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Chapter Text

If there was one thing that Ganondorf hated more than Link, Zelda, or his imprisonment, it was idiocy. Idiocy and incompetency.
But for the first time in his life, the idiocy worked out in his favor.
Oh he may be imprisoned, but that didn't mean he couldn't escape.
And those idiot Sages had locked him in with the very tools he needed to do so.
Ganondorf reached into the very fabric of the Sacred Realm itself, to the cracks in time that the Hero had used oh so many times, and pulled.
There was a very satisfying tearing sound.
Ganondorf smiled evilly to himself. He would be sure to take proper advantage of these new rips in time.
…
Link panted, out of breath from the battle. He leaned on the Master Sword, the point buried in the ground to support him.
It was finally over. Over and done.
Ganondorf was sealed away.
He glanced up, smiling at Zelda who couldn't help but grin back. Navi bounced around his head, doing her own version of an excited dance.
It was such a relaxed moment, one that Hyrule hadn't had for over 7 years. Because of that, Link felt that he was a little justified in letting his guard down and laughing a little.
Of course that was when fate had to step in.
The three of them fell, ripping away from one another as it felt like they were dumped into a freezing lake. The water was of a thicker consistency than he had ever felt before, spinning and pulling him in every direction, although somehow still allowing him to breathe. Whenever he opened his eyes he just saw blackness. And it seemed like eons had passed before he was allowed to surface.
…
Link tried his absolute hardest. With every fiber of his being he struggled and pushed and reached. Honestly, with how good of a swimmer he was, this should've been easy.
Only it wasn't. No matter how hard he tried, his friend stayed out of reach, waving goodbye to him sadly.
Link redoubled his efforts, determined not to leave the King behind in the flooded Hyrule.
But the Power of the Triforce kept pulling him and Tetra upwards, away from him.
Then, the strangest thing happened.
The Triforce broke, back into its 3 pieces. One simply disappeared while the other two reappeared upon his and Tetra's hands. Link looked at it in confusion before he noticed something else.
The water was getting darker. Rougher. Thicker.
Before Link knew it, he was falling through an entirely different kind of ocean.
…
When Linebeck got possessed by Bellum, he was put into a sort of trance. He saw everything, heard everything, felt every single movement. The guilt was eating him alive because he couldn't control his own actions.
When his little treasure hunter finally freed him, it was wonderful.
Snapping out of that trance was like taking his first full breath of air after almost drowning.
He fell away from Bellum with a smile on his face.
But he never stopped falling.
…
Ravio held onto both Sheerow and his bag of rupees as tightly as he could when he made the journey.
But instead of landing in Lorule like he had planned, he fell into some sort of dark thick liquid.
While the journey to Lorule felt incredibly similar to this, he knew, deep in his bones, that something had gone wrong.
…
The final blow on Majora had been incredibly satisfying.
The only issue was that Link didn't know if that was his emotion or the Fierce Deity Mask's.
This mask, out of all of the ones that he had, gave him the weirdest feeling he had ever experienced.
He both understood it completely, and knew that it was repulsed by him. This mask hated Link and longed to be away from him.
But at least it had killed Majora.
He took it off, going through the painful transformation once more.
He felt the effects of it go away, but he never felt his feet land in Termina like he expected.
Instead he was swirled around roughly, dark water flooding his vision as he fell.
…
Impa watched the gate close in front of her, leaving her alone with only Her Grace, sealed away in her amber colored crystal.
She didn't know any other person who had ever been in her unique situation.
To have the danger pass and yet still be very prominent.
She shook her head and decided to go to sleep. After everything that had happened, she was utterly exhausted.
She had barely been asleep 5 minutes before she was plunged into freezing blackness.
…
Byrne felt the spell's power rush towards him. He knew how deadly it was. He couldn't stop it. This was his end and he embraced it. He had done everything he could think of to fix what he had brought about.
But he never felt the spell hit. Not unless it was supposed to make him disappear into a rough, dark sea.
…
If Revali didn't hate Calamity Ganon before, he sure did now.
The evil swine had taken over the Divine Beasts, sending his Blights to kill the Champions.
Now this was normally something that Revali could handle with ease. After all, he was the greatest among the Rito Warriors and quite possibly the best of the Champions as well.
But, this Blight had taken over Vah Medoh and turned the machine against him. Even Revali had to admit that it was a tough battle. This was a Blight that was made specifically to kill him, utterly negating most of his attacks and learning as it went.
He dove through the air, narrowly avoiding another projectile, loading a bomb arrow as he went. He sent it towards one of the small robots that was getting too close for comfort. It exploded, destroying the pesky machine before it could harm him.
But that distracted him, letting the Blight get a hit in. It knocked into him, sending the Rito tumbling over the side.
And he tumbled right into a dark lake, which greatly confused him.
What kind of rough-water-lake was miles above Rito Village?
…
Midna's battle was over before it began.
Quite literally.
She sent Link and Zelda away, staying to face Ganondorf by herself. When she took out the Fused Shadows...that was the last thing she remembered before falling into an endless rough sea of thick, dark water.
…
Link and Ezlo watched as Vaati disappeared into a puff of smoke like all of their enemies did.
As it dissipated, the stone Zelda appeared behind where the evil Wind Mage had been.
Link's breath caught in his throat as he rushed towards her, desperate to finally have his friend back.
He stumbled on his fifth step, falling face first onto the floor.
Or, at least it should've been onto the floor.
Instead, he was greeted by thick, dark water that seemed to swallow him. It pushed and pulled him in every direction, tearing Ezlo away from his head and leaving him alone.

Chapter Text

The forest was silent, not even the rustling of leaves in the wind disturbed it. It was almost palpable, the loneliness that was in the woods.

Down below, at the very bottom, lay a giant flower floating in the murky, purple water, the ropes that once held it suspended floating around the plant.

It had been many months since this scene had been distrubed by a tiny boy in a green tunic.

But now it had a new visitor, one who would finally disturb that silence.

This visitor lay inside a sword. Blue hilt and a sparkling blade, it flashed once before a woman appeared from it.

She was a mix of blue and purple, with blank eyes and waves of fabric instead of hands or arms.

She looked around and thought to herself for a moment before she came to one conclusion.

Fi had been teleported.

It was simple to determine and one of the two most likely possibilities.

The other, that Demise had simply cast a spell that made her think she was teleported when she was really delusioned, was far less likely. Demise had been much more focusing on killing them then making them delusioned.

There was also the fact that she remembered Master Link defeating Demise, absorbing him into the Master Sword to finish killing him, and then all of them stepping into the Gate of Time to return to the future before being taken by that strange water, making it improbable that Demise was behind this.

Although, if they were lying unconscious somewhere thinking that they had killed Demise before being teleported, it would be quite easy for Demise to-

Fi had to stop herself there, something she rarely did. There was no point in continuing on such a self-destructive tangent.

She would act upon her first assessment until proven otherwise. Which, should she live through the hour, would mean that Demise hadn't killed their unconscious bodies and she really had been teleported. Better to get a headstart if that was the case.

Hmmm...maybe this was why Master Link told her not to share so many of her thoughts out loud.

Needless to say, it took four seconds for Fi to come to all this.

Now she just had to figure out what to do next.

Glancing down, she studied her sword. It, along with the sheath, lay on the flower, but her Master was nowhere near it. And scans indicated that his aura was not nearby.

That made things more difficult. If he wasn't in range, how was she supposed to locate him? Very few things could actually be out of range of her dowsing ability. Master Link must be far away indeed.

Her first objective would be to find him. The next would be to figure out what had teleported her to some strange section of Faron Woods. After that, they would make their way back to the final battle.

She nodded, the destination set in her mind. She focused on her sword, willing it to float back into its sheath and then latch onto her back. Having a reasonable amount of magic, and considering it was her own sword which she was the embodiment of, she had no issues with this. That being said, her 'telekinesis-mind-powers' as Master Link called them, applied to very few things. Her sword was actually the largest thing she could move. This explained why she could move the sacred tablets, but she also had issues doing this for large distances. Which explained why she could never carry anything back from the Surface for her Master.

It was a sore subject for her and a favorite of her Master's to tease about.

She looked around, noting two ways to travel.

Along the water, or up to the next level.

Both had equal chances of success or failure. But if there was one thing she had learned about going anywhere with her Master, it was that in the end, you tended to need to make your way upwards.

Ezlo really wished that as a hat, he couldn't feel pain.

But he could.

And it was horrible.

He ached all over with a migraine to boot. Even worse, branches were caught in his fabric, threatening to tear him to shreds should he move the wrong way.

Oh if Vaati wasn't already dead, Ezlo would kill him for this curse.

' Wait a minute…' he thought to himself, ' This doesn't make any sense. I was-'

"Are you a living hat?" a woman's voice jarred him out of his thoughts, bringing him back to the present.

He glanced around, looking for the voice. It did not take him long to find it.

"AHHH!" he screamed, trying to run away from the blue woman who was watching him intently. But in his panic he forgot that he was, indeed, a hat and nearly tore his hem on the branch that held him in place.

"Do you require assistance?" the woman asked him.

"Of course I need assistance!" he squawked, "Does it look like I just sat here waiting to get scared half to death and rip myself to shreds for the fun of it?! And don't sneak up on me!"

"One moment. Running through the best possibility of removing you unharmed," the woman took a closer look at the branches holding him in place, contemplating to herself, "Solution determined."

"Wha-" Ezlo's noise of confusion as the woman pushed a branch below him, taking away most of the support he had, turned into another scream as he fell into her other flowing arm.

He paused a moment, waiting to see if anything else was going to happen. When it didn't, he turned to the woman angrily.

"You could've given me some warning! Honestly! Besides, I was snagged on at least three branches! How did you not tear my fabric?! Learn to be careful, would you?!"

She bowed her head softly before responding, "Apologies. The branch I moved was holding the others in place. Probabilities showed that moving it would release you with the least amount of harm."

He huffed, "Oh well then, what's done is done. Tell me, who are you?"

"My designation is Fi."

"Well, nice to meet you Fi. My name's Ezlo." he hopped around in her arms until he could face her properly, "I don't suppose you know where we are at all, do you?"

Fi looked around at all the foliage, "Scans would indicate that we are somewhere in the region known as Faron Woods, although the aura is incredibly faint. The most logical explanation would be that its is an area that I have not yet explored with my Master."

"Well I won't be much help then," he sighed, "I've never heard of Faron Woods."

She turned her gaze back to him as he spoke, studying him. Ezlo resisted the urge to squirm under her gaze.

"Do you know which Knight of Skyloft dropped you?"

"What? What sort of nonsense is that?!" he yelled at her.

"I was dowsing for living auras and came across you. You look quite similar to the hats of the Knights of Skyloft, so the only explanation I can find is that you are an enchanted hat of one of the Knights of Skyloft that fell through the cloud barrier." she explained, "If we could find your Knight then we could ask him for assistance in locating my Master."

Ezlo stared up at her with wide eyes, "I...have no clue what you just said."

Fi tilted her head, "You've never heard of Skyloft or the cloud barrier?"

The hat shook his head, "Never, and I know a lot about Hyrule and its lands. Look, I'm not even technically a hat! I was cursed! The last thing I remember is helping Link kill Vaati before some dark water I could breath in put me here."

"What is Hyrule?" Fi asked him, "I must assume that is where you were before the water hit you. I was also grabbed by this water. Even more curious is you know my Master, yet I have never met you."

"What in the world are you talking about, you crazy girl?" Ezlo huffed at her again, "There's no way Link can be your Master. He definitely would've mentioned that to me! And Hyrule! The land created by Din, Farore, and Nayru!"

Fi fell silent again for a few seconds as she processed this before saying, "I think it would be beneficial to us to gather more information. It appears that we know two different Links."

"I agree. Not that common of a name, but it's the best we've got so far. Now hold still," he wiggled himself into a better position before launching himself upwards towards her head.

Before she knew it, Fi had Ezlo sitting on her head, adjusting himself until he was comfortable.

"There we go, I'm all ready." he said proudly.

"This is a very strange feeling," Fi noted.

"Think of it from my perspective."

Fi conceded the point.

"So, going up?"

"Affirmative. It seemed to be the best course of action."

"Good enough for me." he agreed, "This giant tree has to have a way out somewhere up there."

Fi nodded slightly, not wanting to jog her new passenger too much, "Perhaps on the way you can explain what you were doing before you were taken by the water. It may help to clear up the confusion of why we were both captured by the same phenomenon."

He chuckled as she began flying upwards, "Something tells me that it didn't happen to just us. My Link was wearing me, so he's got to be around here somewhere."

"A reasonable assumption." she agreed.

"And, to explain what we were doing, I'd have to explain a lot more, just for the first bit to make sense."

"We seem to have plenty of time at the moment."

"Very well," he said, "I'll start by saying I'm actually a race known as the Picori. I was cursed into the form of a hat and-"

"Question," she interrupted, "Define Picori. I have no records of this race."

"Not many do. The Picori, also called the Minish…."

Chapter Text

It took three hours for them to find a door that lead outside of the woods that they were in, but they did it. Three hours of running from monsters and getting lost and never wanting to see a forest again.

But Fi and Ezlo were finally leaving.

"I can't say I'm sorry to leave this place." Ezlo murmured.

Fi could only hum her agreement as she opened the door.

The two of them had also spent a large amount of those three hours sharing their respective stories and adventures. Suffice it to say, they were just as confused as they started out. Neither one of them could find any common ground in their stories other than Link and Zelda. It was very strange.

But soon they would be out of this Temple and free to search for their lost friends.

The two companions stepped away from the Temple door, finding themselves on a large ledge overlooking the ocean.

"This….is not what I expected." Ezlo finally said, glancing around.

"Scans indicate that this is still located in Faron Woods," Fi responded, "But it does seem to be flooded once again. However, scans do not indicate that Faron is nearby. Also, the flood seems far more drastic than the first occasion."

"Would you quit talking nonsense?" Ezlo huffed down at her, "You could've just said that you didn't see the dragon who flooded it the first time!"

"That is affirmative."

He groaned at her, "Fine, well do you have any clue what our next move is? I don't recognize anything here."

Fi continued to look around, only spotting two other islands in the nearby vicinity. One actually seemed more like a column but the other was another tree, a ways away from them, with an entrance on the side.

"Scanning structure." she said. Ezlo jumped at her words, but she spoke up again before he could actually say anything, "Scans complete. Scans indicate life forms inside the tree. The best course of action would be to investigate in that direction."

Ezlo rolled his eyes, "Well, there's not much else to do, now is there?"

"Affirmative."

He just sighed. Fi hadn't responded to his sarcasm at all so far. It was a work in progress.

The two of them left the tall tree that stuck up out of the ocean, heading for the other one they could see. The two islands seemed to be opposite sides of a coin. One a dark and foreboding woods, the other a light and friendly forest.

Fi flew towards the entrance she had seen, going as fast as she could without letting the wind dislodge her passenger. Within minutes, she was slowing down, gently flying through the doorway.

Inside was, as they expected, a forest. But it was not nearly as densely packed as the previous island had been. In fact, most of the space was taken up by a lone tree that stretched all the way to the ceiling.

"Where is everyone?"

"I do not know." Fi answered, flying down to the ground, "Scans indicated at least three lifesigns on this island."

"Well maybe the scans were wrong." Ezlo grumbled.

"Improbable, although not impossible. Rescanning."

Ezlo rolled his eyes and began to turn around, looking for any sign of life that wouldn't try to kill them (like the Chu Chus in the previous forest). In doing so, his eyes widened in shock and his jaw fell open as he gaped at what he saw.

"Scans complete. Life signs confirmed." Fi said, "The most logical explanation is that they are in hiding."

"Uh huh." Ezlo was able to mumble and get out.

Fi tilted her head, attempting to look at her passenger curiously, "You have not made this sound before. Please explain."

Ezlo gulped, choking out, "Turn around."

Fi, being as curious as she was, proceeded to listen to the hat and turned to see what had him so captivated.

And found a tree with a face.

Literally, a tree with a face.

Her mind promptly began to short circuit for a moment before she began analyzing it.

She didn't make it very far before the face (which had been watching them intently) began to speak, "Well now. This is interesting. We don't typically get visitors here."

Ezlo and Fi exchanged a glance. Quickly, Ezlo took the lead, not wanting Fi to say that she was gonna scan him (she had done this quite a lot in the last three hours), "Um….who are you?"

"I was going to ask you that...although I can quite easily say I have never asked a hat that question." the tree responded.

"I'm not actually a hat," Ezlo murmured, "I was cursed."

"Ahh," the tree said knowingly, "The work of Ganondorf. He holds no boundaries when someone crosses him."

Ezlo and Fi exchanged another confused look, "Ganondorf? I was cursed by my pupil, Vaati."

"Neither of us have heard of a being named Ganondorf." Fi put in.

"You...haven't?"

Fi shook her head, shaking Ezlo along with the movement, "Is he a powerful sorcerer of some kind, native to this area?"

"He is the ancient evil that was locked away beneath the sea. He escaped and has been terrorizing the Great Sea ever since in an effort to reclaim the Triforce." the tree explained.

Fi and Ezlo exchanged another glance.

"Have you ever heard of any of that before?"

"I am familiar with the Triforce, but nothing else."

"It was all strange to me."

"Hmm…" she said, turning back towards the tree "Would you mind telling me if this land is called Hyrule by any chance?"

The tree looked at her in surprise, "That is what the old land beneath the sea used to be called."

"BENEATH THE SEA?!" Ezlo screamed, "How in Picori is Hyrule beneath the sea?!"

"I believe I can offer an explanation," Fi said, "I have enough information to now propose a hypothesis. I believe that we have traveled through time."

"What? Through...time?"

She nodded gently, "Affirmative. The three of us all have separate memories and histories and are familiar with different lands. However, there is enough tying the stories together to conclude that we are from the same place. The most logical explanation is that we have traveled in time somehow."

"What a great idea," Ezlo huffed, "Now if only it was actually possible."

"There is one other piece of evidence."

"Oh, is there?"

"Yes," Fi turned her attention back to the tree, who had been watching them with a mix of confusion and curiosity, "Do you know of someone by the name of Link?"

"Link...yes. He is the Hero of Wind, on his quest to save the Great Sea from Ganondorf."

"This is a different Link then either of us know." Fi said, directing her statement towards the hat on her head, "My theory is that all of the Links throughout time were taken by this phenomenon, causing those who were nearby to get caught in the effect as well, leading to our current predicament."

"...All of the Links?" Ezlo's voice came out as just above a squeak as her words sunk in.

"Yes." Fi said again, "My Master Link fought Demise on the Surface. When defeated, Demise cast a curse on my Master, forcing them into an endless cycle of hatred and battles for all of history. Therefore, there are actually countless 'Links', all destined to fight an incarnation of Demise's hatred in their own timeframe. This is what both Ganondorf, and Vaati, are."

"This...is quite a theory…" the tree murmured, looking forlorn, "If that is true, then what Link is doing is in vain."

"Not exactly. The spirit of the Hero has the highest probability of winning those battles, saving the land and keeping it at peace for many years at a time."

"Well that's...something at least." Ezlo muttered, "But, does that mean we have no way home?"

"Who knows?" the tree spoke up, "Personally I would suggest trying to find out more about what dragged you through time. That would be the best thing to use to let you go home, and restore the timeline before it collapses entirely."

Fi looked up at the tree curiously, "You have a surprising amount of knowledge of this situation. May I ask who you are?"

"I am the Great Deku Tree, guardian of Forest Haven and protector of the Koroks."

"Koroks?" Ezlo asked.

The Great Deku Tree nodded to the best of his ability, "Yes, a race of forest dwellers. They are mostly traveling around the Great Sea at the moment, growing forests on other islands, although two have remained here with me."

"The other lifesigns," Fi realized.

"Well that makes more sense now." Ezlo said, "But that still doesn't help with our problem. How do we find out about what brought us here?"

"Perhaps one of the Links arrived here when falling through time." the Great Deku Tree suggested, "If this centered around the spirit of the Hero, maybe you can find one of them. Then you might be able to learn more about what happened."

"Agreed. However, chances are that it will not be a Link that any of us knows."

"It's a chance we have to take." Ezlo said, "We don't have any other idea right now."

Fi nodded, "Great Deku Tree, will you be able to tell us about this land before we leave this island? Is there a specific spot that we should look for a Link?"

"Hmmm….well, other than this island, Windfall, Outset, and Dragon Roost are the most populated ones in the Great Sea. Then again, the Pirates have a particular talent for running into the Hero."

"...Pirates?"

"Allow me to explain. Here on the Great Sea…"

Ravio's head hurt.

A lot.

Slowly he opened his eyes, blinking away the bright light that met them. As he sat up, the migraine began to go away, letting him focus on his surroundings.

There were a lot of really tall trees.

And some mushrooms.

That was it.

But, none of them looked like the trees or mushrooms that were in Lorule. Hyrule, maybe, but he had been headed towards Lorule when...whatever it was, had happened. So, this definitely wasn't Hyrule or Lorule.

Was it possible that the portal had dropped him into an unknown third world?

He shook his head, looking around some more. His giant bag of rupees was lying next to him, but Sheerow was nowhere in sight.

"Sheerow?" he tried calling out, but there was no response.

"Sheerow!" he yelled louder, hoping that his friend was nearby.

But nothing. A few birds chirped, but none of them sounded like his friend.

They must've gotten separated during the trip.

Ravio sighed. This wasn't the first time that the two of them had been pulled apart while world jumping. It was just a pain. However, Ravio knew that Sheerow was really good at finding people. Chances were, he'd show up on his own sooner or later.

Scanning his surroundings, Ravio noticed something for the first time. It looked like a really tall statue that was just beyond some of the trees.

Well, statues meant people. People meant a location.

It was a start at least.

But he needed to hurry. Mr. Hero had been headed to Lorule to fight Yuga and Ganon. He needed to get there to stop Hilda before she made a mistake.

Quickly, he grabbed his bag and began hiking towards the statue.

Chapter Text

Groose was not having a good day.

To be fair, starting off with his childhood crush coming back from the past only to be kidnapped by a crazed, sparkly, monster so that he could use her soul to resurrect his master probably wasn't a good sign for the rest of the day.

But to be fair, Groose did get to play Hero and catch Zelda as she fell, which was great. He loved that part.

Then, Link killed the imprisoned guy (in the past, the little show off!) and all was supposed to be fine.

When the three of them stepped through the Gate to return to their own time though, and Link and Zelda weren't there on the other side, it all went straight back downhill again.

Granny had no clue what had happened, claiming she hadn't seen them. Groose knew that they had gone through the Gate before him and yet...nothing. They were gone. Disappeared into thin air. On the same day that the Surface and world as they knew it was supposed to be destroyed by the supposed 'god of destruction'.

So, Groose felt perfectly justified in saying that he hadn't had a good day.

He groaned and went outside, looking up at the statue of Hylia that now stood outside the Temple, trying to think of anything that they could do now.

Watching the small birds that were landing all around the statue, it suddenly struck Groose exactly how weird it was to think that the same thing he had grown up looking at his whole life actually belonged to the same section of the Surface that he now lived on. But it had killed the monster that lived in the bottom of that giant pit, so it all seemed to work out.

"Um, excuse me?" a voice startled Groose out of his thoughts. Quickly he spun around, coming face to...rabbit?

"What the-!" Groose jumped back, falling into a clumsy defensive stance as he glared at the giant purple rabbit in front of him.

"Sorry!" the rabbit squeaked, "Didn't mean to startle you there!"

"Y-Y-You didn't startle me!" Groose yelled at it, "I was totally prepared! We get giant purple rabbits on the Surface here all the time!"

The rabbit tilted its head, "The...surface? Do you live underground or something?"

"Above it, obviously." he scoffed, "Way above it, like up in the-wait a second! How are you talking?!"

The situation just seemed to slam itself into Groose all at once. This was a giant rabbit. Talking to him. Rabbits do not talk!

"Um, with my mouth?" the rabbit tilted its head the other direction, "Just like you? I mean, it seems fairly straightforward. Unless this world has its own rules...Oh, that will be difficult to get used to. See, this is why I hate world hopping."

There was an awkward pause as Groose just stared. Eventually the Rabbit just kept talking.

"See, I was trying to get back to Lorule to stop Mr. Hero from killing Princess Hilda in defense of Hyrule, but also stop Princess Hilda from stealing from Hyrule, but on the way I got mixed up here. I also lost my friend, Sheerow, so I got to find him. Would you mind pointing me in the direction of the nearest source of magic power? I'll, uh," the Rabbit spared a glance towards the large bag he had slug over his shoulder, which Groose was just noticing for the first time, "I'll pay for it."

"P-Pay for it?"

The Rabbit nodded slowly, somehow seeming to grimace at the thought, "For the information. How does one green Rupee sound?"

"One green Rupee?"

"Ok, ok, you drive a hard bargain. TWO green Rupees. That's a good deal there my friend."

Groose promptly took a step back. Then another. Then he outright started running away.

"GRAAAAAANNNNNNYYY!"

Groose was not having a good day.

And frankly, at this rate, the Rabbit wasn't either.

"There it is folks, Outset Island! Just as I promised!"

"Thank you Beedle. You are helpful as always." Fi said as the island came into view.

"Thank you! ...Exactly when have we met again?"

Fi ignored the question for the 7th time since meeting the sailing shopkeep, leaving him just as confused as before.

"Exactly how do you know him?" Ezlo whispered. The two of them stood at the prow of the ship, watching as the dark land mass came closer and closer.

"I believe I know an ancestor of his. It seems the most plausible explanation. Although, I must say, the resemblance and the exact same name is curious. If we had time I would conduct a more thorough study, but I believe that my resources are best spent continuously scanning for any familiar auras." she responded.

Ezlo nodded in agreement. After spending the past two days traveling with her, he had come to the conclusion that Fi was the most prioritized scholar he could ever hope to meet. Everything interested her, but she focused only on 'their current, most imperative goal of finding Master Link and returning the timeline to its proper intact state of being'. Although, if Ezlo had any money on him, he would bet that Fi was enjoying the once-in-a-lifetime chance to study other times. And honestly, he was too.

The idea that at some point in the future the kingdom he knew would be flooded and civilization would adapt to live on mountain tops and then islands? As amazing as it was, the idea did make him wonder how the Picori had fared in the change. Did Picori even live in other time periods?

Fi claimed to be at the very beginning of the timeline for the kingdom, yet had no record of his race existing. What if the Picori only existed in the middle of Hyrule's timeline? It was a concerning thought.

Ezlo shook his head and refocused on the conversation at hand, "We should thank him either way. Without him, we wouldn't have been able to leave Forest Haven."

"Affirmative. Enacting the Great Deku Tree's plan would have been 89% more difficult without his assistance."

"You don't have to give a statistic for everything you know."

"From what I know of you, there is a 53% chance that you are giving me a slight glare. Please confirm."

"Oh you know very well what I'm doing!" Ezlo squawked, "For once could you not do that?!"

Fi didn't respond, but Ezlo could practically feel the satisfaction rolling off of her.

"Land ho!" Beedle yelled, slowing the ship down as they came close to the beach.

Fi nodded and sent a quick 'thank you' towards him before disembarking.

Outset Island, at first glance, looked very quaint. Wooden houses, children running around, a tall lookout platform to gaze at the ocean, gardens being tended. It was very picturesque.

"Scanning immediate area." Fi said, breaking the silence that had fallen as they examined their immediate surroundings, "Scans complete. Scans indicate multiple life signs. Most life signs carry traces of my Master's aura, indicating that he, or another Link, have come in contact with them. Dowsing shows that there are two locations where the auras scan that are denser than the others, indicating a possibility of a Link in those locations. One in the lookout and one in the farthest house on the island."

"Well, the Great Deku Tree said that the Link of this time lived on this island," Ezlo reasoned.

"Affirmative. Which location should be investigated first?"

Ezlo looked at the two places she pointed out. They were currently standing next to a dock that lead to the lookout, but the house was on the other side of the island.

"Let's start here." he said, jerking his head towards the platform, "It's closest."

Fi nodded and began making her way in that direction. Within moments they were nearing the top of the structure.

"Scans indicate a life sign at the top of the platform." Fi informed him.

"Good to know." he huffed, "Can we get on with it then?"

"Affirmative." Fi said, pushing them farther in the air and clearing the railing of the platform easily, "Although I did not calculate a high percentage that this plan would be this successful."

"What do you mean?"

"Observe."

Ezlo turned away from his temporary partner to see who was up in the lookout.

The person that they found up there was someone they both recognized, despite the small differences in facial structure and fashion sense. He was tall with sandy colored hair and an angular face, a very familiar sword and shield strapped to his back.

The person they found was most definitely a Link.

"Ok," he said, looking at them in shock, "Wasn't expecting that."

Her headache was pounding. Throbbing. Insisting that she wake up and pay attention to it.

"Princess, are you ok?" a voice asked nearby.

Princess? What's a princess?

"Your Highness? Can you hear me?" a second voice asked.

Wait, is he talking to me?

She groaned, reaching up to rub her forehead in an attempt to appease her migraine.

"Oh thank the Spirits you're alive!" the first voice cried out, sounding very relieved.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, blinking away the brightness until she could make out the shapes in front of her.

One was an elderly man in a striped shirt, leaning on a cane above her. The other was a younger man, around her age, wearing a bandana and leaving his shirt open enough to show his muscled and tattooed chest.

"Your Majesty," the young man knelt next to her, helping her sit up as her headache began to fade away, "Are you ok? What's happened? I thought you were with Link."

"I-I was." she said. Sitting up made the world swim in front of her eyes. She was very grateful for the man right now as he quickly adjusted his grip so she could lean against his side instead. Having something grounded like that really helped to stop the dizziness, "Something happened. We were separated. I just...I remember some really rough, I think it was water? I don't know."

"Well, you're ok now." the older man smiled at her, "And we'll find Link soon. My ward has a habit of showing up when you least expect him."

"Your...ward?"

The man holding her nodded, "Yes. Niko has taken care of Link since he was a child, ever since his parents died. I'm surprised that he didn't tell you that. But it doesn't matter now. We're just glad to have you back, although we are surprised at the changes that Malladus made to your body. We certainly weren't expecting him to make you grow up."

"He's right," the old man laughed, "We hardly recognized you!"

She looked down at her clothes. She was still wearing the white dress that the old lady at the Sealed Grounds had given her. She didn't think she looked any different. More importantly, why did these two think that they knew her?

"Um, sorry, but who are you?"

The two of them exchanged a very panicked glance.

"Princess Zelda, you don't recognize us?"

She shook her head slowly, "Sorry. I mean, I know Link. You mentioned him. But I've never met either of you. And, what's a 'princess'?" The word felt very strange coming off her tongue.

They exchanged another glance.

"Maybe she hit her head?" the older man whispered.

"Or a side effect of Malladus's magic." his friend responded.

"I can hear you!"

They turned back to look at her. The older man sighed, "Your Majesty, I think we should get you some help. You don't seem to remember anything!"

"I remember plenty!" she snapped, "I just don't know you! Find Link, I'll prove it to you!"

Zelda suddenly felt herself being lifted up, carried by the younger man towards a nearby cottage.

"What are you doing?!"

"I'm taking you inside," he said, "Then, we'll contact your Teacher or maybe someone is at the Tower of Spirits. We'll figure this out."

"Let me go!" Zelda struggled, trying to get out of his arms, to no avail. This man was strong.

"Niko!" he called as he entered the house, heading for a bed to set her down on, "Keep an eye on the Princess. I have to make a run to Castle Town."

"Understood!" the older gentleman saluted.

"Would you please just tell me what is going on?!"

The man gave her a gentle pat on her head, "Relax. We'll figure this out. You're safe now."

"That doesn't explain anything!"

He didn't respond. Just gave her a sad smile and left the room.

Zelda turned to the older man, Niko. He smiled at her too.

"Want something to drink?"

Chapter Text

Zelda waited all of five minutes after the younger man left before she jumped up and ran for the door. 

“Princess! Where are you going?!” Niko called after her, trying to jump up and follow her from where he sat pouring tea at the table. Sadly his cane inhibited his speed. 

“I’m not a princess, I don’t even know what a princess is.” Zelda grumbled, yanking the door open, “I need to find Link. And Impa. Figure out what happened.”

“Alfonzo is going to Castle Town. He’ll reach out to your teacher or Anjean and find you some help.” Niko tried to reassure her. 

Zelda sighed, trying not to snap at him. As far as she could tell, he was just a kindly old man who had her confused with someone else, he didn’t deserve her anger, “It’ll be better if I go with him then. I already feel better, I can travel.”

She ran out the door before he could say another word, although he followed as quickly as he could. 

Zelda looked around the quaint village quickly, not pausing to take in any of the details as she tried to find where the younger man, Alfonzo, had gone. A high pitched whistle blew through the air, catching her attention. Spinning around, Zelda saw what looked like the rest of the villagers gathered around a platform where the noise had originated. She couldn’t see exactly what was going on, there were too many people in the way, but it was the best lead she had. Hiking her dress up a bit, Zelda took off at a run. 

She made it to the crowd, full of people waving as if they were seeing someone off, just as a large contraption pulled forward from a building behind the platform. Zelda stopped in shock, gaping at the giant metal contraption. It looked like something the robots of the Lanaryu province would have built! One of their carts on tracks, but much bigger and self-propelling. How was that even possible? Had these people found another way of using the timeshift stones?

The contraption moved forward, slowly at first, but picking up speed. Zelda caught sight of Alfonzo up at the front, focused on some levers and gears. 

She didn’t think, she just ran, passing by the townsfolk and alongside the tracks for this contraption. It was getting faster and faster. Zelda reached out her hand, desperately trying to grab one of the bars on the side of it to haul herself up and ignoring the gasps from the people behind her and Niko’s shouting. 

Zelda’s hand fumbled again, just barely missing the bar. The contraption picked up even more speed, pulling away from her. Her legs already felt like jelly after the day she’d had and her body was exhausted despite waking up from a thousand year nap. She didn’t have the strength to run any faster than she already was. 

But she couldn’t just give up. With one last effort, Zelda jumped, both hands reaching out for the bar by the door. With a triumphant grin, she latched onto it. 

The victory did not last long. The machine kept going and she was getting dragged alongside it, her feet getting flung around beneath her and coming far too close to the wheels, almost getting run over. 

Panic filled her, but she held on, trying to pull herself inside. 

A pair of strong hands grabbed her upper arms, yanking her up and into the machine. Zelda stumbled into someone, completely breathless. 

“By all the Spirit Tracks in the world, what do you think you’re doing?!” Alfonzo roared at her as the door clanged shut behind them. 

“Coming…with you!” Zelda panted out. 

“I told you to stay with Niko!”

“And I have a right to do what I want!” Zelda snapped back, glaring at him. 

“Do you even realize how close you just came to dying?!”

She snorted, “Speaking as someone who has died within the last 24 hours, it’s not really one of my top priorities right now. What is a top priority is finding Link, or at least someone who will believe me!”

Alfonzo stared at her in disbelief, “You DIED?”

Zelda shrugged, “Basically. Soul transferance magic lies on the very border of necromancy according to Impa. It’s really a gray area and trust me, you don’t want to argue with her about it.” 

Alfonzo finally seemed to be at a loss for words, unable to process exactly what she was saying. Zelda smiled up at him, “I’m coming with, whether you like it or not. After everything I’ve been through, I think I have a right to decide my own fate, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I…I…”

“Perfect,” She smirked, “How long until we get there?”

Link was going to kill Midna. 

Really, he was. 

Of all the times to teleport him without his consent, which she already had a very bad habit of doing, this had to have been the worst. Now she was stuck facing off against Ganondorf alone, probably planning on using the Fused Shadows to do so, which she could barely control, and he was who knows where. 

He had felt Midna’s teleport, a spell that made his entire body disintegrate although it felt more like he was covered in pins and needles, similar to the feeling of when his foot or arm fell asleep, and then he was dropped into a lake or river of some kind. The water had a very rough current and it was all he could do to hold on and try to swim away from it before his back slammed into what felt like a post, head snapping back from the force of it. 

Link sat there for a long moment, waiting for the dizziness and pain to subside before slowly opening his eyes. The sun practically blinded him when he did so, but after his eyes adjusted, he was able to take a decent look around. 

And promptly became lost. 

He was leaning against some sort of pole in the center of a platform, the post he had bashed into presumably, but the platform was overlooking what seemed to be an ocean. 

An actual ocean.

There weren’t any oceans in Hyrule. The closest there was, was Lake Hylia. But no matter where you stood in the lake, you could always see the other side of it. 

This…this just went on and on and on. 

Link slowly stood up, grasping the railing of the platform and looking out in amazement. 

There was just so much water. 

It never seemed to end. 

Where exactly had Midna taken him? And how had he gone from swimming against a current to being completely dry on a platform? What had happened?

Link heard voices behind him and turned around just in time to see one of the strangest sights that he had ever seen. Considering that he had seen multiple light spirits in the form of animals and a talking bird with a woman’s head, his threshold for strangeness was quite high. 

It was a woman that seemed to be made of blue and purple fabric, with a bright green hat perched on her head, but the hat was sitting up and seemed to have a beak. 

"Ok," he said, looking at them in shock, "Wasn't expecting that."

The hat looked down at the woman, “Is this one yours?”

She shook her head gently, “Negative. I thought that I had made that clear beforehand.” 

“Never hurts to double check.” he huffed before turning to face Link again, “Hello there.”

Link stood there gaping for a long moment, the hat and woman both waiting for a response. Finally, he gave a hesitant, “Hello.” 

“Confused?”

Link nodded. 

“Allow us to explain.” the woman said, but the hat squawked at her, “Let me explain, it’ll be faster and simpler.”

“I promise to be efficient.” 

“And confusing.”

“Please clarify, how can one be confusing in an explanation?” she asked, tilting her head. 

The hat somehow rolled his eyes, but Link spoke up before the increasingly weird to watch argument continued, “Sorry, who are both of you?”

“My designation is Fi and this is Ezlo.” she answered quickly, “We were taken by the same phenomenon that we assume you experienced as well, landing us in this time period.”

Link shook his head quickly, “No, I was teleported by my partner. She dropped me here.”

The hat, Ezlo, gave the woman a strange look, “Is it possible that our theory is wrong and this is simply a teleportation spell?”

“Improbable, but I will reassess. One moment.” she fell silent, staring ahead with her blank, pupil-less eyes. Link tried not to stare, unnerved by the sight. 

“It only takes her a moment. Her mind works incredibly fast.” Ezlo said in what Link was sure was meant to be a reassuring voice. 

“Right…” Link muttered. 

“Calculations complete.” Fi spoke up, “Based on the shared information between us and the Great Deku Tree there is a less than 5% chance of our theory being incorrect. The most likely explanation is that this Link’s teleportation spell was inadvertently hijacked by the time travel phenomenon.”

Link’s eyebrows went up at the explanation. Midna’s spell was hijacked ? Time travel phenomenon ? What exactly was going on here?

Ezlo nodded in agreement, turning to Link, “Were you dropped into some kind of rough textured water with a strong current? Tossing you back and forth pretty easily until it stopped and you woke up here?”

“What-How did-Were you two behind that?!” Link burst out. 

