheer chaos. The camp was in complete disarray, to the untrained eye one would think that they were all acting as an efficient team, where everyone knew exactly what to do. But in reality it was the opposite.

He’d never seen the group like this.

The person closest to him and the loudest was Legend, who was on his knees and trying to shake awake the old man. Even though the aging hero wasn’t responding, the force Legend was using was too much and Wind seemed to think so too, as he was trying to pull the vet away.

Just beyond the burnt out campfire was Four and Warriors who seemed to be sorting through everyone’s supplies. They were digging out single item stored and laid out in haphazard but somewhat orderly piles, not talking.

Far off to the side was Hyrule who seemed to be hesitantly rooting through Wild’s food supply. He was probably getting ready to make breakfast since the cooking pot was already in place, though it was odd that the fire hadn’t been relit yet. Not to mention that the lid was on- a lid that Wild rarely used and he often forgot he had. What was most unusual was that they were two members short.

Both Wild and Twilight were missing.

Fully awake now, Sky lifted the covers off and began to stand up, but as he moved he felt weirdly restricted. So he looked down and was confused to see that he was still in his full uniform, boots and all. Frowning, he thought back to last night and tried to remember if he was supposed to be on night duty but accidently fell asleep again- but nothing came up. Literally nothing. He couldn’t remember a thing since the sun had last set.

Something wasn’t right. It too warm for the crack of dawn, he’d woken up fully clothed, two people were missing and the rest were intent on either turning the campsite inside out or shaking their leader inside out.

“Vet what are you doing?” Sky asked. He stalked over to Legend and firmly seized his arms, forcing him to let go. “Stop.”

“You’re awake?” Legend said, voice faintly cracking. He went still for half a second before snatching his arms away and manhandling Time again. “Dammit old man wake up!”

“Enough already, lay off!” Sky cried and he had to physically drag Legend off to the side. “Why’s everyone acting so weird? What’s all this about?”

Legend finally went limp in Sky’s arms, his floppy hair falling into his eyes as he watched Wind carefully lay Time down on his sleeping mat and gently try to coax him out of his slumber. “He was supposed to be on first watch, he’s the only one who can tell us what happened.”

“And what happened?” Sky carefully inquired, letting the slightly smaller hero climb out of his hold and take a seat on the grass.

“We don’t know,” he began, sitting cross-legged with his elbows rested on his knees. “Apparently Twilight woke up first, noticed Wild was gone, but didn’t do anything about it. Guess he assumed he’d gone off to take a dump or forage for breakfast- we are pretty low on food.” He gave Hyrule a worried glance. “He said he felt really sleepy and just kind of stayed lying down not moving until sparkles and smithy woke up. It was then that they checked the time and realised that it was past 11-”

“What?!” Sky exclaimed. He briefly glanced up at the sky and realised why it was so warm. The sun was practically at its highest point in the sky. It’d gone noon now.

Legend watched his reaction and gave an empty chuckle. “Yeah, that was my reaction too.”

“Did we all oversleep?”

“Looks like it.”

“How?”

“Don’t know.” Legend shook his head. “But, sparkles and smithy think we were spelled. They reckon a group of found our camp and put us all under so they could take our stuff. Wild must have been the first to wake up, and knowing him, he’d for sure try to track them down alone.”

Sky looked out into the woods. “Has Twilight gone to find him?”

Legend sighed. “Of course. When enough time passed for us to worry he grabbed his crystal and ran off. That was about 5 or so minutes ago.”

“I see,” Sky slowly said, subconsciously nodding as he digested all that information. A crease began to form between his eyebrows as he thought of another possible reason for this chaos. “Have those two discovered anything missing yet?”

Legend spared a quick glance their way. “Not that I know of.”

“Have they checked Wild’s stuff?”

“No? But it would make sense for some of his stuff to not be here. He even had that little bag ready to go when he was gonna run off after that y/n. Probably took that with him.”

Sky’s expression hardened. His heartbeat quickened as he gathered his thoughts, fingers mindlessly dancing around each other as he carefully chose his next few words. With a sharp inhale he began with, “You remember how determined Wild was to leave us right?”

“Yeah?” There was an edge to his voice, as if the mere memory of Wild’s behaviour left a bad taste in his mouth.

“Ok well, what if…” Sky paused and stared straight ahead. “What if Wild did something? Not a spell, I don’t think he’s capable of that that- unless this group still has magical secrets being kept- but anyway, maybe something in the food?”

“Huh?” Legend’s voice was low.

