Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Silence had been permeating the clearing for the past hour. Not total silence. There was the sound of crickets chirping, and the occasional shuffle of a sleeping form, but it was as close to silence as Wild could hope for. He let the fire burn low. It was obvious that the next hero on watch would chastise him for it if they were awoken before the flames were stirred back to life. The others, while all possessing competent survival skills, were not quite as refined at starting or keeping a fire going as Wild. Letting it burn low allowed them better hiding from anything that may maliciously seek them out, while still providing warmth, but also made it slightly easier to watch the sky.

It wasn’t a major difference in all honesty, but Wild still preferred the little bit more visibility it seemed to lend to the heavens. It made the risk of the fire going out worth it to him if it kept those long hours on watch more pleasant--made them easier to be distracted from. He placed a bit of peeled bark in the center of the coals to keep the fire fed for a bit, so he could allow himself to watch the stars and the keese that fluttered overhead.

Staring at the stars was soothing in a manner that Wild could never express. He was sure the others could appreciate a little thing like that as well, but it felt like something to keep to himself. He never let the others know of his night time habit. Well… Twilight was aware, but then again Twilight was aware of most of Wild’s habits be it in depth knowledge or just shallow awareness.

A huff of air escaped Wild in amusement at the thought. He glanced across the smoldering campfire to Twilight’s still form next to his own empty bedroll. A smile tugged at his lips, and he felt his heart warm in thankfulness that it was Twilight out of all of them who seemed to know him best. Twilight, who was almost loyal to a fault and willing to hold both their secrets to his chest--no matter how they may burden him. Part of Wild wished that Twilight would tell him a bit more of himself, but also knew how Twilight viewed himself as someone that Wild needed to rely on--not someone for Wild to look after in turn. It was ridiculously stubborn of him, but he also knew he couldn’t change the other hero’s mind.

With fondness in his heart, Wild looked back to the sky. The stars danced there for him, his small smile relaxed, and his shoulders fell. With contentedness he watched the stars shifting above. The silence was broken by someone shifting then quickly relaxing back into sleep, and Wild chuckled. It was weird being with the others. They moved slower, stopped more often, and found that he needed to be taking better care of himself. For their sake, he’d avoided letting himself get hurt to the point where he would need Mipha’s Grace for a while. It was odd having to be so cautious.

This night he felt warm and content. He’d felt that way a lot since the Calamity was sealed away and Princess Zelda was freed, but he rarely felt peace permeate through his core like this. Wild closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. When he opened them again he caught a flash in the sky. His heart jumped. A falling star! Immediately he was on his feet, eyes trailing after the streak it was leaving the heavens, ready to take off and chase it down in the hopes to reach it and capture it in the sheikah slate before dawn.

Though, as he rose, Wild came to a halt. He couldn’t run off after the material and leave everyone unwatched. He had a duty to his friends who had traveled with him. What would even be the point of retrieving the star fragment? All his equipment was as enhanced as the Great Fairies could get them. Wild sat back down on the log he had been seated on with a thump. His habitual chase stopped in its tracks. He frowned and glanced around the campsite. His eyes rested on Sky and the Master Sword.

His materials were all enhanced as far as the Great Fairies could get them, but what about the others? Wild’s brows knit together. He glanced to the distance--to the direction he saw the star fall. Could the Great Fairies enhance the other Links’ armor too? What of their weapons? The others’ weapons never broke. Any of their equipment could be enhanced theoretically. What if it helped give them a leg up on the cursed monsters they’d been running into? He felt his jaw set as resolve settled itself in his chest. If the fallen star could enhance their equipment--even if it was just the Master Sword, Wild had to collect it.

Springing back to his feet, Wild began to stoke the fire back to life. He pinched his pointer fingers and thumbs in front of his lips to create a pinhole and blew. The flames roared back to a stable life within a few breaths, and he placed more kindling into them. As soon as the flames were fed, he turned in a circle, viewing the other heroes in the camp. They all needed sleep, but someone had to keep watch. He couldn’t leave them vulnerable.

Immediately he headed towards Twilight. He was always able to rely on him to have his back, but Wild froze. Twilight would insist on following him--slow him down. He had to reach the star fragment before dawn, and the night was well into its progression. No he couldn’t wake him. His sight shifted to Warriors. The captain would be all for the tactical advantage that the fallen star could bring. Wild would explain quickly as he packed up his bedroll then be off. He nodded to himself and went to Warriors’ side.

“Hey, wake up,” Wild whispered. Warriors wasn’t supposed to be on the watch roster for the night, so quickly he added, “Quietly.”

Warriors shifted and cracked an eye open with a groan. “What?” he whispered back.

“I need you on watch for me. Get up,” Wild shot back, already leaving the other man’s side.

“What? Why?” A hushed, sleepy voice carried over behind Wild’s back as he began packing up his things.

“I saw a star fall. If I can get to it before dawn, we may be able to use it,” he replied.

“A star? How would we be able to use a star? What do you mean?” The sound of Warriors sitting up in his bedroll reached Wild.

“The Great Fairies in my Hyrule--they can use various things to enchant some of our equipment. The stars create the strongest enchantments and are incredibly rare. I don’t have time to explain fully,” Wild whispered as he finished packing. “I have to go now to be able to get it.”

“Take someone with you,” Warriors offered, getting to his feet. “I’m sure Twilight would be willing to accompany you.”

“Can’t. I may have to climb, and I need to be quick,” Wild replied, turning around to face the other Link. Their eyes met and there was a beat as Warriors’ gaze flicked over his face. His expression of unassuradness melted into resolution as his mouth pressed into a tight line and Warriors nodded.

“Well, you better get going then,” he said.

Wild nodded his thanks and took off. As he started running past the other hero, Warriors muttered, “I better not take the blame for you going missing.”

Chapter Text

The trees around them had been sparse, yet they had been dense enough in the direction the star had fallen to block Wild’s view of what path he should take. Anxiety bit at his chest as leaves crunched under his feet. The hope of being able to find the star fragment was draining from him as his view was continually obstructed. What if he couldn’t find where it landed?

No. He shook his head. There wasn’t a need to be worried about that. If he wasn’t able to see where the star landed it would be out of reach, and he could return to camp. No one would blame him. Warriors would be the only one to even know of his failure.

The thought made his anxiety’s grip tighten. He knew it was alright to not have everything be a resounding success, but the few failures he’d had in the past had been catastrophic. It was alright to fail. Failing wasn’t the end of the world. Except when it was. No this wasn’t a failure. It wouldn’t be a failure. He wouldn’t be a failure. This would just be unfortunate timing. He could tell the others to keep an eye out on their watches. They could all help him get star fragments. Then they’d be able to enchant even more equipment. Yeah! It would be okay. Even if he didn’t get the star fragment this time it would be okay.

Wild grit his teeth. Despite what he was telling himself, he didn’t truly feel it. There was no surge of assuredness to push him forwards heroically on this journey. His brain, having conjured up his past failure, had only strengthened the anxiety welling within him. He had to focus on his breathing. It was beginning to get irregular. He couldn’t let that happen. He had to keep running at a steady pace. If he wanted any hope of finding the star he had to keep moving swiftly.

In.

Pause.

Out.

Pause.

In.

Pause.

Out.

Goddesses, he wished that the others were with him. He needed the distraction. He’d gotten used to the noise of other people being around. Whenever his thoughts would stray into unpleasantness he could always turn and see Twilight and feel reassured; he could watch Legend bicker with Warriors; see Four and Wind causing trouble; listen to Sky and Hyrule to just feel their more relaxed natures wash over him; look to Time to feel more grounded--to have the responsibility of it all lifted from his shoulders. This anxiety wouldn’t be suffocating him, drowning out his thoughts.