Fi shook her head, “Negative. As stated before, we were taken by the same event. We discovered each other two days ago on another island and, after meeting one of the inhabitants there, were able to come up with our current theory. All evidence points to support of it. We then left in search of one of the Heros for assistance.” 

“What she means to say is,” Ezlo jumped in, seeing Link’s wide eyes, “That the same thing happened to us. We know this is confusing, but we were fairly certain that someone like you would have had the same thing happen to them and we were hoping you could help us.” 

“Woah, woah, back up a minute.” Link rubbed his forehead, “I don’t even know what is happening. Midna’s spell was hijacked, you two need help from me, there’s an actual ocean right now which is impossible, and something about time travel?”

Fi nodded, “Affirmative.” 

Ezlo groaned, “You aren’t helping!”

“Would someone just answer me?!” Link yelled. 

Ezlo looked at him a little nervously, an expression Link honestly never thought a hat could have, “Sorry again for the confusion. I guess we’ve just had more time to adjust over the last two days.”

Ezlo gestured to the floor for Fi and she took the hint, sitting down. Grudgingly, Link followed along, leaning back against the pole again. 

“To the best of our knowledge, that rough water was some sort of time travel that we all fell into,” Ezlo explained, hushing Fi as she tried to jump in with a more detailed analysis, “We don’t know if there was some sort of spell involved or if it was consequences of someone else messing with the timestream. Fi’s theory is that it is focused on the soul of the Hero, Link, you, being taken through time. The rest of us were nearby and were just caught up in the effects of it.” 

“The…rest of us?” Link asked, “Exactly how many of you are there?”

“Just us, as far as we know. But we haven’t found either of our Links yet, but it is possible that they landed in other timelines than this one.”

“Ok, going back to the multiple Links thing, what do you mean by that?”

“I believe that I should answer this one,” Fi stated. Ezlo deferred to her knowledge. “In my time period, before Hyrule was established, Demise, the god of evil, waged war upon the land. My master, Link, was chosen by the goddess Hylia to defeat him. He succeeded, but not before Demise cast a curse upon Link’s soul and Her Grace’s soul. His hatred for them, his desire to end all living things, would always continue on, tied to their souls for eternity and cursing all three of them into an endless battle of reincarnation. This means that there are actually countless versions of Links, Zeldas, and versions of Demise’s hatred spread all across time.”

Link let that sink in for another long moment, taking a deep breath, “I’m…a reincarnated soul of the Hero?”

“Precisely.” Fi nodded. 

“The Hero from the legends?”

“Yes.”

“And Ganondorf is a form of hatred that was manifested by…Demise?”

Fi nodded again. 

“So I have another curse on my soul now?”

“...another?” Ezlo asked. 

Link ignored him, “And somehow, you two are hoping that I can help fix this time travel mix up, even though I literally have no idea how to do that.”

“It’s the best lead we have currently.” Fi responded. 

Link scoffed quietly to himself, “Great.” Then, louder, “And do you have any proof of any of this? Or are you expecting that I just take you at your word?”

“You don’t believe us?!” Ezlo sputtered incredulously, obviously insulted. 

“I didn’t say I didn’t believe you, but I don’t want to just blindly accept something like this.” Link growled at him, “Maybe talking hats don’t care about that kind of thing, but I do, especially if it means that I suddenly have to deal with issues from other time periods!”

“Don’t raise your voice at me! It’s not like we asked to get dragged into this!”

“I didn’t either! You came to me and asked for my help, remember?!”

“And this is-”

“I can provide proof,” Fi interjected, cutting off Ezlo’s probably sarcastic reply.

“You can” he sputtered at her, “Why didn’t you earlier?!”

“It was impossible until now,” Fi said simply before focusing on her sword. In a moment she had it floating around to land on her crossed legs. 

Link stared at it in shock, mouth dropped open, “Th-That’s-”

“The Master Sword, of which I am the spirit of.” Fi stated. 

Link turned his disbelief towards her, “The spirit of it?”

She nodded, “My Master, Link, helped turn me from the Goddess Sword into the Master Sword with the use of the Sacred Flames. Only Master Link may use me as a weapon.”

Link moved slowly, reaching behind him to pull out his own sword. He laid it down across his lap. 

Despite the obvious fact that there were thousands of years between the two time periods, the swords were exactly the same. The length, color of the hilt, the gemstone on it. They were exact copies. The only difference was that the sword on Fi’s lap shown, sparkling along the blade. It wasn’t that the light was reflecting off of it or it was better polished, it was like the blade itself was radiating a faint light. Why his wasn’t doing that, he didn’t know. Maybe because Fi was controlling hers? Or because she was outside the blade? 

“Why haven’t I met you before now? If you live in the blade, why haven’t you spoken to me before?” he whispered. 

Fi contemplated the question. In response, she reached out one of her flowing arms and rested it gently on Link’s blade. 

“It seems I am dormant in your time period, my purpose complete.” she finally answered, “I was created to help defeat Demise. Once that was completed, my orders were to return to the blade and help power the blessing that Hylia placed upon it. I do not need to be conscious to do so, so it seems my soul fell dormant once my task was completed.” 

Link gave a shaky breath, “This is all happening, it’s all real, isn’t it?”

Fi nodded. 

“Ok then,” Link nodded as well, “Where do we go from here then?”

“You’ll help?” Ezlo watched him excitedly. 

Link smirked at him, all previous anger gone, “I’m the hero, aren’t I?”

Zelda fell through some kind of liquid, quickly losing her sense of direction. She kept her eyes shut, but eventually the need to breath overpowered her and she gasped for breath. She expected the rough water to flood in, but instead, it seemed like regular air filled her lungs. 

She focused on trying to catch her breath, but as soon as she did that, she started falling again, but this time, through air, the water gone. Forcing her eyes open, Zelda saw that she was plummeting, clouds surrounding her in every direction, except for right underneath her. Some kind of creature was moving underneath her. Was it flying?

She didn’t have time to concentrate on that part. She was rapidly approaching the creature’s head and was going to crash if she didn’t do something. 

The creature, it looked like a large whale, had some sort of shell on its back, extending up to its forehead. Zelda reached for her magic. Link wasn’t the only one who had been blessed by the great fairies and Impa had taught her many spells, along with properly harnessing and using them. Both of those together and Zelda was able to cast Farore’s Wind, pushing her to land on the shell of the creature, but slowing her down enough to prevent injury. 

She stumbled a little on the landing and, because fate was a cruel mistress, the sky whale moved at the same moment, diving. It was just a few feet, but it was enough to make a difference and Zelda fell over the edge. Only her reflexes, honed by training and hiding as Sheik, saved her, grasping onto the ledge of the shell. Zelda found herself hanging from it, staring straight into the giant eye of the creature she had just landed on. 

“Ho ho ho!” the creature laughed, “Normally you lot are much better at landing on me!”

Zelda just blinked in confusion.

Chapter Text

Ravio stared up at the giant statue. It had wings like an angel with a serene face. He didn’t recognize it, but that wasn’t saying much considering the circumstances. 

He was a little lost as to what to do. On one hand, interacting with the locals hadn’t gone well. He wasn’t inclined to follow the giant red-headed man who had run away screaming from him, but on the other hand, there weren’t many other options. This statue and the building the man had run to seemed to be the only sign of civilization around. 

It was times like this that Ravio cursed himself for not practicing more sensory magic. Then he could just sense where the nearest magic source was and use it to hop back to Lorule. No, instead he had to focus on enchantments. It was helpful. He could make magic bracelets and helpful items, but when lost in another world, what could that do?

And he still needed to find Sheerow. Even if he found a magical source and got the locals to let him use it to world jump (unlikely at this point considering the man’s reaction), Ravio refused to world jump without Sheerow. 

Ravio just sighed instead, making his way over to the statue to sit down. He was going to have to follow that man eventually, but not without taking a quick break. He’d been hiking for a couple hours without any water. A few minutes before he left to find this ‘Granny’ the man had yelled for wouldn’t hurt. 

Unless ‘Granny’ saw him as a threat. Then this could backfire horribly. 

A lump formed in his throat at that thought. He was terrified of the kind of confrontation that could lead to. But he didn’t really have a choice. He HAD to get back to Lorule, to try to help save it. 

Ravio leaned his head back, breathing deeply while he thought about the situation. 

After a moment though, he realized that he could hear something. 

Lifting his head up, Ravio concentrated. He almost thought he could hear little…bells? Definitely some sort of twinkling. And maybe a voice? 

Slowly, and as quietly as he could, Ravio stood up, following the sound around the large statue. The closer he got, the louder the voices became. 

“I still say we go in! They’re the only people we’ve seen so far!”

“And I’m telling you no! That massive thing in the middle? It’s putting off a massive amount of time magic! We can’t risk getting sucked up in another time.”

Someone scoffed, “That’s if you’re telling the truth.”

There was some sort of angry trilling noise, “She is! Ciela would never lie like that!”

“A Spirit of Courage AND Time? It’s a little hard to believe.” 

“I don’t know if she’s telling the truth about that,” someone else jumped in, “But I’ve been around enough time magic to recognize it. That thing inside there feels like another Gate of Time to me.”

“In that case, can’t we have Sparkles over here use it to take us back home?”

“I wish I’d never told you that stupid nickname!”

From there the voices degenerated into incomprehensible arguing, talking over one another to the point that you couldn’t understand any of them. Every now and then, Ravio thought that he caught a taunting ‘Sparkles’, but that was it. What exactly was going on here?

He poked his head around the final part of the statue and, had he not been wearing his hood, everyone would’ve seen his jaw drop. 

Floating in the air were six fairies, but not like any fairies he had ever seen. Instead of looking like tiny people, these were tiny balls of light, bobbing up and down in the air in time with either their words or attitude. As they were all still yelling at each other, it was hard to tell what exactly they were keeping in time with. 

But the best part was that right next to them flew Sheerow. Now that Ravio saw him, he could make out the excited chirps. 

“Sheerow!” he called out, throwing caution to the wind and running straight for his friend. 

Sheerow spun around and saw him instantly, the fairies next to him falling silent as the interruption. Ravio didn’t care, focused only on his friend as the tiny bird flew straight to him, nuzzling straight into his neck. Ravio cupped him gently, patting his head. 

“You’re ok!” Ravio almost squealed. 

Sheerow chirped back up at him, flying up to flap around his rabbit ears.

“I know, world hopping, right?!”

More chirps.

“Oh the locals are either insane or think I’m insane. You know, the usual.” 

“Anyone else know what’s going on here?” the dark purple fairy whispered to the others.

“I’m guessing they’re friends.” one of the yellow fairies answered. 

“But since when can humans understand animals?”

The other fairy bobbed up and down, giving the impression of shrugging…somehow. 

“You know, we could just ask them.” the pale blue fairy said. 

As if he could hear them, Sheerow suddenly turned to them, bringing Ravio’s attention back to the group. 

“Hi there!” he called, waving at them, “I’m Ravio, Sheerow’s friend. Thanks for watching out for him!”

“Um…anytime?” the red fairy answered. 

“He gave me the condensed version of how you met.” Ravio kept talking, “I take it you all got lost while world hopping too?”

“Sort of?” the yellow fairy answered again, “It’s really complicated.”

“Hmm,” Ravio said, “Maybe I’d better have Sheerow give me the full details then. No offense, but he’s the fastest talker I’ve ever met and this would be a lot easier if I knew everything.” 

“Wait, Ravio? Sheerow mentioned you!” the pale blue fairy piped up. 

“He did?” one of the other fairies asked.

She bobbed in place of a nod, “It was before we found the rest of you. Sheerow and I told each other the really long version of our stories. Ravio is the friend that he world hopped to Hyrule with!”

“Can I ask for a quick introduction before Sheerow gives me the rundown?”

“Of course! I’m Navi,” the pale blue fairy said, “This is Ciela, Leaf, Neri, Tatl, and Tael.” She bobbed over each of the fairies in turn as she said their names. 

“Wonderful, pleasure to meet you!”

“How exactly do you understand Sheerow?” Neri asked. 

“I specialize in enchantment magic. This hood lets me understand all animals.” Ravio explained. 

“At least that explains the bunny.” Tatl scoffed. Tael gently bounced into her. 

Sheerow started chirping and the rest of them quickly turned their attention to him in an effort to pay attention to the story telling. Ravio was right, he was a fast talker. Ravio, for his part, interjected once or twice with a clarifying question, but otherwise was able to keep up. 

Essentially, Sheerow had woken up in the forest they were in now and flew around until he met Navi. Like she said, they had exchanged stories (although Sheerow gave him the condensed version there) and wandered around looking for anyone else. Then, they found Neri. As a Spirit, she was naturally in tune with her brother and sister and was on her way to find them when she ran into Sheerow and Navi and they’d all decided to travel together. When they did find Leaf and Ciela, they’d also found Tatl. She and Leaf had woken up near each other and Tatl was insistent that they do nothing but find her brother, Tael. Luckily, with all three Spirits together now, they could combine their powers and use sensory magic to locate him. It didn’t take long, but it did also let them discover the source of magic located in the nearby Temple, the one Ravio had seen that red haired man run to. 

They’d made their way over here after that, once again swapping stories on the way. According to Ciela, she was the Spirit of Courage and Time and had sensed immediately that they were all in and from different time periods. Tatl wasn’t inclined to believe her, even with Neri and Leaf vouching for their sister. 

They had all snuck into the Temple and discovered massive gears hovering in the center of the room. A lone woman was in there as well, covered in a massive hood and cape. Ciela, sensing the time magic around the gears, immediately made them leave, worried that they might accidentally get lost in yet another time period. 

It was a little hard for Ravio to believe. He’d messed up world hopping before, but to get lost in a different time?

Then again, the travel between the worlds had felt very different this time around…

“Out of curiosity, did any of you feel anything before you woke up in this world?” Ravio asked after Sheerow finished talking. 

“Yeah!” Neri piped up, “It was like we had gotten tossed into this sea, but it wasn’t friendly like the Ocean King’s!”

Ravio nodded as the other fairies voiced their agreement. 

“I suppose it is possible that that was a form of time travel,” he conceded, “World hopping feels very similar. I just thought that it was different because it was redirected to a different world, but if Ciela is right-”

“I am!” she huffed.

“-then I don’t know how to get home.” Ravio finished dejectedly, “I can maybe get us back to Lorule with a source of magic, but it wouldn’t be my Lorule. It would be a Lorule in a different time period than the one I came from, a time parallel to this one.”

“That’s why we can’t ask the Ocean King to bring us home either,” Neri replied sadly, “The Ocean King’s Realm is like another world. He could open it and bring us home, but not through time.”

“Only the Goddess of Time can do things like that,” Ciela agreed, “She’s very picky about who she grants time magic too. That’s why it can’t be learned like other magics, and why most time magic is blessed to objects, not living beings.”

Her siblings bobbed in agreement.

“Could the Goddess of Time take us home?” Tael asked hopefully. 

“Normally, yes, but I can’t sense her at all,” Ciela said sadly, “Something’s happened.”

Sheerow chirped and Ravio nodded, “He’s right. Whatever happened to the Goddess of Time is probably what let us accidentally time travel.”

“Is this really the theory we’re going with?” Tatl scoffed, “It seems a little far fetched.” 

“Do you have a better one?” Leaf snapped at her. 

“Just stop fighting already!” Tael yelled, “We all need to get home so let’s just stop arguing long enough to do that, please?!”

They fell silent for a long moment, Tatl grumbling a little under her breath before finally agreeing. 

“I think our best bet is that Temple then.” Neri suggested, “If that is a Gate of Time, maybe we can learn more about what happened. And we’ll be careful to not get to close and stuck in another time period.” she added when she saw Ciela about to warn against it.

“Good enough for me. I may need to apologize for scaring one of the locals anyway.” Ravio said. 

“What do you mean?”

“Apparently you can’t pay for information in this world,” Ravio shook his head sadly as he turned around and started walking towards the temple, “It’s a little sad, it was a good deal too.”

Link’s head hurt. 

It didn’t just hurt. It was pounding.

It was worse than when Jabu-Jabu swallowed him and he’d been forced to carry Ruto around on his head. It was worse than when he accidentally hit himself with the Megaton hammer in the Fire Temple. It was worse than when he had to use the Eye of Truth through an entire boss fight!

He groaned, clenching his eyes shut. 

There was a gasp next to him, “Hailey! He’s waking up!”

“Coming!”

“Don’t forget the potions!”

Link winced at the yelling. Instantly someone was pressing a cool cloth against his forehead, making calming noises. 

A moment later someone was pressing something to his lips. After a second, he recognized the scent, a sharp, pungent one that was like a mix of juice and medicine. Recognizing it as red potion, Link drank eagerly, headache disappearing almost instantly. 

He blinked rapidly, chasing the blurry vision away. 

“Navi?” he whispered. 

“What was that?” 

His vision cleared enough and Link found that he was lying in a bed, two red haired girls looking over him with an equal mix of curiosity and concern. 

“Who are you?”

“We were going to ask you that.” the one on the left said, “But I’m Gale. This is my sister Hailey. We found you outside and brought you in.”

‘Outside? Outside where?’ Link thought, trying to figure it all out. The last thing he remembered was fighting Ganon after the palace collapsed. Zelda and the Sages had sealed him away, but then it had felt like the ground was falling and he was…swimming? Maybe? He must have passed out after that. 

Gingerly, Link sat up, feeling his body spasm in pain as he did so. The red potion had helped, but Link was more injured from his fight with Ganon than he had thought. The wounds were closed, but still painful. He could barely move. 

“Careful there.” Gale said, gently pushing him back onto the bed, “You’re hurt. We’re making more red potion, but it’s hard to find ingredients up here. You’ll have to be patient.”

“I’ve never seen someone this hurt before,” Hailey whispered, “What were you doing?”

“Fighting Ganon.” Link forced out through clenched teeth. Moving around on the bed had caused a wave of pain to wash over him. 

The two sisters exchanged a confused look, “I thought his name was Vaati?”

She shrugged, “Maybe he had help?”

“It doesn’t matter right now. We can focus on it later.” Gale decided, turning back to face him, “Can you tell us who you are? You look like a friend of ours actually, a boy named Link. Are you his brother?”

“W-What?” his brow furrowed, “I am Link.”

The two girls exchanged another confused glance. 

“Did you go through some sort of growth spurt?” Hailey finally asked, “You’re a lot taller than you were two weeks ago when you were here.”

“I’ve never been here before.” he said, “I have no clue where I am.” 

Their eyes widened, wearing the same shocked expressions.

“How is that possible?” Hailey asked. 

“He must be another Link, different from the one we know.” Gale decided, “It’s the only explanation.” 

“But look at him! They look too similar!”

“Who are you talking about?” Link groaned. His headache was starting to come back and the confusing conversation wasn’t helping. 

“We’re talking about Link, the Hero of the Minish.” Hailey huffed, “You have to be related somehow, cousins at the very least!”

Link was shaking his head gently though, “You’ve got it wrong. I’m the Hero of Time. I don’t even know what a Minish is.”

“How can someone be the hero of time?” Gale wondered. 

“Long story.” he groaned, “You’ve got me mixed up somehow. Look, I need to find the Princess. She can sort this out. I also need to find my fairy, Navi.” 

Hailey was suddenly biting her lip while Gale looked away uncomfortably.

“What? What is it?” Link turned back and forth between the two as best he could. 

“Well…” Gale began, “It’s the Princess…”

“What about her?”

“She…was turned to stone.” Hailey explained, looking uncomfortable, “Link was supposed to save her from Vaati.” 

Link felt the breath leave his body. 

What exactly had happened?!

Chapter Text

Zelda held her breath, clutching onto Levias’s shell as he rushed through the air. If it wasn’t for the literal sky whale flying through the air and rushing past floating islands, she would have assumed that he made up all of the things that he had told her. 

As it was, she wasn’t sure that he quite believed her story, but was willing to transport her to a place called Skyloft where she could, hopefully, find some help. 

It was all still hard to believe. Hyrule didn’t exist, everyone lived in the sky, Link was a Hero who traveled to the Surface, helping make the Master Sword with the help of dragons…every word that Levias told her seemed more far fetched than the one before it. 

But then she thought of her own story. How she had a prophecy in the form of a dream, training as a Sheikah to help Link awaken the Sages, the Triforce splitting to seek out three hosts, Link’s own time traveling adventures. None of that was normal either. 

Still, as they flew away from the giant cloud dome that Levias lived in, Zelda couldn’t help but try to figure out exactly what had happened. 

Link had defeated Ganon and she and the Sages had sealed him away. Almost immediately, they had fallen into that lake and then she ended up here. There was no record of any of the things that Levias had told her in her history, but Levias also said there was no record of Hyrule in his history. 

Was it possible that they had traveled to another world, another dimension? Or even another time, so far apart that any mention of one another was lost to legends, myths, or maybe not even that much? Possibly, in the worst case scenario, could Ganondorf have made some sort of wish on the Triforce without her knowing? Could he be behind all of this?

It was terrifying to say the least. 

But she didn’t have time to be scared. Link had been nearby when they fell into the water. Logically, that meant he had to be somewhere close by. As long as he hadn’t appeared in the clouds and then fallen to his death to the Surface, which she could only pray didn’t happen, then her first priority had to be finding him. Once she did that, maybe they could use the Ocarina of Time to get back home. 

Zelda sighed to herself, lost in her thoughts. Beneath her, Levias hummed to a song she didn’t recognize, his deep timbre vibrating through his body and relaxing her a little. 

Flying like this was distracting enough for her at least. The islands were fascinating to watch go by and the clouds looked like a form of sea. Levias dove and flew without a care in the world, knowing exactly what to do and where to go. Dodging around the floating earth wasn’t something he even had to think about. 

Up ahead, Zelda could see the biggest chunk of land yet. It looked like multiple islands attached by wooden bridges, fanciful buildings perched on top and tiny dots hovering in the air around it. It only took a moment for her eyes to see the wings attached to those dots. Birds, there must’ve been dozens of birds surrounding the island! 

Beyond it, three tall pillars of light shot into the sky. One green, one red, and one yellow. 

Zelda smiled at the sight. Even if she was unhappy at how she got here, she couldn’t deny the beauty of the sky village. 

“A few more moments my dear.” Levias spoke up, “The Knights of Skyloft have already seen us. We’ll be there shortly.” 

Looking back to the island, Zelda could see at least half a dozen of the birds were flying towards them. As they got closer, she noticed that the birds were giant, bigger than a horse, and each had people on the back of them. 

“Are you sure they will be able to help?” she asked nervously. 

“Certainly more than I can.” Levias assured her, “Her Grace left me with plenty of knowledge and messages regarding things that may happen, but this is not a situation she ever planned for. I fear that I will be useless when it comes to returning you to your home. The Headmaster of the Knight Academy may be a different story. Or even the Old Lady of the Sealed Grounds. Say that I sent you and no door will be closed to you by the Hylians.”

“Who is ‘Her Grace’?” Zelda asked curiously. 

“That is a very complicated answer and I’m afraid that I’m not the one to reveal it, especially if my hunch about you is right.” Levias answered cryptically, “Suffice it to say, she is worshiped by the Hylians and only wants the survival of her people. If someone says that they are sworn to serve Her Grace, then you can trust them.”

“Oath Magic?” Zelda guessed, filing the rest of his statement away for further thought. She’d already learned that Levias wouldn’t share any information he didn’t want to. Pestering him about it wouldn’t reveal any further answers. 

“Precisely.” he hummed, pleased, “Anyone who defies the Oath to Her Grace or tries to pretend to be her servant will be met with dire consequences indeed. It is not an oath that someone makes lightly.” 

“I know very few people willing to make such an oath at all, even to the three goddesses.” She said gravely, “Her Grace must be great indeed.” 

“If that is what you wish to think. I saw her as great, but also complicated. Not infallible, but also more…mortal than any expected her to be.” 

“Hmmm.” was Zelda’s only response. 

They flew in silence for a long moment, watching as the birds, Levias called them Loftwings, got even closer. Soon, they were above them, the people riding them jumping off and using bits of fabric to float down and land next to her. With a shock, Zelda saw that they were dressed exactly like Link, down to the pointed hat! The only difference was that these men and women were dressed in blues and yellows as opposed to the forest green her friend wore. 

“Zelda?!” They burst out in shock when they saw her. 

“Not quite.” she grimaced. Levias had explained that there was apparently another Zelda here, native to Skyloft, that Link had been trying to save. 

“What are you doing here?!” one of the women burst out, “Link said that you fell to the Surface!”

“Your father is going to be so pleased that you’re safe!” another knight exclaimed. 

“Please, let me explain-” Zelda tried to get a word in, but the knights were ignoring her, rushing forward to bring her into tight hugs and cheer her return. A few even called over to Levias, thanking him for her safe return. 

Her heart clenched. The Zelda of this world was obviously loved by the people of Skyloft. 

“We’ll get you home right away.” the woman in front of her said quickly, “I’ll be surprised if the Headmaster ever lets you leave after this though, he’s been worried sick!”

“Everyone’s been out looking for you,” a man next to her nodded in agreement, “Link’s been searching the Surface, and we think Groose went with him, but everyone else has been going to every island we can find trying to find you.” 

“I’m no-”

Zelda was cut off again.

“Where have you been?!”

“What exactly happened to you?!”

“Did you really get to the Surface?”

“How did you end up with Levias?”

The questions didn’t seem to end. Despite them asking her constantly, Zelda couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Finally, it was Levias who came to her rescue.

“QUIET.” 

He didn’t yell, but spoke loud enough that word reverberated through their whole bodies, shaking them slightly. 

“Let her speak.”

Zelda cleared her throat uncomfortably, “Thank you Levias. What I was trying to say…I’m not your Zelda. I’m not the one you know.”

“What exactly do you mean?”

“We don’t know exactly what happened, but I’m not from this…place.” she said, choosing her words carefully. She had her own suspicions, yes, but she didn’t know how the rest of them would react to those theories, “Yes, I am Zelda, but not the one you know. I showed up here. Levias rescued me and brought me here to see the Headmaster.”

“You…showed up here?” one of the men asked her, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

She could only nod, “I’m just as confused as the rest of you. It happened suddenly. I was…home, and then, suddenly, I was here. We don’t know exactly what happened.” 

The girl in front of her suddenly gasped, hands flying to her mouth and turning to her fellow knights, “Wait, what if that’s what happened to Pipit?!”

Someone groaned, “We told you Karane, Pipit isn’t missing! He’s probably just helping his mom clean the house again.”

The girl, Karane, stomped her foot and glared at the other person who had spoken up, “And I told YOU, Pipit wouldn’t do that to me! We had a date set and he wouldn’t ditch me just to clean up after his mom! He’s gone!”

Plenty of the others rolled their eyes, but Zelda sensed a possible ally. Putting an arm around Karane’s shoulders, she spoke gently, “If he really is gone, it’s entirely possible that he’s in my home. Maybe we switched places. That’s part of what I need to talk to the Headmaster about.” 

Karane nodded, “Then let’s get you to the Academy. Either way, the Headmaster should meet you.” 

Zelda smiled, ignoring the groaning from the other knights at how easily Karane was convinced. 

She turned towards Levias, “Thank you for your help.”

“Of course. I do hope you get home soon.”

“As do I.” 

Nodding, she turned back to the knights, “How do we get to the Academy from here?”

“With Loftwings.” Karane answered happily, pointing to where some of the other knights were already launching themselves off of Levias’s back. Zelda watched with no small amount of apprehension as whistling pierced the air after they fell. 

“Perhaps I should stay with Levias.” Zelda said hesitantly, backing away from the edge. 

Karane laughed, “It’ll be fine, come on.” 

Without another word, Karane grabbed her hand and started running to the edge, ignoring Zelda’s protests and yells. 

Karane jumped off without a care, dragging Zelda behind her. Faster than she thought possible, they fell through the air, past Levias and quickly approaching the clouds below. 

Karane lifted her fingers, sending out a sharp whistle that left a ringing in Zelda’s ears. In moments, a large yellow Loftwing, each wing longer than Zelda herself, floated, almost relaxed, beneath them. Karane grabbed on to the feathers at the neck, bringing both of them to rest on the large bird and steering it towards Skyloft. 

Zelda yelped, clinging onto Karane like her life depended on it, which, in Zelda’s mind, it did. 

Karane just laughed and they continued flying off, leaving Levias behind them.

Tetra woke up with a slight headache. That was honestly less than she thought she would be dealing with after the day she’d had. 

Groaning, she raised herself up, noting that she was apparently passed out on a stone floor. How in the Great Sea did that happen? She distinctly remembered being nowhere near a building. 

Slowly, as the aches and pains left her body, Tetra stood up and tried to find her bearings. 

What she found did not make her happy in the slightest. 

She was in a prison cell. 

An actual, honest to Nayru, prison cell. 

She was instantly furious. No one, absolutely no one, put her in a prison cell! 

She didn’t know how, she didn’t know why, but she was here and she was going to make them pay for it. 

And, as if to prove their own idiocy, whoever had done this had left her with her weapons and supplies. 

The idiocy of that almost made her angrier than the gall they had to toss her in here in the first place! 

Glancing around, Tetra saw that she was alone. No one else was in the dungeon. Where Link had gone, she didn’t know. She’d find him after she saved herself. 

Tetra scoffed, looking at the lock to the cell door. Saving herself wouldn’t take any effort at all, not with security like this. She didn’t even bother reaching for her lockpicks. Instead, she just grabbed her dagger and pushed it into the lock. With a firm twist, it broke, falling into pieces and the door swinging open silently. Rope would’ve been more secure than that waste of metal. 

She made a mental note to question how she was back in her pirate outfit later, admittedly a little curious as to where her ‘princess outfit’ had gone after the fight with Ganondorf. 

Seeing that no one was in the hallway, she made her way out, looking for any clue as to where she was and who she had to get revenge on. 

She didn’t have to wait long. 

At the end of the hallway was a lone guard, barely older than her. He was faced away from her, which was his own fault. 

In no time at all, Tetra had snuck up behind him. The resulting scuffle was barely worth the name. The guard practically dropped his spear in shock and Tetra was able to pin him to the wall, dagger at his throat. Honestly, the security here was laughable. These chumps had no clue what they were doing. 

“Alright, who are you? What is this place?” she hissed threateningly, “And, more importantly, where. Is. My. Crew?”

“I-I-I don’t know!” the guard cried in fear, “We only found you!”

Tetra humphed, “Found me where?” 

“At the entrance! You were unconscious!” the guard cried out. Tetra could actually see a few tears slip out. Well, she thought proudly, at least I can still make a grown man cry out of fear. 

“What is this place?”

“We-We’re the Thieves! Of the Thieves Hideout!”

“Thieves Hideout?” She raised an eyebrow and scoffed, “And yet, you were dumb enough to try to kidnap a pirate? More importantly, the deadliest pirate on the Great Sea?”

Letting him go, she watched as he slumped to the ground, whimpering and clutching his throat. 

“Pitiful. None of you have any idea what you’re doing, do you? Where’s your leader?”

If anything, this question made the guard cry harder. Tetra rolled her eyes, reaching forward to shake him, “Hey! I asked you a question!”

“Dead! He’s dead!” the guard sobbed out. 

“Hmmm…” Tetra hummed thoughtfully, “Well then, let’s fix that, shall we?”

“W-W-What?”

“Until further notice, I’m your leader.” Tetra decided abruptly, “Now, show me around my new Hideout. And gather all the thieves. I want a report on everything, understand? And send out scouts to look for my crew. This is to be our new base from now on.”

“Y-Y-You’re going to-” he stammered out in shock. 

“Did I leave any room for you to question me?” she snapped, glaring at him.

He yelped, shooting upright and to attention. She smirked at the shaky salute. Training would fix that. A lot of training, but at least it was a start.

Link groaned, grabbing his stomach in a wonderful mix of pain caused by overeating and fulfillment. That soup was the best thing he’d ever had, even better than Yeto’s soup. He was sure that he would never have anything else that ever tasted as good as that again. 

Grandma, as she insisted that he call her, just smiled at his face. 

“This has to be the best soup in any time frame.” Ezlo mumbled happily in Fi’s lap. 

Fi, since she couldn’t actually eat, just nodded in polite agreement. 

“Thank you dears.” Grandma said happily, reaching forwards to grab their empty bowls. 

Link immediately stopped her, grabbing them himself, “You cooked, let me clean up, please.”

“Very well dear.” 

Link eagerly grabbed the rest of the dirty dishes and made his way to the sink. For him, cleaning was a small price to pay for a wonderful meal. 

After the three of them had agreed to work together, Fi had informed Link of the dowsing ability she had, focused on finding the Hero’s aura. The other place on the island, a place called Outset, that showed the aura through her dowsing was this house on the far end of it. 

They were hoping to find the Link of this time frame, although Fi stated that the chances of that happening were below 5%. Still, it was their best lead. 

However, upon getting there, Link had become…adopted. Grandma had taken one look at him and immediately insisted on sitting him down and feeding him the greatest soup he’d ever had. They’d explained the situation multiple times, but that hadn’t stopped the older lady from filling his soup bowl for the third time, insisting that he would need his strength if he was to bring her proper grandson back to her. And, until then, he would consider her to be his grandmother as well. 

Link tried to protest, he really did. But she wouldn’t take no for an answer! Then she pulled out her homemade bread rolls and his protests died in his throat. 

He had a real weakness for homemade bread. 

While they ate, Link, Fi, and Ezlo exchanged as much information as they could. Surprisingly, Grandma knew quite a bit about what the Link of this time had been going through, filling in many blanks that the Great Deku Tree hadn’t known. Apparently this Link had visited her at every opportunity during his adventure, partially to stop her from worrying and partially for refills on the soup she apparently kept on hand. 

Link couldn’t blame his alternate self there. If this soup existed in his Hyrule, then he’d stop by every chance he could as well. 

“Are we still alright to spend the night here before heading out tomorrow?” Ezlo asked while Link scrubbed at the bowls. 

Grandma nodded, “Of course. Anything I can do to help. Besides, it’s so nice to have company again. This house feels so lonely now that Aryll and Link are gone.” 

“We thank you for your hospitality.” Fi told her, “We’ll be heading out in the morning.”

“Where exactly are you going dear?”

“We’ll be searching for anyone else that may have fallen through to this time.”

“Good luck.” Grandma said. Link could’ve sworn her tone was just humoring the sword spirit, but her smile was very genuine when he glanced over at her. “You may try Windfall Island. Lots of travelers head there.” 

“We’ll make sure to do that.” Ezlo replied. 

Link glanced up, catching sight of the setting sun through the window, “How exactly are we going to get there again?”

“Beetle gave us a ride last time.”

“Beetle?”

“A tradesman,” Fi answered simply, “He sails around the islands on his boat.”

“Is there a faster way?” Ezlo asked Grandma. 

She pondered the question for a moment before answering, “My dear grandson said his friend Tetra had the fastest ship on the Great Sea. If you can get in touch with her crew, they should be able to get you there in no time at all.” 

“That would be helpful.” Link said, “Do you know how to get in touch with them?” 

“The postman always knows dear. We can ask him tomorrow when he comes by for the mail.” 

“Wouldn’t it take a while for him to get in touch with them?” Ezlo asked skeptically. Link had to agree. The postman in his Hyrule ran everywhere. Often the mail arrived much later than it took to travel to the place yourself.

“Of course not.” Grandma smiled, not worried in the slightest, “There’s nothing faster on the Great Sea than a Rito postman!”

Link shot everyone else a confused look, folding his arms and leaning against the sink before asking, “What exactly is a Rito?”

“According to the Great Deku Tree, Rito’s are an avian race. Overall humanoid, but with birdlike qualities, including powerful wings that allow them to travel great distances through flight.” Fi provided quickly. 

He tried to picture it in his mind, but couldn’t quite make it past the idea of a human sized Ooccoo. Eventually he shrugged, hoping that seeing a Rito in person would make it make sense. 

“If you wish to catch the postman, you’ll want to go to bed soon.” Grandma put in, “Mr. Quill arrives very early for his post route.” 

“Sounds good to me.” Ezlo said, stifling a yawn. 

Link smirked, “Me too. It’s been a long day.”

Fi just nodded and they all moved to prepare for the night. 

Chapter Text

Zelda felt a gentle shaking rouse her from her sleep. Blinking back exhaustion, she looked up to see Alfonzo. 

“We’re here.” 

Zelda groaned, taking a moment to stretch. Glancing out the window, she saw that the train, as Alfonzo had called the metal contraption, was no longer gliding through the green land as it had when she’d dozed off. Now it seemed like they were inside some sort of building.

“Did you sleep well?”

She turned back to her impromptu traveling companion, “Yes, actually, I did.”

“Good.” 

They slowly made their way out of the train, not making much other conversation. They had talked as much as they could on the way there before Zelda had finally succumbed to sleep. After her last 24 hours, she simply couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. 

Finally stepping outside the train, she took a proper look around. It seemed like they were in some sort of tower. The ceiling was certainly tall enough and there was a set of stairs on the far end. There were four doors, one of which they had come through on their way in, with sets of train tracks leading out of them. 

“Who exactly are we looking for again?” Zelda asked. 

“Anjean. She’s the Lokomo Sage who guards the Tower.” Alfonzo answered easily, “Link’s met with her quite a few times. He had to keep coming back to the tower to help rebuild it. Hopefully she’s home.” 

“As it so happens, I am.” a new voice entered the conversation. The two of them spun around to see an old woman in some sort of mechanical chair turn around the end of their train. She had pink hair that was piled into a swirling bun on her head and a long angular nose. “I got back just a few hours ago.” 

“Got back?” Alfonzo wondered. 

She nodded, “I was with Link and the Princess when they went to face Malladus.”

“Malladus is gone then?!” the engineer burst out hopefully. 

Anjean shook her head sadly, “In a way, but not the way that you would have hoped.” 

“What?” he was obviously confused, “What do you mean?”

“It is my belief that he was taken by the same thing that brought your new friend here.” Anjean tilted her head and winked at Zelda. 

Zelda’s eyes widened, “Excuse me?”

“You fell through some water and arrived in this time period, did you not?” Anjean asked for clarification. At Zelda’s nod, she continued, “It’s a working theory, but I believe that is precisely what happened to the Link and Zelda of this time period, along with my apprentice, Byrne.” 

Zelda opened her mouth to ask the Sage a question, but Alfonzo beat her to it, leaning forward impatiently, “What do you mean?! What’s happened to Link?! If this isn’t Zelda, then where is her Majesty?!”

“As far as I can tell, they fell into another time period, much like this Zelda has. Hopefully they are unharmed.” Anjean nodded to her again, “And don’t worry dear. I know you are a Zelda, you have the aura of one, but which one precisely, I cannot tell.” 

Alfonzo huffed, obviously not happy with that answer, “And where were you when this happened?”

“I was with them.” she said bluntly, “I told you that before. I watched their battle with Malladus. Just as her Majesty was about to reunite with her body, all of them disappeared. I looked all over, but couldn’t find any sign of them. There was a slight trace of time magic, but it was tinged with darkness. At first I thought that Malladus was behind it, but I do believe he was a victim in the incident, suprisingly.”

Alonzo glared, still worried over his own apprentice. 

Zelda cleared her throat, “How exactly did you figure all this out? How do you know so much about what happened to me?”