Starting to remember more and more pieces from yesterday evening, Sky let his thoughts loose and spoke with less tact. “Twilight did mention that there was something off about the soup- yes, don’t you remember? And Wild brushed it off even though it was his recipe…can’t remember what he said though. Hey, maybe I’m imagining this, but do you remember him pouring something from a bottle into the soup? I thought it was some kind of seasoning, but what if it was some kind of potion to knock us out?”

“Come on Sky,” Legend scoffed, though his breath hitched a little. “He’s stupid, but not that stupid.”

“Did you see him pouring anything into the pot?” asked Sky.

Legend’s answer was swift. “No.”

“Well I’m pretty sure I did. And that might also explain why he did eat with us- do you remember that?”

There was a pause before Legend responded. “He wouldn’t do that!”

“I think he would. He’s definitely determined enough and maybe stupid enough to not consider-”

“I said-!”

The veteran hero was silenced by a harsh sound.

Both he and Sky whipped their heads around to where Time was lying. Above him was the young sailor, kneeling above him with a shaking hand hovering over the old man’s face, where a small pink blemish was starting to form. The palm of Wind’s left hand was also turning that colour, as was his face, but that didn’t deter him from bellowing, “Fucking wake up already!”

The entire camp went quiet. Four, Warriors and Hyrule, alerted by the noise, froze and turned to stare at them. The sun disappeared behind a few stray clouds and a chill swept through the air as Time’s only eye finally opened. At first it appeared glazed over, but quickly widened as it adjusted to the light and focused on the sailor’s flushed visage.

Time saw the questioning expressions of the other two and sighed heavily. His groggy voice cut through the icy silence, sending a chill through them all. “He’s not back, is he?”

Chapter Text

“Explain,” said Warriors. His tone was cold. Whether intentionally or not, it sounded disturbingly like a stern order, the sort he’d issue to a subordinate when he wanted something done. Immediately.

It was all Time needed to hear to know how he and the others felt. Begrudgingly, he sat up, leaning on an arm for support. “How did you boys sleep?”

“What?”

Time met the Captain’s glare with a single sleepy eye. “It’s pretty late in the day now so you all must have slept a while. How do you feel?”

Warriors’ expression faltered. He allowed for a short pause, rubbing the back of his neck before settling on an answer, “Good- great even. Haven’t slept that well in recent memory.”

Time nodded. “Does everyone feel the same?”

A murmur of muted agreements bubbled through the air as each hero momentarily put aside their suspicions to admit that yes, they had in fact all slept well. Very well. However, the tranquil state they had all found themselves when they woke up swiftly vanished upon realising the reality of their situation.

They had all overslept, leaving themselves vulnerable and without protection in an unknown version of Hyrule for hours and one of their own had gone missing. At first, they blamed a phantom group of thieves who put a sleeping spell on them all and either made off with Wild or he went after them alone.

But then Sky woke up and he argued with Legend, sowing the seeds of the likelihood that there may be another answer. And then Time awoke, spouting out one question that almost confirmed it. Betrayal.
“Great, so we’re all feeling as fresh as daisies.” Legend was quick to cut the chatter with a snide comment. “Mind telling us now what happened last night?”

An exhausted sigh involuntarily escaped Time. It seemed that no amount of sleep would ever be enough for this man. He sat up properly and rubbed at the bags under his eyes. “Certainly,” came his curt reply before promptly standing up and stalking over to the lidded cooking pot. “It seems Wild didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He waited until we all fell asleep and ran off.”

“Cut the crap, you saw him didn’t you?” spat Legend also getting up. “You were on first guard. You could have stopped him!”

Genuine surprise made Time raise his eyebrows. “You honestly believe that I would’ve been the victor of that duel?”

Legend didn’t answer right away, so Hyrule spoke. “He’s got a point vet, look at him properly. He was even worse last night.” Both heroes looked towards their senior, and Legend instinctively touched his bandaged arm upon re-evaluating Time’s injuries.

“Let’s not forget Wild’s crazy high pain tolerance,” said Four, eyeing Wind’s sore hand and then Time’s reddened cheek. “That fight would’ve turned ugly fast.”

A scowl smeared across Legend’s lips. “There’s no guarantee that Wild would win-”

“You’re missing the point,” Four fiercely retorted. “Think about it! What’s the use of beating each other up to bloody pulps over someone we don’t even know and who may not even be in trouble?”

“This is all Wild’s fault?” Wind’s small voice rang out like the tentative swing of a bell. “He just left us?”