But they weren’t with him. He couldn’t bring them with him. They would slow him down. He had to do this alone. He would be okay doing this alone. He’d done plenty of things alone before they came along.

His reassurances didn’t work. The panic still gripped at his thoughts as he ran. Though he wasn’t running for much longer. With his mind elsewhere, Wild felt his feet trip over a root. His body naturally prepared for impact. Crashing to the ground snapped him out of the anxiety. It wasn’t a harsh fall in the least, but it was slightly jarring. A stinging in his hands brought him back to the present. The loss of the star now wouldn’t lead to their end--he’d missed a few star fragments in the past and still succeeded. A quiet chuckle welled in him as he pushed himself up from the fallen leaves and grass. He was being ridiculous.

Wild brushed the debris from his scraped palms and glanced up from the minor injuries. While he had been lost in his own head, he’d made it through most of the trees. On the horizon a bright light shone. A glow seeming to come from Hyrule itself and illuminated the tops of the Gerudo Highlands. He could see it. It was close. The star fragment had to be just at the top of the cliffs.

Though, close was relative here. In terms of just heading forward, yes, the star fragment was only about three hours away. That would be easily reachable before dawn. The time it would take to scale the massive cliffs of the Gerudo Highlands however would probably add another two to three hours. Wild glanced to east. Judging from the sky, he had about five hours until the sun would be rising.

The anxiety which had been knocked out of him surged back in a new wave. It returned full force. His acceptance of the possible loss of the star fragment disappeared. The star was close. He could get it. He had to get it. Maybe it was unlikely that he would actually be able to get a hold of it, but he would be damned if he didn’t try. Wild would have to push himself severely while climbing, but he could make it. He knew he could.

Determination mixed with fear caused Wild to scramble to his feet and start running at a faster pace than was comfortable. He could do this. It could give them a leg up. He had to do this.

By the time Wild reached the base of the Gerudo Highlands, he was exhausted. The run would have been slightly challenging had he paced himself properly and gotten sleep beforehand. Now he had simply pushed himself harder than usual on only a few hours sleep. The star was close though, he had to keep going.

Wild looked to his sheikah slate. Maybe he had a stamina draught. At the very least, he would have his climbing gear. Setting his slate on the ground, Wild sat down and began pulling off his boots with one hand. With the other hand, he began flicking through the sheikah slate in an attempt to find his climbing gear. As the cool night air hit his feet, a new fear made its way into Wild’s head.

It was going to be freezing towards to top of the cliffs. His hand hovering over his climber set, Wild stared at the tablet. Maybe he should choose something to keep him warm as well. His face scrunched in contemplation, and he found himself chewing on his bottom lip. Wild glanced back to the sky. He was running low on time. It had taken him over two hours to reach the cliffs. No. He had to be fast--chills be damned.

The climber set emerged from the slate, and Wild quickly changed into it. Once clothed, he stored his usual outfit and stared as far up the cliff face as he could. Scaling the Gerudo Highlands had been miserable the last time he had done it, and at that point he had taken his time. Now he had to rush the climb. This was not going to be easy. He could do this though. He had to do this. That star fragment could be exactly what they needed. He wouldn’t fail. Not again.

The moon was out of sight for Warriors. Wild’s shift had been over for a while, but he was hesitant to wake the next watchman. How was he supposed to explain that he just let Wild run off on his own? Regardless of how he did it, he doubted that the next Link would go on watch without anxiety for their friend. A distracted watchman wasn’t a good thing. Although, what was he at this point, but a distracted and tired watchman?

The frown that had been living at the corners of his mouth throughout the watch grew heavier. He needed to wake the next person for their shift. A sigh escaped him. Who even was the next in line to be on watch? Warriors tried to recall the conversation at dinner that night. Time declared he would take the first watch, then Wild volunteered for the second shift, and… Oh… Oh Hylia no. Twilight had offered to cover the last shift.

Of all the heroes to wake up and inform that Wild had run off during the night--chasing down a star of all things, Twilight was the worst. Twilight was always protective of Wild. Warriors understood that someone had to keep an eye on Wild most of the time. The kid had a penchant for chasing after the dangerous and acting without a care for his own well-being, but Twilight seemed to have deemed himself the main chaperone of their wildest party member. He would be devastated and infuriated to learn that Wild ran off alone into dangers and adventures unknown--that Warriors had let him.

What could he tell Twilight to prevent his head getting chewed off? “Hey sorry about this, but Wild woke me up to go run off chasing after shooting stars. Hm? Nah, I didn’t try to stop him. Why would I? He’s only likely to get himself hurt with his own reckless behavior. Anyway your turn to sit up alone for hours while the kid is off by himself probably being maimed by bokoblins and getting chewed on by keese.”

Warriors pressed his hands over his face and let out a groan of frustration. Regardless of what he said, Twilight was going to get pissed. Either he’d get pissed at him now, or when he got up to find that Wild never woke him up for his shift. He would probably be angrier if Warriors didn’t wake him up and tell him that their feral friend was missing. Plus, if he got Twilight’s wrath over with, he would at least get some sleep.

With another sigh, Warriors pushed himself to his feet and shuffled over to Twilight’s bedroll. He hesitated over the sleeping form, glancing to where Wild’s own bedroll had been. Goddesses protect him. He crouched down and lightly shook the other man’s shoulder. A quiet groan greeted him in response before a yawn overtook the form below him. Warriors felt his shoulders stiffening in preparation for the distress that was about to be thrown his way.

Once the yawn subsided Twilight sniffed and slowly opened his eyes. Tiredness only rested on his face for a second before it jumped to life with an expression that came from a lack of understanding. “Warriors?” he asked, keeping his voice low in case of danger. His brows were knit together in confusion.

Before the other hero could even respond, Twilight was pushing himself up and looking to where Wild’s bedroll should have been. His face went slack with realization. Wild wasn’t there. He quickly began scrambling to his feet. “What happened?” he asked, his voice growing deadly serious. He began scanning the camp for signs of a struggle only to find everyone sleeping peacefully. The only sign of anything being amiss was the lack of Wild and his things.

“Calm down. You don’t want to wake everyone,” Warriors hushed. Twilight stopped searching for Wild in the camp and narrowed his eyes at Warriors, silently begging for answers. Worry rode off of the recently awoken hero in waves.

“He’s fine--I think. I’m not entirely sure where he went. I was sleeping peacefully when Wild woke me up and asked me to keep his watch. He said something about the Great Fairies using a shooting star to enhance our equipment and insisted that he had to get one before dawn. I told him to take someone with him, but he just said they’d slow him down,” Warriors informed him, preparing himself to take the brunt of Twilight’s current panic. “He was determined to go, Twi. I-I wouldn’t have been able to stop him.”

“Did you even try to?” Twilight’s gaze pinned Warriors in place. His expression shifted from worry to anger as he learned that Warriors had let his protege run off on his own.

“No. He was going to leave no matter what I did. Could see it in his eyes,” he replied, meeting the other’s stare. Twilight was intimidating. In his rage he seemed ready to grab Warriors by the front of his tunic and throw him across the clearing. Warriors knew better--he wouldn’t do such a thing. For a split second though, the tension of Twilight’s muscles and his weight distribution suggested he was considering it.

They kept their gazes locked for a moment until Twilight let his muscles drop in defeat. He shifted to looking around the camp again before glancing back to Warriors’ face. “How long ago did he leave?”

“It’s been a few hours,” Warriors replied gently. He reached up and ran his fingers through his hair and looked off into the direction Wild had gone. “By the way he spoke--it seemed like he thought that if he didn’t leave right then he wouldn’t reach it by dawn. I don’t think he’ll be back anytime soon.”