Anjean gave her a small smile, “Well, once I saw that everyone was gone, I thought I had better come back to the Tower. I had to drive the Spirit Train myself, but luckily I did. As soon as I got here, I noticed that I had a visitor already.”

Anjean turned to look behind her, “You can come on out dear. Neither of them will hurt you, I promise.” 

Zelda and Alfonzo watched eagerly as Anjean’s visitor stepped out from where they were hiding behind the train, much like Anjean had done moment’s ago. 

They gasped when they saw her. 

She was barely taller than Anjean, with long red hair tied back in a low ponytail. However, instead of skin, the girl had snow white feathers, and instead of a nose, a sharp beak. The girl looked to the ground shyly. 

“This is Medli,” Anjean introduced them, “She, like you, also fell through to this time period. We’d been chatting for a while, trying to figure everything out, when you showed up.”

“Thank you for your help, but I really have to go!” Link insisted, pushing away another cup of red potion, “If the princess has been turned to stone then I have to help her!”

Gale shook her head, holding out the potion again, “You aren’t going anywhere until you’re fully healed! I don’t care what you say, you’re no help to anyone, especially the princess, if you’re hurt!”

Link groaned, “You’ve given me so much potion that I could burst!”

Hailey rolled her eyes from the other side of the bed, reaching forward and grabbing his arm to forcibly push up his sleeve. Underneath, his skin was covered in dark purple bruises and he winced slightly as she poked one. 

“Still in pain, still injured, you aren’t going anywhere!”

“It’s just bruises!” he protested. 

Gale shook her head, “We didn’t let Link leave when he was injured after getting the element, we aren’t letting you leave injured. That’s just how it is.”

Link groaned, flopping back down onto the bed, “I keep telling you, I am Link!”

“Then you’re a different Link. Either way, you aren’t leaving until you are better!” Hailey practically growled at him. 

“Drink up. Two more potions ought to do it.” Gale held it out again. 

Not having any other choice, Link took it, muttering under his breath about overprotectiveness. 

Hailey heard him and snorted, “You are literally covered in bruises and only stopped bleeding an hour ago. You aren’t allowed to comment on overprotectiveness.”

Link chose not to respond to that, trying to gulp down the potion as quickly as he could. His stomach grumbled in disagreement. 

He still had no clue what was going on, but while being force-fed potion after potion, he’d gotten a general story from the two sisters taking care of him. 

He was still in Hyrule, but they said that Vaati had attacked instead of Ganondorf. He’d turned Zelda into stone, broken the Picori Blade, and freed countless monsters. Apparently another Link, one much younger than him, but still resembling him, was trying to stop him and save Zelda. He’d been here to get some sort of element a couple weeks ago. 

None of that matched up with what he remembered happening. 

He was more confused than ever, but if he wanted to find out what had happened, then he had to make it to the castle. The princess could explain from there. And, as he said before, if she really was turned to stone, then he had to help her. 

He still had the Ocarina of Time, but he had already tried to use it when the two sisters weren’t watching over him. He couldn’t get in touch with Saria or anyone else. The Song of Storms still worked, but none of the Temple’s Songs did. He couldn’t teleport out of there. 

Gale handed him another potion as he tried to sort through his thoughts. But the more he reviewed everything, the more he was certain he had to get to the castle. 

After yet another potion, the two girls finally agreed to let him out of bed. His injuries, bruises and all, had finally disappeared and Link never wanted to see another potion in his life. His stomach was so full of the medicinal red liquid that it was a wonder he hadn’t thrown it up yet. 

“Can I finally go now?” he huffed. 

Hailey rolled her eyes at him, “I guess. You’re completely healed at least.”

“Great, thank you!” he rolled his eyes and reached for his stuff. In a few moments he was ready to go. “What’s the fastest way to the castle from here?”

“I’d suggest the portal in Grandpa’s room.” Gale told him, “It’ll put you out next to Link and his Uncle’s house. The castle is just north of there.”

That made him stop and think. A portal directly to the other Link they kept talking about? That may be helpful. He was incredibly confused as to who this other Link was, but there was a chance, however slight, that he might be able to help him. 

Ok then, change of plans. He’d meet this other Link first. 

“Perfect.” Link nodded, “Which way to your Grandpa’s room?”

“We’ll show you.” Gale answered, walking to the door. Hailey followed with a huff, “I still say this is insane. What exactly are you hoping to do?”

“I’m hoping to find my friends and go home.” he answered honestly. “I was in the middle of something really important. I just, I have to get back, ok?”

“I still say you should let one of us come with you.” 

Link immediately shook his head, “It’s too dangerous. What if whatever brought me here happens again? Then you’d be taken away from your family, maybe permanently. I can’t let that happen.”

Gale led them up some stairs and into a room that looked remarkably similar to the one he just came from. In a bed on the far end was an older man, sleeping peacefully. 

“Ignore Grandpa, he’s been sleeping a lot to try to recover from when he was sick.” Gale explained. 

Hailey pointed out a glowing sphere on the floor, “Just step on this and it’ll do the rest.”

Link looked at it skeptically, “Are you sure?”

She rolled her eyes, “Have we lied to you yet?”

“That remains to be seen.” he muttered to himself. 

Luckily she hadn’t heard him otherwise he was sure that she’d have started yelling. Instead, he just said, “Thank you again. I appreciate you healing me.” 

Gale smiled, “Anytime. Even if you aren’t Link, we can’t stand to see someone who needs help and then do nothing.” 

He smiled back before turning to the glowing sphere. Bracing himself, Link stepped on it gently. 

Immediately he heard a loud humming and he felt himself begin to spin. 

He spun faster and faster, the room blurring around him until he was forced to close his eyes, praying that the potions he’d been forced to take would stay down. Eventually he felt himself slow down until, finally, he stopped. 

Opening his eyes, he saw that he was in a forest next to a hill with a small house on top. 

He was here.

Despite what everyone else thought, Shad was not oblivious. He was passionate, especially about his studies, to the point that he got some tunnel vision. He could admit that. He would get so wrapped up translating ancient texts that he would completely lose track of time. He did not , no matter what Rusl teased, tune everyone out. He paid attention very well, just usually to one thing at a time. If he happened to miss something while paying very close attention to something else, then that wasn’t his fault. It was an accident. That was it. 

But, despite this, even he wouldn’t risk getting distracted while helping his friends and Link storm Hyrule Castle. 

So, when he followed Ashei around a corner hallway, trying to get to the throne room in an effort to find Link, and then suddenly wasn’t there anymore, Shad knew that it was through absolutely no fault of his own. He had been paying attention! 

That didn’t change when the hallway gave out beneath him and he was suddenly swept away by some water underneath the castle. He paid attention, trying to keep track of which way the current was pushing him so that he knew which direction to go to find his friends again. He definitely didn’t pay any attention to the very logical conclusion that he had most likely fallen into the castle’s sewer system. It was the only answer for the consistency of the water he was stuck in, but that didn’t mean he wanted to admit exactly what he was swimming in. 

And yet, when he finally got away from it, Shad was confused. 

He had been paying attention, very diligently. He hadn’t missed a thing in that entire trip. 

And yet, somehow, he’d ended up completely dry, not even sputtering for breath, against a cliff. He could see the castle in the distance, miles away. 

‘That isn’t possible!’ his brain sputtered at him. ‘It simply wasn’t possible! I couldn’t have traveled more than a mile at most!’ 

That didn’t stop him from gawking in amazement at the sight. It was even worse once he realized that he was nowhere near a sewage pipe, the castle moat, or even any sort of river. The water had absolutely vanished! 

Shad sat there, leaning against the cliff, completely gobsmacked, as he tried to figure out what exactly had happened. 

After a few minutes, in which he still wasn’t able to figure it out, much to his frustration, something else grabbed his attention. 

Above him, sweeping low over the small cliff, were two figures, flying through the air with a third clutched between them. They passed close enough for him to see them easily. Two old ladies, riding broomsticks, with a statue held between them.

Shad bit back a yelp, trying to huddle against the cliff even more and push down the panic that filled him. By some miracle, they hadn’t seen him yet. 

The two of them flew over him without even sparing a glance towards the ground. He could hear their voices arguing back and forth with each other, but couldn’t make out what exactly they were saying. 

Shad couldn’t hear them, but he did see them. And he had been paying attention. 

Those two witches, for he couldn’t find a more apt name for them, held a statue of Princess Zelda between them.

Chapter Text

Ravio took a deep breath before reaching out and knocking on the large stone door of the Temple. His knuckles stung at the contact, but he ignored it, hoping that someone on the other side heard it. 

He and the others stood there for a long minute, awkwardly waiting for any sort of response. When there was none, he reached forward to knock again, this time as loud as he could. 

The door scraped open after his second knock, revealing an older woman, covered in what looked like a large red tent, the point taller than even Ravio’s hood. Behind her, Ravio could see the red-headed man from before, in a defensive stance with a large tree branch held at the ready.

“Really?” Tatl scoffed, “That’s your big plan?”

“Tatl!” her brother scolded. 

“What? It’s a branch! What’s he going to do with that? We’d fly out of the way!”

“Pardon them!” Ravio jumped in, “We’re new here!”

“I can see that.” the lady said cooly, “You seem to have scared my friend here.”

“My apologies.” Ravio blushed, not that anyone could see it, “We’re in a unique situation and I was hoping to just ask some questions.”

“Don’t believe him, Granny!” the man burst out, “He’s lying!”

“Why would he lie?” Navi huffed. 

“I don’t know! Maybe to get to the Gate! Or the Triforce! Or-”

“Shut it!” the old lady, Granny, snapped at him, “Are you going to yell out every possible secret we have?!”

The man sputtered at her, looking like a very strange fish. 

“We don’t want anything to do with the Triforce.” Navi assured them and Ravio nodded along with her. 

Granny looked at them suspiciously, “How do you know what the Triforce is?”

“It’s…complicated.” Ciela answered, “Actually, if you know what that Gate is, then it might make more sense.” 

She looked over her shoulder, providing Ravio a look as well, at the giant gears spinning in the air. They were covered in blue symbols, some that looked a little familiar from his time in Hyrule. 

“What are you getting at?”

“It’s a little hard to believe,” Ravio told her as gently as he possibly could, “But we think that that Gate might be able to take us home.” 

Granny immediately shook her head, “That’s not possible. I’m sorry, but we won’t be able to help you.” 

She began to shut the door and panic rose in his throat. Before Ravio knew what he was doing, he shoved himself against it, trying to either keep it open or throw himself into the room, he didn’t know. 

Granny let him, letting go of the door so that when he threw his weight against it, it fell open and he face planted onto the ground. Ravio groaned. 

Granny snorted at him, “If this is an attack, you certainly haven’t planned it very well.”

“This isn’t an attack!” Neri burst out, flying in front of her. The other fairies bobbed in agreement with her statement. “We came here looking for help! We just want to get home!”

“Even if I did believe you, I was telling the truth. That Gate can’t get you home. I’m sorry, but we can’t help you.” 

“Yes you can!” Ciela yelled, obviously frustrated. Ravio sat up, rubbing his head. 

“Yeah, well how’d we do that then?!” the man yelled at her. 

“That’s a Gate of Time! We want to see if we can use it to get back to our own times!” 

“Your own times?” Granny said in disbelief, “You’ll need a better cover than that.” 

“It’s not a cover!” she insisted, “I’m a spirit, same as my siblings! I have power over Courage and Time! I can sense all the time magic in this place!” 

That got more of a reaction from Granny than anything else yet. She gasped, stepping back and her hand went to her hip where Ravio could see a small dagger resting, “How do you know all that?!”

“I told you! I’m the spirit of Courage and Time!”

“That’s not possible!”

“It is!” Navi insisted, “I can sense it too!”

“You’re a spirit of time as well?”

“No!” Navi trilled. “But I spent a lot of time with Link in the Temple of Time! I learned what time magic feels like!”

“Woah,” Tatl burst out, “You never said you were with Link!”

“Didn’t I?”

Sheerow chirped. 

“I thought I had told more than you though…” the fairy murmured. 

“Definitely not!” Leaf said, “We would’ve remembered, we were with Link too!” 

“Ok, now that’s the impossible thing!”

“Yeah, cause we were with Link!” Tael yelled. 

The red-headed man stomped his foot, “Look, I don’t care which of you guys were with that loser! Unless he comes here and vouches for you, we aren’t believing anything you say!” 

“You know Link too?!” the fairies all burst out simultaneously. 

Ravio tilted his head thoughtfully, “Wow, Mr. Hero really gets around, doesn’t he?”

Ciela let out a loud ringing sound, getting everyone’s attention as they started to talk over one another, “Wait, stop! Guys, we’re forgetting, we’re from different times! We all just probably met Link at different times!”

“Oh please,” the man scoffed, “I think that wimp would’ve definitely said something if he’d ever traveled with talking fairies.” 

“Ignoring the insult.” Navi huffed, “I have to agree. Link had never had a fairy companion before me. The Great Deku Tree told me so.” 

“Well, my Link said he was looking for his fairy friend.” Tatl said thoughtfully, “But he never said their name.”

“You probably met him after Navi then.” Ciela said. 

“Then after he left both of you, he found us!” Neri squealed excitedly, obviously happy with the explanation. 

Sheerow chirped and Ravio nodded along with his friend, “That’s right, Mr. Hero never mentioned a fairy to us either.”

“Plus our times are too far apart for it to be the same Link,” Ciela put in, “I may not know exactly when we are, but I know that it is centuries away from our own time. There’s no way it could be the same Link.”

“So someone with the same name as him?”

Granny looked back and forth between all of them for a long moment, obviously thinking something over. 

Ravio sighed, “Look, is there anything we can do to make you believe us?”

“Nope!” the man said instantly, raising his branch again, “Now head out! We got our own problems!”

“No.” Granny said harshly, “They’re staying now.” 

Everyone looked at her in confusion, the man sputtering at her. She turned to look directly at him, “In case you had forgotten, we are missing both Link and Zelda. They never came back with you and frankly, I can’t remember anything after the final fight.”

Looking back at Ravio and the fairies, she said, “Is there anything you can do to prove you’re trustworthy?”

“I can freeze pockets of time?” Ciela suggested. Granny looked unsure and Ravio didn’t blame her. An ability didn’t necessarily mean trustworthiness. 

Sheerow chirped loudly, bashing himself gently into the ears of Ravio’s hood. Ravio batted him away, “Not happening!”

“What does he mean, ‘show them’?” Neri asked, puzzled. 

“Nothing, he means nothing.” Ravio answered, still trying to shoo Sheerow away. The bird easily dodged his hands, chirping again. 

“He says that it’ll make everyone trust you.” Leaf said. 

“Well, he’s wrong! It’ll just give everyone the wrong impression.” 

Sheerow let out another quick chirp, cut off by Ravio finally catching him, shoving the bird into one of his many pockets. He normally slept there anyway, but Ravio kept the pocket shut so that he couldn’t get out. Sheerow’s chirps came out very muffled, impossible to translate. 

“Ravio!” Tatl yelled, “We aren’t going to let you get away with not showing us!”

The man took a step forward, branch raised threateningly, “Come on Rabbit, what are you hiding?”

“Put that down before you lop off your own ridiculous hairdo.” Granny snapped at him before looking at Ravio again, “I’m afraid that hiding whatever this is, isn’t going to make us trust you. Your only choice is to show us, or I won’t be helping you at all.” 

Ravio groaned. He hadn’t even told Mr. Hero yet! Stupid Sheerow, not thinking things through!

But they needed to get home. That need outweighed anything else. Even he could admit that. 

Ravio sighed and slowly reached up to push his hood back. Everyone around him gasped again. 

“What the-!” the man yelled out, tripping and falling backwards in his attempt to get away. 

“How is this possible?” Navi whispered, flying close to his face to get a better look. 

Sheerow flew out of his pockets, flying around his head and chirping out an excited explanation so quickly that no one other than Ravio could follow him. 

“I said I was from Lorule.” Ravio muttered, “It’s a parallel world, a parallel of Hyrule. I’m the ‘Link’ from Lorule.” 

“Why didn’t you say anything before?!” Tael burst out. 

“Look, I’m not exactly a hero. I couldn’t stop Yuga back home, I was too afraid, so I went to Hyrule to look for a real hero to save both worlds.” Ravio answered quietly, watching the ground intently, “That’s how I met Hyrule’s Link.”

“Well, this changes things.” Granny smiled softly, “I think you’ve earned enough trust to at least afford a proper explanation. If you are a version of Link, then I’m willing to go on a little faith.”

“You can’t be serious!” the man burst out, “Come on Granny, this has got to be a trick of some sort!” 

“I’m not discounting that,” she said patiently, “but I can’t ignore this development either. Once again, our Link and Zelda are missing. Even worse, they disappeared by going through that very Gate. If these people are telling the truth and got lost between times, that may have been what happened to them. For all we know, the Gate is what caused this to happen. Personally, I’d like some more information before we decide anything.” 

He grumbled, obviously unhappy with the answer, but unable to overrule her. 

“Let's go sit down then. Tell me everything, please.” Granny continued. 

Navi bobbed, nodding as best a fairy could, and launched into her tale first.

Shad crouched, looking around the corner of the stone wall. If he was right, the castle should be just up ahead, but based on what he had seen already, he didn’t have a lot of hope for the sight. 

He was still terribly confused by everything that had happened, and scared out of his wits by the appearance of the two witches, but he was still loyal to the crown and to Zelda. They had held a statue of her and he at least had to get some more data on that situation, even if he couldn’t help her himself. Anything he could take back to Link for the rescue mission would be helpful. Shad always operated under the impression that more information was better. 

With a goal in mind, he was able to recover from his panic attack at the cliff base. From there, he began the long walk to the castle, cataloging everything in his head and analyzing it on the way. 

His best guess was that he had fallen into one of Ganondorf’s teleportation spells, maybe a trap, meant to stop any invaders in the castle. That would explain how he ended up so far away so quickly. 

That theory quickly crumbled when Shad made it to Castle Town. 

It was no longer the fun, lively place he once loved. People weren’t swarming through the streets filled with vendors and children didn’t run around, chasing the cats that crept through the streets. The entire place was even smaller than he remembered, which didn’t seem possible.

The place wasn’t empty, but it was as dead as a location could possibly be. Redeads shuffled down the streets instead of people. The shops were empty, boarded up, abandoned. The fountain in the center was completely dried up, cracked down the center. An entire feeling of gloom hung over the town, pressing down on him as he snuck through it, almost making it difficult to breathe. 

Shad went forward as quietly as he could, ducking into the ramshackled shops and ducking behind the crumbling walls, freezing anytime one of the monsters came near. By sheer luck, none of them saw him. 

Now he was traveling down the path that led from the town to the castle. He’d passed by a toppled gatehouse and was now at the low stone wall, bracing himself for anything he might see. If the town was this bad, he could only imagine what Ganondorf had done to the castle itself. 

Taking one last deep breath, he poked his head around the corner. 

He immediately regretted it, terror seizing him. 

The castle Shad had grown up looking at was gone, replaced by towers of dark stone, hovering over a pit of lava. A giant cloud spun around the tallest tower, casting the entire area into darkness. 

“Gotta admit, for an evil warlord bent on destroying reality, he knows how to stand out.” a voice spoke up behind him, almost sounding bored. 

Shad’s eyes grew wide, spinning around and reaching for the dagger he kept tucked in his book. He normally only used it as a bookmark, choosing to use his knowledge to get through any situation, but right now, alone, he may not have a choice but to fight. 

Holding the dagger up, Shad came face-to-face with empty air. His brow furrowed. He’d definitely heard someone talk. 

The voice giggled and he spun around again, flailing his dagger wildly, trying to locate the sound. 

“Relax.” the voice said again. It was definitely female, that much he could tell, “As hilarious as it is to watch you try to fight…” 

They trailed off and Shad glanced around again, finally looking down. He watched as his shadow grew, elongating and rising from the ground to stand in front of him, taking the shape of a tiny woman with a headdress.

“Midna!” Shad let out a sigh of relief, shoulders slumping at the sight of Link’s companion. “I could not be happier to see you!”

Midna rolled her eyes, “Yeah, it’s me. Keep it down though, ok? We’re right outside the castle, remember?”

Shad nodded, leaning forward eagerly, “What are you doing here? I thought you were with Link?”

“I was.” she answered, crossing her legs to sit in midair. “We were saving Zelda and fighting Ganondorf. I warped them away so that I could use the Fused Shadows and kill him, but instead I ended up here. I woke up in that disaster of a town and a little while later, saw you walk in.” 

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” he asked. 

“Cause I was keeping you alive.” At his confused look she scoffed and rolled her eyes again, “What, you actually thought that you snuck through that town on your own?”

“Well, until now…”

“You didn’t.” Her tone was very blunt and Shad tried not to be hurt by it, “If it wasn’t for me leading the Redeads away from you, they would’ve gotten you the second you walked in there. Honestly, you aren’t very observant. You didn’t even notice when I took over your shadow.” 

“I am observant!” he protested, “I was just focused on something else!”

Midna raised an eyebrow, “And that would be?”

“I was going through the castle with the rest of the Resistance, trying to find Link to help him. Somehow, I ended up being pushed out to a cliff.” Shad explained, “While I was there, two witches flew over me, carrying a statue of the princess. I thought I would follow them, try to either save her or get enough information to help mount a rescue. I didn’t even know that Ganondorf had turned her into a statue!”

“He didn’t.” Midna growled, “Trust me.”

“I wonder what happened then.” Shad mused, missing the way that Midna’s expression narrowed and glared at the castle, “I can’t figure it out.” 

“So your grand plan was to sneak into Ganondorf’s castle?” Midna scoffed at him, “Not happening. You’ll die before you make it past the door.”

“What would you recommend then? Could you use the Fused Shadows again? Break into the castle?” Shad suggested. 

Midna’s glare darkened, if that was even possible, “I lost them in the whole mess. I was able to keep this one-” she tapped the piece on her head, “-and this one.” 

She held out a hand and a piece grew in her palm, the other part of the headpiece she wore.

“I don’t know where the other two ended up.”

Shad sighed, “We should regroup then. As much as I want to help the princess, we just aren’t prepared right now.” 

Midna nodded in agreement, “Where to then?”

“With the town in shambles like it is, I’d advise Kakariko. Renado may be in touch with the others of the Resistance. It was always our backup plan to go there in case storming the castle failed.” 

“Sounds good to me. Hold on.” Midna held out her hands in what Shad saw was a familiar gesture. 

“Wait!” he yelled, grabbing her hands to stop her. 

“What now?” she huffed. 

“You’ve never warped me before.” he admitted nervously, “Only Link.”

Midna sighed, “It doesn’t hurt.”

“It doesn’t?” 

“Nope. Just turns you into tiny pieces that get magically sent through the air and reassembled on the other side. Not painful at all.” she said with a grin. 

His face fell and she laughed, “Relax, I’m exaggerating.”

“Please tell me you aren’t lying.” 

She rolled her eyes again, “Link says it feels like tiny pins and needles.”

He took a deep breath, “Ok then. Let’s go.” 

She smirked, holding out her hands again. A moment later, Shad’s vision went dark and a shiver went up his spine, prickling traveling first over his legs and then spreading over his whole body. 

It lasted a lot longer than he thought it would, but finally the feeling started to pass. He slammed into the ground, the breath getting knocked out of him as he fell onto his back. 

Groaning, he opened his eyes to see Hyrule Field again. 

“Huh?”

“Something’s wrong.” Midna’s voice set him on edge immediately. 

“What do you mean?” he groaned, sitting up and rubbing his head. It was then he noticed that they were back outside Castle Town, where he had originally entered. “What are we doing here?”

“The spell must’ve gone wrong.” Midna growled, “It didn’t work.”

“How so?”

“My portals are gone.”

“Huh?”

“My portals are gone.” she repeated harshly, teeth grinding as she glared at her fist, “They aren’t there anymore. I tried opening a new one, but I couldn’t find Kakariko. Something’s wrong.” 

“How could you not find Kakariko? It’s not like it moved.” Shad wondered. 

“I don’t know!” she yelled, glowering at him, “But it’s not there anymore! I redirected us to come here, but I can’t find any of my other portals!” 

“Ok, ok, calm down.” he said as soothingly as possible, “We’ll figure it out, ok?”

“Yeah, how?” she snapped. 

Shad ran through the options as quickly as he could, “We’ll walk to Kakariko, alright? It’s only a day or two away, we can handle that.”

“And my portals?” 

He sighed, “I…don’t know. Could someone have blocked your magic?”

Midna growled, “It’s not…impossible.” 

“Let’s work with that assumption then. We’ll go to Kakariko and then work from there.” 

“Fine.” she huffed. 

“Want to travel in my shadow?” Shad offered, feeling a little awkward, “Link said that’s how you normally like to travel.”

A sharp retort was on her lips, but she stopped herself, knowing how much it meant for someone like Shad to offer his shadow like that. Sighing, she just said, “Thanks.” before sinking back into it. 

“Anytime.” he said, feeling even more awkward as this was directed to the shadow at his feet. 

Obviously, there was no answer. 

How Link had coped with this, Shad didn’t know, but he had a new appreciation for his friend. 

Setting his shoulders, Shad started walking. The sooner they got to Kakariko, the better.

Chapter Text

The man across from her was very tall and chose to wear mostly a bright orange. He was bald, but had one large eyebrow that swept up into the shape of a ‘U’ on his forehead. Zelda tried very hard not to stare at it as she sat across from him, retelling her story. 

Gaepora listened quietly and intently, waiting until she was completely finished before he said anything. 

“So you honestly believe that you have traveled to another time?”

She nodded, “It’s my best guess, based on the information present. Levias was able to share quite a lot and nothing else makes sense, except perhaps another world.” 

“Hmmm,” the Headmaster was very thoughtful, “So little is known about time magic, at least from my perspective. You seem to have more experience, so I’ll have to defer to your judgment in that regard.” 

Zelda’s eyes widened, hopeful, “You believe me?”

“I’ve seen and heard too much in my lifetime to believe it to be impossible.” he smiled down at her, “After everything we’ve been through here, my mind is open to almost any possibility. So yes, I believe you.” 

She could’ve slumped in relief. 

“That being said, I’m not sure I can help you.”

“You…can’t?” 

Gaepora shook his head sadly, “I have no magic of my own and the people of Skyloft know even less than I do.”

She sighed, “What can I do then? I have to get home.”

He smiled down at her, “I didn’t say it was impossible, just that I wouldn’t be any help.” He stood up and went over to one of his shelves, taking a long scroll from it. “If Levias wasn’t able to help, then I don’t believe that there is anything above the clouds that can do the job you seek and get you home.”

“What would you suggest then?” she asked, watching eagerly as he unrolled the paper on the table, revealing a map. To her it looked like a sea where the water hadn’t been filled in, with islands dotting around the white expanse. There were three pillars of light drawn on it, although it looked like they had been added to the map recently. They matched the colors of the pillars she had seen while flying with Levias. 

“How much do you know of our world?”

“Again, Levias told me quite a lot about what’s been occurring here.” Zelda told him. 

Gaepora asked, “Then you know of our history? How we live above the Surface, separated from our old home by a cloud barrier?”

At her nodding, he continued, “We have a Link and Zelda of our own.”

At the mention of his daughter, the Headmaster’s face fell. Zelda put a hand on his elbow comfortingly, “I’m sure she’s ok. If your Link is anything like mine, he won’t let anything happen to her.” 

“Thank you dear.” he smiled reassuringly, “Honestly, the similarities between the two of you are outstanding.”

Zelda smiled back at him, “So I’ve heard. She’s lucky to have such a loving father.” 

His grin only grew before he turned back to the map in front of them. “When my Zelda was kidnapped, she was taken to the Surface. Link kept me updated whenever he could about his journey to rescue her. He was able to make three holes in the cloud barrier.” he gestured to each of the light pillars on the map. 

“I think this one in particular will be of the most help to you.” he pointed to the green one, “Link said that there was an old lady here, a guardian of what he called the ‘Sealed Grounds’.”

“Levias mentioned her!” Zelda burst out excitedly, “He said that she could be trusted and may be able to help!” 

“Hoo hoo! That’s what I’d hoped!” he said excitedly, “You see, Link also mentioned that he was able to meet my Zelda there in a very unique way, by traveling back through a Gate of Time.” 

Zelda’s jaw dropped, “The Gate of Time?” 

Gaepora nodded, curious, “Do you know it?”

“It’s the old name for the doorway in the Temple of Time, back in my Hyrule. Now it’s just the Door of Time.” she whispered in amazement, “To think that it exists here as well…” 

“That cannot be a coincidence.” 

“I agree.” she said firmly, lips pressed together tightly as she processed this new information. 

“That settles it then.” Gaepora tapped the map again in an air of finality, “You’ll go to the Sealed Grounds. It’ll be your best hope for getting back to your own time and maybe even finding out what brought you here to this one.” 

“I have a suspicion,” Zelda admitted, thinking back to the final fight with Ganondorf, “If I’m right, my Hyrule is in more danger than I thought.”

“Then the sooner we get you home, the better.” 

“I agree. Although…” 

“Yes?” he prompted when her voice trailed off. 

Zelda sighed, “Levias made some other comments, in regards to me and someone named ‘Her Grace’.”

The Headmaster was shaking his head before she finished, “I’m afraid I can’t help you there either. I do know more than most about Her Grace, but it’s not a story that I believe I can share, at least not correctly. Ask the old lady of the Sealed Grounds. I believe Link and Zelda were able to learn quite a lot from her.”

Zelda nodded and then turned to look at the door to the Headmaster’s office. She knew that Karane was waiting out there for them to be done. “What about…”

“If Pipit was taken by the same thing that took you and fell through time, then sadly there is nothing we can do for him here.” he sighed, “The only ones that might be able to help him now are you and the old lady at the Sealed Grounds.”

“I’ll do my very best to bring him back home.” Zelda vowed. 

Gaepora smiled down at her, “Thank you. His mother and Karane are both very worried about him.” 

“When would we be able to leave?”

“Technically, none of my knights have ever been to the Surface, save for Link. He did say that Groose followed him down there, but that’s it. I’d normally have one of the Captains take you down there, but due to the situation, I think it best if I escort you personally. I’ll need some time to inform the other instructors of my absence. While I do that, why don’t I have Karane take you to the cafeteria? I’ll bet you haven’t eaten in a while.” he suggested. 

She was about to protest when she realized that he was right. They’d rushed right into the battle with Ganondorf and since then, she’d flown hours with Levias before making it to Skyloft. She was starving. 

“That sounds good to me.” she agreed. 

“Very well. I’ll find you when I’m done then.” he led her to the door, where, as Zelda had assumed, Karane was pacing impatiently. 

“Well?!” she burst out, “What about Pipit?!”

“Relax Karane.” Gaepora said gently, “Zelda and I are going to be leaving shortly to meet with someone who might be able to help us locate him. I promise, we are looking.” 

Karane sighed in relief, obviously happy that someone was taking her boyfriend’s disappearance seriously and trying to find him. 

“Before we leave, could I trouble you to get Zelda some food? She’ll need her strength before we leave.” 

“Of course.” 

“Thank you.” he said before leaving. Zelda watched him go for a moment before she felt Karane slip her arm through her own. 

“Come on. I’ve got some pumpkin soup leftover in my dorm. It’s a lot better than the school’s and this way, no one will be staring at you, asking about our Zelda.” 

Zelda sighed gratefully, “That sounds perfect.”

The sun had barely risen by the time they saw the Rito postman land. Link immediately realized that his idea of what a race of bird people looked like was very biased, as the one who landed looked nothing like Ooccoo or her people. 

The man in front of them, sorting through the letters taken from the red mailbox, was tall with dark, tanned skin. His hair was pulled up to a point, with long white wings hanging dormant from his arms. 

Link stepped forward, waving to grab his attention. 

The Rito looked up and saw him, confusion evident on his face, “Link? Is that…you?”

“No, just a cousin.” Link lied easily. Despite what Grandma had said about the people of the Great Sea being very welcoming, the three of them had agreed to keep it simple when interacting with them. A cousin was a lot easier to explain than ‘time-traveling reincarnation’. 

“I wasn’t aware that Link had any cousins.” the postman looked at them suspiciously. 

“We don’t get to see each other very often. My friends and I are visiting him and Aryll for a while though.” Link gestured to Fi and Ezlo beside him.

“Hmmm.” he seemed to accept the explanation, although it didn't look like he particularly trusted them. 

“Pardon us, but are you Mr. Quill?” Ezlo spoke up. 

At that, the Rito’s face fell, suddenly looking very depressed, “No, I’m not. My name is Pashli.” 

The three of them exchanged confused looks. 

“We were told that this island was on Mr. Quill’s postal route.” Fi spoke up. 

Pashli nodded, still looking sad, “It is, normally. But…”

His voice trailed off and Link leaned forward, speaking as gently as he could, “Is Quill ok?”

Pashli sighed, then shook his head, “No, he’s gone. We just woke up a couple days ago and he had disappeared. I’ve been filling in for him while he’s gone.” 

“I take it this isn’t normal for Quill?” Fi asked. 

“No, it isn’t.” Pashli moaned, “He’s the most responsible man I’ve ever met. He’s the second-in-command of the Rito, the Chieftain trusts him more than anyone! He’d never leave us like this!”

The three of them looked at each other again, obviously thinking the same thing. Was it possible that Quill had fallen through time like the rest of them?

“Has…anyone else disappeared lately?” Ezlo asked awkwardly. 

Pashli shrugged, “I don’t know. No one’s mentioned anything, at least, not to me. We’ve had scouts out looking since we found out he was gone, but so far, nothing.” 

“Fi?” Link whispered. 

“Considering the circumstances, I’d say it’s an 81% chance that he was a victim of the same phenomenon as us.” she responded, just as quiet as him, “It looks like more were caught up in the event than originally assumed.”

Ezlo spoke back up, directing the question to the Rito, “When was the last time that Quill was seen?”

“The night before we noticed he was gone.” he answered, “He’d had a late meeting with the Chieftain, then went to bed. When he didn’t show up to his route the next morning, we went looking and couldn’t find him.”

Link sighed. This was just getting more complicated. How exactly were they supposed to fix this when they didn’t even have the slightest clue what caused it?

Pashli shook his head, “Sorry to bother you with all of that. I should get back to work. Is there anything I could help you with?”

“Yes, we were actually hoping to get in touch with someone.” Fi said, “Could you deliver a letter to the pirate crew captained by a ‘Tetra’?”

Pashli nodded, “Easily. They’re my next stop. We’ve included them in our normal route due to Aryll being on board.”

“You changed the route for one girl?” Ezlo asked skeptically. 

“Well, she’s the sister of Link. He saved our island, our dragon, essentially our entire way of life. Making sure he always has an open line of communication with his sister seemed like a simple way to say ‘thank you’, although in my opinion, it still isn’t enough.” Pashli explained, finally smiling a little. 

“Very reasonable.” Fi nodded approvingly. 

Link held out the letter that they had written. Pashli took it and, with a nod goodbye, spread his wings and took off a moment later. The three of them watched him leave, with varying levels of fascination. Link couldn’t believe that another time period had such an amazing race of people, yet his didn’t. Fi was cataloging everything about the interaction for later study, having memorized every word that was said. 

Ezlo was the only one who seemed distracted by something else. 

‘We thought this was centered around the spirit of the Hero. But this ‘Quill’ wasn’t anywhere near the Link of this world. If it is truly just random, then how many other innocent people were taken? And who caused this to happen?’

Chapter Text

Link fought as hard as he could against the water, swimming harder than he ever had in his life. 

It did nothing. The current still pulled him away, through the dark waters, further and further away from his friend. Even when the water changed, becoming dark and rough, he didn’t stop. His limbs felt like they were full of lead, dragging him down, but he couldn’t afford to stop. He had to get back to the King, to Hyrule. He had to help. 

Eventually, the water changed yet again. It wasn’t nearly as dark or rough, but it wasn’t anything like the ocean he had grown up in either. This water was clearer than any he had seen before, lighter, almost glowing as he broke the surface. 

He flailed around, trying to get any sort of grasp on his bearings, splashing in the suddenly shallow spring he found himself in, the ground seeming to rise up to meet him and trees surrounding the area. The water wasn’t any deeper than his knees, shocking him. 

What had just happened?

Link spun around, drawing his sword. This had to be a trick. It had to be! That’s why the Triforce split! That’s what happened! The Triforce let him and Tetra live, but also must’ve granted Ganondorf’s wish as well! That’s how this forest was here!

So that meant, Tetra and the King, they had to be around here!

Link spun around yet again, eyes peeled for any sign of his friends. He saw a gate, a path, and sandy beach bordering the spring, but no one else. 

Ok, this was fine. He could find them. They had to be nearby!

Link ran, splashing through the water, towards the gate. Whatever had happened, it couldn’t have pulled them too far apart. Hopefully they were just around the corner. Then, once he found them, they could finally go home. He could get back to Aryll and Grandma and everything would be fine. Ganondorf was dead, Link had driven his sword through his head, watching as the greatest evil the Great Sea had ever known had exploded before him. Everyone was safe, they just had to find each other. 

Yes, they’d have to adjust to having Hyrule back and not buried beneath the ocean, but they’d all be ok! They had to be!

Link had barely taken one step out of the spring when he heard a voice speak up, the hair rising on the back of his neck. 

“Wait…”

Link froze, turning around slowly with his sword at the ready. He saw an empty spring. 

“Hero…wait…” 

The voice spoke again. Link thought that it had come from the spring, but he couldn’t see anyone around. 

A drop fell in the middle of the spring and from it, light rippled out. The entire place began to glow, symbols appearing on the large stones that bordered the spring as the water turned gold. 

Link watched in amazement as an orb of liquid light, shining as brightly as the Triforce, rose from the center of the spring. More light burst forth, surrounding the orb before taking shape, forming itself into an animal, the orb safely held in the center of its antlers. 

Link stumbled back, falling to the ground as the glowing goat shook its head, finishing its sudden transformation. 

“What the…” 

“Do not panic, Hero.” the voice spoke again, slowly and softly. Link’s jaw dropped when he realized that the goat was the one speaking. “I mean you no harm.”

“W-Who are you?!” he burst out. 

“I am Ordona, a light spirit who guards this region of Hyrule.”

“A…light spirit?”

The goat nodded, “I was appointed, along with my fellow light spirits, to help keep Hyrule in the light. To stop the shadow world from overtaking it.”

Link blinked. 

Ordona pawed at the water beneath her, but it didn’t even ripple, “Something has happened Hero. I could feel the world, time itself, rip apart.”

“Time itself?” Link’s eyebrows furrowed as he tried to work through what the spirit was saying, “What exactly does that mean?”

“Someone has attacked time. I know not who could do such a thing, only that they must be stopped.”

Realization dawned on him, “That’s what that dark water was, wasn’t it? The attack on time?”

“It was certainly part of it. It was what brought you here, among others, while stealing our own.” 

Link shook his head, “Wait, what do you mean? ‘Brought me here’ and ‘stealing our own’?” 

“You hold the spirit of the Hero.” Ordona stated. Link nodded and she continued, “Others carry this spirit as well, the spirit of the original Hero.”

