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"Forgetting was the best and worst thing that ever happened to me," Wild confessed out of the blue as Four helped him chop some carrots in the little kitchen in Wild's Hateno home. Four looked up at him with curious eyes. Wild smiled, stirring some chopped herbs into the broth in the pot. "When I lost my memories, the Link I used to be died, and a new one was born."
"Quite literally, if what you've told us is true," Four agreed. Wild laughed.
"It is. And when I stumbled out of the shrine and into my quest, they told me I would need to finish the job I left behind. But I was new, you know. Practically a baby, learning and seeing the world for the first time to my knowledge. The old Link's mistakes weren't my mistakes," Wild explained carefully, bringing the ladle to his nose to smell it. "The more I learned about my previous self, the more I thought we couldn't be more different. He was so… orderly. I just wanted to run through the fields, climb the snowy peaks, touch the green lights that reached across the sky…"
"That sounds familiar," Four chuckled, thinking back to his time as four separate entities. In one particularly vivid memory, Red had yearned to grab the sunset painted clouds and wrap them around himself like a scarf.
"But you know, I did it anyway. Journeyed across Hyrule, learned and saw everything I could, fought and destroyed Calamity Ganon. Then, I met Zelda," Wild went on. He looked over to the carrots Four had just finished chopping. "All done? Dump them in."
"Let me guess," Four asked, as he slid the mound of chopped carrot into the bowl. "You and your past self weren't so different, after all?"
"No," Wild laughed. "Zelda said she knew Mipha was always saying I was a reckless disaster, but that she'd never seen the full extent of it for herself. I guess I treated Before Link the same way Zelda did once upon a time. But even Zelda says I'm different now. Not just more self-expressive."
"Of course," Four agreed. "You went through a terrible ordeal. Such things leave marks."
"I still like to think of Before Link as a different person altogether. Like, maybe we're similar, but he died all those years ago, and he and I are different now. I know it isn't true, but it's easier to believe that than to beat myself up for a past I'm powerless to change."
"It's probably for the best. The Link of your lost memories would likely have died of old age by now if it weren't for the shrine, anyway," Four pointed out. He watched Wild stir as the carrots sank and bobbed in the broth.
"I worry that if I ever get my memories back, I'll be him again. I want to stay a kid," Wild murmured, staring distantly into the soup.
"You won't. You can never go back to being the same person you were yesterday, let alone a hundred years ago," Four assured. "We all would know. None of us will ever manage to be the person we were before we started our adventures."
"Right. He really is dead," Wild reminded himself. Four bit his lip.
"You know," he hazarded, "Your Before Link isn't the only dead one."
"What?" Wild asked.
"Mine… is an even more figurative death. If you think about it, parts of him lived on. But it was the will of the goddess to shatter him into pieces, and shattered he has remained ever since," Four explained. He reached toward the wall, where he'd propped the Four Sword. "I've not been Link for a long time."
Wild watched him with raised eyebrows and parted lips, as one became four. Green and Red smiled, Blue smirked, and Vio looked away. Wild closed his mouth and smiled back.
"Thank you for sharing this with me. If not Link , what do you call yourselves?" Wild asked.
"Just the colors you see us in is fine. Green, Red, Blue, though Vio's a bit of an exception," Green informed. Wild nodded.
"If you aren't Before Link, have you considered changing your own name?" Vio asked.
"What could I call myself? When I came into the world, Zelda called me Link, and it just stuck… I'm not really anything else- except Wild," Wild pointed out.
"I guess you are still a little brat," Blue teased. "You have plenty of time to figure it out, three year old."
Wild laughed. Green cleared his throat, and Wild looked at him curiously.
"You know… it wasn't his fault either, right?" Green said tentatively.
"What do you mean?" Wild asked.
"Before Link… he was just a kid, same as you," Green explained. "He was up against something nobody expected. His whole backup plan ended up turning against him. It wasn't his mistake either."
Wild's cheeks colored, and Green wondered if anyone had told him. It seemed like the natural answer, but then Wild did say he was younger than he thought.
"No one's ever put it that way before," Wild murmured. "I mean, Sidon told me I wasn't to be blamed for Mipha's death, because she chose to fight and knew the consequences of losing. Impa always says that we as a collective failed together, that we had no way of knowing… and Zelda just blames herself."
"No one is to blame. Only Ganon," Green declared.
"People who weren't in the moment with you will always find something to blame on you," Blue added. "But sometimes it can't be helped."
"Treat your Before Link with compassion," Red said. "He died trying , and that's what matters. He was a hero too."
"Compassion," Wild echoed. "I hadn't thought about it that deeply, but I haven't been fair to him at all, have I?"
"It's hard to be fair to a person you've never met," Vio pointed out. "But you'll figure it out. Everyone does eventually."
Wild smiled. "Lunch is ready. Go get the others for me? I'll set out some bowls."
The four of them nodded, before holding out their swords and holding the points together. Just as quickly as one had become four, four became one. Four made his way to the door, and turned.
"Treat yourself kindly, Wild," Four called. Wild nodded.
"I will."