“So he went off a good distance by himself with almost no sleep? Great,” Twilight half snarled. He clenched his fists and made his way over to the log where Wild and Warriors had sat to keep watch. For a second it looked like he was considering sitting, but he only continued past the log and began a route around their campfire, kicking up leaves and dust slightly as he went. He kept his gaze anywhere but Warriors and where Wild was supposed to lay sleeping.

Warriors stood by Twilight’s bedroll still, watching him. There was nothing he could say to make the situation better, but Twilight was agitated in a manner that suggested he was about ready to take off any second to try to find Wild. Maybe waking him was a mistake. Maybe he should have just woken someone else up. Hyrule or Four probably could have kept watch instead. Twilight may have been angrier in the long run, but at least they wouldn’t run the risk of being down two people in the middle of the night.

It took a lap and a half around the fire for Twilight to realize that Warriors had been staring. “What?” he asked, pausing in his pacing and crossing his arms.

“You going to be okay to keep watch, or... should I wake someone else?” Warriors asked quietly. Though his tone was gentle, there was a harshness to his words. It was an unintended backhand to Twilight’s behavior in response to his worries.

Twilight bristled like he was about to snap at the other hero. There was a beat where all his anger at how Warriors had boiled down his worries to his irrational desires to take off and find Wild steamed just below his skin. Warriors hadn’t said that he thought Twilight was going to just leave them defenseless while they slept, but the message that his departure would do just that was pretty clear. He wanted to run over to Warriors and intimidate him into taking the question back--to make him take back that he would ever do such a disgraceful thing. He wanted to make him admit that leaving camp now wouldn’t just be leaving everyone--his leaving would only be helpful to Wild.

But chasing after Wild wouldn’t really be helpful to anyone would it? The realization made his anger retreat back into his chest. If he went after Wild now, he really would just be leaving everyone. In seeking out his friend, he would leave his other friends behind. They would be short two men and be worrying themselves about both Wild and him. Wild was already hours ahead of him, and Twilight likely wouldn’t catch up to him until he started heading back to camp, regardless of whether he left now or after everyone else was awake. If Twilight waited, someone could come with him--assuaging the worries that he might get caught by the mishaps that may have befallen Wild. The idea of waiting longer to go after Wild made him feel sick, but the idea of leaving his other traveling companions to sit and worry over the both of them while having less manpower made him feel despicable. Twilight turned and sat abruptly on the log the other watchmen had used.

A sigh of defeat escaped him as the ill feeling of leaving Wild fending for himself alone made itself comfortable in his gut. “I’ll be fine. Go get some sleep,” he muttered.

Warriors waited a moment, assessing him. Twilight hated the feeling of Warrior’s eyes on him, and he felt himself bristling in frustration again. He knew the captain was right, but waiting to see if Wild was okay--was going to be okay--still left a bitter taste in his mouth. He stared into the fire in front of him, jabbing it with a stick in an attempt to seem busy--refusing to make eye contact. Footsteps approached him, and a hand came to rest on his shoulder.

“He’ll be alright. He can be a little crazy sometimes, but he knows how to look after himself,” Warriors comforted. The hand on his shoulder gave a light squeeze.

Twilight huffed and finally looked up at him. “I hope you’re right,” he replied with his lips drawn tight.

The other hero nodded, a tight smile of his own on his face. No more words were exchanged between the two of them as Warriors turned and trod over to his bedroll. He hesitated a moment, watching Twilight go back to anxiously stirring the flames of their campfire before laying down and falling into a troubled sleep.

Chapter Text

The waiting was agony. Twilight had felt the anxiety and agitation stirring beneath his skin the whole time he had been on watch. The time since he woke until sunrise felt like an eternity. Despite knowing that Wild likely wasn’t coming back anytime soon, every time there was a slight rustle of leaves near camp, he had leapt to his feet and rushed to see if it was his friend. It never was.

The bitter feeling of leaving Wild out alone all night had risen from his gut up his throat. It rested there, swelling until it felt like he might choke. Twilight found himself unable to sit most of the watch. He paced, stopped, sat, told himself to be calm and that Wild would be fine, waited, and repeated. He knew he was probably disturbing some of his companion’s sleep, but at that moment he could care less. For the Goddesses’ sake he wanted them to wake up already, so he could do something besides sit there.

By the time that Time woke up, Twilight was ready to scream. The sunlight started coming through the sparse trees and dappling the sleeping heroes in light. Time’s eye opened slowly. He rolled over in his bedroll to check on the watchman before getting up entirely. His sluggish state was jarred from him as Twilight’s agitated form came into view. The tension in his descendant’s body screamed of trouble. He noted his awakening going unnoticed by their usually astute party member, and his jaw set. Something happened or was happening.

Quietly, he glanced around. Nothing seemed amiss. Wait. Wild’s things were missing, but perhaps that was nothing. Wild was known to have mornings where he would get up early to go fetch more supplies whenever he was in an area where he thought he could gather a large score for their reserves. Time began to sit up, and noted how Twilight’s gaze snapped to him instantly, almost desperately. This was wrong. He finished extracting himself from his bedroll and made his way cautiously over to the watchman.

“What’s wrong?” he asked gently resting a hand on Twilight’s arm. He noted how Twilight’s knuckles grew white as he clenched his hands.

“Wild went off on his own,” Twilight answered him. Distress choked at his voice despite his attempt to keep it steady. He faced the fire instead of Time, and began kicking dirt onto the flames. Wild wasn’t there. They wouldn’t need it to cook. The morning might be chilly, but it wasn’t cold enough that the need for a fire was dire, and Twilight just wanted to do something.

“Wild left? Where did he go?” the older man asked, retracting his hand. Curiosity burning in his chest. What would cause Wild to run off? He knew it was dangerous to be wandering off alone with the monsters being stronger than usual.

Twilight looked up at him. His face was pinched in concern. “I don’t know... Warriors said it sounded like he wasn’t going to be back soon.”

“Warriors knows he left?” The oddness of the situation seemed only to grow.

“Wild woke him up to take his watch,” Twilight scowled. “He apparently wasn’t going to be able to stop him. The kid’s too stubborn.”

“Stop him from doing what?” Time asked, dropping his voice slightly. Their conversation wasn’t loud, but, due to the hour, the other heroes around them were beginning to become more aware. They may not be awake yet, but they likely would be rather soon.

“He wanted to get a star fragment, or at least that’s what I think he’s doing. Warriors said he mentioned something about a shooting star...” Twilight answered. His gaze shifted from Time to the sky and then with a slight shake of his head down to his feet as he spoke. His tone remained the same as before--ignoring the existence of the others in favor of getting some relief from his hours of isolation in misery.

“A star fragment?” Curiosity edged its way into Time’s voice.

“Shooting stars always land in his Hyrule. They’re rare though, and if you can get one of the fragments before it disappears it can be used for strong enchantments,” Twilight paused. “He told me he gathered some to enchant his armor before taking on Ganon. I don’t know why he’d go after one though. Based on what he told me, all his equipment is as enhanced as it can get.”

“I see... Do you think he wants to enchant some of our equipment?” Time’s voice reached him, and Twilight glanced up from his feet. He released his grip on his palms and looked at them, only half paying attention to bitemarks his nails had left.

At that time, Hyrule sat up in his bedroll and started stretching. He looked over to where Twilight and Time were standing. Something seemed off about their postures. Time’s eye flicked to him, and he gave Hyrule a slight nod of recognition. Well, whatever they were talking about wasn’t a secret. He still didn’t move to intrude on their conversation and instead settled for packing up his bedroll.