“Right, the Hero of Time. I’ve heard the story.” 

“Not just him. Many others. Your history is only part of a large puzzle.” she gently corrected him, “We had a Hero as well, but he was taken in the attack. I’m at a loss for where he is now.” 

“Wait, back up.” Link sighed and finally stood back up, rubbing his forehead, “It almost sounds like you are saying-”

“You are in a different time Hero. This much is certain.” 

He could’ve sworn that his heart had stopped. If he was in a different time, then everyone back home, Aryll, Grandma, Tetra, the King, they were all-

Ordona unknowingly interrupted his thoughts, “You are not the only one lost in time. Others have fallen in this time. They will need your help. They were not lucky enough to land near one of my siblings.” 

“Hold on!” Link took a deep breath, holding up a hand to try to stop the flood of information the spirit was giving him, “If I’m in a different time, then my family isn’t here!”

“That is correct.”

“I need to get back to them!” he yelled, “They’re going to need me! Stuff was happening in my time! They might be in danger! You need to send me back to them!” 

“I cannot send you home, as much as I may wish.”  

“Why not?!”

“That is beyond my abilities.” the goat dipped her head in apology. “Time magic was never granted to the light spirits.” 

Link groaned, “Ok, then how do I get home?”

“If time is repaired, then the Goddess of Time may be able to send you back to your family.” Ordona suggested. 

Link shook his head, “I’m not the Hero of Time. Time isn’t even a physical thing! How do I repair time ?”

“Find the others who have fallen here. Each of you is a tear in the fabric of time. By staying close together, the damage may be contained.” 

He sighed, trying to calm down, “Ok, that’s easy enough. And after that?”

Ordona breathed out, a small glowing orb appearing in front of her. Slowly, it floated down to Link, the glow fading and dropped a small object into his hand. 

Link examined it curiously. It looked like a small metal flower that hadn’t completely bloomed yet. There were four total petals, three of them curled up in the center with one extended outwards, glowing with a pale white light.

“This is a vessel. Take it to my siblings. We don’t have power over time, but if you receive their blessing and combine all of our power, we might be able to send a message to the Goddess of Time.”

“Sounds like a plan.” he said, smiling for the first time since arriving here and pocketing the vessel gently. “Any idea where these other people are? Or how to get to the other spirits?”

“Faron lies directly to the north. He is another light spirit. He can direct you to the next spirit from there.” Ordona told him, “As for the others who have fallen here, one fell in a city in the sky and the other in a hidden village to the north. That is all I know.”

Link sighed, “Ok, they’ll be more complicated, but I’ve had to go on less in the past.” He nodded, happy that he at least had a plan now. 

“Take this as well.” Ordona spoke up. The water began glowing again and when it faded, Link felt something bump into his foot. “It arrived just before you did, having also fallen through time.” 

Reaching down, he pulled a mask out of the water. It, strangely, looked like him, only with pale white hair and blue markings on it. The eyes had no pupils, giving it an eerie stare. Link suppressed a shudder and quickly put it in his pack. 

“I’m not sure I want to know what that is, but thanks.”

“Hyrule is the one that owes you a great thanks, Hero.” Ordona said. 

Link shrugged, “Happy to help. Especially if it gets me home.”

“I wish you luck.” 

He smiled, waving goodbye before turning and making his way to the gate. If the next spirit was just north of here, then he wanted to find them as quickly as possible.

Someone was pressing something against her forehead. It was cool and wet and it felt like they were dabbing it gently. She groaned, more at the headache that was throbbing near her temples than at the actual contact. 

Her breath caught after the groan, air so warm it almost felt like it was burning its way down her throat making her cough and sputter, desperate to catch her breath. 

“Shhhh,” someone said soothingly next to her, pressing a cup to her lips. Irene took it gratefully, gulping down the water. It helped a bit, but the warm air didn’t go away. Irene already felt like she was laying in her own sweat from it. 

“Gently now.” 

She groaned again, finally opening her eyes. A strange woman with red hair and a thin veil in front of her face stood over her, gently dabbing the cool rag back onto Irene’s forehead. 

“What happened?” Irene mumbled. 

“You were unconscious outside my hut. I brought you in here. It’s only been a few minutes.” the woman answered. 

That just confused Irene even more. Unconscious? How had that happened? Had she hit something while flying?

“Drink some more.” the woman offered her the cup again. Irene sat up gingerly, the headache slowly fading, and took it, emptying the up in only a few moments. 

The woman smirked, “You must’ve been very dehydrated to pass out like that.” 

“I…don’t know?” Irene said, very uncertain, “I’m not sure what happened. I don’t remember very much.” 

“What do you remember?” 

“I was flying around, killing time, until Greenie needed me.” Irene shut her eyes tightly, visualizing the scene before her as best she could, “He was on his way to face Yuga, trying to stop him. Then…water? I think?”

She groaned, it was all very blurry. She couldn’t remember anything more than that. 

“Flying around?” the woman asked curiously. 

Irene nodded, “On my broom.” 

“This one?” At her words, Irene’s eyes shot back open and she looked to where the woman was pointing. Next to the bed Irene sat on was her broomstick, propped up against the wall. 

She grinned, “That’s the one! Never let me down yet!” And, even better, she now had a way home! Walking all the way back was always a pain. 

“Hmmm,” the woman looked at Irene thoughtfully for a moment, “I take it this means you are a witch then?” 

Irene nodded again, “Yep! Well, technically, I’m still in training, but I’m working on it!” she reached for the pitcher next to the bed. The woman didn’t stop her as Irene poured herself another cup of water. “Hey, why do you keep it so hot in here? It’s the middle of summer!” 

“I don’t.” she responded, gesturing to the empty fireplace, “It’s simply always warm here. Nature of the island.”

“Huh, that makes sense I guess.” Irene mumbled before the words sunk in. As soon as they did, she began coughing and sputtering again.

The woman looked at her in alarm as Irene choked out, “W-Wh-What?! Is-Island?!”

She nodded, eyes wide, as Irene moaned, “I flew all the way to an island?! Oh no, Gram’s gonna kill me!”

“I’m…sure she’ll understand.” the woman said comfortingly. Irene continued to bemoan. 

“ ‘Always watch where you’re flying! Don’t get lost! Don’t go outside the kingdom!’ I’m never gonna hear the end of it!”

“Relax. Once you explain what happened, I’m sure your grandmother will forgive you.” she said. 

Irene huffed, slumping back into the bed, “I’m in so much trouble for this.” 

The woman smirked, “It’s not as bad as you think. You could’ve ended up in far worse places.” 

Irene had to give her that point, “Where exactly am I anyway? Who are you?”

“I am Astrid.” she bowed her head in greeting, “Fortune teller of the Isle of Ember.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Irene.” she smiled up at her, “I really like fortune tellers. We’ve got one back in Hyrule and he’s spot on with his predictions.” 

Astrid smiled back, “That’s good to know.”

“Thanks for helping me.”

“It’s the least I can do.” 

Irene stretched and finally got off the bed. For how bad her headache had been when she woke up, it was completely gone now. Looking around, she noticed that they were in a small, quaint little cottage. A crystal ball sat on a table across the room. 

“Any chance I can get a prediction?” she smiled hopefully. 

She had expected another smile in return, maybe even a laugh, but Astrid’s face fell, looking disheartened. 

“Hey, I was just joking. Is everything alright?”

The fortune teller shook her head, “I don’t know.” 

“What do you mean?” Irene asked. 

“Exactly that.” Astrid walked over to the crystal ball, holding her hand over it for a long moment. The ball glowed dimly, vague shapes moving in the very center, but then faded away, “The last couple days, every future I try to read ends up the same.”

“Which is…?” she prompted. 

Astrid was silent, staring intently at the crystal ball. Finally, she sighed, “Pain. There is…pain, and someone cries out for help. I don’t know who, or where, I don’t know anything except that. Even trying to predict something as simple as dinner tomorrow night, it all ends with the same future.”

Irene’s heart fell, “That’s…not good.” 

“I know, but I don’t know how to fix it.”

The young witch’s brow furrowed in thought, “I might know someone that could help. Provided Greenie has done his job and saved her.” 

“You mentioned Greenie before. Who is he?” Astrid asked curiously. 

“Oh, that’s just a nickname,” Irene shrugged, “Cause he only wears this dorky green outfit. His name is actually Link. He’s a friend of mine.” 

Astrid’s eyes widened in surprise, “Ah, yes, I know Link as well.” 

“Really?” Irene looked at her in disbelief, then huffed, “Well no wonder it took so long for him to save us! Coming all the way out to an island like this would take forever! Especially cause he can’t fly!”

This time Astrid did chuckle, “Yes, I’d say so. I was able to predict him leaving to save his friend before my fortunes stopped. Suffice it to say, I have faith he will succeed. I’m glad to hear that at least part of his journey has been successful.” 

“If slow.” Irene smirked. 

Astrid laughed again.

“Anyway, I’m sorry about your fortunes. I’ll pass along the message about the future, see if I can get any help.” Irene offered, “But I should probably start heading home. If Link’s heading to save her, he’s gonna need help sooner or later. Thanks again for helping me.”

“Of course.” Astrid bowed her head again and Irene copied her, holding onto her hat so it wouldn’t fall off her head.

“Do you think you could point me in the right direction back home? I’ve never been this far out before.” 

“Not a problem.” Astrid said, grabbing a folded up map off one of her shelves. Spreading it on the table, she pointed to an island in the lower left section, “We are currently here.”

Irene frowned, “I…don’t recognize any of these places. Which one is closest to Hyrule?”

Astrid shook her head, “I’m afraid I don’t know. I’ve never been to Hyrule.” 

Irene sighed, “Is there anyone else here that might?”

“I’m sorry, but I am the only resident here now since my assistant has passed. You’d have to go to another island for that help.” Astrid pointed to an island not far away, closer to the center of the map. “I’d suggest Mercay Island. The Ocean King lives there. If anyone knows how to find Hyrule, it’s him.” 

She nodded, “Ok, I’ll head there then. Thanks!”

“Allow me to walk you out.”

Irene grabbed her broom, making a mental note of the map and which direction to go. She wasn’t the best with directions, but Gram had taught her a simple spell to help her always find north. It had helped her with her deliveries more than once. 

Walking out, the heat seemed to double, feeling like a physical wall that hit them as soon as they stepped out of the house. 

“Woah, how do you survive in this heat?” Irene mumbled, already wiping sweat off her forehead. 

Astrid didn’t look at all bothered, “I’ve lived next to the volcano for years. Suffice it to say, I’ve simply gotten used to it.” 

“Volcano?!” Irene burst out. “You live next to a volcano?!”

She raised an eyebrow at the young witch, “Of course. How else did you think the isle got its name?”

Irene wasn’t listening, having spun around to look at the mountain in the center of the island, watching with fascination as smoke poured out of the opening. 

“Do you not have volcanoes in Hyrule?”

She shook her head, “I mean, there’s lava, sure, but no official volcanoes.”

“Strange.” 

“I was gonna say the same about this place.” 

Astrid chuckled, laying a hand on Irene’s shoulder to turn around, “Just head in that direction. In an hour or two, You should see Mercay. Ask around for Oshus and tell him I sent you. I’m sure he’ll be happy to help.” 

“Will do!” Irene nodded, determined. Hopping on her broom, it was only a few seconds before she was circling the island. 

“Thank you!” she tossed over her shoulder one last time before flying off in the direction Astrid had said. 

Astrid waved her off, waiting until the girl was a simple speck in the sky before sighing. 

“Forgive me young Sage.” Astrid whispered, hanging her head with guilt. 

She turned around and went back into her home, heading straight for the crystal ball. She held her hand over it again. To her, the vague shapes were startlingly clear. 

So many people…a seemingly never ending battle. Link after Link, Zelda after Zelda, all clashing with foe after foe. Innocent lives lost, homes destroyed, the very fate of the universe in the balance, and pain. So much pain.  She couldn’t see the whole future, and she could only hear that cry for help, but each time she looked, she saw another piece of it and brought her more dread than before. The worst was at the end of every vision. Each one ended the same way, with glowing red eyes that pierced into her very soul.

“Forgive me young Sage.” she whispered again, “But I have to think about more than Hyrule. More than the Ocean King’s Realm. More than any of us. Something so much worse is coming and if you knew, if anyone knew, I’m not sure they’d be willing to pay the price.”

Chapter Text

Link was fairly certain that he was lost. 

This was new for him. Normally he had a great sense of direction. Traveling all around Hyrule by himself meant that he had to keep track of where he was at all times. 

Granted, he wasn’t completely by himself, but the navigation had been left completely to him. Zelda was horrible at directions. He thought that it was cheating if you could just fly up and use the height to find a nearby landmark. 

That was getting lucky, not navigational skill. 

There was also the fact that Alfonzo had spent years drumming map-reading and navigating lessons into his head so that Link could get his certification. 

Suffice it to say, Link didn’t get lost. He had a great sense of direction. 

Which is why this was so confusing. Link stopped next to a tree, hands on his hips as he looked at it critically. An hour ago, when he had first suspected that he was going in circles, he had tied an old sock to one of its branches in an attempt to mark his path. After that, he had made sure to walk in as straight a line as possible. However, he was right back here again, it didn’t make any sense. 

Link had been hiking through this forest all morning, ever since he had woken up. He definitely should’ve made it out by now, or at least made a lot of progress for it. The confusion was slowly building towards frustration. The only times he had ever felt like this was when he’d been driving through the desert caves, making his way to the Sand Sanctuary, or when he’d had to get through the Lost Woods to get to the Forest Sanctuary. 

He had tried every trick he could think of that had worked in both of those situations, however neither of them worked. In the desert, there were limited options to take and so, through trial and error, he’d finally mapped out the caves and how they worked. With the Lost Woods, he’d gotten advice from the people in Whittleton about using the trees to navigate. 

He attempted both methods, but he was still stuck here. Link glared at the sock as if it was the cause of all of his problems. 

He would have assumed that he was in the Lost Woods again immediately, except he knew that the Woods had stopped acting like a maze as soon as he’d cleared the Forest Temple. After that, he could navigate through it normally. This? This was like he had never been to the Temple in the first place! 

Link groaned, finally admitting to himself that maybe he should take a page out of Zelda’s book. It was the only thing that he hadn’t done yet. He rolled his shoulders and grabbed the lowest branch of the tree. It was fairly tall and hopefully he could find any sort of landmark to get him to get him out of this stupid forest. He needed to find Zelda, find his train, figure out what had happened with Malladus. He didn’t have time to wander around a forest for days on end. 

Grunting with the exertion, Link pulled himself up branch after branch. He was fairly short for his age and climbing tall trees like this wasn’t easy. He finally got to the top and wiped away some sweat, turning to look around to see if he could find anything familiar. 

He looked on in confusion though. He could see the castle, but it was farther south than he thought it would be. He must be near the north part of the forest, before it merged into the Snow Realm. He couldn’t see the Snow Realm from here, but it was entirely possible that the trees were blocking his view from it. 

The most confusing part though was that he couldn’t see the Tower of Spirits at all. Even when it had been attacked and broken up, the pieces had still floated in the air, easily visible from anywhere in the kingdom. 

Link frowned. Malladus and Cole must’ve done something. That would explain how he had woken up in the Lost Woods and why they were acting like a magical maze all over again, as well as the Tower disappearing. He could only hope that they hadn’t done anything that couldn’t be repaired. If he was lucky, they had moved it somewhere, maybe even the Dark Realm, instead of completely destroying it. 

He grit his teeth at the thought. There was no way that they were getting away with this. 

Link continued looking around, seeing small rooftops in the distance, right near the edge of the forest. That must be Whittleton. Making note of the direction, Link began climbing back down the tree as fast as he could. If all went well, he could be there by the end of the day and then catch a train back to the castle. Hopefully he’d find someone there who could explain what had happened and then he could start looking for his friends. His heart clenched as he thought of them. Byrne was being attacked and Zelda had been in the middle of reuniting with her body. He had no clue what may have happened to them or Anjean.

Link jumped the last couple of feet, bending his knees to absorb the impact. Looking back up, his heart fell. The sock on the branch was gone. The forest had changed on him again.

“Wait, so everyone in your time lives in an ocean?” Zelda asked excitedly. 

“The Great Sea.” Medli confirmed, nodding. 

“So, no land, no surface, just islands floating on the water?”

“Yep! Do you…not have those?” she asked. 

“We do, they just float in the sky, way above the cloud barrier.” Zelda explained, “We’ve always had legends of the Surface below the clouds, but until the storm that blew me down, no one had ever seen it. Everyone thought it was a myth!”

“Oh my, how did you survive a fall like that? You don’t have wings!”

Zelda’s smile grew and she immediately launched into an explanation of Loftwings and how their society was built around them, before explaining what had happened when she fell. 

Anjean watched them, smiling softly. They were in her personal chambers in the Tower, Alfonzo listening in with confusion as the two girls swapped stories. He seemed to be functioning in full disbelief, but otherwise ok. Anjean, having already heard Medli’s version of events, kept an ear open for everything that Zelda was saying as she continued making tea for everyone. 

“You have to be kidding, they actually grow little bushes?”

Zelda nodded, “On their backs! They’re the cutest little things! A little afraid of everything, but overall, very sweet. Don’t you have any forest creatures?”

“We have the Koroks, they live with the Great Deku Tree. Actually, their names are very similar,” Medli said thoughtfully, “I wonder, if we really come from different time periods, if the Kikwi are the ancestors of the Koroks.”

“What do Koroks look like?”

“Like tiny wooden trees, still growing, but they wear leaves like masks.” Medli splayed out her feathers and held them up to her face in an approximation of what she was describing. 

“It’s possible.” Zelda said, “I’m certainly not an expert, but they could at least be distantly related.”

“Is any of this even possible?” Alfonzo whispered to Anjean. 

“Of course it is.” she huffed softly, “You’ve heard the legend of the Hero of Time, time magic certainly exists. Besides, we have records of Medli and her tribe from when New Hyrule was founded. Tetra herself told me of their journey to save the Great Sea.”

Alfonzo looked uncomfortable at the history lesson. 

Anjean sighed, “I know it’s a lot to take in, but what else can we do? Both of those girls are innocent in all of this and the least we can do is try to help. Besides, helping them may also lead to getting our Link and Zelda back, as well as Byrne.” 

“Do we really want him back though?” Alfonzo asked, his expression clearly stating that he didn’t want Byrne back without trying to hurt her feelings. 

Anjean rewarded his stupid question with a ‘whack’ on his head. 

“Hey!” he groaned, rubbing the spot. Zelda and Medli stopped their conversation, looking at them in surprise. 

“Byrne is my apprentice and he was helping us defeat Malladus.” 

“He also tried to kill me and helped kidnap Her Majesty!”

“She’s forgiven him and so should you!”

“He was trying to resurrect Malladus!”

“And now he’s seen the error of his ways! He helped us find him and helped Link in the battle!”

“And that makes everything ok?!”

“If I say it does!” Anjean glared at him. Alfonzo shrunk a little before her, “I know when my apprentice is being genuine! He regrets his actions! He’s determined to make up for his mistakes! That is the end of the conversation, do you hear me?!”

Slowly, he nodded. Anjean huffed in satisfaction, turning back to the teapot, which had started to whistle. She brought it over to the couch where the two girls sat, “My apologies for all of that. Things in this world have been…difficult as of late.” 

“It’s alright,” Zelda muttered, looking at Alfonzo awkwardly as he took the seat opposite of them. “We got distracted talking about our own homes, we completely forgot to ask about this one.” 

“Although, it is nice to know that Link and Tetra succeed in their goals.” Medli put in softly. 

Anjean smiled, “Yes it is. I have to say, I do miss Tetra. She was a dear friend of mine.” 

“It’s strange to think that we both know her, just at different points in time.” 

“That, more than anything, helps prove our timeline theory.” Zelda said, “I wonder how many other people have fallen through to other times.” 

“I’m afraid I don’t know how to answer that.” Anjean shook her head, “Time magic is complicated on a good day. A situation like this, I don’t know how we’d even begin.” 

“We have a Gate of Time back in my time.” Zelda said, “Do you have anything like that here? Could we use it to get home?”

She shook her head again, “If we ever had one, it has long since been destroyed.”

“Is there any expert on time magic in New Hyrule?” Alfonzo wondered.

“Rael would be the closest we have.” She answered, “He enjoys studying any subject he can, it has always been a hobby of his. That being said, he is far, far from an expert.”

“If I may,” Medli said softly, “Link once told me that when he visited the original Hyrule, beneath the ocean, everything was frozen in time, at least until he removed the Master Sword. If that really was a form of time magic, could we possibly find a clue there?”

“I don’t believe so. When they arrived here, Tetra and Link told me all about their adventures, including things that haven’t happened in your time yet.” Anjean said, “One of which was their defeat of Ganondorf. In doing so, the King of Hyrule wished on the Triforce to wash away the old kingdom, to make hope for a new one. Even if we could get there, I’m afraid any clues we’d hope to find would be long gone. We’d have to travel to your time period for that plan to work.” 

Medli sighed, shoulders slumping. Zelda grabbed her hand and gave her an encouraging smile, “It was a good idea.”

“We need a better one to get home though.”

“We’ll figure it out.” Anjean reassured her, “We just need to think a little harder.” 

Zelda’s eyebrows furrowed in thought, “One of you mentioned a Dark Realm earlier, right? It might be dangerous, but if whoever did this is in the Dark Realm, could we track them down and stop them?”

“Absolutely not.” Alfonzo said immediately, “It’s too dangerous.”

Zelda rolled her eyes at him, “I’ve been in plenty of dangerous situations. So has Medli.”

“That doesn't mean I’m going to let you waltz right into another.” he growled out.

“I wasn’t aware we needed you to ‘let us’ do anything.” Zelda glared. 

Alfonzo returned the glare unflinchingly, “The last time I let a Zelda go into a knowingly dangerous situation, she ended up kidnapped and separated from her body.” 

“You got taken by surprise by people that Anjean has said aren’t even in this time anymore. It’ll be perfectly safe.” 

“No it won’t! If whoever is behind this can destroy time, then they are ten times as dangerous as Cole and Malladus! We aren’t going to meet them head on in the Dark Realm of all places, especially when we are this unprepared, and that’s final!” he yelled, very adamant.

“He has multiple good points.” Anjean spoke up, cutting off Zelda’s angry reply, “Going into the Dark Realm now would be suicide.” 

“What would you suggest then?” Zelda huffed. 

Anjean was quiet, thinking over all their options, “Honestly? I’m not sure. We don’t have nearly enough information to make a proper plan. Our best hope may be reaching out to Rael and seeing if he can shed any light on the situation.” 

Alfonzo nodded his agreement, “I can go get him. It’ll take a day or two, tops.”

“Can we come?” Medli asked shyly, “At least if we come with you, we’ll feel like we’re doing something to help.” 

Zelda quickly voiced her agreement.

“I have no objections.” Anjean said. 

Alfonzo groaned, “Fine, but you have to listen to me the entire way there and back. No more jumping on and off trains and no distracting me while I drive!”

Zelda grinned, “Deal.”

Link took a deep breath, feeling nervous. It wasn’t every day that you met another version of yourself and he had no frame of reference for how this conversation would go. 

But if there was anything that he had learned from his adventure, it was that you couldn’t waste time. It was better to just get it over with. 

He took one more deep breath and finally knocked on the door of the small house in front of him. He heard shuffling almost immediately, a ‘thump’ and what sounded like a word that Navi would’ve punished him just for knowing, let alone saying, before the door swung open. 

An older man with a white beard and a bandana stood there, looking at him critically. 

“What in Din’s name happened to you?”

“It’s complicated. I should probably explain-”

“Yeah you should! It’s been nearly a week since you left to save the princess and now you show up looking like you hit three growth spurts at once!” the man cut him off before grabbing his shoulder and dragging him inside, “I want a proper explanation, you hear me? And this time, keep that hat of yours quiet!”

“My…hat?” he muttered, confused. 

The man, Link could only assume that this was the other Link’s uncle that Hailey and Gale had mentioned, shoved him over to some chairs in the corner, “Well come on, sit down already! I’ll make some food while you start talking.” 

“Sir, I think you’re mistaken. See, I’m not-”

He cut Link off again, “‘Sir’? Since when do you call me ‘sir’?”

“I can explain. See-”

“Then get to it.” he huffed, turning to focus on the ingredients in front of him. He quickly started putting together two sandwiches. 

“It’s confusing, but I’m not the Link you know. I am Link, and we do look alike, but I’m not your Link.” he said quickly before the other man could interrupt him again. He braced himself for the response. 

The other Link’s uncle turned to look at him. His gaze wasn’t harsh, but it was steady, examining him. Link tried very hard not to squirm under the gaze, but wasn’t sure that he was all that successful. 

“You want to try to explain that?” he finally said. 

“I…don’t know what happened.” Link admitted, “I was in Hyrule, but not this Hyrule. I was fighting someone named Ganondorf and as soon as we had him sealed away, I suddenly fell into this strange water. Next thing I know, I’m waking up in this place with these girls healing me. They told me about the Link of this Hyrule and how he was fighting someone named Vaati. I thought that if I found this other Link then maybe I could figure out what happened to me. They told me he lived here.”

He nodded along to Link’s explanation, listening intently. When he was done, the man turned back to the sandwiches. In moments they were done. He brought one over and set it in front of Link, “Dig in. If those girls only healed you with potions, your stomach is a mess. You need some real food.”

“You-You believe me?” Link asked. 

He shrugged, “Honestly, I’ve heard weirder. My nephew has a hat that talks and can cast magic. After meeting that, I learned to just start going with it. It stops the headaches.” 

“That’s…helpful.” Link muttered. 

He gestured to the sandwich, “I mean it, dig in.”

Link took the advice eagerly. Despite how many potions he’d been forced to drink, he was starving and as simple as it may have been, the sandwich looked amazing. 

The two of them ate in silence for a few minutes. When they finally finished, the other Link’s uncle leaned back in his chair, watching him intently again. “So, another Link, another Hyrule, and you have no idea how you got here?”

Link shook his head. 

“Do you know what’s been going on here?”

“For the most part,” Link said. “I don’t have all the details, but I feel as if I have the gist of it.” 

He nodded, “Alright then. Well, my Link went to stop Vaati and save the princess a week ago. He hasn’t come back. The castle and the king are back to normal, but no one has seen him or the princess since then. The soldiers are looking high and low for them.”

Link felt himself deflate. So much for that idea. 

“I don’t know where he is and, sadly, I don’t know how to help you.” he continued talking, “Based on how things are going at the castle, it’s a rupee toss for if the king can help you or not.” 

“Is there anyone who can help?” Link asked hopefully. 

The man sighed, “The only ones I can think of are the Picori. They’re the magic experts in the kingdom and Link, my Link, has gotten help from them on multiple occasions.”

“Ok, I’ll go to them then.” Link decided, “Where can I find them?”

He snorted, “That may be a problem.”

“How so?”

“They live in the Minish Woods, but they’re tiny. The biggest of them are still smaller than your thumb. Even then, you won’t be able to find them. They can only be seen by children.” 

Link’s eyes widened, “They what?”

He nodded, “It’s why they had to send my Link. He was the only child they could trust to be responsible enough to handle the job.” 

“How old is he?” Link asked hesitantly. 

“Eight. Nine in a couple of months.” 

‘Not much younger than me then.’ Link thought to himself. At this point he was questioning Hyrule’s decision making if multiple versions of them were sending children on these dangerous missions. Then again, Link was still technically only 10 himself, even if he did look much older than that. 

‘Wait, mentally, I’m still 10! I might be able to see the Picori!’ Link thought excitedly. He stood up, smiling, “I’m still going to go. I think I have a way that will let me see them.” 

The other man sighed, “Ok then. Your choice. I’ll get you a map, but do me a favor?”

“Of course.” 

“Keep an eye out for my boy, will you?”

Link nodded, “I promise.”

Chapter Text

Link wasn’t sure what he expected when he met Faron. Another goat, maybe a sheep? Something similar to Ordona at least. However, when the glowing monkey curled around a ball of light spun out of the spring in front of him, he was reminded that he knew nothing about this particular Hyrule. 

He blinked, waiting for the light spirit to finish forming, watching in amazement at the process. 

“Hero, Ordona mentioned you.”

Link nodded, holding out the vessel, “She gave me this. I’m hoping to gather enough energy to contact the Goddess of Time, to try to fix all of this.” 

Faron nodded, “Yes. She told me of this as well. I can only add my hope to yours that this will succeed.” 

Link watched as the flower in his hand glowed. He shut his eyes, waiting for the light to fade, before seeing a second petal unfurl. Both gave off the same pale white light. 

“Thank you!” he said brightly before tucking the flower away. 

“Anything we light spirits can do to help, we will.” Faron responded, “The fate of every land is not something to take lightly.” 

“Trust me, I’m not.” Link pressed his lips together, very serious, “I promised my sister we’d go home together. We can’t do that if our home is destroyed.” 

“Your loyalty is commendable, a trait you share with other heroes.”

That made him smile again, “Ordona said you could point me to the next light spirit?”

“Yes. Please pull out your map.” Faron instructed him. 

Link did so, confused as he looked over the Great Sea. 

“Flip it over.”

Still puzzled, Link continued to listen to him. As soon as he turned the page over, ink began spreading over it, covering the blank side of his Sea Chart. Borders, mountains, rivers, all of them drew themselves into place until he had a complete map of Hyrule. 

A grin stretched across his face, “That’s a lot easier than how I got my map.” 

“ The glowing points will represent the other spirits.” Faron said. 

Link nodded, making note of the tiny dots. They were on opposite ends of the map, which wasn’t the greatest for travel, but he could make it work. At least now he knew where to go. 

“I don’t suppose you know anything about the other two people who fell through to this time?” he asked hopefully, “Ordona mentioned a hidden town and a city in the sky?”

“Both visitors have arrived. One is severely injured, and much closer to you than you yet realize.” Faron said cryptically. 

Link raised an eyebrow at him, “What do you mean?”

“Some rips in time were closer than others. Others span hundreds of years.” was the spirit’s answer, “I can show you their locations on the map as well, but I have no guarantee that these visitors will stay where they are now. If they have moved from their current location, simply ask the next spirit to update the map for you.” 

“Simple enough.” Link said, content with that. He looked at the map again, seeing another two spots glowing. One was towards the north while the other was near the spirit to the west. 

“I wish you luck in your journey.” 

“Thanks again for all your help!”

Faron didn’t respond, fading away. Link watched as the forest stopped glowing, returning to its simple, peaceful atmosphere. He turned back to the map, studying it. The next closest spirit was to the east. It also looked like it was near a town. He could stop there, get the next blessing, and restock on his supplies. After that, he could circle to the north, grab that time traveler, and then together they could head to the last spirit and time traveler. Overall, it was a fairly simple plan. 

He put the map away and began walking down the path through the forest once again. 

He was just thankful that this time, he didn’t have to go through a lot of dungeons for this particular quest.

“This doesn’t make any sense!” Shad yelled out in frustration, “There is no bridge in this part of Hyrule! There is no cliff! No river! And there are certainly no stairs!” 

“And yet, here they are.” Midna drawled, almost sounding bored. 

“I know Hyrule! I’ve traveled all over it! I have the map memorized!” he could almost feel a vein pop out in anger, “This isn’t possible!”

“And now you know how I feel about my portals.” She rolled her eyes at him, “Look, obviously something has happened. That’s why we’re going to Kakariko, remember?”

“But what if Kakariko isn’t there now?” Shad questioned. “I mean, look at all this! This-this isn’t possible!”

Midna huffed, “You don’t get angry very often, do you?”

“Why do you say that?” he asked. 

“Cause you’re really bad at it.” She laughed. 

He groaned, “I don’t need the teasing right now.” 

“Too bad. My wolf is currently gone so I have no one else to poke any fun at.” 

Shad sighed in defeat, “Fine.” 

Midna pouted, “It’s no fun if you give in so easily.” 

“Then let’s find Link so you can tease someone properly.” he suggested. 

“Agreed.” she said before disappearing back into his shadow. 

Shad shook his head at the impossible bridge behind him and the even more impossible stairs before him. It really was completely implausible for these things to be in this section of Hyrule. However, there was nothing he could do about it now. The best he could hope for was to climb the stairs and hope that the pathway to Kakariko was at the top. Provided that nothing had changed too much, this was still the direction he needed to go. 

The stairs were steep and Shad was out of breath when he finally reached the top. Rounding the last corner, he stopped in shock, the sight in front of him even more impossible than the one he had just seen. 

Midna flew out of his shadow, staring at the giant sign in front of them with a mirrored look of astonishment. 

“Is that…” 

“It can’t be.” 

“But it says…”

“Must be wrong.” 

“Are you sure?”

“....No.” 

The pair exchanged a look that showed exactly how lost they were. 

In front of them was a completely intact, almost overflowing with people, Kakariko. The sign above them proudly stated ‘Kakariko Village’ . It looked nothing like the rundown, nearly abandoned, village either of them knew. 

The buildings weren’t falling apart. Instead, they were strong, steady, with bright colored roofs. There was no spring, but there was a well on the far end. Two redheaded men, they must’ve been twins, stood joking by a tree and a woman was running around, chasing a Cucco, yelling at it to get back in its pen. 

“Could it just have the same name?” Midna wondered. 

Shad shook his head immediately, “There is only one Kakariko Village in all of Hyrule, I can guarantee it.”

“Then what in the Light Realm is this?” 

“I…have no clue.” his shoulders slumped in defeat. Nothing was making sense, not since he had fallen in that water.

“Maybe they’re refugees from Castle Town.” Midna guessed, looking very thoughtful, “After all, it was basically destroyed. We should find Renado and ask.”

Shad nodded in agreement and Midna went back into his shadow. 

He slowly made his way into town, looking around in amazement at all the changes. The layout was nothing like he remembered and he couldn’t find the shaman’s hut. He did find the entrance to the Graveyard, but that was the only thing that was familiar. Since when did Kakariko get a windmill?

Shad stood there, watching it in confusion as it spun around and around. 

“Are you ok?” an old man in a long blue robe asked him after a moment, having been walking nearby and seeing Shad looking lost. 

Shad just shook his head, “I have no clue anymore.” 

The man smiled, “I understand. Many of us felt the same way when we first came here after our homes were destroyed.” 

“How did you know I just got here?”

The man shrugged, “Intuition. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I’m looking for Renado. He should be here.” 

“I’m afraid I don’t know any Renado.” the man shook his head sadly, “But we have gotten many people fleeing here and I don’t know everyone. He could still be here.” 

“No, see Renado is the shaman of this town, he’s in charge.” Shad corrected him gently, “Everyone should know him. He’d be looking after you.” 

“I’m sorry, but there is no Renado in charge here.” The man told him, “Impa was the leader of the village, but she left quite a while ago.”

“Then, who is in charge?” Shad asked nervously. 

“Lately everyone has been looking towards Link for answers.” the man said. 

Shad’s eyes widened and he could almost swear that he felt his shadow freeze at the words, “L-Link’s here?!”

The man backed up, almost alarmed at Shad’s sudden excitement, “Yes, he’s taken residence in Impa’s old house. He’s new to the village, like you, but after he fought off that monster the other day, everyone began looking to him for protection and help.” 

“What kind of monster?!” Shad asked hurriedly.

“It was massive, bigger than a house. Some kind of bug. It flew around, diving on the village, until Link stepped forward and fought it off. He threw some bombs until the thing couldn’t fly anymore, then finished it off on the ground. It was very impressive.” He smiled excitedly as he recounted the story. 

Shad’s face broke out into a wide smile, “Where did you say Link was again?”

“Impa’s house.” he pointed to one of the buildings behind Shad. 

“Thank you!” the scholar tossed over his shoulder, bolting for the house immediately. 

The old man watched him run away, shaking his head in confusion. “Tourists.” he scoffed. 

Shad made it to the door in record time, pounding his fist on it as hard as he could. 

“Settle down, settle down! I’m coming!” a voice yelled at him from inside. Midna rose out of his shadow, waiting with him impatiently. 

The door opened and Shad’s breath caught. 

The one who opened the door was definitely Link, but he looked wrong  somehow. There was something, multiple somethings, that were different. He was taller, his hair was a lighter brown, and his face was less angular than Shad remembered. The worst of it was when Link looked at both him and Midna and there wasn’t a spark of recognition in his eyes. 

“Can I help you? Do you need a place to stay in the village?” he asked cautiously, looking particularly wary of Midna floating in the air. Shad saw Link’s other hand stretch behind him, looking like he was grabbing for something. 

“You…don’t know us, do you?” Shad asked, shoulders slumping as he already knew the answer. 

“Should I?” Link asked. 

There was a beat as his words sunk in. Then, Midna landed on the ground, scoffing to herself, “Of course.” 

“Excuse me?” he asked, obviously confused. 

“Just my luck.” she muttered, “Finally find Link and it’s not even him.” 

“Breathe,” Shad told her, “We’ll figure it out.” 

She avoided looking at him. Shad sighed and turned back to Link, “Sorry, you just look like a friend of ours. We were just hoping that, well, that he would be here.” 

Link relaxed, “I understand. Some other people in the village have made similar comments. Come on in, I’ll make you some tea.” 

He opened the door. Shad walked in gratefully, but Midna was quiet, staying near the edge of the room. It wasn’t a large house, but there was a loft above them. Strangely enough there was a cow in the corner, happily munching on some hay. 

 Shad settled in at the table, looking over the map there while Link put down the sword he held, making his way over to the fireplace and starting some water to boil. 

“My name is actually Link. I know that probably doesn’t help much,” he shrugged, “Is there anything you can tell me about your friend? Maybe I’ve seen him around.” 

Shad barely heard the question, eyes widening as he took in the map, “Midna, look.” 

Sighing, she came over, taking the seat next to him and looking in confusion at the map, “What?”

“Look,” he insisted. 

“Looks like a map of Hyrule.” she said disinterestedly. 

“You don’t see anything wrong with this?” he huffed. 

Midna shook her head, “Nope. Forest, desert, lake. It’s all there.” 

Shad opened and closed his mouth in disbelief. 

Midna just shrugged, “Who needs a map when you can portal around? Link always took care of it. I never really looked at it.” 

“This isn’t Hyrule!” Shad finally spelled it out, “The names of some of the places are the same, like Lake Hylia, but others are completely different! And almost nothing is in the right spot!”

“I know what you mean.” Link chuckled. “I had the same reaction when I first saw it.” 

“See!” Shad said smugly to Midna. She ignored him. 

“I take it you aren’t from around here either then?” Link smiled, setting out the mugs. 

“I thought I was.” Shad huffed, leaning back in his chair, “Now? I have no clue.” 

The swordsman lifted the teapot, pouring out the steaming water and adding in the tea leaves, “Why don’t you start from the beginning? Tell me everything, it might help.” 

He sighed, accepting that it was the logical thing to do, “Well, I’m Shad. This is Midna. We…ended up in Castle Town recently. We thought we would find our friends here. We had plans to meet up in Kakariko Village, but nothing is like we know it should be.” 

Link looked at them curiously, “Like you know it?”

He nodded, “Places aren’t where they are supposed to be, the map is different, the village has completely changed, Midna can’t find any of her portals. None of it should be possible.” 