Sky cast him a sympathetic glance. “You shouldn’t be too surprised, he was very determined last night. Even threatened to take the Master Sword without my permission.”

“He never asks for permission anyway!” The small sailor’s face crumpled, his hands absentmindedly playing with the grass at his feet. “I thought it was just Wild being Wild- like sure he tugged really hard at the sword when I tried to get him to cook, but he settled down soon enough after. That was just a spur of the moment thing.”

“Yeah, he seemed fine at dinner,” Hyrule echoed.

“Exactly,” Legend said nodding at him. “He didn’t want to fight you when you offered that challenge, and I was watching him all throughout the evening until I fell asleep. He didn’t do anything that made me think he was gonna try anything.”

“In hindsight he was too well behaved,” Warriors said, arms akimbo. “There is the issue that we all coincidentally fell asleep really suddenly and woke up hours late. If it wasn’t a spell like we initially thought, then what was it?”

“It was this.” Time heaved the large pot lid aside and draw from it a half full ceramic bowl. “He poured a sleeping potion into the pot. The purple mixed with the orange to make the soup slightly off colour and made it smell sweet- that’s what Twilight picked up on.”

A stunned silence shook through the group. The grey clouds blocking the sun had seemed to be darkening in colour, as if more were gathering to scorn the group’s naivety. To watch them untangle this petty web of deception.

Although Time understood their disbelief and inner conflict, he was surprised that none of them were considering that Wild had given them all an invaluable gift. A perfect night’s rest. Such a peaceful night’s sleep wasn’t a necessity for people like them but a luxury. They got to sleep soundly while he went off alone into the wilderness.

Despite the champion’s less than noble intensions, the outcome tells Time that there really wasn’t much harm in letting Wild go. Yes, he didn’t regret it at all.

“…and that bastard lied through his teeth,” muttered Legend, his voice a hushed whisper, but in the quiet sounded louder than a horn. “Was he mocking us?”

“Here I thought the rancher was just being particular, all stuck in his ways and whatnot.” Warriors followed his example and thought aloud. Letting whatever immediately come to mind spill out in a barely coherent stream. “That’s why- no, I should’ve…”

“Yes, I am somewhat surprised Captain,” Time ventured stepping towards him. “I thought that you of all people would be the most wary about-”

“Not a friend! I trust him with my life, I shouldn’t have to think like that with him- with any of you.” He had walked close enough for Warriors to see that there was still a pool of the wretched soup still lingering in the bowl. Without warning he battered it out of the Time’s hand and grabbed his collar, jerking him forward so harshly the grubby fabric threatened to tear. “You saw him do it. Forget letting him go after we all fell asleep, I can buy that a fight between the two of you could have gone either way, but you could have told us what he did! Right there as he was serving all our bowls you could have said something!”
“I was half expecting one of you to. Wild’s never been good at being subtle.” Time said. He’d meant it as an honest observation but in only seemed to anger the group more. Perhaps that potion was still having its effects on him; in truth he couldn’t feel bothered enough to take their rage seriously.

“I saw too, and I think Sky did as well,” Wind admitted, hanging his head. “I thought it was just part of the recipe.”

“Same here.” Sky mirrored his tone. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Wasn’t completely sure,” Time admitted. “You’re right Captain, he was very docile last night. At first I thought that bottle was to help soothe the pain of our injuries.”

“But he didn’t have any of it!” Four burst out. Though he tried to play it off as part of the interrogation, the stares from his teammates showed it was obvious that had only just occurred to him. “Uh, you didn’t find that strange?”

“We didn’t…” Hyrule’s small voice reminded them.

Time stretched out, letting his head roll to the side as he rubbed out a kink in his neck. “I was a quarter into my bowl before I realised that-”

“You had some?!” cried Legend. “Knowing what it was?!”

Warriors eyes grew wide and he felt his heart drop. “Who was keeping watch the entire night?”

“I did.” Time didn’t miss a beat in easing the worried glances of all the eyes on him. “That stuff’s good, but not strong enough to do me any favours.”

That didn’t seem to quell the unease, furrowed brows and upturned lips still faced the Hero of Time. Sky decided to be their voice, eying their leader up and down before asking, “Did you sleep at all then?”

“Sure.” An answer he was more than used to saying. Disregarding the doubtful stares, he set about clearing up his bedroll, urging the others to clean up too. “Now look, there’s no rush but after this mess is dealt with we need to find Wild. Everyone pack up and get ready to head out. Except you Hyrule, can you and Twilight see if you can rustle up some sort of breakfast?”