The younger of the pair’s gaze slowly shifted from his hands to where Wild’s bedroll should have been. “Maybe he does, but he still shouldn’t have gone off on his own--Warriors shouldn’t have let him go off on his own,” Twilight muttered back.

“Maybe not,” Time nodded placatingly. “There has to be a reason he would go by himself though. He’s reckless, not stupid. He knows it’s dangerous out there, and I doubt Warriors would have let him leave by himself unless there was a good reason.”

“He probably thought he’d have to climb something. If it were somewhere too high up or in a canyon he’d probably be the only one who could reach it,” Twilight huffed. “It’s the only reason I can think of that he’d go off to do something by himself.”

“He didn’t want to leave anyone waiting alone out in his Hyrule while he was off climbing something,” Time reasoned.

Taking a glance around camp, Twilight noticed Hyrule sitting awake, shuffling through his pack for something. Within a few seconds, a disgruntled Legend smacked Hyrule’s leg in response and rolled over to try to block out the sounds his companion was making. “Probably,” he muttered.

“I can see why Warriors would let him go alone,” Time muttered. Twilight knew that the older man was right. It was probably best that they all got their rest and that no one was left in an unfamiliar Hyrule on their own.

“Yeah,” Twilight grimaced. He turned to look to where Warriors was sleeping. “Yeah…” he repeated with a sigh. The tension in his body drained out of him in defeat. Anxiety still lingered in his heart, but the frustration at Wild being on his own was gone. All that remained was the hopelessness and helplessness. Twilight sat down on the felled log that had been his companion during the night time torture and covered his face with his hands. He knew it would be foolish to have gone with Wild--or at least have someone else go with him, but he couldn’t help feeling like he should have chased after him. He should be helping Wild! Not leaving him to his fate.

Time leaned over and put a hand briefly on his descendent’s shoulder with a gentle smile. He waited there for a few moments in case Twilight wanted to say more, but the younger man didn’t move--he was too lost in his own thoughts.

With the conversation having lulled off, Legend sat up in his bedroll. He yawned loudly and stretched his arms over his head. As he lowered his arms, he leaned slightly so that he would end up lightly pushing Hyrule over. Hyrule huffed and gingerly shoved him back in response.

“So we doing anything special for breakfast, or are we just getting into our rations?” Legend asked.

Twilight removed his hands from his face and looked over at Legend with mild annoyance. He knew it wasn’t the other hero’s fault, but feeling so helpless made him easily agitated. The question showed that Legend was well aware of the situation, but still felt the need to ask for Hylia knows what reason. Before he could say anything Time answered calmly, “It’s rations for breakfast today. Wild’s not going to be cooking.”

Legend hummed back in response--staring at Twilight thoughtfully for a moment. Then he looked over at Hyrule and started trying to broker a ration swap. “How about you give me one of your apples, and I give you some of this cheese for your bread?”

“Hmmm... How’s about I keep my apple, and you keep your stinky cheese to yourself?” Hyrule mused, pulling out his apple and preparing to take a bite. With a frown, Legend snatched away the fruit from the brunette. “Hey!” Hyrule yelped and began trying to get his apple back.

The commotion the pair began making over their food items was loud enough to wake Four and Warriors. It took only a glance around camp for Warriors to see that Wild was still missing and that they were on their own for breakfast. He frowned, but began packing his bedroll and pulling his rations from his bag in silence.

Four merely looked around in a half-asleep daze. “Wild out getting breakfast?” he yawned, stretching out his arms in front of himself.

“No,” Twilight muttered. The tension starting to return to his shoulders. Maybe everyone waking up wasn’t going to make the waiting for Wild easier. He watched the pair of heroes who were fighting over their food with mild annoyance for a moment before rolling his eyes and turning his attention to Four.

The shortest hero’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Oh… Where’d he go?” he asked.

“We’ll discuss that when everyone else is awake, Four,” Time answered calmly before anyone else could. The finality in his voice informed Four to not ask, and the other hero understood. With a nod, Four began pulling out his breakfast rations, eating in his bedroll.

Warriors observed his eating in bed with a huff of annoyance. “Why are you eating in your bedroll? You’ll get crumbs everywhere.”

“It’s comfier, and besides I can just brush the crumbs off,” Four huffed back, doing a sweeping gesture to mime cleaning off his bedroll. The gesture caused part of his bread to fall off from the hunk he was eating. The two of them stared at the offending piece of food in silence for a moment before Four reached down with the hand not holding the majority of his bread to pick it up.

“Don’t,” Warriors half whispered in a pleading tone.

“Don’t what?” Four asked, popping the chunk of fallen bread into his mouth.

A long breath of air left Warrior’s lips, and he lowered his head in defeat. “Okay…” he muttered, and finished packing his bedroll as Four chuckled to himself.

As Warriors settled down to eat his rations, Sky began shifting into awareness. Before he could ask any questions, Twilight stood up from his seat. “Wild’s not here. Get your own breakfast,” he shot in the waking Link’s direction--unable to handle more questions about his missing protege. He trudged over to his bedroll and began packing it up. His words to the waking hero disturbed the the last sleeping member of their party. Wind groaned in his sleep, and shifted in his bedroll.

“Wakey, wakey sleepy head,” Four chuckled.

“What time is it?” Wind muttered.

“Ration o’clock,” Legend replied as he crunched into Hyrule’s apple in the midst of their wrestling.

“Hey!” Hyrule yelped, lightly smacking the other hero. He sighed as Legend crunched on what was once his food and moved away from the other Link, holding out his hand. Legend slapped the piece of cheese into it with a cheeky grin.

Sitting up and rubbing his eyes Wind moaned, “Rations? Why?”

“It’s either that or nothing,” Warriors offered. “Wild’s not here to make breakfast.”

“Wild’s not here? Where is he?” Wind asked, suddenly more awake.

Warriors glanced to Twilight. The other hero had his back to everyone as he continued to pack. He was about to reply when Time cut him off. “He’s off getting something that may give us a leg up on whatever it is we’re facing.”

“Really? What is it?!” Wind asked in excitement. Four elbowed him lightly. “What?” he asked quietly in response. Four only nodded in Twilight’s direction in an attempt to get the youngest party member to read the atmosphere.

“A star fragment,” Twilight responded. He kept his back to the others. “Star fragments in his Hyrule can be used for powerful enchantments. He had to go get it before it got killed by the sunlight.”

“What’s he enchanting?” Sky asked.

“Who knows,” Twilight replied. He finished packing his bedroll and turned to face the others. He began fishing in his bag for breakfast--a mask of determination having overcome his face. Everyone was awake. They could get going after Wild soon. They’d find him. They’d find him, and then Twilight was going to kick Wild’s ass into next year for running off on his own and making them worry.

“Why’d he go by himself?” Sky murmured in confusion.

“He figured he may have to climb something and didn’t want to leave someone alone out here,” Warriors replied. Twilight nodded his agreement as he pulled an apple from his bag.

“Are we just going to wait here for him to come back, or are we going to try to find him?” Hyrule asked around a mouthful of bread and cheese. His gaze was locked on the look of determination on Twilight’s face as he asked.

“We should probably wait on him to come back. We’d likely get lost trying to find him,” Time replied. He was looking at Hyrule, but he didn’t miss how Twilight seemed to stiffen at his declaration. “He also might not be able to find us if we left.”

At that comment Twilight seemed to deflate some. Time was right. If they left camp while Wild was on his way back, there was a chance they could miss each other. Even if they managed to follow his trail, there was no guarantee that he would come back the same way he left.

Warriors was watching Twilight carefully. He could see how badly the other man wanted to go find his friend. He set his jaw and took a deep breath. “What if a couple of us went to see if we could meet him on his way back? If we don’t run into him in a couple hours we could return to camp.” Twilight looked at him in surprise briefly before whipping his head around to stare hopefully at Time. While the eldest Link seemed to consider it Warriors added, “It’d be better than just sitting around here doing nothing. We could get an idea about how long we may be waiting at least.”