Link leaned back, eyes wide, “Did…did you swim here?”

“Swim?” Midna asked skeptically. 

“Were you tossed into water unexpectedly?” Link clarified, “Did you swim for a while before ending up here?”

Midna and Shad exchanged a look, surprised. 

“Yeah, we both did.” 

“Me too.” 

“W-What?” Shad sputtered. 

Link nodded, “I was trying to get back home, about to step into the Gate with Zelda, when I-”

“Zelda? You know the princess?!” Shad cut him off. 

Link looked confused, “I know Zelda. I don’t know what a princess is.”

“How do you not know what a princess is?” Midna scoffed. 

“We don’t have any where I’m from?” Link guessed. 

“You don’t-” Shad was more confused than ever, “Where are you from then?”

“Skyloft, above the cloud barrier.” Link said. 

Shad stood up in a flash, legs hitting the table and causing the tea to slosh and spill. 

“Woah!” Link cried out, holding his cup up so it wouldn’t dump on him, “Watch out!”

“What’s with you?” Midna glared at him. 

Shad ignored her, leaning forward to look at Link intently, “Did you just say Skyloft?”

“Yeah, do you know about it?” His eyes flickered back and forth between the other two, unsure of what was going on. 

Shad could’ve sworn his heart stopped. “Skyloft…my dad used to say, well, it’s a myth, a legend really, b-but-”

“Spit it out already.” Midna snapped at him. 

“Skyloft is what the Oocca used to call their city in the sky.” 

“Yeah, that’s because it is a city in the sky.” Link shrugged again as if it was obvious, “I don’t know who the Oocca are though.”

“No you don’t understand,” Shad leaned even closer to Link, “The Oocca called their city Skyloft more than a millennium ago. ”

“W-What?” Now it was Link’s turn to look confused, “That can’t be right.” 

“Are you sure you live in Skyloft?” Midna asked him. 

Link nodded vehemently, “All my life. I only recently started traveling to the Surface, to try to save Zelda.” 

“No, Zelda was captured by Zant and Ganondorf.” Shad corrected him. “Then turned into a statue.”

“No she wasn’t. She took herself to the past to power the seal on the Imprisoned. We were on our way back to the present when-” Link cut himself off with a groan as something seemed to occur to him. 

“What is it?” Midna asked. 

“We were on our way home, back to the present,” he repeated himself, “We used a Gate of Time.” 

Shad and Midna exchanged a confused look. “Where are you going with this?” he asked. 

“Something must have gone wrong. It didn’t send me back to the present, it sent me thousands of years into the future,” Link explained with another groan.

“That…makes sense.” Shad admitted, thinking the theory over. 

“Wait, so you are a Link from the past?” Midna clarified. At his nodding, she continued, “Then that means you could be the ancestor of our Link. That would explain how you look so similar!”

“Agreed.” Shad said thoughtfully, “Although that doesn’t explain what happened with us. We all ‘swam’ here, for lack of a better term, and your portals are still missing. Plus Hyrule is completely changed.”

“Maybe you two got caught in a ripple effect of my time traveling?” Link suggested. 

He considered it, “Not impossible. We were both in the castle at the time. We could’ve been dragged along for the ride. If we were, the biggest question is how to get home from here.” 

Midna huffed, crossing her arms, “Well don’t look at me. I’ve always stayed away from time magic, for good reason.”

“I’m just happy to finally have an answer.” Link admitted, “I’ve been losing my mind trying to figure out what happened.”

“Us too.” Shad said. 

“I wonder if that could also explain what happened to Zelda.” he mused. 

“What do you mean?”

“She and I were going home together, using the Gate. On the way, when that weird water struck, I lost hold of her. I actually lost my sword too, this is my old training one that I kept in my bag.” Link pointed to the sword he had set down earlier, “I don’t know where she ended up, but I found Zelda here in this village, but…she, well, it might be easier to show you.” 

He stood up, guiding them to the loft. Curious, they both followed. When they reached the top and Link pointed towards the bed, both Midna and Shad were struck with a feeling of deja vu. 

Zelda lay on the bed. It was undoubtably her, but so much younger than either of them had seen her before. Her hair was a pure blond as opposed to the brunette that they were used to. 

“She’s…changed, obviously.” Link frowned, hands on his hips as he looked at her, “And nothing I do will wake her up. I’ve tried everything I can think of, potions, fairies, even the Triforce.”

“I’m…not sure.” Shad muttered. 

Midna floated over to her, holding out a hand just above Zelda’s. Nothing happened and she growled in frustration, “I can’t wake her up either.”

“So what do we do now?” Shad asked. 

They didn’t have an answer.

Chapter Text

Impa blinked at the bright light that was waking her up, glaring when she realized that it was the sun. 

She hated the sun. It was always far too bright and hot, often burning her. 

“Pleasant way to wake up.” someone said nearby, sounding amused. 

Impa jumped up, drawing her weapons and flying into a fighting stance. 

A woman sat on the sand in front of her, hands held up peacefully, although Impa could tell she was armed. A sword and shield, well-maintained, but obviously used. 

“Calm down, I don’t want to fight you.” she said evenly. 

Impa just narrowed her eyes, taking in the rest of her surroundings. She was on a beach, houses and trees bordering her on the left and the ocean stretching out to the right. 

“Don’t trust easily, I get that.” the woman nodded. She had long red hair and was dressed far more appropriately for the heat than Impa herself was. 

“Who are you? How did I get here?” Impa demanded. 

“Urbosa. Not sure how you got here, but I saw you bobbing in the ocean there and thought I would grab you.” she shrugged, smiling softly and she pointed to the exact spot she’d apparently seen Impa floating. She didn’t seem the least bit worried about Impa or her weapons, something that got under Impa’s skin more than she cared to admit. 

“And your name?” Urbosa asked, eyebrow raised. 

Impa stayed silent. 

Urbosa sighed, finally standing up and brushing the sand off her skirt. Impa tensed at the movement, but Urbosa barely acknowledged it. “Fine, I won’t force you to talk to me. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d also like to find out where we are. I woke up on the beach not long before I saw you and I would rather find my way back home.”

Impa watched as she started to walk away, weighing her options. The last thing she remembered was Link and Zelda leaving. She’d fallen asleep, staying in the past to watch over the sleeping Zelda there and then…nothing. She couldn’t remember anything after that. Maybe something cold? 

She groaned to herself, yelling out against her better judgement, “Wait!”

Urbosa paused, looking at her over her shoulder, “Finally speaking up then?”

Impa took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, “Impa, my name is Impa.” 

For the first time, Urbosa’s face showed something other than mild amusement, looking puzzled. “Do you happen to have an aunt or cousin, someone with the same name as you?”

“No. I have family, but I’m the first of my name. Why?” Impa asked. She sheathed her weapons, although stayed prepared in case she needed them. 

“I know another Sheikah named Impa.” Urbosa answered, turning back to face her properly, “She looks similar to you, I assumed she would be a family member.” 

Impa shook her head, “Sorry to disappoint.” 

“Hmm.” Urbosa seemed more thoughtful than disappointed. 

“You said you found me in the ocean?”

She nodded, “There was no one else around.”

Impa frowned. How had she ended up there? “And you said that you woke up here as well?”

“Yes, although I’m not sure how long I was unconscious. I’ve been rather…confused about the situation.” 

“What do you mean?”

“I wasn’t exactly in a safe spot to take a nap.” Urbosa smirked, “I was fighting actually. I dodged an attack, next thing I know, I’m falling into an ocean. I must’ve passed out for a moment. I woke up on the beach and saw you a moment later.”

Impa’s confusion only grew, “And you’ve no clue where we are?”

“Not one, but it looks like we’re getting company.” Urbosa frowned, nodding to something behind Impa. 

The Sheikah turned around, catching sight of a small dot in the sky. It grew larger as it flew towards them. If she wasn’t mistaken, it almost looked like a girl on a broom.

Zelda held on tightly to the Headmaster as the Loftwing slowly glided to the forest floor. She may have been in countless dangerous scenarious with a decent head for heights, but apparently flying above the clouds on a giant bird was her limit. She tried desperately to stop her hands from shaking, waiting until Gaepora told her it was safe to dismount. 

She scrambled off as soon as she could, eager to finally feel solid earth underneath her once again. He chuckled as he watched her. 

Zelda took a deep breath, making sure to walk several paces away from the Loftwing before she actually calmed down. As nice as the bird may have been, she had trouble completely trusting it. 

She took in the surrounding area while Gaepora got his Loftwing settled. 

They were in a massive forest, trees taller than any she had seen before. On one side stood a giant statue, a woman with wings smiling down at them. Gaepora had told her that this statue actually used to be part of Skyloft before the Link of this time had sent it down to the Surface. Across from it was an old temple. Something about it gave her a familiar feeling, but she couldn’t place it. 

“So this is the Sealed Grounds?” she asked when the Headmaster walked up to her. 

He nodded, “Yes. According to Link, the old lady should be in that temple there.” 

“Let’s go then. I want to try to get home as soon as possible.” She strode off in that direction purposefully, Gaepora following close behind. 

Knocking as loudly as she could, Zelda waited with bated breath. She could be only a few minutes from going home, from figuring out what had started all this mess. It was hard not to let the anticipation bubble up inside of her. 

A tall man with a truely outrageous pompadour answered. Zelda blinked, trying not to openly react to the eyesore. 

“Headmaster Gaepora?” the man looked dumbstruck, “What are you doing down here?”

He looked around hurriedly, eyes landing upon her. 

“Z-Zelda! You’re ok!” his face broke out into a wide smile and before she knew it, Zelda was swept up into a massive hug. He held her so tight it was hard to breathe and she began to cough and sputter for air while he made it worse, jumping up and down in excitement while still holding her. 

“Guys! GUYS! Zelda’s back!”

“She is?!”

“Where’d she go?!” 

“Let me see!” 

A swarm of tiny lights flew out of the open door, bumping into her and this man as they tried to get a good look. 

“Let her down! She can’t breathe!”

“Be careful with her!” 

“Groose!” Gaepora’s voice was firm, drowning out the tiny voices that were berating the large man, “Put her down at once!”

Groose smiled sheepishly, finally letting her down. Zelda gulped in air greedily.

“Sorry.” he said, still smiling, “I was just happy to see you alright.” 

“Princess, are you ok?” one of the lights asked, flying a little closer to her. 

She nodded, finally recognizing them, “Yes Navi, I’ll be fine.” 

“You know Navi?” Groose looked confused. 

“Yep!” Navi said cheerfully, “This is Princess Zelda of Hyrule! She helped Link seal away Ganondorf!”

“No, no, see this is Zelda.” Groose spoke slowly, like he was explaining it to a child, “She isn’t a…what did you call it? Princess? Whatever that is, she ain’t it.”

“I think you’re forgetting something rather obvious.” a voice sighed behind him, “Or have you forgotten the conversation we’ve been having for the last 2 hours?”

He turned around, revealing an older lady covered in a large red cloak and-

“Link?!” Zelda burst out in astonishment. 

He grimaced, “Not Link actually. Just another version of him. My name’s Ravio.”

“Another….version?” she questioned, walking forward to get a closer look at him. He leaned back, uncomfortable and she backed off immediately, “Like the one from this time?”

“Kind of? Wait, you know about the time thing?!” he burst out. 

She nodded, “I figured it out earlier today. I appeared with Levias and after talking with him, it wasn’t hard to figure out.”

“So…you’re a Zelda from another time?” Groose asked skeptically. 

She nodded and his face fell. “So our Zelda is still lost then?”

“I’m sorry, but I do want to try to help find her, if I can.” 

“We were hoping that you could provide some help.” Gaepora spoke up, looking at the older lady. 

“I’ll help however I can.” she assured him, “But at this point, Ciela may be the best hope all of you have for returning home.”

“Ciela?” Zelda asked. 

“That’s me!” one of the other fairies piped up, flying in front of her, “Me and my siblings were with another Link too! We’re spirits. I’m the Spirit of Courage and Time!”

“Is it possible for you to get us home?”

Ciela’s wings drooped for a moment, “I-I’m not sure. I can pause time in small pockets and I’m really good at sensing things about time. Actually moving people through it though? I’ve never tried.”

“It’s something that we were just discussing before you arrived.” the old lady said, “Ravio and the other fairies had just finished telling us their stories and we were brainstorming ideas to get all of you home.” 

“So you are all from other times?” Gaepora asked, obviously curious. 

Ravio nodded, “Including this time, we count five timelines between us all.” 

“I still say it’s hard to believe.” Groose huffed. 

“I can assure you, it’s quite real.” Zelda said firmly, looking at him evenly. 

His eyes widened and he didn’t make a sound after that. 

She turned back to Ciela, “As I’m sure Navi must’ve told you, our Link did quite a bit of time traveling. Because of that, I studied it as much as I could. Maybe together we could combine our powers and get us home?”

“That might work,” she said hesitantly, “But it might make it worse. What if we get stuck in another time period?”

“It’s entirely possible.” Zelda admitted, “But we have to try something.” 

“Can you use this thing?” the purple fairy flew over to the spinning gears in the middle of the room. 

“Is that the Gate of Time?” Zelda asked. 

Ravio nodded, “Ciela was going to try to redirect it to our own personal times.”

Zelda frowned as she looked at it. 

“Is everything alright Your Majesty?” Navi asked, noticing the expression on her face. 

“Nothing.” Zelda mumbled, “It’s just, I wonder how this turns into the Door of Time, back in our Hyrule.” 

“Magic cannot be destroyed, but it can change form.” the old lady said, having heard her, “And it can be transferred. I’d bet that’s what happens here.” 

“I’d be curious to learn how that occurs.”

“As would I, but maybe not the priority right now?”

“Right.” Zelda shook her head, forcing her thoughts back to the issue at hand, “Ciela, if we work together, what are the chances of us redirecting this to where, sorry, when we need to go?”

The fairy was silent for a long moment, thinking it over. 

“Not impossible.” she finally said. 

“You don’t sound very encouraged.”

“Sparkles is just nervous.” the other yellow fairy quipped. 

Ciela immediately trilled in anger, “Stop calling me that! I’m not nervous!”

“Then do it.” they taunted. 

“And if it doesn’t work? What then, huh?!”

“Oh, so you are nervous.”

Ciela flew over, crashing into the other fairy, “I’m not nervous! I just didn’t want to get everyone’s hopes up! Excuse me for being considerate of your stupid feelings!”

“I don’t need you watching out for my ‘stupid’ feelings! You aren’t my mother!” the other fairy yelled back. 

“Sis, no one called her our mom!” the purple fairy yelled. He was ignored by the other two. 

The dark blue fairy sighed, “Five minutes. They can’t go five minutes without arguing, can they?”

Zelda rolled her eyes, “Allow me to help then.” 

She reached into her pocket, grabbing something and raising it over her head. Just as the other fairy made a very cutting remark, she brought the item down, throwing it sharply to the floor right underneath them. There was a sharp ‘snap’ and then a bright flash as the Deku Nut cracked onto the floor, startling the two fairies into silence. 

“Perhaps we should stop the arguments.” the old lady suggested. Her voice was both diplomatic and firm, showing that she would accept no other option, “We are all working towards the same goal here, remember that.”

The two fairies grumbled, but didn’t say anything. 

“Good.” she nodded, turning to Zelda, “What would you need to start?”

“I wouldn’t need anything.” Zelda said, gesturing towards Ciela, “If she is a spirit of time, then she’ll be the best one to do this. I’ll simply lend her my magic and let her focus it into her own spell.”

“Is it that simple?” Ravio asked, looking up at the fairy in question. It was very strange to see another version of Link with dark hair and a purple bunny hood hanging off of his shoulders. Zelda tried not to stare at him. 

“Basically.” Ciela sighed, “Though I am worried.”

“About what?”

“The Goddess of Time.” She said, “Something’s happened to her. She’s alive, but that’s all I can tell.”

Zelda smiled softly at the fairy, “If something did happen to her, we’ll do everything we can to find out and help her. I promise.”

Ciela hummed a little, but otherwise made no response. 

“Well, let’s get going then!” Ravio said excitedly, jumping a little. Zelda almost laughed at his enthusiasm. “No point in wasting time!”

“I agree.” Zelda said, holding a hand out to Ciela, “Whenever you’re ready.” 

The fairy hesitated for a moment longer before flying over, settling into Zelda’s palms. They turned towards the Gate. 

Zelda took a breath and closed her eyes, focusing on the tiny fairy. Slowly, she focused her power into her hands. Transferring her power felt like having water running over her skin, only instead of it falling to the ground, it was siphoned into the fairy. 

Ciela’s wings fluttered even faster as the magic transferred. Zelda heard gasps from around them and opened her eyes, seeing that the Gate had activated. The gears spiraled into a long tunnel, spinning towards another time. Zelda tried not to focus too hard on it, the view giving her an intense feeling of vertigo. 

Ciela wavered in her hands, “S-Something’s wrong!”

“What is it?” Ravio asked, rushing over. He held his hands out, then stopped, obviously not knowing what to do. 

“I-I don’t know!” Ciela continued to waver back and forth over Zelda’s palms. She tried to cup them around the fairy, but Ciela collapsed instead. Zelda barely noticed, the fairy was so light. 

Zelda stopped pouring her magic into the fairy, desperate to do something to help. Vaguely she realized that the Gate had deactivated, the symbols reappearing on the front of it. 

Ciela panted, looking completely exhausted. 

“What happened?” Navi asked. The others gathered round as well, matching looks of worry on their faces. 

“Something…grabbed my magic…drained it away.” Ciela said between breaths. “I couldn’t…stop it.”

“What could do that?” Gaepora whispered. 

“Nothing good.” the old lady said grimly, mouth set in a firm line as the implications of that set in. 

Zelda set her shoulders, forcing her heart to settle down as best she could, trying to comfort her, “Your magic will return. You need plenty of rest, but you should be fine.” 

“What does this mean for us?” the blue fairy whispered. 

Zelda just shook her head. 

She had no idea.

Chapter Text

For the first time in his life, Revali was uneasy about flying. 

Not scared. He wasn’t scared of anything. He knew he could take care of himself without an issue. 

But uneasy, sure. Maybe even going so far as to be concerned. 

It was a strange feeling, one he wasn’t sure how to cope with. He hadn’t been concerned very often. And he had never felt that way about flying. Ever since he was a hatchling Revali had loved flying. It had been a challenge, one he relished. He loved the freedom it gave him, as well as the mobility. Before he had finished molting he had tried to fly, against his mother’s wishes, and as soon as he could, he’d taken off, determined to map all of Tabantha and Hebra before dinner. 

(One of the few missions he’d taken on that he hadn’t been able to complete, although he chalked that one up to youthful overeagerness.)

The point was, flying was something he was never worried about. It was something he could do, with plenty of confidence, and know that no one could possibly beat him at it. Flying was safe. 

And again, he wasn’t scared now. He was just…concerned. Uneasy. Wary. 

It seemed an appropriate reaction to him, considering the situation. 

He distinctly remembered fighting on Vah Medoh. His memory of that was clear as day. Yet, the part after that was fuzzy. Then, he’d woken up in a field, Medoh nowhere in sight. Instead, the sky was taken up by something else, the very thing that gave him pause about flying. 

In other words, Revali woke up and saw the moon close enough that he could fly up and touch it. In fact, the moon looked like it was about to come crashing down on the town in the distance. He could only wonder what would happen if he did go up and try to land on it. Surely nothing good. After all, he wasn’t an idiot. 

Something had happened, that much was clear. However, he couldn’t figure out what. He didn’t remember anything after that bomb exploded, knocking him out of the air. 

He groaned, rotating his wing slowly. He was a little bruised, but it wasn’t the worst injury he’d ever had. He’d be fine. Turning to examine the moon again, Revali suppressed the shudder that went through him at the expression it held. The moon had never had a face before, certainly never one like that. The menacing glare it had made it seem like it wanted to destroy the earth beneath it, and, even worse, that it could.  

Could this be the work of the Calamity? Had Revali accidentally stumbled onto its attack plan? Death by celestial planet? It seemed unlikely, but what else could it be? Could the Divine Beasts even destroy an entire planet? How were they supposed to stop this?

“HOY!” A voice yanked him out of his thoughts, much to his irritation. He was dealing with something important here, trying to save all of Hyrule. He didn’t have time for distractions! 

Revali grumbled, looking in the direction of the voice, watching as another Rito began diving towards him. He opened his wings, landing softly next to the Champion. Revali immediately took back his assumption. This man, whoever he was, wasn’t a Rito. He was some other avian race, obviously, maybe attempting to imitate the Rito, but he wasn’t one of them. 

This man had a beak, but only for a nose. His mouth was pressed into a firm line underneath it, matched in attitude by his equally stern crossed arms. His feathers were more subtle, but his wings fell dormant as he landed, falling down at his elbows to reveal human arms and hands. 

As Revali stood there examining him, the man was obviously doing the same to Revali. He seemed more confused than anything, but shook his head quickly, “My apologies for interrupting you. I saw you down here and was hoping to ask a few questions.” 

“I don’t have time for questions.” Revali huffed, crossing his own arms, “I have to return home.”

“As do I.” the man assured him, “I promise, I won’t take up too much of your time. I only need directions.” 

“As much as I hate to admit it, I won’t be much help there.” Revali turned away from his gaze, glaring at the ground in frustration, “I…am a bit lost myself.” 

“Perhaps we can find out together then.” the other man suggested, “It’s better than both of us wandering around on our own.” 

Revali grimaced. He worked much better alone, but the man did have a point. Shrugging, he said, “So be it.”

He nodded politely, holding out his hand in greeting, “My name is Quill.”

“Revali.” he said, ignoring the offered hand, “Champion of the Rito.” 

Quill’s eyes narrowed as he said this, “My tribe does not have a champion.”

Revali snorted, “Your tribe? You aren’t a Rito, Quill. ”

“I assure you, I am.” Quill said cooly, “I am the second-in-command of the Rito Tribe, at least until Prince Komali matures and accepts his role. You are the one who is not a Rito.” 

His wing clenched into a fist and Revali forced himself not to yell out in anger, “I know what I am, far better than some upstart wanna-be who doesn’t even have proper wings.”

“I would ask that you not insult my wings. I earned them, same as all the Rito.” Quill almost growled out, “The Great Valoo gifted me with them when I came of age. He would not do so to someone not worthy of them.” 

Revali just snorted, “You had to be gifted them? You weren’t born with your wings? How pathetic. No true Rito could ever be ‘gifted’ wings.”

Quill took a deep breath, obviously trying not to lose his temper, “Perhaps we should move on to a different discussion and simply…agree to disagree. There are more important things to worry about than this at the moment.” 

“No, I think not.” Revali smirked, “See, I can’t let you just go around and disparage the good name of my tribe. No, instead, I think you’ll admit that you’re wrong and then we’ll move onto finding out where we are.” 

Quill punched him.

Link whistled to himself as he walked into town. The sign said ‘Kakariko Village’ which was the name of the place on the map where the next spirit was supposed to be located. 

Overall, he hadn’t had a very difficult trip so far. He’d been able to make it here with few issues after a few days, although he was starting to run low on food. There were a few bokoblins that had tried attacking him that morning after he’d had breakfast, but after his adventures, it hadn’t been hard to defeat them. The roads were well marked and the castle in the distance made a great landmark to help stop him from getting lost. 

The strangest part was to see what seemed like never ending land. After growing up on an island and then sailing around the entire Great Sea, he’d become used to having the ocean as a constant companion. Now it was just…gone. The idea of that was weird under his skin. How did everyone survive without having the sea right there ? With having all of these cliffs and mountains? It didn’t seem right to him. 

The town itself was…well rundown seemed like a good word. Abandoned might have been a better one. Link didn’t see anyone around and his heart fell at the thought of not restocking on food while he was there. Maybe after he was done with the spirit he could look through the houses to see if there was any abandoned food. The stale bread he had had that morning was disappointing. What he wouldn’t give for some fresh fruit or cheese. Sadly, he finished his leftover soup from Grandma the first night after he’d arrived in this time. 

The spring was close to the entrance to the village and Link made a beeline for it. Just like the other ones, a drop of water fell into the spring before it began glowing. The ball of light appeared first before it was followed by the Light Spirit. This one took the shape of a bird, spreading its wings out before landing gently on the ball of light. 

“Young Hero of Wind, I, Eldin, welcome you to this place.” the spirit said, bowing his head towards Link. 

Link nodded his head back respectfully, “Thank you. I wish I could say I was happy to be here.” 

“I understand. I also wish I could say it was under better circumstances.”

“Ordona and Faron sent me here to ask if you could share your power.” Link said, holding up the flower to him, “We’re trying to contact the Goddess of Time to see if she can help fix what happened.” 

“ I am aware of my siblings’ plan. This is our best hope for repairing our past, present, and future. Take my blessing.” Eldin lifted his head slightly and the flower in Link’s hand began to glow. The third petal unfurled, becoming the same pale, glowing color as the others. 

“Thank you.” Link said, putting the flower away carefully. “Faron said that you could update my map, in case the others who fell through time had moved at all?”

Eldin nodded again, “This I can do with ease. They have both awoken, but one is greatly injured. I would not waste time in finding them.”

“I’m headed for both of them next.” Link promised, looking at his map. The one to the north hadn’t changed, but the one to the west was in a slightly different spot. It looked like they had moved east slightly, closer to him. That may turn out to be helpful in the long run. 

“Good luck young Hero.” Eldin whispered before folding his wings back in and fading away. 

‘I’ll need it.’ Link sighed to himself. He tucked the map away and went back towards the town. There was a large hut near the spring and it looked the most intact of all the buildings. Hopefully it might still have some food. 

He got to the door, knocking just in case he was wrong and the place wasn’t abandoned. 

It was lucky he did. The door swung open, showing someone a little taller than him with black hair. The girl’s eyes grew wide in shock. 

Link scratched the back of his head awkwardly, “Hi there.”

“Luda, who is at the door?” a voice called out behind her. 

“L-Link?!” the girl burst out, hands flying to her mouth. 

Link shook his head, confused, “Sorry, I don’t think we know each other.”

It didn’t matter what he said. As soon as she said his name, the door was flung wide, revealing a large room, packed with people. Some were children younger than him, others were obviously adventures, and Link was fairly certain that the two in the far back of the room were Gorons. He had only met a few of them on his travels, but it was hard to mistake creatures made of rock. 

The man who had swung the door open, standing right behind the girl, Luda, was obviously her father. They had the same dark hair and the same serious eyes. Those eyes were looking at Link now in disbelief. 

“Link, what happened to you?” He whispered. 

One of the children, a boy, ran forward, poking his elbow, “You got a lot younger. It’s weird.” 

“And blonder.” another of the children, this one a girl, said snootily, eyeing his hair. 

“Sorry, I’m not Link!” he said hurriedly, trying to push away the boy’s continued pokes, “I mean, I am, but obviously not your Link!”

“What do you mean, our Link?” a serious looking woman said from beside the door, looking at him critically. 

“I mean, well, it’s complicated and-would you stop already?!” Link burst out, yelling at the boy who had moved from poking him to pulling on his hat. 

“Talo, leave him be.” the first man scolded him, “In fact, all you children leave. Let us handle this.” 

The girl that had commented on his hair grumbled, “Aw, come on Renado. We never get to be part of the important meetings!”

“Speak for yourself,” the baby muttered, making Link do a double take at the perfect Hylian coming out of the infant’s mouth, “I’m involved in important meetings all the time. Part of running a business.” 

“You can be when you are older, I promise.” Renado told her.

“Come on Beth, they’ll tell us later!” A blond boy grabbed her hand, leading her outside. The others followed, grumbling to themselves. A teenaged girl with short hair sighed as they left. 

“I’ll go watch them.” She volunteered. 

“Thank you Ilia.” Renado said, closing the door behind her. 

“Sorry about them honey, they get a little excited.” A woman winked at him. She had her red hair tied back and was stirring a cooking pot over the fire. 

“It’s alright. My sister’s the same way.” he said, readjusting his hat from where the boy had pulled it askew, “I’m normally more patient, but it’s been a-is that soup?”

His train of thought was permanently derailed when the aroma of whatever she was cooking finally reached him. 

She smiled at him knowingly, “Depends, are you hungry?”

Link’s stomach answered for him, growling loudly. 

She laughed, patting the seat next to her, “Alright then. I’ll feed you, you tell us your story, deal?”

“Deal.” he answered without thinking, rushing straight into the chair. 

“My name’s Telma. That’s Renado, Ashei, Auru, Rusl, Gor Coron, and Darbus.” she introduced them as she filled up a bowl for him. Most everyone raised their hand when their name was said. 

“Nice to meet you.” Link smiled at them before turning back to the soup Telma was handing him. “Thanks!”

“Anytime sweetie.” she said before turning to the rest of them, “Anyone else hungry?”

Link began shoveling the soup in, groaning in appreciation. This soup was amazing. Not as good as his grandmother’s, but definitely in the top five, maybe even top three. 

He held his bowl out for seconds before anyone else had finished their first serving. Telma just laughed and refilled it. 

“Thanks.” he said again, “I was hoping to restock on food here, I didn’t know I’d find such good soup!”

“Is that the only reason you’re here?” Renado asked, eyebrow raised, “You said you were Link, but not our Link?”

“That’s the complicated bit.” Link said, swallowing another mouthful. “Out of curiosity, do any of you talk to the Light Spirits at all?”

They all shook their heads. Auru spoke up, “The Light Spirits only speak to those they deem worthy in times of great need. The only ones they’ve spoken to in decades are Princess Zelda and our Link.”

“They spoke to me too.” he told them, “Explained what happened and gave me a mission.” 

“That’s certainly not something to take lightly.” Rusl said. 

“What mission did they give you?” Ashei asked, still watching him carefully. Link assumed she just didn’t trust him yet, which he couldn’t blame her for. 

“That’s why I asked if you all had talked to them. If you had, this next bit would be simple to explain, but if not…” Link’s voice trailed off and he stared into his now empty bowl. 

Telma refilled it again, surprising him. 

“Start at the beginning then.” she said. 

“Ok, well, this is the confusing bit.” he said, more than a little awkwardly, “See, I’m from Hyrule, but a different Hyrule. Or well, maybe the same one, just a different time frame? That’s the confusing bit…”

Ghirahim sneered as he looked down at the bound prisoners. “Are you sure this is who you want?” He nudged one of them with the toe of his boot, looking disgusted. 

The mask in his hands shook slightly. To anyone else that would’ve been it. However, Ghirahim easily understood. 

“A puppet is a puppet. Appearances matter not.” 

“Appearance is important,” Ghirahim looked at the mask distastefully, “How can you expect to serve perfectly if you yourself are not perfect?”

“I serve only one and it is certainly not him .” the mask hummed angrily up at him. 

“Trust me, neither do I.” Ghirahim assured the mask, “An alliance of necessity. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t improve yourself while we wait for our true Master. Using this …well, let’s just say it leaves something to be desired.” 

It shook once again, “I do not care for appearances. My perfection awaits only in strength and power. A lesson you would well learn if our true Master actually arrives.”

“Spoken like someone who doesn’t have the glory and privilege of my role.” Ghirahim laid a hand on his chest in a mocking manner. “And quit doubting our Master. He will arrive. If we have to suffer through fools until then, then so be it.”

The mask, one shaped like a heart and surrounded by spikes, seemed to vibrate at him. “I do not doubt his power. I doubt That Fool’s ability to follow through with his promises. For his plan to work we need to defeat a specific hero.”

“And we will, once we find him,” Ghirahim continued to smile, although now it looked more demented than haughty, “We’ve confirmed that the heroes are lost in time. They are scattered, isolated, abandoned. We outnumber them. They don’t stand a chance.” 

“That’s what I thought.” the mask hummed, “Yet somehow, I was destroyed. If That Fool hadn’t pulled me through time when he did, I would’ve been killed, permanently, by one of those heroes. Do not underestimate them.” 

“I’d be careful how loudly you insult our ‘leader’.” Ghirahim smirked, “Or he may put you right back into that very moment.” 

The mask didn’t respond, but Ghirahim got the feeling that it was glaring at him. He flipped his hair back and straightened his cape, feeling accomplished. It wasn’t easy to win an argument with Majora, but it was so satisfying when he did. 

Ghirahim actually respected Majora, if nothing else than for the mask’s power level. He was easily as strong as Ghirahim himself, at least when he was at full power. After his fight with one of the heroes though, Majora had been reduced to a mere mask once again, in need of a puppet to restore himself. 

That was what they were doing now, getting ready to bind Majora to a new puppet. If only the puppet wasn’t so…disgustingly mortal. The demon lord looked at the unconscious humans at his feet as if they were bugs to be stepped on, which to him, they were. 

Ghirahim knelt down, ready to place Majora onto his new puppet’s face. “Last chance to change your mind. The other one at least has magic. This one has nothing.” 

“I have no need of Spirit Magic.” Majora hummed, “Besides, her magic is far too pure to ever work for me. Leave her to Bellum. A magicless puppet will suit me far better. A blank canvas, endless possibilities.” 

“If you say so.” Ghirahim sighed, finally placing Majora on the man’s face. This particular human was tall and wore a blue coat with a tiny excuse of a beard on his face. That was the most insulting part of the man’s appearance, other than his horrifying scent. Ghirahim wasn’t a fan of beards, but if you had to grow one, at least grow it properly. 

He stood back up, waiting as Majora slowly took over his new puppet. While he waited, his eyes glanced over to their female captive. She was at least fashionable. Long red hair that was pulled back. Baggier pants, but a short, tight top. Her dark skin showed that she was one of the desert people. ‘That Fool’, as Majora had labeled him, stated that he knew her, that she had betrayed him. Well, if that was true then Ghirahim couldn’t think of a better punishment than becoming possessed by Bellum. 

Majora stood up, stretching and testing out the limbs on his new body. The mask covered the man’s face, which Ghirahim was thankful for. Honestly, there was no reason why evil couldn’t be beautiful. He proved that every day. 

“This man was in poor shape.” Majora finally huffed. It was strange hearing the mask talk with someone else’s voice. “He was cowardly and mostly stayed on his ship.”

Ghirahim rolled his eyes, “Oh please stop sorting through memories. They don’t matter when it comes to siphoning power away.” 

“He has memories of a hero. Those will prove useful.” was Majora’s response. 

“You can deal with that later. We have a job to do, remember?”

“How could I forget?” Majora sounded unnervingly excited, “ I’ve been looking forward to this .” 

Ghirahim grinned.

Chapter Text

The Minish Woods gave Link the same feeling that the Kokiri Forest did. It seemed friendly and welcoming, with an aura that seemed like returning home. Despite everything that had occurred lately, walking into the woods immediately relaxed him, like a weight had been lifted and he could breathe properly once again. 

Of course it wasn’t exactly the same. There were no Lost Woods here for him to get lost in and no giggling skull kids or Kokiri watching him from behind the trees. 

But it was the closest he’d come to home in a long time. Considering all of the time traveling that he had been doing, Link technically hadn’t been home in months. He’d stopped by to see Saria once in a while, but now that he could warp straight to the Forest Temple, he’d bypassed Kokiri Forest entirely. 

It had also been tough for him to come back after the Great Deku Tree died. Logically he knew that it wasn’t his fault, but Mido’s parting words rang through his head every time he thought about it. 

Link clenched his eyes shut and shook his head as if he could forcibly shake those thoughts away. It was like Navi said. Focusing on things he couldn’t change wouldn’t help anyone. He had to focus on what he could change in order to help now. 

Feeling more determined now, Link continued his march into the forest. He didn’t know where exactly the Picori lived, but he would scour the entire forest if he had to. According to the other Link’s uncle, the Picori were tiny. He didn’t expect to find a full grown civilization out here and definitely not one that would be regular sized. If they were smaller than his thumb, they wouldn’t need a lot of space…maybe they were inside a log or something?

Just to be certain he stooped down and looked in a nearby log. It was entirely hollow except for some leaves and a squirrel that ran away as soon as it saw him. 

Link frowned. How did you find a group of tiny people that you weren’t even guaranteed to see? He was banking on the fact that he wasn’t conscious for 7 years while ‘growing up’ to give him a loophole and see them, but what if he was wrong? What if that didn’t work?

Could he just start calling out for them? That seemed like an incredibly stupid idea. In the Lost Woods you never wanted to do that because you never knew who could be listening. You could be calling out for a friend and then be ambushed by Skulltulas or Stalfos. Wait, did they even have those in this time? Could he be worried over nothing? Or could there be something worse waiting in these woods?

Link really missed Navi. These were things he could normally talk through with her. She always seemed to have an answer, even if it wasn’t always the right one, the conversation would at least always distract him from his nerves. 

He kept walking through the woods, weaving around trees and looking for any sign of the Picori. 

If he was the size of a bug, where would he put his home? It was a random thought, but he went with it. Definitely nothing tall. If he was that small, then the trees would be mountains. Hiking up and down them every day would be a chore in itself, so maybe something closer to the ground? But then what about rainstorms? What if his home got flooded? Could they be somewhere in the middle, maybe on top of a rock or something? What if a bird saw them there and thought they were food? What did they use for protection?

Link sighed. Being tiny seemed tough. He was glad that he never had to worry about that. 

He pushed aside a couple of giant leaves in case they were hiding underneath those. He found nothing and frowned. If they were truly that tiny than this could take a lot longer than he thought. 

And what if he couldn’t see them? That thought kept coming back to him. What if his loophole didn’t work? As it was, physically, he wasn’t a kid anymore. Maybe that’s all that mattered. 

Almost as soon as he thought this though, an idea popped into his head and he yanked out his bag, scrambling through his supplies. After a minute or two of sorting through everything he found what he was looking for and held up the item proudly. 

The Lens of Truth!

Sure it gave him a headache when he used it for long periods of time, but it would let him see anything invisible! Including the Picori no matter how old he was!

Grinning at his problem solving, Link quickly held the Lens up to his own eye. It gave everything a purple-ish tint and he quickly redoubled his efforts, looking around for any clue as to where the Picori would be. 

He didn’t expect for it to work right off the bat, but after an hour of searching, the euphoria of his idea had worn off. 

After three hours he was back to feeling hopeless. There was nothing, not even a tiny little footprint. 

Link grumbled and circled another stump. This one had a crack in the middle of it, but when he looked inside all he saw were leaves. There was nothing to suggest a tiny civilization living anywhere nearby. He was starting to believe that unless the Picori wanted to be found, they wouldn’t be. 

He sighed and sat down, leaning against the stump. If he couldn’t find the Picori, what was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to get home?

He’d been lucky in his adventures before. There had always been someone there to guide him, lead him to the next step. Rauru, Sheik (well, Zelda), Impa. Without them, he didn’t know what to do, where to go. 

He hugged his legs close to his chest. He’d never been alone before, not like this. Even before he had Navi, Saria was always there to spend time with him. Now he was completely alone and he was lost as to what to do. He didn’t like it. 

Link buried his head in his arms, trying not to focus on that. It was hard. He kept trying to think about all the good things that had happened, to find anything to cheer him up, but that was difficult to do in this particular situation. 

The past couple days finally caught up to him while he sat there and before he knew it, he’d fallen asleep.