“Yeah okay,” Hyrule said, holding back a frown when Wind whispered, “Make it edible,” as he walked past. He went over to the cooking pot and relit it, only to remember: “Wait guys, Twilight’s not back yet-”

“I’ll call him.” Legend sighed and trundled over to where his stuff had been neatly lain out by Four and Warriors during their investigation. He rummaged through a particularly small bag, as the others were doing their own thing around him, and pulled out-

“Is that a dog whistle?!”
Wind’s screech was almost loud and high pitched enough to render the item in question useless. He stared at it, eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets either due to sheer surprise or the strain of holding in his laughter. The entire camp was struggling to keep their composure, even Time had the smallest curl of his lips.

Four sucked in the air through his teeth, head shaking slowly. “He’s not gonna like that…”

“That’s what he gets for running off.” Legend shrugged, holding the shiny instrument between two fingers. “If only this worked on champion.”

Chapter Text

A grey wolf blazed through the undergrowth, large paws tearing up branches and bushes as the creature made a beeline for the approaching clearing. A turbulent mixture of hope and anger fuelled his lightning speed; with each tree passed the prevailing emotion changed.

Pale sunlight pooled into a large puddle up ahead, the wolf’s eyes contracted into thin slits and out from a curtain of shadow he emerged from a cluster of bushes. Four paws morphed into two legs and a pair of swinging arms that stalked through the campsite, noting the messy way everything had been cleared up, to be met with his teammates all together, packed and ready to go.

From the centre came the old man, who met him halfway and handed him his belongings. Twilight didn’t take them, instead he hunched over his knees and through heavy pants exclaimed, “I know where he went.”

Time’s expression remained unbothered. “Good, we were counting on that. Now grab your stuff, Captain will fill you in.” He addressed everyone else and began walking in the direction Twilight came from. “Let’s move.”

The others followed quickly after him, with Hyrule pausing to hand him a suspicious chunk of meat wrapped in leaves with mushrooms sticking out of it. Legend wasn’t quite fast enough, despite sticking close to Sky the rancher caught him and spun him around with a light twist of the shoulder.

He stared down Twilight’s glower. “Think about it, how else were gonna find you in such a short amount of time? The old man wants to find champion before the sun sets, we couldn’t just wait around for you to show up.”

To his surprise the rancher didn’t vocalise a comeback or even a complaint. Which would have been fair since he might have over used the instrument, just a little. No, in fact he merely asked to see it and when Legend produced it from his pocket, curious as to why he was asked, the silver item was snatched from his hand and ground into dust under a heel on a nearby rock.

“What the hell?!” Legend exclaimed, gathering the up the dust into a small pouch, in hopes of some sort of later magical reconstruction. “Do you have any idea what I had to do to get that? How’d you like it if I destroy one of your items?”

Twilight brushed off the lingering sediment from his boot and reached for the shadow crystal dangling from his neck. “Go ahead.”

Legend took one look at the cursed item before walking off to join the others, Warriors chuckle as he came over. “As funny as it was to witness. Was that really necessary?”

“I can still hear ringing.” Each syllable was punctuated by a hefty tap to his left ear.

“Then take this as a lesson; maybe next time don’t copy your wayward ward and run off again,” Warriors scoffed, watching him secure his fur pellet and sword on his back. “You didn’t even bring your weapons?! Rookie error.”

Twilight huffed, debating whether or not to clap back with the few mistakes he’d seen Warriors make during training and on the road. The Captain didn’t give him a chance though, he slung an arm over his friends shoulder and began filling him in on what he missed. While Twilight hesitantly got started on ‘breakfast’.

The food was just as terrible as it looked. Twilight had a hard time swallowing it even with the appreciation that Hyrule tried his best and given their lack of supplies, also didn’t have much to work with. That being said, he’d rather inhale a dozen of those rather than believe what Warriors’ retelling.

The notion that Wild willingly poisoned them was even more sickening than the potentially rancid meat. Knowing that Time allowed it to happen twisted that awful feeling from initial anger to a sharp guilt. Something was wrong. Something Time had acknowledged, but walked away from. For a man who’s been looking back at past events for years, one would assume he’d be used to these mistakes, but he wasn’t. Regret crept uninvited through his psyche. The same as when the Twilight Princess left without a spoken word.

“Heh yeah, we all made that face,” Warriors said, observing him grimace at the small chunk of meat sitting in his hand. “Hyrule didn’t seem all that offended; I think he wasn’t too keen either.”