Time looked to the others, and a couple of them nodded their agreement. “Alright. Three of us can go look for him. The rest of us will wait here in camp. Twilight, Warriors, I assume the two of you would like to go look for him.”

“Of course,” Warriors replied while Twilight simply nodded.

“I could join them,” Four offered after the pair had made their intentions known.

Time seemed to hesitate a moment at the smallest party memeber’s offer. He nodded though as he agreed, “Right. The three of you finish eating. If you don’t find him in two hours I expect you to head back here.”

“Will do,” Warriors bowed his head slightly before he resumed eating at a slightly increased pace. He knew Twilight was impatient to get on the move. Four also finished eating quickly, though he didn’t have much left of his breakfast to eat at that point. Twilight ate the apple faster than the others thought he possibly could, then stood and moved to the center of camp until the other two finished.

Once Warriors finished eating, Twilight asked him, “Which way?”

“West mainly,” he responded. Twilight nodded and immediately started walking, not waiting for the other two. Warriors quickly scrambled to his feet and went after him--Four not far behind. For Twilight’s sake, Warriors hoped they would find Wild safe and soon.

Chapter Text

Exhaustion laced every inch of his body as Wild pulled himself over onto the top of the Gerudo Highlands. His muscles, throat, nose, and eyes all burned and ached furiously. Nausea had been burning in his stomach from the exertion. Before he could do anything, he collapsed into the snow. His legs had taken the brunt of his journey--having run through the night then relying on them to push him up the cliff face.

As soon as he hit the snow, Wild knew that if he didn’t start moving fast he might not move ever again. The climber’s set wasn’t protective against harsh weather in the least. The cold bit painfully into his skin--almost burning to the touch. His muscles remained stiff and unresponsive as he lay there, gasping for breath. The air was thinner. He had been regulating his breathing well on the climb despite how difficult it had been, but his crashing into the snow had knocked the wind from him. Shit. This was bad.

He clenched his eyes shut tightly and groaned. The effort it took to move his muscles even the slightest bit was intensified by how the cold had stiffened them. Alright. Fine. Breathing first, muscles second. Wild attempted to reign his gasping breaths under control. It was a gargantuan task. The cold lacing its way through his body made his mind fuzzy and panicked. His shivering made controlling his breathing a struggle as all his muscles contracted and released violently in an attempt to warm him even slightly. Despite the struggle, a few moments of severe concentration from Wild allowed him to reign back mild control. Right. Now he had to grab the sheikah slate and get his Snowquill armor.

His arms protested moving. The muscles screamed at him--his joints ached alongside them. The one movement to just reach for the slate had felt like an eternity. Wild wasn’t keen on attempting to hold the sheikah slate above himself to allow him to see what he was doing--not with how badly he was shivering and how weak his muscles felt. Using muscle memory, he managed to activate the slate and navigate to the armor screen while it lay at his side. The rito armor appeared, and without shucking the climber’s gear, Wild began to shakily pull it on. He knew that trapping the snow and residual wetness from it inside the snowquill armor wasn’t a bright idea, but he didn’t think he had it in him to strip off his gear and get dressed again. He would just have to deal with one side of his body being horribly cold. 

As soon as the rito’s armor was on him, Wild felt a little better. It wasn’t a vast difference--he had lost a lot of body heat in the time taken to regulate his breathing, but it would have to be enough. He started clenching and relaxing his hands repeatedly in his gloves to get his circulation moving without straining himself too much, and looked to the east. The sun was about to start rising. Panic slammed into Wild, and he choked on his breath. He was out of time.

Where was the star fragment? He whipped his head around, searching for the glowing beacon that had lead him so far. It only took a moment to find it. The snow about 100 yards off was glowing brilliantly--almost too brilliantly. Wild shoved himself to his feet. His legs quickly gave way. Cursing under his breath and shaking snow from his hair, he tried to stand again--more slowly this time. Though wobbly, his legs held. 

The walk through the snow was torturous. His legs screamed and nearly gave out with every step, but he had to get to the star. It was so close. As he drew closer, so did the dawn. Wild glanced over his shoulder and saw the hints of sunrise cresting the horizon. No! He couldn’t run out of time! Drained and exhausted, Wild grit his teeth. He wasn’t giving up now--not when he was so close. He started to run through the snow to the best of his ability. It was more of a prolonged stumble than a run had he been honest with himself. Unclasping the sheikah slate from his hip as he was stumbling towards the star fragment caused him to trip. 

Wild slammed into the snow, dazed for a moment as the cold tightly embraced him once again. He glanced back over his shoulder to the changing hues of the sky in distress before crawling as quickly as he could through the snow. The light was catching up. The star was going to die. He shoved himself forwards. He had to keep going. He would reach the star fragment. It was almost within arm’s reach.

Shoving himself up in a last ditch attempt to reach the star, Wild dove for it, aiming the surface of the sheikah slate for the star fragment itself. The slate hit home, and the star vanished inside. Wild lay, panting and exhausted in the snow. He did it. He had the star. The hero rolled onto his back and hugged the sheikah slate to his chest. A laugh bubbled inside him and relief flooded through him. He lay there chuckling for a few moments, staring at the clouds overhead as sunrise began to reflect off of them--giving them a pink hue. 

“That’s pretty…” he thought. Wild wanted to hold the sheikah slate up and take a picture, but quickly exhaustion overwhelmed him, and he found himself drifting off to sleep.

As soon as he left camp, Twilight focused on his task with great intent. He didn’t really care if he left the others in the dust at this point, he just wanted to find Wild. Having suffered through the whole night had been unbearable. Now he was finally able to move--finally able to do something. 

His eyes scanned the ground as they moved, looking for signs of disturbance or passage. Wild was good at what he did, but he was still a physical presence and likely would have forgotten to cover any tracks or be cautious about leaving them in his rush.

Twilight would have loved nothing more than to take to his lupine form to assist in tracking, but with the others around he wasn’t able to. He suspected that Four knew something was up with his convenient disappearances around the times that Wolfie would show up, but he doubted that Warriors was aware. As smart as he was, Warriors’ perception often seemed to stray from things that were convenient. If something worked in their favor, Warriors never seemed to be one to question it. No matter how much he wanted to find Wild, until he found himself without a trail, Twilight would avoid having to reveal his secret and indulge in that conversation.

So their search went on foot, following broken sticks and disturbed underbrush until they emerged into the open fields of Wild’s Hyrule. Tracking was about to get a bit more difficult. Based on the direction they were headed though, Twilight had a pretty good inclination as to where the star might have landed if Wild would need to climb.

The trio of Heroes stared up at the Gerudo Highlands. The massive cliffs loomed in the distance--their tops almost being gently caressed by the clouds overhead. Twilight felt his stomach clench at the thought of climbing all that way. They were still a decent distance off and the cliffs already seemed huge. If Wild thought he would have to climb anywhere, it would likely have been there. 

“You think he tried to climb that?” Warriors asked--breaking into Twilight’s thoughts.

“Maybe…” Twilight murmured back--more to himself than to the others. Had Wild climbed that before dawn? It seemed unlikely, though his protege was quite the sight when it came to scaling things. Dread dug deeper into his stomach the longer his gaze lingered on the cliffs. If he tried to scale that after running all this way and then some...

“Goddesses above…” Warriors muttered under his breath.

“We don’t know for sure he went that way, do we?” Four interjected.

Twilight paused in his dread. He looked down at the slight imprint left from running feet in the dirt. There was no guarantee yet. “Not for sure, no,” he relented. 