“Fi, you mentioned that you came from Skyloft, right?” Ezlo asked. The three companions were sitting on the beach a couple days after posting their letter. The day before Pashli had told them he’d reached the Pirate Ship and that they were on their way to Outset, due to arrive sometime today. Until the hat’s question, they’d each been sitting in silence with their own thoughts. 

“Correct. Skyloft is the name of the island and village in the sky above the cloud barrier.” Fi answered quickly, “The Goddess Hylia raised it up to that location in an attempt to keep her people safe from Demise’s army. Why do you ask?”

“Just something I’ve been thinking about.” he muttered, “Minish legend says that we descended from the sky and gave gifts to the people of Hyrule. The gifts were the Picori Blade and the light force.”

Fi tilted her head up to look at the hat currently perched on her head the best she could. For someone who had no discernable eyes, she looked remarkably confused. “Please explain. You believe that your people came from Skyloft?”

“I’m wondering if it is possible.” he admitted, “There are no Minish alive now who lived through that time. It became a legend to us.”

“I cannot see how it is possible.” Fi said, “There are currently no Minish living in Skyloft.” 

“But you said that Skyloft was only one of the islands floating above the cloud barrier.” Link spoke up, raising an eyebrow when both Fi and Ezlo looked at him curiously, “Who’s to say that they weren’t living on one of the other islands that Hylia raised to the sky? If she wanted to protect her people from Demise, wouldn’t it make sense for her to put as many people as possible on those islands?”

Fi was silent for a long moment before finally nodding, “Calculations complete. Chances of this theory being correct are 31%. Her Grace did not leave me with infinite knowledge of the land and its people so it is entirely possible that this occurred and I was not aware. That being said, Her Grace raised the land into the sky in the midst of a war. Chances of a proper evacuation for the Minish are significantly lowered when that situation is factored in.” 

“But it’s not impossible.” Ezlo grumbled, “What I wouldn’t give to have a proper look at our entire history and figure some of these things out.” 

Link chuckled, “Agreed. I thought my Hyrule had a complicated history and that was before I knew what you two had been through.” 

Ezlo snorted at that, “I agree. I can’t say I envy your Hyrule with everything that you described.” 

“It’s actually a pretty great place when it’s not at war.” Link smiled softly, obviously thinking of his home, “I was just a goatherd, but it was a peaceful village. We were happy there. I loved hearing stories from Rusl about his travels all around Hyrule, but I never thought I would get to go to any of those places myself.”

“Life rarely works out the way you think it will.” Ezlo sighed. 

“My master always stated that ‘variety was what made life exciting’.” Fi put in, surprising them. She wasn’t normally one to offer anything that wasn’t a fact of some kind, “He said that if his life was always the same, it would be boring and wouldn’t be worth it to him.” 

“I can see that.” Link acknowledged, “But everyone is different. Some people like the routine. Others can’t bear to be in the same place for more than five minutes.”

“You’ve mentioned your master, your Link, multiple times. You must have a very high opinion of him.” Ezlo said. 

Fi nodded, “He is the most impressive Hylian I’ve ever met. He was chosen by the Goddess Hylia to defeat Demise, a being of eternal evil. He helped me to become my true form, the Master Sword. On their own, each of those acts requires immense respect, but together? They prove he is worthy of every praise he is given.”

“Tell us more?” Link asked. At their questioning gaze, he shrugged a little, “I’ve heard all about the Link of this world, but neither of you have mentioned your Links very often. I’m a little curious.” 

“I’m sure that’s putting it mildly.” Ezlo joked. Link gave him a guilty smile, obviously caught in the act. 

“My master…was nothing like I expected him to be.” Fi said, turning to look at the ocean again, seemingly almost nostalgic, "I thought that Her Grace would choose someone who was experienced in battle, ready for a possible war. Instead, she chose him. He was a child, still in school, but he was fierce. Determined. He just cared so much. And he grew. He got stronger. He was exactly who he needed to be to save everyone he cared about. And…”

“And?” Ezlo prompted when she trailed off. 

“And he was human. So very human.” Fi continued, looking down at her sword which was resting in her lap, “And he treated me like I was too. I was never just a weapon to him. I was his friend, from the very first day. He made sure of that. No one else had ever done that, not even Hylia. To her I was a tool for her hero to use, something powerful enough to oppose Demise. To Master Link I was…me.” 

Fi’s voice had gotten strangely emotional at the end of her speech and Link and Ezlo exchanged a look. Fi hadn’t gotten emotional before, at least, not to their knowledge. Link took a deep breath and reached a hand forward to lay on her shoulder. 

When she turned to look at him, he said, “I’m finding it hard to believe that any of the rest of us Links can measure up to him, but I hope I get to meet him someday.” 

“I hope so as well.” She whispered. “He is a good man. Master Link is simply… good. ”

“Sorry to break up the moment, but I think they’re here.” Ezlo said, drawing their attention away. 

Link stood up quickly, looking to where Ezlo was, and seeing a large ship on the horizon. Its massive sail was billowing and it was approaching quickly. It would be here in just a few moments. As it got closer, Link saw what looked like a tiny girl standing in the bow, blonde pigtails waving behind her in the wind. 

“Well then,” he sighed, “We’d better get ready.”

Chapter Text

“Are we sure he’s telling the truth?” Ashei whispered, glancing over her shoulder at the sleeping form at the edge of the room. 

Auru poked one of the logs on the fire, moving it into a better position, “Why would he lie?”

Ashei rolled her eyes at him. Currently all of the Resistence members were sitting around the cookfire in Renado’s hut. It was the middle of the night and Link and the children had gone to bed hours ago. The rest of them had stayed up to discuss the situation without anyone eavesdropping. 

“I can think of a hundred reasons why he would lie.” She frowned at him, “The better question is how do we know that he’s telling the truth?”

“If he is telling the truth then that would explain what happened to the others.” Telma frowned at the thought. 

Rusl shook his head, “That doesn’t help us get them home. If they are really lost in time, the best thing we may be able to do is help this Link with his mission.”

“I only wish that we could ask the Light Spirits ourselves.” Renado sighed. 

“Perhaps we could send Darbus to the hidden village again?” Gor Coron spoke up. He and Darbus stood nearby and Darbus nodded eagerly at the suggestion. “If there is another traveler there then that will confirm his story.” 

“And what do we do until Darbus returns?” Telma asked, “Little Link plans to leave in the morning.”

“We go with him.” Auru said firmly. The others looked at him in shock, but he just nodded, “Darbus will stay here and we’ll go instead. We’ll be able to see for ourselves if there is another person lost in time at the village. Once we do, Rusl can send his hawk back to you with confirmation.”

“It could be a trap.” Ashei warned, looking at him intently. 

Auru just shrugged and looked back at the sleeping hero, “It could be, but I don’t believe so. My instincts tell me that he’s being truthful.” 

“Your instincts might end up getting us killed.” she almost growled at him. 

He smirked at her, “They were right about you, remember?”

Ashei huffed and turned away, refusing to meet his eyes. 

“I agree with Auru’s plan.” Rusl said, “This will be the fastest way for us to try to help find our friends.”

“It doesn’t seem we have very many other options.” Renado mused, mostly to himself, “But you should act with caution. If even half of what this Link has said is true then this could be far more dangerous than dealing with Ganondorf.” 

“We’ll be careful.” Rusl assured him. 

“I’ll stay here while you lot go with him then. I can help Renado out with things around town.” Telma said, sending a wink towards the shaman. 

Renado winced at her words, not looking forward to spending more time with the flirtatious bar owner, especially without the others to be there as a buffer. 

“That settles it then.” Auru said, standing up, “We should get some rest. We’ll be up early in the morning.”

Link waved goodbye to Telma and Renado as best he could, one hand up in a wave as the other clutched tightly onto Rusl. They waved back, smiling as the group rode away. Link tried to keep watching them as they left, but the horse underneath him lurched forward, navigating its way around the rocky ground, and Link immediately latched both hands around Rusl, practically burying his face in the man’s tunic. 

Rusl just laughed, “Never been on a horse before?”

Link shook his head quickly, too nervous to speak. He’d heard of horses before, but he’d never seen one much less actually ridden them. It was very different from being on a boat. The relaxing rhythm of the waves and the billowing sail as opposed to the clunky gait of the horse and the completely random movements it made; all of it set him on edge. With a boat he was in charge, he was the one sailing. Even the King of the Red Lions had let him take the helm, trusting Link completely. The horse was different. It was a living, breathing creature, and there was no guarantee that you could make it listen to you like a boat could. The horse had its own mind and Link found it hard to believe that it would just obey whoever was riding it with just a tap of their heels against the horse’s body and some guidance from the reins, no matter what Rusl said. 

“Relax.” Rusl said, still smiling, “Old Callie here wouldn’t harm a fly.” 

He reached forward and patted his horse’s neck affectionately, sending Link into a panic at all of the movement. 

“I really don’t mind walking!” Link cried out. He was currently riding double with Rusl on a large spotted horse and really didn’t enjoy it. “It might be easier!”

“And slower.” Auru called out from in front of them, chuckling, “Even a slow walk for a horse is twice as fast as your own walking speed.” 

Link risked another glance behind them to see how much distance they had traveled and groaned to himself. Auru was right. The gate to Kakariko was already in the far distance. 

“Relax.” Ashei spoke up. She was riding next to Rusl and Link and seemed completely at home on her own horse, “Callie can feel you tensing up and that’s causing her to be on edge.”

Link grumbled to himself and tried to force himself to relax. He wasn’t sure that it was working very well. Just as he started to get used to riding, Callie would make an unexpected movement or Rusl would steer her around something and Link would immediately clench up again. 

He sighed to himself, this was going to be a very long trip.

It took a little over three days to reach the Hidden Village, as Rusl had told him it was named. 

Three days of pure torture, being forced to ride a giant animal that Link was sure hated him. Despite everything that Rusl said about Callie not harming anyone and being the sweetest horse in the world, Link was certain that she hated him. He’d caught her trying to eat his hat twice by now and he just knew that she had bucked him off yesterday. 

Rusl’s impromptu horse lesson had not ended well. He couldn’t get Callie to do anything but turn in a left circle and then it felt like she was trying to jump. Before he knew it he was lying on the ground spitting out bits of grass with Auru laughing at him. Rusl insisted that Callie hadn’t bucked him off, but Link knew better. 

Link couldn’t wait until they arrived at the Hidden Village, sliding off the monstrous beast in relief as soon as he could. 

This village was somehow even more dilapidated than Kakariko had been. The buildings looked like they would topple over in the slightest breeze, the wood rotting away. Cats covered every spare surface of the village, seemingly to be the only living creatures there. 

Link made a face, scrunching his nose at the sight, “I can’t imagine anyone staying here for very long.”

“Link, well, our Link, said that a woman lived here, Impaz.” Rusl said, looking around curiously, “I don’t know if she is still here though…” 

“Only one way to find out.” Ashei huffed and started forward, tying her horse to a nearby post. The others followed her lead and they began walking through the village. 

Link still looked around critically. If someone had been here, and if they had been as injured as the Light Spirits said, what kind of shape would they be in now? There wouldn’t be a lot of health potions nearby, at least as far as he could tell. 

There was one house that seemed to be in better shape at the far end of the village. Auru approached it cautiously, reaching out to knock. 

It was a long moment before the door creaked open. A very short old woman peeked out from behind it, surprised. 

“Hello there.” she greeted them, looking at each one in turn. When her eyes landed on Link, they grew even wider, “Wh-What? How did you-but you were just-”

She quickly turned around, looking at something behind her, “Are you his brother?”

Link raised an eyebrow, “Who’s brother?”

She swung the door open, looking in amazement towards the far corner. 

Link stepped inside eagerly, but almost stumbled to the floor when he saw who was in there. 

“How is that possible?” Rusl whispered.

“I found him in the town. He hasn’t woken up yet.” the woman answered, then directed her next question to Link,  “Is he your brother?”

Link barely heard her and didn’t respond. He just rubbed his eyes as if that would clear up the sight in front of him. 

It was him. 

Literally him. 

He’d known to expect other heroes, other Links, but he hadn’t been expecting himself. He’d thought that they would all look at least a little different. Everyone had told him that the Link from this time was much older. 

Yet there he was, lying unconscious on the small bed in the corner. 

“Excuse us, we’re friends of Link, I believe you met him?” Auru asked as Link knelt down next to this other version of himself, trying to get a closer look.

The woman nodded, “Yes, I met him. He helped get rid of the bulblins that infested the town. I’m Impaz.” 

They were exactly the same. The same clothes, the same pack lying next to the bed, the way his hair fell in front of his eyes. 

“We actually came looking for, well, him.” Auru said awkwardly. Link could only assume that he had pointed to the Link on the bed. 

Faron had said one of the travelers was much closer to him than he realized. Could this be what he meant, Link wondered. Could this be him from somewhere in his own timeline? He didn’t remember anything about this, so what if this was a version of himself from his future?

“Why is he unconscious?” Rusl asked. 

“He was severely injured when I found him.” Impaz told them, “I used the last of my health potions to stabilize him, but he lost quite a bit of blood. I haven’t been able to get any more, so I’ve just been waiting for him to wake up. I hope it was enough.” 

“You’ve done everything you can.” Auru said reassuringly. Link was barely keeping track of the conversation at this point. “We have some potions ourselves.”

Rusl moved next to Link, grabbing his shoulder gently. 

Link started, not expecting it. He moved out of the way as Rusl lifted the bottle to the other Link’s lips, slowly pouring the red liquid out. 

“What exactly is going on here?” Impaz asked. 

“It’s…complicated.” Auru sighed. 

“You said he was injured.” Link said quickly, getting Impaz’s attention, “Was there any sign of what hurt him?”

She shook her head, “Nothing. His bag is there, but I put his sword and shield over there.” Impaz gestured to the table. 

Link rushed towards it eagerly. The shield wasn’t his mirror one, it was just a plain wooden shield. What drew his eyes though was the sword. It was the same blue hilt as the Master Sword and Link drew it now, laying both of the weapons next to each other. Similar lengths, but instead of a gem in the hilt, there was a golden hourglass, filled with glowing sand. The Triforce symbol that was etched into the blade was also gone, replaced by what looked like a flame? A drop of water? He had a hard time telling, but it was obvious that they were different swords. 

“What is it?” Ashei asked, having come to look at the swords as well. 

“I..I don’t know.” he said honestly, “None of this makes any sense. The Light Spirits said that other heroes got lost in time, but I didn’t know there would be another ‘ me ’.”

“Are there any other differences?” Auru asked. 

Link pressed his lips together tightly and went back to the bed. Rusl was on the second health potion now and the other Link seemed to have a bit more color in his cheeks. 

Link picked up the bag, sorting through the items. It was the same bag he carried now, but there were some items that he definitely didn’t have, that he had never seen before. He’d never carried a shovel before and he owned the Skull Hammer, not the one in the bag. And what was this slate for? 

Could he be wrong? Was this not him? What if there was just another Link who looked exactly like him? Considering everything else that had been going on, it wouldn’t be the most impossible thing to happen.  

The Link on the bed groaned as Rusl poured the last of the second potion into his mouth. Everyone watched eagerly as he blinked, slowly waking up. 

“Careful now.” Rusl said softly, already holding a third potion, “You were really hurt.”

“No.” his voice was hoarse and he tried to sit up, gesturing around wildly, “Tetra, Linebeck. They need help more than me, help them.” 

The Resistence exchanged confused looks, but Link’s jaw dropped in amazement and he rushed forward before he knew what he was doing, “Tetra, you know Tetra?!”

The other Link wore a mirrored look of shock, just now seeing him, “Who-what-how-”

“Do you know Tetra?!” Link asked again, “Please, do you know her?!”

“Yes, of course!” he yelled back before being overtaken by a series of coughs. Rusl moved forward and Link let himself be pushed out of the way, the other Link’s words sinking in. 

He knew Tetra. This had to be him, at some other point in his life. 

“Are you ok?” Auru whispered in his ear. Link shook his head, dumbfounded. 

He wasn’t supposed to find himself, not like this! What did he do now?!

“Who are all of you?” the other Link asked warily, mostly watching Link. He seemed almost as shaken as Link did. 

“It’s a long story.” Rusl said gently, offering the third bottle to him, “Let’s finish getting you healed and then we’ll answer all your questions, I promise.” 

“No.” He insisted, forcing himself into a sitting position. It obviously pained him to move, but he pushed away Rusl’s help, “What’s going on here? Where am I?”

“You’re in the Hidden Village in Hyrule.” Auru said, “Impaz found you, injured, and took you in.”

The other Link was already shaking his head, “That’s not possible. Hyrule is-”

“At the bottom of the ocean.” Link finished grimly. 

The other Link whipped his head around to look at him, “...Yeah. It is.” 

Link nodded, continuing, “The King of Red Lions washed it away. It started to flood as we killed Ganondorf.”

He nodded cautiously, “What do you mean by ‘we’?”

Link took a deep breath, “I’m…you. Literally, you, from another point in time. At least, I’m fairly sure.” 

“H-How is that possible?” The other Link asked, voice barely above a whisper. 

“Someone’s attacked time. That’s what I was told.” he whispered back, “For me it happened right after we killed Ganondorf. He turned to smoke and then Tetra and I started being pulled away, but then we started falling instead, through this strange water. We got separated, the Triforce broke back into the three pieces, and I ended up in this time, in a spring.”

“I…remember fighting Ganondorf.” the other Link mumbled, “I remember the King washing away the last of Hyrule…but I don’t remember anything else you said.” 

“What do you remember?” Rusl asked. 

“I killed Ganondorf, but he turned to stone.” his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and Link adopted the same expression. The others did a double take at the mirrored look. “Yeah, he turned to stone, the Master Sword was stuck in his head when that happened. Tetra and I did start to get pulled away, but we made it to the surface. Her crew met us there and the Triforce never broke, it stayed in Hyrule.” 

Link shook his head and held up his hand, showing everyone the Triforce there. Like before, the two pieces he didn’t have were faded, barely noticeable, but the Triforce of Courage stood out against his skin, shining proudly. 

The other Link looked at it in amazement before hurriedly showing his own hand. The skin was completely clear, not even a scar. 

“How can we be the same…if we remember different things?” Link wondered. 

The other Link shrugged, “I don’t know.” 

He leaned forward, getting a closer look at the Triforce on Link’s hand, which Link still held out for everyone to see. 

“None of this should be possible,”  the other Link muttered. 

“Tell me about it.” Link huffed. 

The other Link reached forward gently for Link’s hand, his fingers barely brushing the outline of the Triforce. 

The second his hand touched Link’s own, the world shifted. It didn’t just shift, it tilted, it stretched, it shrunk. Pain bloomed behind Link’s eyes and he shut them tightly, trying to block out the overwhelming sensation. It didn’t work and he grew nauseous as he felt the world continue to move around him. Someone yelled, but he couldn’t tell who. He felt like he was melting and his chest grew tight. He couldn’t breathe.

Link fell to the floor, unconscious. 

Chapter Text

Link struggled to gasp for breath. The water had changed somehow, but the pressure was still pushing down on his chest. He struggled against it, but it was no use. 

Link spun around, narrowly avoiding some sort of spiked ball in the water. He didn’t know what it was, but experience told him that touching it wouldn’t lead to anything good. 

Link dug around in his bag, lungs burning. 

He finally found the item he was looking for, yanking it out and slamming it onto his face as quickly as he could. 

The mask fused to his face, a painful coldness spreading across his body. Scales grew painfully out of his skin, fins jutting out from his arms, and his neck split apart into gills. 

Link took in a deep breath, the water flooding into him like air, and his lungs eased. 

Good, at least he couldn’t drown now. 

Link, now a Zora, looked around in confusion. He seemed to be in the ocean, which didn’t make sense to him. He’d been fighting Majora not 10 minutes ago. How had he ended up all the way in the Great Bay?

He swam up as quickly as he could, thankful for the speed Zora’s had in the water. In minutes he reached the top, treading water while he looked for a landmark. 

Near him seemed to be some sort of desert, a pyramid standing proudly in the center of it. Beyond that was a tower, various designs covering the stonework. To his left were multiple islands, but most didn’t look populated. 

Link frowned. None of this was in Termina. He’d been all over Termina in his effort to stop Majora and he didn’t recognize any of this. 

Could killing Majora have sent him into another world? If that was the case he was going to be angry. He could not deal with a third world, not until he knew that he’d finished saving the second world at least. 

Link huffed and started swimming towards the desert. It was the closest land he could see and hopefully he could find someone to tell him where he was.

One of these days he needed to find out how to have a serious conversation with the goddesses regarding this Hero thing. After everything he’d been through, he seriously wanted a vacation.

Zelda pursed her lips as she looked around the empty house she’d been teleported to. All the furniture had been pushed to the walls, stacked precariously behind three long, empty counters. 

She couldn’t imagine why Midna had chosen this place to send her to or what had happened to Link in the process. She did know that she had to get back though. Midna could not face Ganondorf on her own. She’d be slaughtered. 

Zelda spun around, ignoring the empty room, and tried the door. It was locked, but a simple spell took care of that. Rushing outside, Zelda looked around desperately for anything that could tell her where she was. 

The house was small, quaint even, perched on a tiny hill and surrounded by trees. Zelda thought she could see the castle over the top of the trees, but couldn’t be sure. However, it was the best guess she had.

She raced down the hill, desperate to get there as quickly as she could. 

“Halt!” a voice cried out behind her. Zelda turned, eyes widening when a knight in green armor lowered his spear and charged her. 

Zelda dove to the left, narrowly avoiding the attack. “What are you doing?!”

The knight ignored her question, raising his spear to stab at her. Zelda jumped up, dodging the attack again. “I am Princess Zelda, why are you attacking me?!”

“Princess Zelda is in custody! You are an imposter! Death to all imposters!” the knight cried, lunging forward again. 

Zelda stepped to the side nimbly, trying to remember all of her combat lessons. Stay light on your feet, be quick, get inside their defenses. 

Holding her hand out to her side, Zelda summoned her sword. It appeared in a flash of light just in time. She avoided another lunge of the knight’s spear, darting forward to sink her blade into the gap of the knight’s armor at his neck. The thin steel sank in as if there was no resistance. 

The knight froze for a moment, then exploded before her. 

Zelda coughed, waving the smoke away. She took another look around, making sure there wasn’t anything else that was going to try to kill her, before dismissing her blade. 

This must’ve been one of Ganondorf’s monsters. All of her knights knew her and up until a few minutes ago, she had been in his custody. She couldn’t waste anymore time.

Zelda stared resolutely in the direction of the castle, taking off running towards it. She was still weak from Ganondorf’s possession, but she wasn’t going to give up.

The ship was even larger up close, knocking into the dock gently as it reached the island. The tiny blonde girl at the prow waved at them before jumping off into the waves below. 

“Aryll!” someone cried, reaching out after her. 

The girl giggled when she surfaced, swimming to the shore. 

“We told you to stop doing that!” 

“I’m fine! Big Brother taught me to swim!” she called out to them. 

Link smirked as he watched her reach the shore, reminded of the children back home. 

They made their way down to the shore, arriving just as the girl did. A couple men were disembarking from the ship as well. 

The girl smiled widely at them, “Hi!”

“Hi there.” Link couldn’t help but grin back at her. 

“You kinda look like my big brother.” she said, squinting up at him a little. 

The pieces connected in his mind, “Are you Aryll?”

She nodded as the men reached them. They were both tall and broad shoulders. One wore a bandanna and his shirt opened enough to show a swirling tattoo on his chest. The other made Link more wary. His black hair was pulled back into a tight pony tail and a scarf covered the lower half of his face, but what drew Link and his friends’ attention was the man's large metal arm. It came close to touching the ground despite his height, the fingers looking sharp and deadly. 

Link turned his attention from the arm and up to the man’s face. As much as Link had been studying him, the man had been doing the same. His red-lined eyes glared at him now, but he stood there silently. 

“I’m Gonzo, first mate of Tetra’s crew. Are you the ones who sent the letter?” The first man said, looking between Link, Fi, and Ezlo. 

“Affirmative.” Fi answered, “We were hoping to book passage aboard Tetra’s ship. Is she around to negotiate with?”

“No one talks to the captain without going through me first.” he huffed, crossing his arms, “Especially not some strangers claiming to be Link and Aryll’s cousin.” 

“I don’t have any cousins.” Aryll chimed in helpfully, smiling innocently at them. 

“And you should be getting back on the boat.” Gonzo huffed at her. 

Aryll ignored him, her attention now focused on Ezlo. The hat squirmed uncomfortably at the young girl’s curious gaze. 

“I think I can help clear things up.” Link said, “It’s complicated, but-”

“You fell through time.” the other man interrupted, still glaring although now it seemed to be in general as opposed to just glaring at Link. 

Link’s eyes widened and Ezlo began sputtering, “H-H-How could you possibly know that?!”

“Initial scans indicate technology that is not native to this time period.” Fi said, “Specifically in the use of the tool currently located on his left arm. Factoring the circumstances and the current working theory, there is a 87% chance that this man has also fallen victim to the time travel phenomenon. Please confirm this.”

The man raised an eyebrow at her and Aryll giggled. Ezlo let out a resigned breath, “Fi, you’ve really got to learn to let someone else handle these conversations.” 

Fi glanced up at the hat she wore, “I attempted to explain it much more efficiently this time. In what ways did I not meet the expectations?” 

“It was still too confusing! This is the second time now that-”

“Would both of you stop?” Link groaned, resisting the urge to rub his forehead. Sometimes they got along just fine, but other times, these two did nothing but argue and it was almost instantly guaranteed to give him a headache when they did. 

Turning back to the other three, he said, “Yes, we fell through time. To shorten Fi’s question, is that also what happened to you?”

The man nodded after a moment, “Yes, it is. I woke up on this boat almost two weeks ago. After learning where I was, it wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened.”

“Honestly, we didn’t believe him at first.” Gonzo said. “But it’s not like we could just drop him off on some random island. Besides, if he was telling the truth-”

“He is, I can tell.” Aryll interrupted, smiling up at the gruff man. 

He rolled his eyes, but didn’t glare at her. If it wasn’t for the man’s scarf, Link would’ve thought he was smiling at her instead. 

“Anyway, we thought Tetra would like to talk to him, so we kept him around.” Gonzo finished. 

“What did Tetra say after she talked to you?” Ezlo asked him. 

“She hasn’t. She’s not here.” he stated simply. 

Link raised an eyebrow at Gonzo, “I thought you said she was on the ship.” 

Gonzo avoided his gaze uncomfortably, “Technically I said you had to talk to me before talking to her. I never said she was on the ship.” 

“You liar!” Ezlo squawked, “You led us on! You-”

“I’m a pirate.” Gonzo snapped, “Deal with it.” 

“He’s really a nice guy, he just doesn’t like strangers.” Aryll giggled. 

Gonzo turned on her, obviously annoyed, “Ok, that is it! Get to your grandmother before I send you to swab the deck with Niko again!”

“No! No, no, no! Please no!” A cry came from the ship. Aryll giggled again before running off in the direction of her grandmother’s house. 

Gonzo shook his head, exasperated and muttering under her breath. 

“I told you not to let her near the mop bucket.” the other man said. 

“I didn’t know she’d make him wear it as a helmet!” 

“She’s six. ”

“That doesn’t-shut up!” Gonzo yelled at him. The other man seemed unbothered by the reaction. 

“As entertaining as this all is.” Ezlo said dryly, “Why isn’t Tetra here?”

“She hasn’t been around in months.” Gonzo sighed, “Not since we went to the Forsaken Fortress. After that she went with Link to-”

“To the castle under the ocean.” Link sighed, “Grandma told us. I can’t believe we forgot.” 

“To be fair, we’ve been dealing with a lot these days.” Ezlo said. 

“What did you want to book passage for anyway?” Gonzo asked. 

“To find him.” Fi said, gesturing to the other man. 

Gonzo looked at them in confusion, “You were looking for Byrne? You didn’t even know he was here when you sent the letter though.” 

“We were attempting to find others who may have fallen through to this time.” Fi explained, “Our hope was that by gathering more information then we could formulate a plan to return home.”

“I won’t be able to help you there,” the man, Byrne, muttered, “I’ve been here two weeks and I don’t have any idea how to get home except through waiting.” 

“Waiting?” Link asked. 

He nodded, “My original time is almost 100 years in the future. The Tetra and Link of this time are the ones who found the kingdom of New Hyrule, where I’m from.”

“That doesn’t help.” Ezlo huffed, “Sorry to burst your bubble, but you won’t live another 100 years.” 

“I’m a Lokomo, not a human.” Byrne shot the hat a glare, “We age, but at a much slower rate than humans do.”

“How old are you precisely?” Fi asked curiously. 

It didn’t look like he was going to answer for a long moment before finally sighed, “216. Lokomo live to be around 500.” 

Link’s jaw almost dropped open, “You’re over 200 years old?”

He nodded. 

“A-And your plan was just to wait 100 years until you could go home?”

“If that is my only option, then that is what I will do.” 

“Sadly, we do not have that option.” Fi said, “The three of us come from three different time periods in the past. We have to go back in time, not forward, as well as figure out what happened to make us fall through time in the first place.” 

“I don’t know.” Byrne told her, “I was fighting Malladus with the Link and Zelda of my time. He tried to kill me with a spell, but instead I ended up here.” 

“My Link and I had already defeated Vaati when we were taken.” Ezlo said.

“As were my Master and I. Our fight was over. I think it is safe to say that none of our respective enemies were responsible for our fall through time.” Fi concluded.

“Mine could be.” Link put in, “Midna sent me away before the real fight with him began. He may have done something.” 

“The chances are low, but not impossible,” Fi conceded, “At this point we need more information before we can know for certain.”

“Where exactly are you hoping to get more information?” Gonzo asked. 

“Is there any way to get below the sea and talk to Tetra or Link?” 

He shook his head, “You need some sort of magic to open the portal, at least, that’s what Link said.” 

“I think we can handle that.” Ezlo smirked, “Between the three of us, we’ve got some magic.”

“I may be able to help as well.” Byrne offered. 

Gonzo looked between all of them before sighed, “You know what, I’m not even gonna argue. Let’s get going.”

Chapter Text

Pipit frowned. 

Then he glared. 

Finally, he huffed. 

“You have to let me go sometime.” 

“You will be let go when time says you will be taken.” the man said, waving his hand mystically over the crystal ball in front of him. He was dressed in orange robes with vaguely purple hair. A green eyeball sat in the middle of his hat, seemingly always staring ominously at Pipit no matter where he stood in the cluttered tent. 

“That makes no sense!” Pipit yelled, frustrated, “How can I be let go if I’m getting taken?!”

“Hey, watch what you say about my sweetie-pie!” the old lady guarding the door screamed at him, “His fortunes are never wrong! If he says you need to be here, then you need to be here!”

“His fortunes are made up! There’s more value in Chu Jelly than in listening to him!”

She grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it at him. Considering this was the fifth pillow that the woman had lobbed at his head, Pipit didn’t even blink. “Watch your mouth before I wash it out with soap! We didn’t have to take you in when we found you, you know! You should be grateful!”

“I was grateful right up until you started yelling at me.” Pipit growled out through his clenched teeth, crossing his arms and trying, and failing, to not look like he was pouting. 

“Gratefulness will never be given, only earned.” the fortune teller spoke up, lifting his voice to sound ominous. 

“Ok, seriously, what does that EVEN MEAN?!”

Link woke up to the smell of sizzling bacon and the sound of hushed voices. 

Groaning, he sat up. Blinking rapidly, trying to chase away the sleepy haze that clung to him, he saw his friends gathered around the table on the far end of the room, Rusl was crouched nearby and focused on the breakfast foods. 

“Did’ya save some fer me?” Link mumbled. He still felt exhausted and the words somehow felt heavy in his mouth. 

None of that mattered though, not when he could see the bacon. It looked delicious. 

Rusl jumped up at his voice, “Link!”

“You’re awake!” 

“How are you feeling?!”

“Do you remember what happened?!”

The others all started yelling, their words jumbling over each other in a desperate attempt to get answers. Link’s head started to hurt, trying to sort through everything they were saying. 

The group had rushed towards the bed as they spoke, Auru getting there first. He pulled the young hero into a tight hug. Link let out a groan, his entire body feeling sore, but hugged back. 

“How are you? Are you feeling alright?” he asked quickly. 

Link nodded slowly, “Mostly hungry.” 

Auru let out a sigh of relief, smiling, “Well, that’s easy enough to fix.” 

“I’m on it!” Rusl called out, turning back to the food and immediately fixing Link a plate. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone eat as much as you do.” Ashei said. 

Link raised an eyebrow at her, catching the slight smile she sent his way. Link knew that was her way of saying she was glad he was ok. 

Rusl came back quickly, holding a plate piled high with food. Link took it eagerly, stuffing some toast and bacon into his mouth at once. The flavors seemed to melt together perfectly and he sighed in contentment. 

“Fanks.” he mumbled through the bite. 

Rusl chuckled, ruffling his hair affectionately. 

“Are you really feeling alright though?” Auru asked again. 

Link swallowed and then nodded, “For the most part. Sore, but mostly tired.” 

“You’ve been asleep for almost an entire day.” Impaz told him. 

Link’s eyes widened in shock, “An entire day?!”

The others nodded. 

“We were really worried.” Rusl said, “After what happened, you just collapsed. We couldn’t wake you up, no matter how many potions we gave you.” 

“‘Wh-What happened’? What do you mean ‘what happened’?” Link asked. 

They all exchanged a nervous glance before Auru spoke up, “How much do you remember?”

“I remember getting here. We got to the village and knocked on the door and….wait, that’s not right….” Link trailed off, confused. “I woke up here. I was really hurt and you all were trying to explain something, but there was…wait, that’s still not right.”

“Link-” Rusl said as gently as he could. 

Link just shook his head, ignoring him and looking more confused than ever, “This is impossible. I have two sets of memories. I remember coming here with you guys and waking up here, not knowing who any of you were.” 

“What else do you remember?” Ashei asked. 

“I…I remember Hyrule and…fighting Ganondorf.” he mumbled, “But I remember it two ways. That’s not possible, right? I can’t remember both. One of them has to be wrong.” 

“Maybe not.” Impaz muttered. Link stared at her, finally catching sight of the grim expressions everyone else had. 

“What do you mean? Do you know what happened?”

Auru sighed, “Look, from our perspective, what happened was strange.” 

“That’s putting it mildly,” Ashei huffed.

“Well?” Link sat up as straight as he could, ignoring the ache in his arms as he propped himself up. He looked at all of his friends intently, “What happened?”

“You, well, the you in the bed, he touched your hand, touched the Triforce.” Auru explained, “As soon as he did that, the both of you started to…” he seemed at a loss for words, unable to describe it. 

Rusl jumped in, “Blur. You both started to blur. We could tell you were there, but it was like a ghost. You were very indistinct.” 

“That’s it, precisely.” Auru nodded in agreement, “You blurred. Then you two seemed to melt together until there weren’t two of you anymore, just one.” 

“You came back on your own, no more blurring or melting, but you were unconscious. You were breathing, and the injuries from the Link in the bed were gone, but we couldn’t get you to wake up. We gave you four potions before Auru said we should just let you rest.” Ashei said. 

“I-I don’t remember any of that.” he whispered. 

“If time really has broken, this could simply be time trying to repair itself.” Impaz suggested, “Two of the same people, from different points in their life, can’t exist at once. It’s impossible.”

“The Light Spirits did say that I could contain the damage if I found the others who fell through time.” Link mumbled, “I didn’t think they meant this though.” 

“Do you really have two sets of memories?” Rusl asked, leaning forward curiously. 

Link nodded, “I remember falling to this time, but I also remember getting to the surface and sailing away with Tetra. We were trying to find a new Hyrule, but got taken by a Ghost Ship to the Ocean King’s Realm.”

“I guess that’s what was supposed to happen if time hadn’t fallen apart.” Impaz said. 

Link shrugged, still sorting through the two sets of memories he had. It was strange, comparing them side-by-side. Knowing exactly what his life was, and what it could’ve been. His brain hurt trying to think it through. 

“Do you think that the other traveler is another version of you that you have to ‘absorb’?” Ashei asked. 

He shuddered immediately, “I hope not. It hurt.” 

“Are you ok?” Auru whispered, laying a hand on his shoulder. 

After a minute, Link nodded, “I…I will be. I-I think I just need some time.” 

“Anyone would.” he smirked, “How about your breakfast? Food helps no matter the situation.” 

Link cracked a small smile, “I won’t argue with that.”

Irene spotted two women waving at her from the island’s beach and immediately changed course for them. The sooner she could find directions back to Hyrule, the better. 

As she got nearer she was able to make out more details. The two women looked like polar opposites. One was dressed in all dark clothing, her forehead covered in a tattoo of an eye and a long strand of blonde hair hanging from her temple. The other was dressed in much brighter colors, her fierce red hair held back by a jeweled band. 

Irene brought her broom to a simple stop in front of them, about a foot off the ground. 

‘Perfect landing.’ she smirked to herself. 

“Hey, would either of you know the way back to Hyrule from here?” she called out. 

Both of the women looked at her, stunned. Then the red head smiled, hand on her hip, “What a surprise, we were going to ask you that.”

“You were, I wasn’t.” the other one said, “I’ve never heard of Hyrule.” 

“You haven’t?” she raised an eyebrow at her companion, “Why didn’t you say so?”

“We didn’t exactly have time for detailed introductions.” 

“Wait, you two don’t know each other?” Irene asked, confused. 

The first woman shook her head, “We met just a few minutes ago. Suffice it to say, we’re lost ourselves.” 

“Darn it.” Irene huffed, “I really need to get home.”

“We do as well.” the blonde woman said, “Do you know where we are at least?”

Irene nodded, “Astrid said that this was a place called Mercay Island. She also said that I should ask for a guy named ‘Oshus’ and that he could point me in the right direction.” 

“Maybe we should talk to him as well.” The red head suggested. 

Irene shrugged, “I don’t see why not. Astrid seemed to think that he could help.” 

“Then, if you don’t mind the company, we’ll come with you. I’m Urbosa.” she smiled again. 

“Irene.” the witch nodded politely. 

“Impa.” The blonde woman said. 

Irene’s smile grew excitedly, “Hey, I have a friend named Impa!”

“Must be a common name.” she huffed, ignoring Urbosa’s knowing smirk. 

Irene just shrugged, “Maybe. I’ll admit, I don’t know her that well. I met her kind of recently thanks to Greenie.” 

“Greenie?” Urbosa asked. 

“Friend of mine and a complete slowpoke. Seriously, he owes me big time for hauling his butt all over Hyrule and Lorule.” Irene huffed. “Seriously, would it be too much for a simple thank you?”

Urbosa chuckled, “I like you kid, and I’d love to hear more about this ‘Greenie’, but maybe later. Now come on, let’s find Oshus.” 

“There are some houses nearby.” Impa pointed. 

Irene shrugged, “Good enough for me.” 

She hopped off her broom, walking in between the two women to the closest house. On the far side they could see a bridge and what looked like a village. 

The door to the house was wide open. Impa knocked on the doorframe, calling out a greeting. There was no answer. 