“No, not this,” Twilight said, throwing the last bite over his shoulder. “It’s Wild. What could possibly drive him to run off like that?”

“Hang on. Are you saying it’s our fault?” There was an unmistakable edge to his voice. “What about the man who watched it all go down and did nothing?”

“I’m not excusing him or Wild. I’m just saying that there has to be more to it,” Twilight said, meeting his eyes. “Besides, what’s your excuse?”

“Going soft.” The shade provided from dense leaves above masked much of his face in a grey filter.

Alarm shot through the rancher. “I didn’t mean it like that- you know I didn’t.”

“The old man did. He's right y'know, what business does an experienced officer have making that mistake? You think I would have learned my lesson by now.” Warriors set his gaze ahead, not turning when Twilight lightly punched his arm. “Why are you so soft on him? I understand that he’s your ancestor, but he doesn’t treat you any different from the rest of us.”

“He looks out for all of us. And anyway we may be related, but we’re still strangers in a sense,” Twilight said. “Maybe I’m just keeping him alive to ensure that I’ll exist.”

“You do more than for him that that.”

“Then...I can’t help it, I guess.”

“Afraid I can’t relate,” Warriors said, in perhaps too light a tone. The idea of going out of your way for someone just because they’re family wasn’t something he subscribed to. “You’re either unbearably kind or stupid you know that right? Pick one, it’s annoying.”

“I literally just chucked away food a friend made- for health reasons I’d call that wise,” Twilight jested, but he sent him a reassuring smile. “In terms of kindness though, clearly I’m no saint. Better than you though, but hey, you’ll get there.”

“Not if I can’t get over this.” They’re smiles lingered as their conversation mutually steered towards something less heavy. “I can’t believe that old man didn’t even tell us.”

“That? I wouldn’t think too deep into it, he’s probably just jealous.”

“Of what?!”

“Us being able to sleep so well.”

“And you know that how?”

“He’s let slip enough for me to pick up the details- but come on, you’ve seen those eyebags of his,” Twilight said, though he couldn’t resist adding, “Or am I the only one who pays attention to other people?”

“Too much so in my humble opinion.” Warriors extended a half-hearted smirk. “But anyway, if what you’re implying is true then that’s extremely petty and childish.”

Twilight shrugged, eyes now focusing on the greenery ahead. “What would you expect from someone who never got to grow up?”

An image Warriors sometimes thought about popped up again, that of a bratty bright eyed kid lecturing him on how to do his job. “You don’t say.”

“Your tracks end here rancher, get up front!” Time called, breaking up the conversation. It was how distant his voice sounded did the two stragglers realise how far behind they’d fallen. “Can you quickly get a hold of Wild’s scent trail so we can keep going?”

He shrugged and quietly obeyed, shifting into wolf form to get the group moving again. However he had to stay on four paws because the trail was faint, whether on purpose or not, Wild had made it difficult for them to follow him. On more than a few occasions the group had to turn backtrack after making a wrong turn, their path having been hastily navigated through.

While the trek was nothing short of a gruelling pain, it wasn’t enough to suppress the usual chatter that the group normally engaged in. The usual pairs and trios assorted themselves too, and with each step unconsciously steered the subject of conversation to that of their runaway.

What started as a an impromptu grumble about how far they were walking, how bored they were and their reason for doing this, quickly divulged into an argument of right and wrong. To almost all of them Wild wasn’t justified in doing what he did, considering that things could have gone worse, and they’d long decided to give him a piece of their mind when they found him.

Legend ended up spearheading the conflict. “...And leaving us out in the open like that! So what if the potion doesn’t force us to keep sleeping, I’d rather not get woken but by multiple stab wounds during an ambush-”

“Give it a rest vet,” Four groaned, hands clasped behind his head. “He obviously didn’t think about any of that.”

“I don’t think he’d be so stupid to think that leaving us in unknown hostile territory was a good idea.”

“Whatever,” Four said, glazed eyes wandering along the forest floor. “Bitching about it is counterintuitive; none of us know what goes on in that head of him.”

“If anything at all...” muttered Time, his voice going unheard to all but the wolf up front.

“He put himself in danger too,” Wind said, tapping a stick he’d picked up on random tree trunks he passed by. “What if we get to him and he’s hurt?”

Warriors rolled his eyes. “If he’s not dead when we find him I’ll kill him.”

“Funny,” Hyrule said, mostly good faith. “I feel much better even though I haven’t eaten much. Don’t worry about that sailor, I’ll heal whatever damage he may end up doing to himself.”