“Then we should keep going. Even if that is where he went, maybe he didn’t have to climb all the way up. He could be on his way back,” Four suggested. His optimism and calming suggestions were of little comfort. Knowing his luck, Wild had likely scaled the whole damn cliff. 

Regardless of his lingering anxieties, Twilight nodded in agreement, and the group pressed forward.

A familiar voice and sensation reached into Wild’s consciousness and yanked him awake. He felt a flood of warmth rush through him as Mipha’s Grace spread throughout his body. As his eyes opened, Mipha’s visage smiled at him before vanishing. Oh. Well, that wasn’t great. Good thing he had gone by himself. If any of the others found out he let himself get that close to dying they would have been pissed.

Wild pushed himself into a seated position. So much for his streak of staying relatively safe. The ache in his muscles was, thankfully, gone. He looked around. How long had he been lying in the snow for him to have come so close to death? The sun was just barely cresting the horizon. Not long. Well, that was probably even worse. He’d really done a number on himself huh?

At least he hadn’t been asleep too long. He would be able to head back to the others quickly. Twilight was certainly awake and fussing about camp already. A sigh escaped him at the thought. He hoped the other hero wouldn’t be too mad about him running off. In fact he really should start heading back. While he may have been restored, there was still snow trapped in his armor--probably a contributing factor into what did him in this time, and the chance of getting too cold again still lingered over him. A shiver ran through him, and Wild was thankful that on the way down from the Gerudo Highlands he wouldn’t have to climb. 

Getting to his feet, Wild pulled out the sheikah slate. Pulling up the items menu, he checked that the star fragment was stored safely away. Upon seeing it there, a smiled pulled at his lips. Thank the Goddesses. He swiped away from the star fragment to pull up the paraglider. Nodding to himself with a proud grin, Wild began trudging through the snow to the edge of the cliffs.

Their time to search had run out with no sign of Wild outside of the faint trail he had left. The trio was nearer the cliff face and more intimidated at the prospect of their friend having scaled it than before. Twilight knew their time was up, but he kept pressing forward. Wild had definitely gone up there. A hand rested on his shoulder and gripped firmly. 

“Twi, I know you wanna keep going, but the others will get worried if we don’t start heading back,” Warriors said soothingly. 

Despite how calm his words were, they did nothing but annoy Twilight. They had to be so close to finding Wild by now right? Why should they stop if they probably only needed to press a little further?

He grit his teeth and stared straight ahead. His steps had stopped, but his body screamed for him to keep going--to find Wild. They had to be close to finding him. He had to find him. “I’m not going back yet. We have to be close. You guys can head back and let the others know I’ll be on my way soon.”

“No. We’re not leaving you alone out here,” Warriors frowned. His grip lightly tightened on Twilight’s shoulder. “If you think it’s dangerous for Wild to be out here alone when he knows where he is, how dangerous do you think it is for you?”

Twilight turned around sharply, ready to bark a response at Warriors--to insist that they were about to find him and insist that he should just keep going a little longer. Upon seeing the other hero’s face though he paused. Warriors wore a look of resignation and finality. He knew no matter what he said, Twilight wouldn’t be inclined to listen, but he still had to try. Twilight knew he was being unreasonable by insisting on pressing on by himself, but they had to be close! If Wild actually was heading back along the same route he’d taken, their paths would have to cross soon. Right?

“Come on Twi, he’ll be okay. He’s made it this far. He’s probably faring better than us,” Four smiled hopefully at him. Despite how sincere he had meant it, you could see the effort being made in the tenseness of his smile.

“Yeah, and besides, maybe Wolfie’s with him,” Warriors supplemented in the hopes of placating his worries.

Maybe Wolfie’s with him. The words repeated in Twilight’s head. He wasn’t--he knew he wasn’t given that he was Wolfie, but the words gave him an idea. Twilight shook his head.

“Wolfie’s not with him. We would have seen his tracks too,” he replied. Warriors frowned again. He moved to speak, but Twilight continued before he could, “He’s probably out here somewhere though. I could call him. The two of us could go look for Wild just a little longer. You two could head back and tell the others I won’t be long, and that I’m with Wolfie.” It was clear that he was grasping at straws--even to himself. The mild pleading of desperation could be heard in his voice, and he knew it. 

He avoided looking at Four, who he could tell was frowning at him judging from the change in his posture. What Four thought wasn’t what mattered to him at the moment--it was Warriors he felt he had to convince. 

Twilight knew that Four would be reluctant to leave him with how high the probability was that he knew that Twilight was Wolfie. Four was all for teamwork and sticking together. He would likely refuse to let him be on his own. 

Warriors however could be swayed. Wild convinced him to let him go off on his own, so Twilight probably could as well--especially when bolstering extra protection. If he could convince Warriors, Four would have to relent and let him go on his own--either that or he risked declaring that Twilight was secretly a wolf. It seemed unlikely that he would be inclined to do that since Twilight would simply deny it if it helped him make sure Wild was safe.

“I guess…” Warriors relented after a moment. He looked to Four, who just shook his head--the frown still on his lips. 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to split up--Wolfie or no Wolfie,” Four insisted.

“I’ll be fine,” Twilight shot back, getting defensive in his need to continue his search. 

The pair kept their gazes locked. The shortest hero’s eyebrows drew together and the frown on his face deepened. 

“I don’t think we’ll be able to stop him, Four,” Warriors aided gently. “It’s not like we’d be leaving him alone either--he’ll have Wolfie with him. He’ll be alright. Right, Twi?”

Twilight nodded his agreement. Determination was written all over his face. He’d found his solution. He’d be able to keep searching for Wild.

Four looked like he was about to protest, but cut himself off. His jaw shut with a click and after a moment he huffed, “Fine, but you better swear you’ll head back in another half hour, regardless of what happens and leave Wolfie to finding Wild on his own .” 

The real meaning of the words were clear to Twilight even if they weren’t to Warriors, who was nodding in agreement. Leave it be, and come back. The thought brought a bitter taste into Twilight’s mouth, but he nodded again. 

Leaving everyone worried about both him and Wild would do them no good. If he didn’t find Wild in half an hour, it was likely he wouldn’t find him along this path anyway. It looked as though he scaled the Gerudo Highlands, and there was no way Twilight would be managing that. At most he would likely just be waiting out in the open, exposed and alone until he saw sign of Wild coming down the cliffs or gave up. The realization of that settled in his stomach as he kept his eyes locked with the shortest hero. It was a heavy feeling, but one of acceptance that he couldn’t deny.

“I will,” he promised.

With that, Four relaxed slightly, and turned to leave. “We’ll see you soon,” he called, already heading back to camp. Twilight could tell he was unhappy about the results of the conversation, but wasn’t going to try to fight it anymore.

“Good luck,” Warriors offered as he turned to follow their companion.

Twilight watched the pair as they left for a moment before he whistled loudly. The others turned to look over their shoulders at him in confusion.

“Calling Wolfie!” he yelled their direction. 

Four nodded in understanding and turned back to the path in front of them. Warriors supplied a thumbs up to him before doing the same. Twilight hesitated then turned and started walking in the direction of Wild’s trail.

 After he’d been walking for a minute or two, he shifted into his wolf form. He shook out his fur and took a deep breath, taking in the stale scent that Wild had left in his wake. He would find him soon. He knew it. He had to. And with that, he took off running.

Twilight had only been running a couple minutes when he glanced up at the cliffs and saw a shape sailing away from their tops. He slowed to a halt a stared, trying to identify what the object soaring above was. It was too large to be any of the birds they’d seen around Wild’s Hyrule. He squinted a moment before sending out his senses.