Impa knocked again, but Irene poked her head in. 

“Irene!” Impa scolded immediately.

“I don’t think anyone’s home.” Irene muttered, “Plus the door’s wide open. It might be abandoned.” 

“That doesn’t mean you can just walk right in!”

“I didn’t though.” Irene said cheekily, pointing to her feet which were still outside of the door, “I only poked my head in.”

Urbosa chuckled, “She’s got you there.”

“A loophole doesn’t make it any less rude!” 

“If it is abandoned, can I go in?” Irene asked. 

“No!” Impa huffed. 

“Sure, why not?” Urbosa shrugged at the same time. 

Irene smiled and strolled in, ignoring Impa’s grumbling. 

Urbosa laughed softly, “Lighten up Impa, she’s a kid.” 

“She needs a lesson in manners.” 

“My Granny taught me plenty of manners!” Irene yelled over her shoulder, already nearing the back wall of the house, “She also said that if someone is dumb enough to leave their door open then they’re just asking to be robbed. We aren’t robbing them, this is more like a lesson in not leaving your door open, so really, we’re being doubly polite.”

Impa could feel her eye begin to twitch and Urbosa started laughing again. 

“You’d know, I’d love to see you argue your logic with a friend of mine.” she said, walking in after her. 

Impa groaned, finally accepting defeat and following them in. 

“Gladly.” Irene smiled up at her before she kept looking around. 

The house was actually very well kept. She couldn’t see any dust anywhere and everything was organized and put away. Irene was sure that even her Granny would’ve liked how organized the shelves were. She was always telling Irene that a witch’s first lesson was to keep her shelves organized, otherwise you could never find the ingredients you needed when you needed them. 

“For someone who didn’t want to be rude, you sure are snooping through a lot of items over there.” Urbosa’s voice rang out. 

Irene spun around to see what she meant. 

“I was just curious.” Impa muttered, looking intently at the painting in her hands, “This looks remarkably similar to a friend of mine.” 

Irene’s eyes widened as she recognized the golden frame. 

“Hey, that is my friend!” she yelled, rushing forward. She tried grabbing it from her, but Impa was much taller, easily lifting it above Irene’s head. The witch caught a glimpse of the painting, seeing the simple, stark lines that detailed her friend’s image. She suppressed a shudder as she remembered what it felt like to be trapped in a similar painting. 

“What do you mean this ‘ is ’ your friend?” Impa asked, eyebrow raised at the young girl. 

“I mean my friend is trapped in there!” Irene yelled, trying to jump up to grab the painting. She failed, her fingers coming nowhere close to the edge. “Yuga trapped us all in paintings like that!”

“Yuga?” Urbosa asked.

Irene nodded, glaring at the painting, “He used all of us to release Ganon and try to steal the princess’s Triforce. Greenie saved all of us and was trying to save her! Now, let me have her back!”

She tried to get the painting again, but Impa held it even higher. 

Urbosa grabbed Irene’s arm, stopping her from jumping again, “Wait, did you just say Ganon? And the Princess?”

“Duh.” Irene said, “Ganon was sealed away by the Seven Sages. Yuga used us to free him so that they could try to steal the Triforce from Zelda.” 

“Zelda?!”

“Her Grace?!”

Both of them exclaimed at once, turning to each other in shock once they registered what the other had said. 

“You know the princess?!”

“I don’t know who ‘Princess’ is! I know Her Grace, Zelda!”

“Wait, how do you both know Zelda?!” Irene yelled at both of them.

“How do you know her?” Impa snapped. 

“Excuse me, I made deliveries to the castle all the time before she got kidnapped! I never saw either one of you there!”

“Interesting because I never saw you there.” Urbosa turned to glare at her, “And I would certainly remember a ‘Yuga’ turning the princess into a painting. There is no one named Yuga in Hyrule. There is a Yiga clan, but no Yuga.”

“That’s because he's from Lorule!”

“There is no Hyrule or Lorule!” Impa yelled, “There is the Surface and there is Skyloft, nothing else!” 

“That has to be the most ridiculous thing you’ve said yet!” Urbosa barked at her. 

“Let me have my friend! I have to get her back to safety before Yuga shows up to kidnap her again!”

“Your friend isn’t in this painting!” 

“I have to say, this isn’t quite what I was expecting when I came home.” A new voice interrupted. All three of them turned to the door, shocked into silence, and saw an old man with a large cane in the doorway. He wasn’t much taller than Irene with a large bushy beard that covered most of his face. 

“Now, what exactly is going on here?” he asked. 

Urbosa sighed, trying to force her anger away, “Our apologies. The door was open. We were looking for someone and saw the painting you have here. It…Let’s just say it sparked an argument.” 

“That would be an understatement.” he chuckled, “But then again, I suppose that any painting that appears out of nowhere could cause an argument.” 

“Out of…nowhere?” Irene asked, tilting her head in confusion. 

He nodded, “Yes. I had just gotten home and it appeared in the sky, landing on my head! Not a great welcome back, I must say.” 

“We’re sorry for barging into your home.” Impa sighed. 

“I don’t mind visitors.” he said, making his way to the table, “Tell me, who exactly were you looking for?”

“Oshus.” Irene answered, “Astrid sent me to find him and we met on the way.” 

“Good for you then.” he said. 

“It is?” 

He nodded, “Yes. I’m Oshus. Astrid is a good friend of mine.” 

Irene’s shoulders slumped in relief. 

“I’m Urbosa. This is Impa and Irene.” Urbosa gestured to each of them. 

He nodded again, pointing to the other seats around the table, “Why don’t you three join me? Something tells me we’re going to be having a long conversation.” 

The three of them exchanged a quick look. Irene shrugged. 

Urbosa shrugged, leading the way with the others following and settling into their seats, Impa laying the painting in the center of the table. 

“Now, who wants to go first?” Oshus asked. 

“I guess I could.” Irene volunteered. 

“Very well.” 

Irene took a deep breath, bracing herself, and then launched into her story.

Chapter Text

Zelda shrieked, flying high into the air. The shuffling, bandaged wrapped monster didn’t seem to notice. 

“Oh gross, gross gross!” she cried out, shaking her arms as if she could shake off the slimy feeling on her skin. Which she didn’t actually have and only imagined she felt. She hadn’t meant to accidentally walk straight through the mummy, but she hadn’t been paying attention when she walked around the corner of the house and next thing she knew, she had gotten an up close and personal view of what a decayed zombie looked like. 

She hated it even more than rats. 

Zelda shuddered, looking down at the ground from her safe perch in the sky. She had no clue where she was, no idea what had happened, and both Link and her body were missing. 

It was like the day Cole had stolen her body all over again. 

Her heart fell as she looked around everywhere. Other than the horrifying mummy monsters, there didn’t seem to be anything even close to living anywhere nearby and she certainly wasn’t going into that creepy house on her own, whether or not the monsters could see her. She didn’t know why they were circling around it, but she wasn’t going to stick around to find out. 

Zelda turned and flew away in the other direction. 

There seemed to be some sort of planet, moon, something , in the sky ahead of her and it looked, well not exactly safer, but the town underneath it was certainly less creepy. Maybe this was simply another ploy by Malladus and Cole, but frankly, she didn’t care. She and Link would take care of them…once she found him that is. 

Zelda flew as quickly as she could, racing away from the terrifying place she had woken up. Soon the bare rock turned into a field, the green grass stretching out happily towards the sun. Zelda immediately felt herself relax. The large field reminded her of the Forest Realm, which had always been her favorite. 

She paused as she got closer though. Now that she had a better view, she could tell that it was indeed a moon hovering above the town. However, it had a face? The evil expression stared down at the town as if it couldn’t wait to finish falling and flattening it. The entire thing seemed close enough for her to fly up and touch it, but the moon’s eyes seemed to be able to stare straight at her, unnerving her. 

She hovered in the air, arms crossed, as she contemplated it. What exactly had Malladus and Cole done? 

Faint yelling reached her ears and she turned to look at the ground. Not far away, two people seemed to be fighting, yelling and throwing punches. Zelda rolled her eyes and made her way over to them. 

She paused when she got there, taken back by the sight of them. The royal family had legends of the Great Sea and the people who populated it, legends all handed down from when Tetra and the Hero of Wind had left in search of New Hyrule. However, Zelda hadn’t ever thought she’d see one of those races for herself, yet it was obvious that the two men in front of her were part of the Rito Tribe. None of them had chosen to make the trip to New Hyrule, choosing to stay with their guardian dragon. 

It was also obvious that these two men were not getting along, one of them throwing another punch and the other dodging quickly. The one who dodged pulled out his bow, knocking an arrow quickly. He aimed and let go, but the other man flapped his wings in the perfect moment, creating enough of a breeze to completely whip the arrow into the other direction. 

“Hey! Stop it!” Zelda yelled. There was going to be absolutely no murder on her watch! She flew in between them, holding out her arms to try to keep them separate, “Both of you, stop it! Now!” 

The first one flew right through her, tacking the other man to the ground. Zelda groaned to herself, “Right…ghost. They can’t see me.” 

The two of them were rolling around on the ground, still yelling at each other. She didn’t even try to decipher their words. At least they weren’t brandishing weapons at each other anymore. She’d celebrate that small victory. 

Zelda rolled her eyes and turned back to contemplating the moon once again.

A moment later she tilted her head, looking at it in confusion. 

“Is someone…dancing up there?”

Link officially hated the desert. 

And not just this one, but every one. 

It was always way too hot and the sand got absolutely everywhere and there was never enough water. 

He hated deserts. 

Still, he trudged along, following this strange ladder he’d found on the ground. It seemed pointed towards the pyramid in the distance and he’d hoped to find someone there who could help answer his questions. 

The thing he hated most about desserts though, was quite possibly the fact that no matter how close or far away something looked, you could never tell exactly how close or far away you were. The heat made everything shimmer in the distance like it was some kind of illusion. Link had been walking for hours at this point, but it didn’t seem like he’d come any closer to the pyramid. 

He continued on anyway. He didn’t have any other ideas of what he could do. 

There was a sharp, piercing whistle and Link jumped back, drawing his sword and shield in one fluid motion. A large contraption was barreling its way towards him, seeming to run along the ladder on the ground. 

Link moved to the side, standing firm as there was a large squeal, the contraption slowing down as it neared him. 

He waited, watching intently, as the machine pulled into a neat stop. There seemed to be different boxes that made up this machine and a man poked his head out from behind the first one now. 

“Hey, you alright?!”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Link called back cautiously. 

“What are you doing way out here?” the man asked, looking around in confusion as if the reason would suddenly appear, “Everyone’s been really worried about you! They think you disappeared!” 

He dropped down to the ground, approaching Link with a small huff, “Come on, drop the weapons! It’s me!”

“I…don’t think we’ve ever met.” Link said, still holding his weapons at the ready. 

The man’s face fell, “Link, come on, it’s me, Alfonzo, your teacher! We’ve known each other for years!”

Link shook his head slowly, “Sorry, but I think you have me confused with someone else.” 

“Alfonzo!” a woman called out, opening the door on one of the other boxes, “Why did we stop?!”

She stepped out, another girl following closely behind, and Link’s heart nearly stopped. 

“Princess Zelda?”

Her gaze landed on him as soon as he spoke, jaw dropping, “L-Link?!”

“I found him!” Alfonzo said, “But he doesn’t remember me! And-”

Something seemed to occur to the man and he looked back and forth between Link and Zelda, finally sighing in defeat, “This is the wrong Link, isn’t it?”

“I think so.” Zelda murmured, still staring at him in amazement, “I-I knew that we’d talked about this possibly happening, but actually seeing it is entirely different.”

“I know what you mean.” the other girl whispered, also looking at him in surprise, “There are some differences, but they just look so alike. ”

“I’m sorry, what are you talking about?” Link asked, finally lowering his weapons. 

“It’s…complicated.” Zelda said. 

“Let’s get out of this heat, then we can explain.” Alfonzo said, still looking depressed, “You two can fill him in while I keep driving. I can’t just leave the train sitting here while we talk.”

The other girl nodded, “Thank you Alfonzo.”

“Come on.” Zelda motioned to the door in one of the boxes and Link immediately took a step back, “I’m sorry, you want me to get in that?”

“It’s perfectly safe, I promise.” Zelda assured him, “It takes a little getting used to, but it’s actually very amazing technology.” 

Link looked between all of them one more time before he shrugged, finally putting away his weapons, “Well, I’ve done weirder.” 

“I’m Medli, by the way.” the other girl said as she held the door open for him. Link nodded politely. 

Inside the box seemed to be two rows of benches. “What is this thing?”

“It’s called a train.” Zelda said excitedly, sitting on one of the benches now. Link and Medli sat with her, “Alfonzo told us all about it. It’s a machine that people can ride in to get from one place to another, but so much faster than anything else! Days of walking can now be covered in only a couple hours! Like a mine cart that can go over a whole country!”

“Hmmm, could’ve used that before.” Link mumbled to himself. 

The train lurched beneath them and Link watched as the landscape started to fly past them outside the window. 

“Alfonzo is taking us to a place called the Sand Sanctuary. There’s a man there who we were hoping could help us.” Zelda was telling him, dragging his attention away from the window. 

“Help you with what?”

“It’s going to sound hard to believe.” Medli whispered, “But we think that we’ve all traveled in time.” 

Link groaned, “Seriously, again?”

The two girls exchanged a very confused look. 

“I’m sorry, what do you mean ‘ again’ ?” Zelda asked. 

“I mean I thought I was done with the traveling in time thing.” Link huffed, crossing his arms, “First with Hyrule, then with Termina. I was really hoping to be able to finally stay in one time!”

Zelda looked more confused than ever, but Medli gasped, hands flying to her mouth, “Wait-y-you-are you the Hero of Time?!”

“The what?” Zelda asked. 

“Yep.” Link said, popping the ‘P’ and smirking, “The one and only. I think. Depends on what timeline we’re in. It got weird for a while there.” 

“We have so many legends about you!” Medli was almost gushing, “The entire Great Sea knows about your heroics, your adventures!”

Link raised an eyebrow, “The Great Sea?”

She nodded quickly, “Yes! In my time, me and my tribe, the Ritos, all live in the Great Sea, along with the remaining humans, hylians, gorons and koroks! I don’t think that there’s a person anywhere in my time that hasn’t heard about all you’ve done for Hyrule!”

“So, the quiet life never really becomes an option then?” He asked, his tone halfway joking and halfway disappointed. 

“You’re taking this remarkably well…” Zelda said. 

Link shrugged again, “I have a mask that makes tiny birds march around and then grow up. After a while, I just stopped questioning and learned to go along with it.” 

“I can’t tell if that’s good or bad.” 

“Honestly? It’s easier to not try to figure it out.” 

“If you are the Hero of Time though, is there anything you can do to help us get back to our own times?” Medli asked him hopefully. 

Link frowned, thinking it over, “I mean, maybe? To tell you the truth, I’m not really in charge of how or when I travel through time. I just know what to do to trigger it and hope that it works. I do know how to slow it down some and to speed it up if needed, but actually moving through time? It’s more of a hope and prayer than anything? I just tend to have more luck than the average person.” 

“I’m confused, what do you mean exactly?” Zelda asked. 

“Well the first time wasn’t even really by choice. I wasn’t old enough so I was basically put in a coma for 7 years until my body grew up. Then it was just more magically going back and forth between two points of my own personal timeline than anything else. The second time it happened, I played a song, more of a prayer of ‘please let this work because I’m completely out of ideas’, and it sent me back in time to relive the last three days all over again.” Link explained. “See, I didn’t really have any control over what kind of time travel I used. I just knew what to do to trigger the process and hope it worked out. The Goddess of Time is the one who decided exactly what kind of time travel I would get if I needed any at all. At least, that’s how Rauru, Tatl, and Zelda explained it.”

He turned to Zelda quickly, shaking his head, “Sorry, not you. My Zelda. Well, not mine exactly, but the one from my time.”

“I know what you meant.” She chuckled, “As far as we can tell, me and you are both ancestors or descendants of other Zeldas and Links throughout time. It’s the only way we can explain the resemblance.” 

“That makes sense.”

“Could the Goddess of Time help us out here?” Medli wondered. 

“Maybe.” Link stared at the ground thoughtfully, “It depends on why we traveled to this time in the first place. If the goddess is the one who sent us here, then she won’t send us home until we finish whatever it was that she needed our help with. If she wasn’t the one who sent us here, then someone else is using time magic and we need to figure out who and why…and then possibly stop them.” 

“You’d be the expert on that.” Zelda said, “You know more about time magic than anyone else we’ve met.” 

“The man we’re going to see, Rael, has supposedly studied it a little and we were hoping he could help.” Medli told him. 

“To be honest, I’m not really an expert, not compared to the guy who taught me. The thing about time magic is that the best way to learn about it is through experience, but even that can be dangerous.”

“What do you mean?”

Link sat up straighter, holding out both of his hands, “Ok, so time travel and time magic are two different things, while being so heavily influenced by the other that people assume they are the same thing.”

He raised his left hand, “Over here we have time magic. You can use this to speed time up, slow it down, age someone, pause time, things like that.” 

He raised his right hand, “Now over here is time travel. This lets you go back to the past or to the future.”

“Right, two separate things.” Zelda said and Medli nodded. 

“But heavily influenced by each other.” Link reminded them, “You cannot travel in time without using time magic to do so. By the same token, you can’t use time magic without understanding time travel and how it works, in order to fully understand the time spells you are casting and what the ramifications might be.”

He put both of his hands together, interlacing his fingers, “Because of how intertwined they are, people always assume that there is no difference between the two, but there is. When people don’t fully understand that, they can cause lots of ripple effects throughout any of the possible timelines.” 

“Any of the possible timelines?” Medli’s brow furrowed in confusion as she tried to work it out, but Link just nodded. 

“That’s the other part about time travel you have to understand. You can travel to the past or the future, but you can’t actually change it. Time is fluid, every moment is always changing, but at the same time, it’s set in stone. When you travel to another time, you aren’t really changing the timeline, you are more creating an alternate reality of what could have happened from that point on . Therefore, both realities are true at once, a time where you time traveled and a time where you didn’t.”

“My head hurts.” Zelda groaned. Link patted her shoulder comfortingly. 

“You get used to it.” 

“That doesn’t help.”

“Maybe this will,” Link suggested, “Picture time as a tree. The timeline you live in is the trunk of the tree and every time you time travel, a new branch pops up. The trunk is still there, so the time you live in is still there, but so is the branch. Both of them live at the same time, even though they belong to the same plant.”

“That helps a little.” Medli muttered, “Could each branch have its own branch, like a regular tree?”

He nodded, “Yeah. Technically each branch could have an infinite number of branches, depending on how much time travel you do.”

“And so every time you use time magic, you could be affecting that branch you are currently in or any of the branches around you.” Zelda muttered, slow understanding dawning on her face, “You don’t know if it will sprout leaves, a new branch, rot out the current branch, or anything else, unless you understand the tree itself.” 

“That’s it!” Link burst out excitedly, “I have to say, it took me a lot longer to grasp the concept than it took you two.” 

“I wouldn’t say that we’ve fully grasped it quite yet.” she muttered. 

“You’ve got the basics and that’s what counts.” he smiled, “The main thing is that time magic and time travel always work this way, no matter what branch of time you are in. The only exception I’ve ever seen to that rule is Termina.” 

“Termina?”

“Termina. Apparently, based on some sort of universal definition of the word, Termina isn’t another timeline, but something called a realm. I’m not quite sure what makes it a realm, but because it is one, then everything works differently. When it comes to realms, you basically throw the rulebook out the window because they have their own rules which are constantly changing. Sometimes they follow the standard rules, sometimes they don’t.” Link grumbled, staring at the empty seat across from them, “It’s a massive headache most of the time. That’s how I was able to relive the same three days over and over again in Termina without creating any new timelines.” 

“Wait, how do realms fit into the metaphor?” Zelda asked. 

“They’re more like the acorn that fell and sprouted on the ground. Not technically part of the tree, but related to it. However, instead of sprouting a tree, it sprouted a single branch that doesn’t follow the rules of nature or the seasons.” 

“I’m really glad I don’t have to use time magic.” Medli sighed. 

“Me too.” Zelda smiled at her before turning back to Link, “How exactly do you know so much about all of this? Was it all just from your own time travel?”

“Some of it.” Link said, “You can only time travel so much before you start picking up on things. Rauru, Zelda, and Tatl were able to fill me in on some of it. Most of it was taught to me by a friend in Termina though. He was super creepy, but super knowledgeable. I spent more than a couple of my three day rotations just learning from him about all of this. He never explained how he knew all of it, but that’s part of what made him so creepy. He never really talked about himself.” 

“Well, I’m very grateful that he taught you so much.” Medli smiled, “If he hadn’t, all of us would be much worse off right now!” 

The other two could only nod in agreement, Zelda chuckling a little. 

“So, what should we do?” Zelda asked. 

“I think we go with Medli’s first idea, reach out to the Goddess of Time and see if she can help.” Link said, “At the very least, we might be able to figure out if she sent us here or not.” 

“How exactly do we do that?”

Link reached into his bag, pulling out a blue instrument, “This is the Ocarina of Time. My Zelda gave it to me before I left Hyrule. If I play the Song of Time on it, maybe she’ll hear us and help us out?” 

“Do you think she will?”

He shrugged, “Won’t know until we find out.”

Exchanging one last look with all of them, Link put the instrument to his lips and began to play.

Two tall blue figures, fins and gills adorning them, stood on the beach, watching a third figure, tiny and blonde, at their feet. They exchanged an uncertain look. 

“Should we do anything?” 

“Probably. At the very least we should get them somewhere safer.” 

“Where though? Should we take her home?”

The other one immediately shook their head, “They’re human, they’d never survive the swim back to the Domain.”

“Link did.” 

They sighed, “Need I remind you that not only was Link the hero, but he was also conscious ? Have you ever seen an unconscious human survive that trip?”

“Well, what do we do then?”

“There’s a house over there. We can take her there and hope they can help her more than we can.” 

“The Laboratory?”

“Hopefully they have a doctor there.” 

They reached down and gently picked up the small girl. Her red bandana fell in her face and her blonde hair fell out of its usual bun. Together, the two Zora carried her over to the Lakeside Laboratory.

Link was jerked awake by somebody slamming into him. His head snapped back into the stump that he'd accidentally fallen asleep against and he immediately groaned, pain blossoming and spreading from the impact. 

There was an answering groan. 

Link opened his eyes slowly, seeing a green blur lying on top of him. 

“Ouch.” 

“Sorry. I didn’t see you there.” a voice muffled in response. The green blur moved around, lessening the pressure on his ribs. Link rubbed his eyes, the world slowly coming back into focus. 

“Woah…” the person who had fallen on him whispered, staring at him in shock. 

Link couldn’t blame him. 

“Perfect timing. I don’t suppose you’re the Link of this time, are you? I told your Uncle I would keep an eye out for you.” Link took it in stride and stood up, brushing the dirt off of his clothes. This was exactly what he needed after his failed search for the Picori! Finally, something seemed to be going his way! 

“Excuse me, what?” the other Link sputtered at him. “The Link…of this time?”

“Yeah, long story, I promise I’ll explain. But first, I think Link’s Uncle mentioned something about a talking hat. Does your hat talk?”

“I…don’t think so?” the other Link turned, trying to look at it, before finally whipping it off his head and staring into it intently. “Yeah, no talking here…why would my hat talk again?”

Link sighed in frustration. Ok, maybe not everything was going his way, but at least this was progress! He would be optimistic, he would! He put a smile back on his face and held out a hand, “Like I said, long story. Anyway, I’m Link!” 

The other Link looked at him as if he was insane, “That can’t be right, I’m Link. Why do you have my name? And why do you look so much like me?”

“Apparently there are a bunch of us.” Link said, finally putting his hand down. “People kept treating me like I was the Link of this time, but I honestly wasn’t expecting to meet a third Link. That did throw me off guard a bit.” 

“I’m sorry…what?”

“Long story.” 

“You’re going to have to start explaining eventually! You can’t just keep saying ‘long story’ and assume that’s a good answer!” 

Link looked at the other Link critically. His tunic was different than the one Link himself wore and his hair was bushier, especially with his bangs. A weird looking bracelet sat on his wrist and the Master Sword was slung on his back. This was definitely a Link, but that gave him more questions than answers. 

Ok, time for a new theory. Obviously his old one wasn’t working anymore. Not that he had much of a theory to begin with. 

He had been fighting Ganondorf. Then he woke up with Hailey and Gale only to then go and meet the Uncle of the Link from this Hyrule. Now there was a third Link standing in front of him, obviously more confused than he was. 

It was also obvious that he was in a different Hyrule than the one he knew. 

He’d said the phrase ‘the Link of this time’ for simplicity's sake, but what if it was more true than he thought? What if he hadn’t just traveled to a different Hyrule, but also to another time? 

“I have an idea.” Link said cautiously, waiting to see how the other Link would react. They seemed to be open to listening, if wary of him. “I’m not sure if I’m right, but my best guess is that we are both in another time.”

“Another time?” the other Link scoffed, “You really think that’s what happened? And what, you are myself from the future?”

“No, obviously not.” Link shook his head quickly, “I would remember being you. You don’t know who I am so it’s obvious that you aren’t the future version of me. And you didn’t mention anything when I said ‘Uncle’ earlier, so I don’t think you have anything to do with the Link that I’ve had people telling me about since I got here.” 

“Then why in the world do you think that we’ve traveled in time?”

“It’s the best idea that makes sense.” 

“So what, I just fell onto you and now we’re time travelers?” He raised an eyebrow. 

Link shrugged, “I’m sure it’s more complicated than that, but here is some proof if you want it.”

He reached behind him, pulling out his own Master Sword and holding it out between them. 

The other Link gasped, eagerly pulling out his own sword and holding it parallel to Link’s. 

“They’re completely identical!” 

“The Master Sword cannot be duplicated. At all. People have tried, at least, that’s what I’ve been told. They’ve never come close though.” Link said, smiling at the two weapons. “Therefore, the only way for us both to have the Master Sword would be if we had it at two different points in time. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me.” 

“So if we are really in different times, then-”

“Something went really wrong with someone’s time spell-”

“And our times are left without us which means-”

“We should really look at how we can get home.”

The two Links stared at each other for a long moment before they burst out laughing. 

“I know we’re supposed to be taking this seriously, but that was perfect!” The other Link clutched his sides. 

“Talk about timing!” 

“Ok, puns are not allowed!” 

“But I clocked it perfectly!” 

That sent both of them into another round of laughter. 

“I think I’m going to like having another me around.” Link joked. 

“Why, because someone else can finish your jokes?” 

“And read my mind!” 

The other Link let out another laugh, “Ok, ok, we have to get back on track! If we really have time traveled, how exactly do we get home?”

“Well I was looking for the Picori, I was told they might be able to help, but I think that’s a dead end.” Link looked around critically. 

“Do you know anyone who has time traveled before?”

“Technically me.” Link sighed, “But that’s an even longer story.” 

“Maybe it’ll help?” the other Link suggested with a shrug, “Exactly how did you do it before?”

“It was by accident. I played the Oc-” he cut himself off, eyes going wide, “I’m an idiot.” 

“I’m not disagreeing…but why?”

Link groaned, pulling out the Ocarina of Time, “I played the Song of Time on this, the Ocarina of Time, in order to open the Door of Time so that I could pull the Master Sword out of the Pedestal of Time and it-”

“I’m getting the picture.” the other Link assured him, “Lots of things to do with time, but how does that make you an idiot?”

“I never played the Song of Time after I woke up here! I played all the other ones I knew, but not that one!” he burst out. 

“Could it send us home?”

“Here’s hoping!” Link said excitedly. 

“Let’s try it then!” 

Link lifted the ocarina up and fell into the familiar notes of the song.

Lake Hylia stretched out in front of them, the water almost as blue as the ocean that Link had grown up with. He smiled at the sight. Hyrule was nice, but he felt more comfortable near the water, even if it was just a small lake like this. 

“Ready to meet the last spirit?” Rusl asked. 

Link nodded, holding on tightly as Rusl walked his horse on the wooden planks that lined the lake. Auru and Ashei followed close behind. The walkways seemed to line a lot of the lake, but also connected random bits of land around the edges. It was like they had popped up and tried to become islands, a thought that made Link laugh. 

Ahead of them was a cave, guarded by what looked like large statues of snakes. 

“This is the spring of the Light Spirit Lanayru.” Auru said, “Many citizens of Hyrule come here to leave prayers.”

Link hopped down off of the horse, happy to be back on his own two feet, and pulled out his map. Only two glowing dots were left, practically on top of each other. 

“According to Eldin, one of the other time travelers is here too. Or they were.” 

“Hopefully Lanayru told them to stay here and wait for you.” Ashei said, laying a hand on his shoulder. 

Link smiled up at her. Ever since he’d met himself at the hidden village, he’d noticed that she’d become warmer towards him. Maybe she trusted him a little more after seeing what happened?

He still wasn’t sure how he felt about what happened, having two versions of his memory overlapping each other like that, but every day it got easier. He was still him, just him with extra experience now. He was adjusting. 

“Let’s go.” he led the way into the cave, happy to be so close to getting home. 

Lanayru’s spring had the same atmosphere as the others, as if the place was sacred. A ledge overlooked the spring itself, the water deeper than any of the other springs. Unlike the other springs that Link had visited, Lanayru was already summoned, leaning forward towards the ledge and speaking to someone there. 

Sitting on the ledge, dangling his feet over it, was a tiny boy in a green tunic with bright blond hair. His head was bare, he wore no hat, and his supplies were laying on the ground behind him. 

Link felt his heart deflate a little, “Not gonna lie, I was hoping for someone from my time.” 

The other Link spun around at his voice, eyes lighting up at seeing them. “Hey, you’re finally here!”

“You were expecting us?”

The other Link nodded, jumping up to gather his things, “Lanayru told me you were coming.” He turned to give the giant glowing snake a wide smile, “They also filled me in on everything that’s been happening. I was really confused for the first couple days without her. Thanks again!” 

“You are welcome. I enjoyed the company.” the snake said, nodding her head towards the tiny Link. Now that he was standing up, Link saw that this other Link was incredibly young. He couldn’t be more than 9 or 10 at the most. 

“Auru…” Ashei whispered. 

“I know.” 

Link turned to find all three of his friends staring in amazement at Lanayru. “What is it?”

“None of us have ever seen a Light Spirit before.” Rusl explained in an awestruck tone, still staring up at Lanayru. 

“Most mortals have this reaction. In truth, if you reacted like this less, we would appear more.” Lanayru almost sounded resigned. Link smirked. The other spirits were more ethereal. Lanayru seemed to be trying hard not to be. 

“So you’ve just been waiting here for us?” Link asked. 

“Kinda?” the other Link said. 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, first I woke up in this floating city. There were a bunch of bird people there. They called themselves the Oocca and I stayed with them for a couple days. Then they helped me get here and then I met Lanayru. She said that you have a plan to get us home?” the other Link explained before running to his side. 

Link’s eyes flew wide in a panic and he jumped back before the other Link could get close. That also seemed to shock his friends out of their stupor, Rusl grabbing his shoulders comfortingly. 

“Did I do something wrong?” the other Link asked, looking worried. 

“N-No, sorry. Just, the last time I met myself…well, it grew painful.” Link winced. He’d been stuck in bed for three days waiting for his strength to come back. All they had was healing potions, not stamina potions, so it had been a very slow process and one that he wasn’t ready to repeat. 

“I know of your concerns, Hero. I can assure you, that will not occur again.” 

“How do you know that?”

“That was yourself from your own future. This is not. This is a version of your soul from the past.” 

“So, Impaz was right? Time was just trying to repair itself when they met before?” Ashei asked, glancing at Link. A line appeared between her eyebrows, showing her concern. 

“That is correct. Small issues can be repaired on their own. Bigger issues require more help.”  

Link reached out cautiously, gently poking the other Link’s shoulder. The other Link raised an eyebrow, but didn’t move. When nothing happened, Link sighed in relief and slung an arm over the other Link’s shoulder, “Ok, we’re good then. Sorry, nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too!” he smiled, “Out of curiosity, have you guys seen anyone else from my time? Lanayru said no one else from my time landed here, but-”

“But it doesn’t hurt to double check.” Rusl smiled. 

Link shook his head, “Sorry, no one else. I do have a mask though. Ordona gave it to me. Was it yours?”

The other Link shook his head sadly, “No.”

“Sorry.” 

“We’re working on getting you both home though.” Auru assured him. 

“Speaking of which,” Link turned to Lanayru, digging in his pocket for the vessel. He held it up, “Would you be able to help? All we need is your blessing and then we can contact the Goddess of Time.” 

“I would be glad to.” 

Lanayru glowed brighter for a moment before the flower in his hand began to glow. The final petal unfurled, the full flower in bloom. 

The group smiled at it, a pearlescent sheen surrounding the small token. 

“What do we do now?” the other Link asked, looking at it curiously. 

“Both of you hold onto it and focus on the power held inside. Since you both fell through time, you have the greatest chance of making this work. Focus on the power and on the Goddess of Time. She will hear you.” Lanayru explained before fading away. 

The group watched her go, the Resistance members looking on sadly as she left so suddenly. 

Link turned to his other self, holding out the flower, “Ready?”

He nodded, grabbing part of the stem. 

Link turned to the other three, “I don’t know what exactly happens next, but just in case, thanks for everything!” 

Auru smiled, “We’re just glad to be of help.”

Rusl and Ashei nodded their agreement and Link turned back to the flower in his hand. 

The other Link looked at it, determined. Taking a deep breath, Link closed his eyes, trying to do what Lanayru had said. It wasn’t hard to feel the power inside the vessel. Holding onto that feeling, Link whispered, “Goddess of Time…”

At the same moment that the two Links sent their message to the Goddess of Time, holding onto the vessel and focusing on getting their message through, the final notes of the Song of Time echoed, not only around the forest that another two Links stood in, but also in the otherwise silent train car. 

All three events occurred at once, reaching out through time, turning into pure magic. Magic that stretched and reached and combined together, weaving its way through the rips in the very fabric of time itself until…

“I…hear you…Heroes.”

Someone exhaled, light leaving in their breath. The light met with the magic, once again twisting and turning until it swirled together, leaving back towards the rips in time. It spread out, reaching into all of them.

All at once, everyone who had fallen through time, Heroes and princesses, soldiers and Sages, friends and companions, they all felt a chill. A tugging deep in their chest. 

Before they knew it, all of them were falling once again, back through the cold, dark water that had brought them here.

Chapter Text

Link’s head hurt. 

Again. 

He was getting really tired of waking up with a headache. 

He blinked, his vision slowly coming into focus. With it came a lot of sounds. Mostly yelling. Confused yelling. 

He blinked again, sitting up. He seemed to be in a large, round room. Instead of stone, the floors and walls seemed to be made of some sort of blue crystal. If he squinted hard enough, Link could see through it, making out vague shapes on the other side. It looked like waterfalls? That didn’t make a lot of sense. 

Doors encircled the room, each one different. Some looked like house doors. Others like they belonged in temples. The one closest to him was the most familiar. Link could’ve sworn it was the door to his grandmother’s house. 

Again, it didn’t make a lot of sense. 

In the very center of the room was a small round pedestal. Link guessed that it would come up to about his chest, but it was barely wider than him. Floating above it was a long, translucent ribbon of light, reaching up towards the ceiling. It faded just before it got there, but there was something about the light that drew him in, like there was something familiar about it. The light moved, flowing like water, but never reaching out past the pedestal. 

What really grabbed his attention though, were the people in the room with him. The room was absolutely filled with people, yelling and shouting over one another. Some he recognized. A lot of them he didn’t. Most of them he did, but that was because they were versions of him and Tetra. Well, versions of Tetra back when she was Zelda. 

Link blinked again, rubbing his eyes as he looked around in disbelief. 

How were there so many versions of them here?! The Light Spirits were supposed to help him contact the Goddess of Time to send them home! How were they all here instead?!

Link was more confused than ever, deciding to tune in to all of the yelling in a small attempt to figure out what was going on. 

“What just happened here?!” Ok, not a lot of hope so far. 

“Who are you?!”

“Link, are you ok?!”

“Zelda, Midna, what exactly happened?!”

“My body! Link, look, my body’s here!”

“Why are there so many of you?!”

“Where are we?!”

“Wait, you’re alive?! How?!”

“My Triforce is gone!”

“Mine too! Where did it go?!”

“Ezlo! You’ll never believe what just happened!”

Link watched in amazement as everyone kept arguing, talking over one another. A lot of them seemed to be in the midst of reunions. Link saw the other version of himself that he had met with Lanayru practically launch himself at a floating blue woman, reaching for the green hat on her head. Quill was on the other side of the room, arguing with another Rito while a red-headed woman listened, laughing at them. A version of him with dark hair and a bunny hood kneeled down to look at a painting (was that Zelda?!) with another Link, mumbling under his breath. 

To the other side of the room, Link saw Tetra. Medli was helping her lean against a wall, the pirate’s eyes wide in panic. That made him concerned. Tetra only panicked when things were truly bad. Link followed her line of sight, seeing what she was looking at. 

There, on the ground next to another Zelda, was another Tetra. This one was unconscious, but her breathing was deep and even and she didn’t look injured. 

Memories bombarded him and he realized that one of them must be the Tetra he’d rescued from the Ghost Ship and the other one must not have lived through that yet. It was just like him back in the Hidden Village. 

Link jumped up, rushing his way through the crowd to get to them. Squeezing in between a girl in a witch outfit and a man in a tunic like his, only yellow, Link reached their side. 

“Hey, you ok?” he asked, squeezing Tetra’s hand reassuringly. Medli sent him a small smile in greeting, which he returned. 

Tetra blinked at his voice, staring up at him in shock, “Kid, there’s another version of me. And you. And-and-”

“I know,” he whispered gently, “Time sort of broke. I can explain what happened.”

“You can?” Medli let out a sigh of relief. “We’ve been using guess work up until now, but I’m happy you have an answer.” 

“W-Wait, you knew?!” Tetra started out stammering in shock, but now looked angry. “What exactly is going on here?! What did you two get us involved in now?!”

“I don’t know exactly how it started, but I got lucky and fell into a time with Light Spirits. They gave me the gist of things and asked me for-”

“Wait, back up, fell into a time?!” Tetra cut him off, looking at him in disbelief. 

Link nodded, then realized that none of this was probably helping. From the look on her face, Tetra was more confused than ever. 

“Ok, first of all, don’t worry about your other self, I can help fix that.” he said as reasuringly as possible. One problem at a time, he could handle that. “As far as explaining the rest goes, it might be best to do it all at once.” he glanced around at the rest of the group, still yelling and reuniting, demanding answers. 

Someone else seemed to have the same idea as him though. A small woman with bright red hair and a headpiece floated above the rest. She seemed more like an imp than anything, her skin covered in swirling light and dark patterns. She surveyed the room with her hands on her hips before lifting her fingers to her mouth, letting out a piercing whistle. 

There were more yells and groans as many of them clutched their ears, especially the ones who were closest to her. The Link underneath her in particular looked like he was in a lot of pain, rubbing his ears far longer than anyone else in the room. 