“Wait, if you have energy again can you fix up the gash on my arm?” Legend asked, raising his sleeve.

Hyrule peered at it carefully, letting his fingers graze the white bandage to which Legend didn’t so much as wince, much to his surprise. “It can’t be just me, you must all feel like this too. Not just well rested but like...I don’t know, revitalised? Does that make sense?”

“I get what you mean Rulie,” Wind said, snapping the stick in half and giving the other hero half of it. “Like this journey’s been a pain and all, but I actually feel pretty good.”

“Right?!” Hyrule said, snapping the stick into pieces and letting each small chunk fall to the ground. Wind copied him. “My muscles aren’t aching, I’m not out of breath and I still have this spring in my step from when we first set off.”

“Do you think it something in Wild’s potion did this?”

“What else could have?”

“You guys are giving him too much credit,” Legend said. Having rolled his sleeve down, he watched the two silently compete to see who can make their stick last the longest with a slight smile. “According to smithy, he wasn’t thinking. That’s probably just a coincidence.”

“Knowing him he likely forgot that little detail,” said Warriors. “Or didn’t know the potion could-”

“Give it a rest already,” Sky called out from his spot near the front, turning around in a gust of his bright cape so he was facing them. “This isn’t about Wild anymore is it? You’re just angry you didn’t catch him drugging the soup.”

“Huh?”

“You never trusted he’d stay put- so the fact that he ended up doing that shouldn’t be why you’re acting like this.” Sky’s eyes locked on his briefly before he looked away. “Hey this isn’t a jab at either of you; none of us caught him.”

Legend glanced at the captain, who still kept a unreadable gaze trained on the Skyloftian knight. “Doesn’t change the fact that what he did was selfish.”

“Sure, but we’ve all done something like that at some point right?” Sky said. “Run off after someone we care about even if it means leaving others behind?”

A brief pause generated by his words gave the group time to reflect actions they had taken or would have taken in the past. Sisters that were just out of reach, friends snatched by an evil that came too fast or just the call to destiny itself. None of these were comparable in each of their minds, however it made Wild’s actions less idiotic and more human. Still selfish though, and done in a less than tasteful manner...but understandable.

Legend stretched his arms out and pointed at Sky, who had been maintaining his backwards walk for a while. “You’re gonna trip the longer you keep that up.”

Warriors let a breathy chuckle escape. “He’s not gonna-”

And as predicted Sky stumbled as the heel of his boot unceremoniously caught the hem of his sailcloth, to the delight and satisfaction of the others. He promptly righted himself and faced forward again with a short cough. “Just, wait until we get his side of the story. Figure out what all this fuss was about.”

A serene air passed through the trees around them. Time, who’d been paying close attention to the words exchanged, found that half of a certain weight on his shoulders had been lifted. The load lightened along with the tone of their voices, and the perceptive wolf sensed this from his ancestor. If wolves could smile, a relieved grin would beam up at the aging hero.

For now though, all he could do was lead them to their destination, where the rest can start to be dealt with. There, through a haphazard route that had long deviated from the path and ruled by the wilderness, they could finally rest. Finally meet the person supposedly worth all this trouble.

Hyrule chirped, “Do you guys think they’re good looking?”

“What?”

“Y/n I mean,” Hyrule said, cracking a smile.

“Wouldn’t be hard to look better than him,” Warriors said offhandedly.

“You say that knowing full well how popular he is in his era?” Legend smirked.

Wind nudged a disgruntled Warriors and said, “Maybe they’re just as reckless as he is.”

“No don’t say that please.” Warriors ruffled the young sailor’s hair, eyes widening in semi-mock horror. “We can’t even handle one of him, Hylia forbid we put up with two.”

Easy conversation, now full of jokes and laughs carried them through to the end of their endeavour. The rays of sun the peaked out through the cover of green slowly caramelised with time, bright intense streaks gradually became faint orange trickles, imperceptible in their change. The glow from above sweetened like sugar with the group’s well-earned playful mood, it shined down on the large clearing up ahead and shimmered over the azure water’s edge.

Lustrous waves lapped gently at the muddy bank and the tips of sodden boots, it sprayed the green flora with droplets that gleamed all around the hero. The group left their smiles in a hushed silence, the air thickening into something sickly. Through a frame of winding branches was the haunting sight of the champion slumped by a campsite that looked as if it had been torn apart.

The lone hero, who didn’t make it. Again.