His eyes opened in a flash as the answer struck him. It was Wild. How was he…? Oh right. He had a paraglider. Wild had only showed it to them briefly before when shield surfing down a steep hill. It had been his insurance policy should his shield get close to breaking, and should he need to get off of it quickly to save himself from sliding face-first the rest of the way downhill.

Relief flooded through him as Twilight observed him with his senses. He seemed alright. Hopefully he would be able to hang on until he reached the ground. With how undoubtable long his night had been, Twilight was slightly worried that Wild would let go before he could reach the ground safely due to sheer exhaustion. 

He turned back into his hylian form and crossed his arms while he waited. He watched as Wild sailed down to the ground not far away. It became clear that a little ways up, he had been spotted as Wild had turned his paraglider slightly to be more in-line with Twilight.

After landing, Wild stored his paraglider and turned to face Twilight, his face slightly flushed from the cold and the wind that had buffeted it. A sheepish grin rested on his face. His shoulders were hunched slightly as he approached with his sheikah slate held close to his chest.

“I-” Wild started. He cleared his throat, “I got it.” He turned the slate around to show Twilight an image of a star fragment nestled safely within its inventory.

“Congratulations,” Twilight replied stiffly, only glancing briefly at the slate. There was so much he wanted to scream at Wild. He wanted to yell about how stupid it had been to run off on his own--about how much it had worried all of them. About how much it worried him. He wanted to scream and shout out all of his frustration and anguish he had bottled up over the night--to let out all the worry he had been carrying.

Instead all of that flooded away when he absorbed the way Wild held himself with bundled anxiety, ready for the chewing out he expected for his reckless acts. None of that worry mattered anymore. He could see Wild was here, and he was safe and sound. Twilight stepped forward gingerly and reached out to touch his protege’s shoulder. 

“Don’t ever do that again, okay?” he said. His voice shook slightly with his departing anxieties.

Wild seemed taken aback. “What?” he breathed out. A lack of understanding coated his face. He had expected a stern talking to, not for Twilight to be so unsettled. 

“Don’t do that again,” Twilight repeated--his voice a bit stronger this time. He kept his eyes locked on Wild’s. “Don’t run off on your own.” Twilight attempted to pause. He tried to reign himself in before continuing, but a slight chuckle or relief overtook him, and he found himself pulling Wild into a hug. “I was so worried about you.”

It took a moment for Wild to realize that he’d been embraced before hugging Twilight back. Guilt bit into his stomach, and he chewed lightly on his lip as his nose was tickled by the pelt on his mentor’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he muttered back--not sure what else to say. 

They stood, holding each other for a moment until Twilight’s anxieties finished draining from him. He didn’t sob with relief, but Hylia did he want to. His muscles shook lightly as he held onto Wild. It was a couple minutes before he was relieved enough to back out of the embrace--his body and emotions back under his control. 

He kept his hands on either of Wild’s shoulders and looked him up and down. Twilight made note of the winter gear, then noticed how it seemed to be rather moist on one side. 

“What did you do anyway? Fall asleep in the snow?” he asked--only partially joking. As he pulled his hands back to himself Twilight gestured to the wet side of Wild’s tunic and pants. 

Wild flushed a bit and huffed in response. “It was a long night,” he replied. He looked down at his clothing. “Mind if I change real quick? This stuff’s pretty cold still.”

“Go for it,” Twilight nodded. He turned his back on his companion to allow him some privacy. They’d all changed around each other, but still it was an act of decency. 

While waiting for him to change, Twilight sent out his senses again. It wasn’t out of curiosity for how well his companion was actually faring, but to be sure that nothing else was around them. Regardless, when he extended his senses, there was a faint, lingering presence on top of Wild’s. It was so faint that he hadn’t been able to detect it from afar. Up close though, it was obviously present despite its faintness. Twilight felt his brows knit together in confusion. It felt familiar. Almost like the feeling of basking in a warm pond or a hot spring. He tried to recall the last time he sensed that presence. 

As Wild called out, “All good!” the memory struck him.

There had been so much blood. Wild had been crumpled on the ground. He’d taken serious blow after serious blow, and wasn’t moving anymore. None of them were able to run to his aid--all being busy with their own skirmishes. Panic had risen in his throat, and Twilight called out to his fallen companion. A bokoblin raised it’s spiked club to finish Wild off when a bright light overtook his unconscious form. A sensation of warmth erupted out from where Wild lay as the light encircled him--washing over everyone in the clearing, and the faint outline of a zora hovered over him.

The bokoblin had stumbled back in surprise, allowing a now conscious Wild to climb to his feet, wounds healing as the light vanished. It was as if nothing had ever happened. In fact, he seemed more lively and present than he usually did. Wild quickly finished his foe and jumped back into the fray with the others. 

Mipha’s Grace. Wild had told them about it afterwards. The spirit of one of his fellow Champions, Mipha, would arrive in times of great need and revive him from deadly wounds.

Twilight stiffened. Why was Mipha’s Grace lingering around Wild? He turned slowly to look at Wild. Worry knotted its way back into his chest. He wasn’t sure how to ask, whether he should ask even. How bad had the night actually been? 

Wild’s brows knit together in confusion. “What?” he asked as Twilight stared hesitantly at him.

Twilight was unsure, but he was burning to know what happened to Wild. Why would he have needed Mipha’s Grace? Guilt made its way into his guts as well. Had it been because he was alone? Did he get hurt? What happened? He frowned. 

“What happened up there?” his voice was soft, but there was a fearful undertone.

Wild’s response spoke volumes. His face went blank as his eyes flicked over Twilight’s--absorbing his expression as if testing to see how much he knew. A sigh came and sorrow rested itself in his eyes. He dropped his gaze from his friend to somewhere off in the distance. 

“Nothing really,” Wild shrugged. He didn’t look up though, lost in thought. “I pushed myself kinda hard, but that’s about it.”

Twilight didn’t respond. He just frowned at his protege. His eyes flickered over Wild. The silence stretched on between the two for a while before Wild relented. He let out a long breath of air in a sigh before looking back to Twilight. 

“How’d you know?” he asked quietly.

“I was trying to sense if there was anything around us while you changed--to be safe. You’ve got Mipha’s Grace on you still,” Twilight replied.

“Oh…” Wild cringed. A frown tugged at the corners of his mouth, the right side weighing more than the left apparently. 

Twilight stared at that crooked frown. That crooked frown that had almost died while Wild had been off alone. He clenched his hands, wondering if there was something he could have done to stop it if only the other Link hadn’t been so stubborn and had let him accompany him. He waited silently for Wild to go on. Whatever happened may be sensitive--he didn’t want to push his protege.

“I mean,” Wild started, “it was nothing too bad. I didn’t get hurt or anything. I just… fell asleep.”

“Fell asleep?” Twilight asked quietly. 

“Yeah. I ran and climbed for so long that I was exhausted. I barely managed to change into my snowquill armor up there. Trapped some snow in it too… Probably got too cold climbing up there to be honest,” Wild told him. His hand came up to lightly trace over the scars on his face as he recalled what had happened. “I just remember thinking the clouds looked nice, and then fell asleep. Next thing I knew Mipha was waking me up.”

“You idiot,” Twilight sighed. He walked back over to Wild and wrapped him into another hug. 

“Yeah I know,” Wild replied, chuckling solemnly. He lightly hugged Twilight back. 

It was a brief hug that they didn’t pull entirely apart from. Twilight moved to his side and kept a protective arm around his shoulder. Without saying anything more, he gently began guiding Wild back toward camp.

To some degree Twilight was relieved that if anything happened, it had been something as peaceful as that. Any of them would be so lucky as to pass that easily. Still, he hated that it had happened at all. He knew he couldn’t pretend that it wouldn’t have happened if he were there either. Even if he had gone with Wild, he wouldn’t have been able to scale the cliffs with him. Wild would have faced the part of his little adventure that was his undoing alone regardless, and that terrified him. 

To say that Time had been displeased was an understatement. When Warriors and Four had returned to camp without Twilight, their leader had immediately bristled in distress.

“Where’s Twilight?” Time had asked sternly. His gaze pinned Warriors and Four in place. Everyone else in camp had stopped sparring or reading or sorting through their inventory to stare at the returning heroes when he had spoken.

“He wanted to keep going for another half hour with Wolfie,” Warriors informed them. “He promised he’d return after that. He just wanted to be sure that we didn’t turn around right before running into Wild.”

“With Wolfie?” Time asked, sounding unamused. His eye flicked to Four, who frowned back and him with a shrug. 

“Yeah. He called him when we started on our way back,” Warriors nodded. He turned and looked at his companion.“Right Four?”

“Yup,” the smallest hero confirmed, avoiding his gaze. He left Warriors’ side and went over to where he had left his bag and bedroll.

“I see…” Time muttered after a short pause. “Well then, it’s not like we were planning on moving without our guide anyway. Might as well join us for some sparring practice while we wait for them both to return.”

By sparring practice, Time had very clearly meant: “Hey Warriors let me politely kick your ass for a bit for leaving Twilight behind.” When Warriors finally was able to get out of “sparring practice,” he was exhausted. It hadn’t gone for too long--normal sparring sessions between them were about the same length, but it had seemed to stretch on much longer due to the extra pressure Time was putting on him. It was clear that it was an unintended ass kicking--in his attempts to avoid worrying over his own protege Time was being harsher than usual. His blows had landed heavier and faster against Warriors’ sword, and it hadn’t taken long for his arms to ache from blocking and parrying so many heavy hits.

After his turn ended, Four was next on Time’s list. He was hesitant to participate after watching how hard the older hero had gone on Warriors, but he swallowed his pride and said goodbye to his arms as he went to keep their stressed leader distracted. Luckily for him, it wasn’t long that he had to face down Time. 

Not long into their sparring, Wind called out, “They’re back!”

 The camp froze once again. All heroes heads turned to see Twilight and Wild standing on the edge of camp. The Links in camp searched their friends for signs of injuries. Wild seemed to duck under his hood more at their overwhelming stares. Twilight seemed slightly surprised, but relaxed quickly.  

“Welcome back,” Time greeted after a few moments.

“Uh, thanks,” Wild replied quietly. 

“I see Twilight and Wolfie found you alright,” the oldest hero observed, his gaze more directed at Twilight than Wild.

The mention of Wolfie seemed to surprise Wild for a moment. He quickly recovered though and nodded in affirmation. 

“Yeah he wasn’t too far away. We almost missed him,” Twilight confirmed, glancing at Four and Warriors before returning his sight to Time. The other two heroes dipped their heads in understanding--not in admission that they had made a mistake, but in the understanding that the decision to split up had been for the best. Warriors even seemed to relax with relief.

“I’m glad you were able to find him,” Time smiled. He seemed to have dropped the issue of Twilight having been off on his own. He very well couldn’t discuss it in front of the others anyway.

Wind, jumped up from where he had been sitting and called to Wild, ”Did you get the star?”

Wild seemed startled at the sudden movement after how still the camp had been. “Uh, yeah.”

“Can I see?” Wind asked, quieter as if trying to quell Wild’s surprise. He made his way slowly across camp to where Wild and Twilight were still hovering.

“Yeah,” Wild nodded. He pulled out his slate and began shuffling through the icons to pull up the image of the star fragment. When he looked up from the slate, Sky had wandered over out of curiosity as well.

“Wow,” Sky breathed, staring at the shining image. His awe drew curious looks from Four, Warriors, and Hyrule. “Can we take it out?” he asked.

“Not until after sunset,” Wild frowned. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Sky chuckled. He stared at the image with Wind a while longer. 

“It’s beautiful,” Wind remarked.

“Yeah,” Wild replied, relaxing finally. 

While they looked at the image of the star fragment, Twilight shifted on his feet. He stared at Wild. His previous worries were still lingering in his mind. After a moment he noticed Time staring at him. He waved off the older man in response. They would talk about it later. 

They didn’t spend long ogling the star fragment. The Links all settled back into the spots where their bedrolls and bags were and began actually packing for the day. They had lost a lot of time with Wild’s disappearance, and, after a couple minutes of debate, they decided that it would be best to continue moving onward. Their journey to the Tabantha stables had already been delayed, but it would be best to at least be closer to their destination before the day was out. 

While they walked, Wind, Hyrule, and Sky were asking Wild questions about star fragments in the rear of the party. Warriors, Four, and Legend were in the middle bantering about the uses of certain items over others. Twilight and Time were at the head of the party. They weren’t super far ahead of the group in case they needed directions from Wild while he was distracted with the others, but they were far enough ahead for a minor amount of privacy.

The pair walked in silence for a while before Time finally asked, “What happened?”

Twilight hesitated to respond, staring at his feet as they walked. He wanted to talk about it, but wasn’t quite sure how to word it. The younger hero sighed. He drew his gaze back out in front of himself after a while. 

“He uh... he almost died out there,” he choked out. Twilight shook his head to try to clear some of the anxiety swirling around in it at the thought. “Even if I went with him, he... still would have almost died… I… I wouldn’t have been able to help him. I would have just been waiting there, and he… he wouldn’t have come back down.”

His gaze was unfocused as he imagined himself waiting at the bottom of the cliffs of the Gerudo Highlands. The sun would rise and set, but Wild wouldn’t come down. Twilight would sit, helpless as his friend lay frozen just overhead. His heart clenched and nausea swam in his stomach.

There wasn’t an immediate response from Time. The older man walked in silence beside him as the horrible imagery of being unable to help danced in his head. 

“I worry about that with all of you too,” Time whispered.

Twilight looked to him in a subdued surprise. He didn’t know why it was surprising. Of course Time worried about them. He may have been an unofficial leader, but he still would carry the responsibilities of a leader to the fullest nonetheless. It was the type of person he was.

“Not being able to help,” he continued, clearing his throat. “I try not to think about it most of the time, but... I can’t help but worry. It comes with feeling responsible for someone.”

Twilight nodded in understanding. He didn’t have words to comfort Time. Neither of them were quite sure of how to handle the responsibility it seemed. They shouldered the burdens of their friends and the entire world, but it never got easier. There was always the feeling that they could have done better to protect those around them.

“It’s gotten easier though,” Time resumed after a brief pause, and Twilight looked to him in surprise. Time glanced over at him, a sad smile was at the corner of his lips. “The uh... the more I’m around all of you--the clearer it is just how strong you all are. You all went through some tough stuff and made it out in one piece. You can do it again. He can do it again... None of us are going down easy--him least of all. Wild has more than fairies to keep him on his feet. He’s probably got the best chance out of us all when it comes to making it through a fight. Even if he takes one blow too many, he’d be able to get back up on his feet and keep fighting. I know saying it won’t make you worry less, but still… He’ll be okay.”

His words sunk into Twilight’s anxieties as he spoke, breaking them down and weakening them. They didn’t go away entirely, but the fears were alleviated some. Time was right. Wild probably did have the highest chance of survival out of them all. He glanced back over his shoulder at his protege talking to an animated Hyrule. 

Wild looked forward to him and smiled gently. Twilight smiled back. 

He turned his sights back to the path in front of him. Wild would be okay. Even if Twilight felt helpless--his protege wouldn’t be alone. He may not be always able to help, but Mipha was there for him.

Wild would be okay--even if he went recklessly chasing stars.