“Alright, now that I can hear myself think, does anyone have any clue what in the Light Realm just happened?!” she yelled. 

“I do!”

“Me too!”

“I have a theory?” 

The woman groaned as most of the room began talking over each other once again, “Alright, let’s try this. Raise your hand if you know what just happened or have any idea where we are!”

Over half the hands in the room went up, the fairies on the far end flying up in the air in lieu of being able to raise their hands. Link was impressed. He didn’t realize that so many people who fell through to other times may have also figured it all out.

“Great, you first little wolf.” the woman nodded to the Link next to her who had his hand up. 

He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the other Rito, the one Quill had been arguing with. “Exactly why should we be listening to you?”

The woman raised her eyebrow at him, “Because I seem to be the only one here with any sort of common sense. The rest of you were too busy arguing and yelling to try to figure something out.” 

Link shivered at her tone of voice. The expression on her face never changed, but he still had a chill down his spine. 

“Midna, lighten up.” the other Link sighed at her, “He’s probably as confused as the rest of us.”

“No, Feathers is just mad that we aren’t listening to him first.” the red-headed woman next to him spoke up. “Please continue on.” 

“Urbosa,” the Rito growled at her. 

She shrugged, “I don’t have time to deal with your bruised ego today, Revali. I want to go home and make sure my people are ok and after what I’ve been through and what I’m seeing here, where no one is attacking us by the way and seems as confused as we are, I’m willing to go on a little faith to get an explanation. So shut up and listen.”

The Rito, Revali, seemed shocked by her voice, not responding. Urbosa gestured toward the floating woman, “Please, continue.”

“Thank you.” the woman smiled appreciatively at her. 

“Wait!” the dark haired Link with the bunny hood spoke up, waving his hands around. 

“What now?” she sighed. 

“I would love an explanation as much as the next person, but can it wait until we get our friend out of this painting?” he gestured to the stained glass looking picture behind him, “I don’t want to have to re-explain it all again in just a few minutes.”

She rolled her eyes, “Fine, but how exactly are you going to do that? Your friend is in a painting. How’d she even get there anyway?”

“Yuga did it.” The witch Link had run past earlier spoke up, “He trapped a bunch of us in them, but Greenie was able to save us. He can get her out as well.” 

She gestured to another Link. He waved quickly before reaching for the painting. Link saw a bracelet flash on his wrist before his hand sunk into the painting as if it was liquid. There were multiple gasps from around the room as they all watched. This Link braced his foot against the edge of the painting and pulled. Slowly, his hands emerged from the painting, clenching someone’s arm tightly between them. 

Bunny Link, for lack of a better name, grabbed hold and helped him pull. With the added help, another Zelda slid out of the painting, collapsing on the two Links who had just freed her, the three of them tumbling to the ground. 

Urbosa looked at them in shock, whispering, “Huh…she really wasn’t lying about that.” 

“Thank you.” Zelda panted, “It’s really hard to breathe in there.” 

“Tell me about it.” The witch scoffed.

“Would you like us to bring you up to date, your majesty?” Bunny Link asked. 

“I believe they were already going to do that.” Painting Zelda gestured to the floating woman and the Link next to her. Like everyone else in the room, they were looking at Painting Zelda in a mix of amazement and confusion. “I was conscious and aware of everything that happened in front of my painting. That reminds me, when this is all over Ravio, we are going to need to have a talk about Hilda and Lorule.” 

She glared at Bunny Link and he blushed guiltily, “To be fair, I tried to stop her.”

“Wait, stop Hilda?” Bracelet Link looked very confused. “But she was helping us stop Yuga.” 

“I’ll explain later.” Painting Zelda said, standing back up and looking towards the floating woman, “Sorry to get sidetracked!”

“Are you…ok?” Another one of the Zeldas looked at her in disbelief, “You were just in a painting!”

Painting Zelda just nodded, “It was like suspension actually? I was conscious and knew what was happening around me, but my body itself was put on a type of pause. I never got hungry or tired. I’m fine, I promise.” 

“...Good to know.” That Zelda did not look reassured by Painting Zelda’s words. 

“Anyone else we need to help first?” the floating woman asked, “What about those two?”

She nodded towards the unconscious Tetra and another Zelda.

Link shook his head immediately, “We don’t need to wake her up. I’ll explain why later.” 

“Ok then.”

“And this is actually me.” Another Zelda spoke up, flying down to the two bodies. This Zelda made Link’s eyes go wide. She looked exactly like Tetra did when Tetra was Zelda, but she was a ghost! An actual ghost! 

“Ok, are you ok?” the same Zelda who had asked it before said, “You’re a ghost!”

“I’m not a ghost!” Ghost Zelda huffed, folding her arms and glaring at her, “I’m just a spirit that has been temporarily disconnected from my body. My body is right down there! I don’t know how to fix myself yet, but I do know that I’m not a ghost! Ghosts are spirits whose bodies have died and mine is alive, right down there. Link and I have-”

Another Link cleared his throat uncomfortably, “Um, Zel?”

“What?!” Ghost Zelda snapped, turning on him. 

“They all see you,” he whispered. 

“Of course they see me, we’re talking!” 

“No, I mean, they see you,” he repeated, emphasizing it. 

That finally got through to her and Ghost Zelda grew very still, the words sinking in. Slowly, she turned away from that Link and looked at the rest of the group who were staring at the two of them awkwardly. 

Ghost Zelda blinked, then turned back to her Link, “How exactly is that possible?” Her voice came out as more of a panicked squeak, “I was with the two birdbrains before I came here and they definitely didn’t see me before and now they do. How is that possible?”

“Hey!” Revali yelled out, insulted. Ghost Zelda ignored him. Quill looked confused, muttering, “When were you with us?”

“I believe I…can answer…your questions…” an ethereal voice flooded the room. Link jumped, looking around for one of the Light Spirits. It sounded so similar. 

“Who is that? Who’s there?!” 

The ribbon of light pulsed so slightly that it was barely noticeable, “I am…always here. Time is…constant.” 

One of the fairies (Link blinked in confusion, was that Ciela?) trilled, the sound ringing through the air, “Your Grace, is that really you?!”

“What, you know the voice?” another fairy snapped at her. 

Ciela ignored them, flying towards the ribbon, “Your Grace, I can barely sense you! Before I came here, I couldn’t sense you at all! What’s happened?!”

“Yes…it’s me. I wish…I could’ve helped…sooner.” 

“You’ve helped plenty! Let us help you!” Ciela cried out, “You feel so faint right now, it’s like you’re…” 

Her voice trailed off, as if afraid of what she had been about to say. Link’s heart panged. He’d never heard his friend sound so terrified. 

“Ciela, it’ll be ok.” he said, running up to the fairy and pedestal before he knew what he was doing, “Whoever your friend is, we’ll make sure they’re ok, I promise!”

“Kid, how do you know the fairy?!” Tetra called out after him. He ignored her, something that he would probably pay for later. 

The ribbon pulsed again, “You do not…know me…young hero? You called…for me, sending…the Light Spirits’...power.” 

“The Light Spirits? From my time?” Another Link, the one who had been called ‘little wolf’ asked.

Link ignored him too, gaping at the ribbon, “Wait, you’re the Goddess of Time?!”

Yet another Link rushed forward, clinging to the edge of the pedestal as he was possibly one of the shortest Links there, and staring up at the ribbon, “You’re the Goddess of Time?! Really?!”

“Yes, I am…I heard all of your calls…I-” 

This smaller Link cut her off, now glaring, “You’re the reason I’ve been to hell and back! You’ve put me through so much, you know that?! You’re the reason I’m stuck like this now! I can’t even find a word that describes all the Dodongo crap you’ve put me through! Did you know that-” 

Link’s jaw dropped. Who was this other version of him and why in the world were they yelling at a literal Goddess?! Did he have a death wish?!

He looked like he was about to keep ranting at the Goddess, but another Zelda, this one in a flowy white dress, leapt forward and covered their mouth. She looked sheepishly at the ribbon of light, “Sorry about that, give me a moment?”

She spun the angry Link around, hissing at him in a low voice, “What do you think you’re doing?! That is the Goddess of Time! You can’t talk to her like that!” 

“I’ll talk to her however the Din I want to.” he scoffed, crossing his arms, “Not only did she make me miss seven years of my life, but now I’m mentally way too old for my physical body and keep getting mentally older without actually aging because she stuck me in an endless 3 day time loop! Anyone ask me if I wanted to do that? Nope! Just threw me to the metaphorical time wolves!”

“You didn’t seem this angry on the train!”

“Yeah, well the Goddess wasn’t on the train with us! Now she’s right there and I have a chance to let loose all of the pent up anger from all the time travel I didn’t consent to! I was basically time-raped!”

Zelda facepalmed, “That doesn’t mean you get to yell at someone who can literally turn you into dust with barely a thought.” 

He scoffed again, rolling his eyes, “I’d love to see her try. If she was gonna kill me, she would’ve by now. No, she needs me. Actually, she needs all of us or we wouldn’t be here.” 

“He is right…to be angry…I did not…ask for help…I demanded. I…apologize…deeply.” 

Angry Link looked over his shoulder at the Goddess, eyebrow raised appreciatively, “Thank you. Apology accepted, that’s all I wanted.” 

Another Link stepped forward, hand held up nervously, “Sorry to interrupt, but did you say you lost 7 years of your life?”

Angry Link nodded, “When I drew the Master Sword. Ended up in a time-induced coma for 7 years.” 

“That’s impossible, that’s what happened to me.”

Angry Link sighed and looked back at the Goddess, “Really? This now too? Did you really have to?”

“I was not…the one who…did it…this time, hero.” 

“What?” The questioning Link looked more confused than ever. Angry Link waved his concern off. 

“Don’t worry, it’ll make sense to you…eventually.” 

“I would love for everything to make sense now.” the floating imp woman from before said, coming over to them with her hands on her hips. “I think we’ve been remarkably patient, but that patience is running out. Now, what happened?!”

“Allow me to…explain.” the Goddess of Time said. Everyone else listened intently. 

“It revolves around the Hero of Time.” 

“Me?” Questioning Link asked in a panic. Angry Link huffed, “Figures.” 

“I’m still confused by that.”

“I’ll explain later.”

“If what I think happened with you two did actually happen, would that really be wise?” Ciela piped up. 

Angry Link shrugged, “At this point, I don’t really think it matters. Obviously time is broken, more than it’s ever been before. Learning about my own future has already happened, not happened, and is currently happening. Any more of it and nothing will really change because we are already broken, while not being broken. Also, I don’t really care at this point.” 

Link rubbed his head, a headache building from trying to work through that sentence, “What?”

“Time travel and time magic both happens and doesn’t happen. It’s really confusing, but I promise, he knows what he’s talking about.” Medli explained helpfully. 

“Wait, so, do you remember all of this from his perspective?” Painting Zelda asked. 

Angry Link thought about it for a long moment, looking very confused, “No, actually, I don’t. That’s weird.”

“If you were…to step in the…same time, then…your memories…would appear…up to that…point. As we are…outside of time…right now…this will not…occur.”

Angry Link frowned, “Sounds fun.” he said sarcastically.

“Wait, if both of you are the same person, could you hold hands or touch or something really quick?” Link asked. 

Angry Link looked at him, puzzled, before shrugging, reaching out to poke Questioning Link in the hand. When nothing happened, he turned back and shrugged. 

Link huffed, “Now why did it work for me, but not you two?”

Questioning Link shrugged this time, “I’m not sure what you expected to happen?”

“Their times are…too far apart…you met yourself…in a much closer…timeline than…they have. Time…corrected itself in…a closer instance…but too much has…changed between them…for the same…solution to work.” the Goddess explained. 

“I feel like this is making more questions than answering them.” Bracelet Link muttered. 

“You aren’t the only one.” Quill agreed. 

“Then maybe we should shut up and let her explain.” the floating imp glared at them. When everyone was silent again, she nodded to the Goddess. 

“When the Hero of Time…sealed Ganondorf away…Ganondorf gained control…over time…in the Sacred Realm.”

“How is that even possible?” one of the Zeldas asked. 

“When the…Hero of Time…was sealed away…for 7 years…and then time traveled…between two points…of his own timeline…he created a paradox. After that…every time he…time traveled…it created a…rip in time. Ganondorf…used these rips…to attack me and…gain control of time.”

“What paradox did we create?” Questioning Link asked Angry Link. 

“More like what paradox didn’t we create?” he answered with a frown and a scoff, “Off the top of my head, I’d say the Song of Storms was the first paradox we made, I just thought it was self-sustaining.”

“Normally it would’ve…been self-sustaining…but time traveling…through the Sacred Realm…so much…after the creation…of a paradox…made it worse. This…this is what created…the rips in time…that he used.” 

Angry Link and Questioning Link winced at the same time, looking even more alike than before, and both said, “Sorry.” 

“You keep saying time travel through the Sacred Realm.” Urbosa spoke up, “I mean, I get you are literal ‘time’ and all and so you live in the Sacred Realm, but why does traveling through the Sacred Realm change things?”

“Normal time travel doesn’t go through the Sacred Realm.” Angry Link answered, “It uses magic spells or items blessed by the Goddess of Time. A Gate of Time or the Ocarina of Time, things like that. When we did it-” he gestured to himself and Questioning Link, “we bypassed that by basically sleeping and waking up in the Sacred Realm at different points of our own personal timeline. That brought everything a lot closer to literal ‘time itself’, the Goddess of Time. It made her a lot more vulnerable than she ever should’ve been. I’m also assuming that the standard ‘realm’ rules apply?”

He directed the last part to the ribbon of light with a raised eyebrow. 

“Most of them. The Sacred Realm…is more stable…than others…so the rules do not…change as frequently. The Sacred Realm…where we are now…is outside of time…Hyrule will not…move forward until…one of you leaves…through a door.” 

“What does that mean?”  the Zelda in the flowy white dress asked. 

“You remember my tree metaphor?” he asked her. When she nodded, he continued, “Well, at the end of the day, the Sacred Realm is still a realm and that means that it doesn’t follow any of the standard rules. Realms throw out the rulebook. However, as the Goddess just said, the Sacred Realm is more stable than others. In the tree metaphor, instead of being the acorn that sprouted a branch as realms normally do, the Sacred Realm is more like the roots of the tree. Still connected, still part of the tree, we wouldn’t be here without it, but underground. Stable, but not officially part of the main tree trunk until it gets above ground.”

“I’m very confused.” Bunny Link said. 

“You aren’t the only one.” the man in the yellow tunic said. 

Angry Link shook his head at them, “I can get into more detail later, but basically, what she is saying is that the Sacred Realm is connected to Hyrule right now, but outside of time. She brought us here, we are in the Sacred Realm right now, but while we are here, we are as paused as that Zelda was in the painting.” he gestured to Painting Zelda and the blank canvas behind her. “If any of us leaves the Sacred Realm through one of the doors, then time will start to move forward again, in every timeline.”

“As long as…one of you remains…here in this room…time will be…paused.” the Goddess clarified, “It is…one of the…few things I can…do to help…buy you time…in order…to fight back.” 

“Thank you, Your Grace!” Ciela said, fluttering her wings gratefully. 

“So, basically, you time traveled by going to the roots of the tree and back again, multiple times. Since this isn’t how time travel is supposed to be done, especially after making a paradox, every time you did it, it was like an axe hitting the tree trunk over and over again, letting this Ganondorf guy attack the Goddess of Time and gain control of time through the power and weird rules of the Sacred Realm, since it is still technically a realm?” Flowy Dress Zelda attempted to recap. 

“From what I understand.” Angry Link nodded. “I guess that means this is all technically my, I mean, our fault.” He gestured to Questioning Link again, “Sorry.” 

“What’s done…is done. There is…no point in…blaming anyone now.” 

“So what are we supposed to do?” Revali huffed, leaning against the wall. “We fell through time, somehow, and now what? We were in the middle of a fight for our Hyrule, we can’t just put that on pause.” 

“When Ganondorf…reached through time…he was gathering allies…your enemies.” the Goddess answered, “Ones you have…already defeated have now…returned and are…fighting by his side. In doing so…in grabbing those…enemies…you all fell through…the rips in time. It was…accidental.”

“So we have to beat them all again?” Tetra snorted, “Great.” 

“Many of you…reached out to me. Songs…powers of the…Light Spirits…Ciela’s attempt…with the Gate of Time.” 

“Wait, something was sucking my power away!” she burst out, “Was that you?!”

“Yes it was…little one. I needed power…to bring you all…here to ask…for your help. To create…this room…and the doors. I am…so sorry…for the pain…I caused you.”

“That doesn’t matter to me! You can have all of my power!” the fairy trilled. 

“That is…unnecessary. The more…you all repair…time…the more power…I will have…again.” 

“How do we repair time?” Quill asked. “I would love to help, but this seems nearly impossible.” 

“Fighting your enemies…will help. The less…chance they have…to damage time…the better. Restoring the…timelines…as much as…you can. Eventually…you will need…to kill Ganondorf…before he makes…things worse. I can tell…he has a plan…it will not end well. You have…other friends…allies…who fell through time…I could not reach them. He has them…and has a plan…for them. Save them.” 

“We will.” Link vowed for them. At everyone else’s nods, he felt secure, proud even, in their united front. 

“We’ll need to come up with a plan then.” One of the Zeldas spoke up, “I don’t see us succeeding in killing Ganondorf without the Triforce though, so we will also need to find out what happened to that.” she looked down at her empty hand. 

For the first time since waking up here, Link glanced down at his hand as well. It was empty, like before he had ever found the Triforce. Strange, he never even noticed it disappearing. 

“That is…due to me. My…apologies.” the Goddess of Time told them, “I knew that…by bringing you here…you would lose…the Triforce pieces…you carried. The Triforce…is too powerful…to ever exist…at the same time…as another Triforce. When you…came here, your…Triforce pieces…resonated with others…from different times. They tried to…combine…and then shattered…and spread among the…different time periods…you came from.” 

“So we also have to hunt those down.” Link sighed, thinking ‘again.’ Not his favorite part of his own adventure. 

“There may be a solution.” The floating blue woman that Link had seen before, no longer wearing the green hat, came forward, “My Master and I encountered the Triforce in our time. I am accustomed to its aura. I can dowse for the missing Triforce pieces in each time.”

“That’s brilliant!” A Link near the back of the crowd cheered, smiling up at her. “With Fi, we can find the Triforce pieces in no time!”

“And while we do that, kill any enemy who gets in our way. Two birds, one stone.” A blonde woman in dark clothing smirked.

“Simple plans are the best.” the floating imp agreed with a smirk of her own. “And if we’re lucky, Ganondorf has to do the same thing with his own Triforce, which buys us some time.” 

“The Triforce…will attempt to…guard itself. It knows…that evil has…control over time…and will try…to protect itself…from that evil.”

“I’m sure we can handle it all if we work together.” Questioning Link smiled confidently.

“Do we get started then?” the witch asked, looking around at all of them.

“I say we start now,” Link said, turning to Tetra, “The first repair to time we can make is right here.” 

The pirate frowned at him, “I don’t like that look in your eyes kid.” 

He smiled, walking up to her, “Consider this revenge for launching me at a window and then missing.” 

“Wha-” Tetra tried to say something, but got cut off when Link pushed her towards the unconscious Tetra on the ground in front of them. She tripped over their arm for half a second, before something shifted. 

It was one thing to experience it, it was another to watch it, but it was exactly like the Resistance members had described. Both Tetras seemed to fade, melting together into one. For a moment, both Tetras overlapped each other before solidifying into one, laying on the ground. 

“What did you just do?!” Medli cried out, rushing to their friend’s side. Quill was on her tail, kneeling down to help Tetra sit up, blinking rapidly and looking dizzy. 

“Repairing time, it happened to me when I met myself in the Hidden Village. She’ll be fine, I promise, it just takes some adjustment.” Link answered, then frowned, “But this is totally not fair. It took me an entire day to wake up after that!”

“That is…my doing…young hero. Being in…the Sacred Realm…makes it easier…for me to help…reconcile small tears…in time…like this.” the Goddess explained, “It is also…why all of you…can now see…the spirit of the…princess. Giving you…that power…took no effort…on my part.” 

Ghost Zelda sighed in relief, “Well, at least that answers that.”

Tetra still seemed dizzy, but was obviously well enough to start glaring at him. Link backed up nervously. 

“Kid, I swear, if you ever do that to me again, I will let Niko be the next one to shoot you out of a catapult, understand me?” 

“Yes ma’am.” he squeaked. Niko had horrible aim. With his luck, Link would be launched straight into the Helmaroc King’s mouth. On accident. And on purpose. Somehow.

“This does help.” the Goddess said, “Thank you.” 

“So what do we do now?” Questioning Link questioned, “Do we just pick a door? Start looking?”

“No way.” the floating imp woman shut down that idea instantly, “We are learning each other’s names before we try to save all of time together. Plus, if we are going to be traveling into each other’s homes and times, we should at least know what to expect. I say we take advantage of the fact that we are in a literal moment of paused time to do all of that.” 

“That seems very reasonable to me.” said the Zelda who had brought up the Triforce. 

“Great. Who wants to start?”

Angry Link raised his hand, “I think me, and myself, should go first. We got everyone into this mess, it’s only fair you know how we did that.” 

The imp smirked and twirled in the air, coming to rest on the shoulder of one of the Links, “Then explain away, hero boy.”

Midna narrowed her eyes, looking over the entire room. 

To say that the day had gone haywire would be an understatement, but at least now they were moving forward. 

The Goddess hadn’t been lying. All of them had spent what had to be at least a day in here, telling stories and sharing their experiences, both before and after falling through time, yet no one felt the slightest bit hungry or tired. It was truly like they had been put on pause while in this room. 

The only one who might say something different was the pirate, Tetra. As the stories had progressed and questions got answered, she slowly started to look more and more coherent. After the ‘reconciliation’ as the Goddess had put it, she had seemed like she would pass out any second. Now she looked like she was completely normal. It was the closest thing they had to measure the passing of time. Except time wasn’t passing? The tiny Link from before had given them all a quick lesson regarding how it all worked, getting really into trees for a while for some reason, but it still didn’t quite make sense to her. 

Once again, she was very thankful that she stayed so far away from time magic. 

But now they needed to move forward. However, there was something they needed to do first before they left the Sacred Realm. Something that would save them a lot of confusion in the long run. 

Luckily for her, everyone had already subconsciously sorted themselves into groups based on the time frame they came from. That made it so much easier. 

“Midna? What are you doing?” her Zelda asked her, watching curiously. 

“Settling something.” she muttered before flying up, yelling out, “Alright everyone, listen up!”

Everyone turned towards her, waiting to see what she’d say next. 

“I’m all for kicking Ganondorf and his cronies into bits of dust and all that, but we need to figure out names first.” 

“Names?” Shad called out to her, obviously confused. 

“Yes, names.” She sighed, “Now I’m good with names, but when you have so many people with the same name, it gets confusing. We have-” she did a quick head count, “8 different Links and 6 different Zeldas here. Obviously we can’t call them all Link and Zelda, too confusing. So, we are figuring this out now, while we have the time.” 

Her little wolf groaned, “Midna, you can’t just decide people’s nicknames like that because you say so.” 

She raised an eyebrow at him, “Did you just try to tell me that I can’t do something?”

“...Are you going to injure me if I say yes?”

“What do you think?”

“Moving on.” Zelda stopped his next response, “It’s a fair idea. I say we figure it out now.”

“Why does she decide our nicknames?” the youngest Link, the one with the talking hat, asked, looking genuinely curious. 

“Because I’m great at it.” Midna answered as if it was obvious. 

“Because we don’t have time to argue with her about it.” Link translated. 

“I mean, technically-” 

“Yes, technically we do, but does anyone want to?” Link cut off the time traveling expert Link. 

It looked like Revali was about to, but Urbosa clapped a hand on his beak before he could say anything. 

“Great.” Midna smiled and turned to the group from her time, “You lot are up first then.”

With her, it was Zelda, Link, and Shad. She was thankful that no one else had been dragged along on this ride with them at least. 

After a moment of consideration, she said, “Light and Beast.” 

Link, Beast, breathed out a sigh of relief. He clearly expected something far more humiliating. Well, she would still call him other names, but this would be his go to name for the time being, so his relief really wasn’t well placed. She almost smirked at the thought. 

“Why those names?” Tael asked. 

“She’s the princess of the Light Realm and blessed with a lot of light magic. He got called a blue-eyed beast more times than I can count on our adventure. It works.” 

“I agree.” Light said with a smile. 

Midna grinned and turned to the next group. The two Heroes of Time, plus their Zelda, and Navi, Tatl, and Tael. 

“You already went by the name Sheik, right?”

“Yes,” she nodded, “I have no problems continuing to use that name.” 

“Perfect, then that just leaves you two.” she turned to the Links thoughtfully. They were the Heroes of Time, could she use that? For one at least, but what about the other? Wait, he said that he had-

“Mask. And Time.” she pointed to each one in turn, “Self-explanatory I believe?”

Mask nodded and Time shrugged, “It sounds good to us.” 

“Good. Next up is…” 

The Link and Zelda from the sky, Pipit, and Impa. He had a talking sword, Fi, who was with them as well, waiting patiently for Midna to finish. 

“Sky, for you, cause duh.” she said, “And you can be Grace.” 

“Grace?” she asked. 

“You’re apparently Hylia in human form and Impa kept calling you ‘Your Grace’ during your story.”

She mouthed the word silently, trying it out, before nodding, “Alright then. Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome.” 

Midna turned to the youngest Link next, his hat, Ezlo, perched on his head and watching intently. 

“You’re the Hero of the Minish, right?” At his nodding, she continued, “Then we’ll call you Minish. Now-”

“But I’m not,” he interrupted. 

“Not what?”

“Minish. I’m Hylian. Ezlo’s a Minish.” he shrugged, meaning no harm in his correction. 

Ezlo nodded, “I agree. It would be confusing if we ever met another Minish.” 

“Fine then.” Midna huffed, “What about Mini?”

“Mini?”

“Short for Minish, plus you can shrink right? There you go, happy?”

Mini looked up at Ezlo for approval. 

“I guess….” the hat mumbled. 

Mini gave her a thumbs up and she rolled her eyes, moving to the next group. 

Urbosa and Revali. No naming issues there. 

Next up was Link, Tetra, Medli, and Quill. Three fairies bounced around Link’s head, Ciela, Leaf, and Neri. This group still confused her, if for nothing else than watching the two Tetras combine into one. According to this Link, they had both sets of memories now? Midna wasn’t sure exactly how that worked, but frankly she didn’t really want to know. 

However, Tetra, although technically a Zelda, wasn’t raised with that name, so that made it easy there. This Link was the Hero of Wind so-

“Tetra and Wind. Done.” 

Tetra seemed ok with it, clearly not expecting anything else. 

The next group was the one with the painting. Zelda, Link, another Link who was apparently named Ravio (again, making it easy on her), Irene, and a bird called Sheerow. 

She couldn’t exactly name them Hyrule and Lorule, although that would’ve been simple. Mini and Ezlo already pointed out about copying names like that and using his hero title wouldn’t clear anything up either as the ‘New Hero of Hyrule’. She’d have to get creative. 

Her eyes flitted over to the blank canvas that had previously held this Zelda. This Link could merge with the art and help rescue others from it as well. Could she use that instead?

She pointed to Link, then Zelda. “Merge and Canvas.” 

Link, Merge, made a face, not thrilled with it. “Why those ones?”

“You can merge with walls and paintings. It’s either that or Bracelet.” 

“Merge works.” he said quickly, afraid she would change her mind and actually name him Bracelet.

“And let me guess, I came out of a canvas?” Canvas asked with a playful smile. 

Midna smirked, “You’re getting the hang of it now.”

“These aren’t very creative.” Revali huffed, glaring at them. 

“I’m going for quick and easy so we can move ahead with saving everyone, you got a problem with that, Feathers?” Midna snapped at him. 

“No, he doesn’t.” Urbosa jumped in, grabbing Revali’s beak again to shut him up, “In fact, he’s going to shut up now because I can’t keep acting like his filter!” 

He tried to say something, but it came out as unintelligible grumbling. Urbosa glared at him, hissing under her breath. Midna thought she caught the word ‘snap’. 

Revali froze, obviously afraid of whatever it was that Urbosa had threatened. Midna felt duly impressed by the Gerudo woman. 

“Please continue.” 

“Thank you.” Midna grinned and turned to the last group. Link, Zelda, and Byrne. 

Zelda was a literal spirit, floating up near Midna’s own level right now. Well, she could use that. 

“Spirit.” 

“Spirit?” 

“We can call you Ghost instead.” Midna said dryly. 

“Please don’t.” Spirit slumped in the air, practically begging. She’d already argued with them three separate times during her story that she wasn’t a ghost. 

Midna smirked, “Spirit then.” 

“Fine, and what about Link?”

Midna turned to the last hero, stumped. He didn’t have any magic powers like the others that she could use to inspire a nickname. He was the Hero of New Hyrule, but she didn’t like just calling him ‘New’. It didn’t fit. He looked exactly like Wind, and based on their stories it wouldn’t surprise her if he was some sort of descendant. 

The most unique thing about him was the fact that he had a train. However, she didn’t want to call him ‘Train’ either. It would work in a pinch, but there had to be something better. 

Engineer maybe? He was one, it was a title he already had…

Wait, he had that flute! The one from his adventure!

“Flute!” Midna proclaimed, actually feeling very proud of herself for that nickname. 

“Flute?” He looked very unsure. 

“Yep!” she said, popping the ‘p’, “You’ve got one and know how to use it, right?” 

“I don’t really get a say in this, do I?” he asked. 

“Did I give anyone else a choice?”

“Mini got one!” 

Midna rolled her eyes, “He had a valid reason due to a race already being named Minish. Your reason is based on if you like it. Therefore, not valid.”

“I like it!” Spirit said helpfully, smiling at him, “Better than being named for your current state of being anyway.” 

“Fair enough.” he chuckled before turning to her body, “Speaking of which, should we fix that before we head out?”

“Actually, I was thinking, maybe not?” Spirit looked at them sheepishly. 

“Why not?” Byrne asked, “You’ve been waiting to get your body back since it was stolen.” 

“Yeah, but that was also before all this happened.” she gestured around to their current location, “We have a lot of enemies to fight and, as much as I hate to admit it, I’m more useful like this. I can scout and sneak around, watch everyone’s back, and in the Spirit Tower I can even possess the phantoms! If I go back into my body now, I’ll just be useless, a liability.” 

“You do have magic,” Light pointed out, “Like the rest of us. We can teach you how to use it if you like.” 

Spirit thought it over for a moment before shaking her head, “Thanks, but we won’t have time for me to become a master in magic before fighting Ganondorf. Sure we can live in paused time here, but not forever. I should stick with what I’m already good at, as a spirit.” 

“You two were able to defeat me when you possessed a phantom. Your skills there are nothing to laugh at.” Byrne said helpfully. Spirit smiled up at him.

“What do we do with your body then?” Flute asked, nudging her body’s shoulder with his toe gently. 

“If her body stays here…time will still be paused.” the Goddess told them. 

“We can’t lug her body around everywhere we go.” Impa pointed out. 

“And outside of this room, she’ll start to die. A body can’t last long without a spirit, let alone food and water.” Sheik said. 

“What about this?” Ravio asked, holding up the blank painting they had pulled Canvas from. “Putting her in here would pause her, and as a painting, she wouldn’t force time to be paused by staying in here, would she?”

“No…she would not.” 

“That’s perfect!” Spirit said gleefully. 

Merge leaned forward, grabbing one of her arms, “I’ll need a little help to hold her in place, but it should only take a minute.”

Pipit rushed forward, taking hold of Spirit’s body and helping Ravio prop her up in front of the blank picture frame. Merge took a deep breath and then put his hands on her shoulders, bracelet flashing. He started pushing, throwing his weight into it. Flute joined him, both of them shoving as hard as they could. 

Like with Canvas, the extra help sped it along and Spirit’s body slipped into the picture. A sleeping Zelda appeared in the painting, looking peaceful. If no one had told them, they wouldn’t have thought that it was someone actually in there. 

“Thank you!” Spirit said. 

“Anytime.” Merge said, “It’s harder to put anyone in or take them out of a painting than it is for myself, but overall, still pretty easy.” 

“Is that the last thing then?” Tetra asked, “Can we head out?”

“Head out where, where do we start?” Grace asked. “Ganondorf and his allies could be anywhere, any when .” 

“I saw two witches with a statue of a Zelda in whichever time I fell in.” Shad said. “Maybe we start there and save her?”

“I also saw someone dancing on a moon, the one you described.” Spirit said, gesturing to Mask. 

“I’d prefer to take care of that first to be honest.” he said, “Not that we shouldn’t save statue Zelda, but the second we step into any timeframe, that moon is coming down. We’ve got a time limit on Termina.”

“I agree.” Impa said. 

“I don’t.” Revali huffed, pushing past Urbosa, “Termina isn’t the only one with a time limit. Our Hyrule was under attack by Calamity Ganon when we fell through time. Without our Divine Beasts, they don’t stand a chance.” 

“Chances are that Ganondorf has already recruited Calamity Ganon.” Time said, “None of us landed in your time, so we don’t know what’s happening there. However, we do know that something is happening in Termina since time was attacked. My vote is Termina.” 

“My vote is my Hyrule.” Revali growled at him, “You were right when you said no one here landed in my time. We have no update on what happened after Urbosa and I fell through time. It could be worse than Termina.”

“Termina has a moon falling on it.” Mask huffed, “Soon, maybe immediately after we exit the Sacred Realm. We know they need our help now. We know that there is an enemy there that we need to take care of to help save time itself.”

“You said that you had a Link and Zelda of your own, correct?” Sheik asked. 

At Revali’s grumbled “Yes.” she continued. “They aren’t here right now, which means they didn’t fall through time. They will still be in your time and we’ll have to trust them to take care of things until we can show up to help them.” 

“But what if they didn’t?” Urbosa asked quietly, surprising them. She had yet to take her fellow Champion’s side in any argument, “What if they are one of the ones that Ganondorf has in captivity? That leaves our Hyrule completely defenseless.”

Sheik sighed, laying a hand on her shoulder, “I know you want to help your friends, and we will. We will go to every time possible to stop Ganondorf. This is my fault too, I helped seal him away in the Sacred Realm, but we need to work together in order to stop him.”

“If we let them win in Termina, where we know they are, then they’ll only get stronger.” Canvas said, “We’ll go to your Hyrule soon, we promise, but there are a lot of innocent people in Termina who are going to die if we don’t help them first.” 

Urbosa pressed her lips into a thin line, considering what they were saying, before sighing, “Fine. You’re right, they need our help first.”

“Urbosa!”

“Stop Revali. I want to go home as much as you, maybe more, but I can’t sit by and let innocent people die when I could’ve helped.” 

Revali looked furious, wings clenched into fists as he tried to stop himself from shaking in anger. 

“We’ll go home soon, Revali. I’m not going to sit by and let my people suffer under Calamity Ganon’s attack.” She assured him, a fierce look overtaking her gaze. “I’m certainly not going to leave Zelda and Link unprepared and fighting him all alone.”

He clenched his beak even tighter, seemingly having no response. 

“Ok then.” Beast cleared his throat awkwardly, “Which door leads to Termina then?”

“This one.” Mask said immediately, pointing to one of the wooden doors. It had a bunch of circles on it and a bar slid across the middle, locking it in place. “That’s the face of the clock tower in Clock Town.” 

“Literal name.” Midna muttered. 

Mask shrugged, “Trust me, that’s the most normal thing about this place.” 

“Lead the way then.” 

Mask took a deep breath and then reached for the door.

Chapter Text

The inside of the clock tower was almost exactly like Mask remembered it. Creepy, dusty, wooden. 

The biggest difference was that the Happy Mask Salesman was nowhere to be seen, which immediately put him on edge. 

He would’ve spent more time considering what that meant, except Time chose that moment to follow him through into Termina. 

Pain bloomed in his forehead, images bombarding him. Mask groaned, falling to the floor clutching his forehead. 

“What happened?! Are you ok?” Time noticed instantly, kneeling down next to him. Light and Sheik were right behind him, looking concerned. 

“Your stupid memories.” Mask gritted out as the images began to subside, “She never mentioned that getting your memories would be painful.” 

“Sorry,” he muttered. 

Mask ignored the apology, trying to sort through everything. Having his own memories of what was happening was more than enough. Trying to reconcile them with Time’s was a lot harder. 

He was not looking forward to this happening every time they set foot in a new time frame. 

“Did you really try to look for the Minish with the Lens of Truth?” he mumbled. 

“It was my best idea at the time, ok?!” 

Mask chuckled, smirking a little. 

Time rolled his eyes. 

“Will you be ok?” Sheik asked. 

“He’ll be fine.” Time answered for him as everyone else finished coming through the door. 

“Just takes a minute.” Mask agreed. 

“Will this happen every time you two step into the same time?” Impa asked. 

Time shrugged, “Probably?”

“Definitely.” Mask said, “I’m guessing that the more our memories differ, the longer and more painful it will be so-”

“Try to stay close?”

“Please.”

“Will do.”

Mask blinked as the others began to take in the inside of the clock tower. 

“So this is Termina?” Urbosa asked, not looking terribly impressed. 

“We’re actually in another time. On purpose this time!” Spirit grinned excitedly.

“That is pretty amazing.” Flute agreed with a playful smile. 

“We don’t have time to sight see though. We need to figure out how to stop the moon.” Light reminded them, then blinked at her own words, “A sentence I never thought I would say.”

“We also need to find my friend, he’s not here.” Mask muttered, finally standing back up. He accepted Time’s help in doing so, still looking a little unbalanced despite the headache fading away. 

“What friend?” Wind asked. 

“The mask salesman I told you about. He was supposed to stay here until I brought Majora back to him.” 

“Could he be outside?” Medli asked, looking at the large double doors curiously. 

“Maybe.” Mask muttered, but his gut told him he was wrong. The Happy Mask Salesman may have been one of the strangest people in Termina, but he was one of the most reliable. If there was anyone that Mask could trust to do what they said, it would be him. Mask had spent multiple different 3 day time loops talking with him, learning about time travel. 

How the Mask Salesman knew so much, he didn’t know, but he certainly wasn’t about to turn down the free lessons. 

“Let’s get going.” Mask shook his head and walked towards the door. Something was wrong, but standing here wasn’t going to fix it. 

The doors burst open, showing a bright, sunny day. The others looked around with wide eyes, taking in Clock Town and Termina for the first time. A quick glance told Mask that they were on the third day. The construction was done, most of the town looked like it was still evacuated, the decorations for the Festival of Time were still up. 

“Hey Tatl?” he called out. 

“Yeah, I know. It’s the day after the third day.” she responded immediately.

“Your time loop?” Midna clarified, eyebrow raised. 

Mask nodded, “The moon was set to destroy the town at sundown on day three, but it’s still here.” He glanced up, frowning, “The moon is too, right above the town, right where the giants stopped it.” 

For the first time, the rest of the group looked up. Almost as one, they gave a collective gasp. 

The moon was right above them, close enough to touch. The menacing face glared at them as if hating that they were just out of reach of its destructive power. 

“You had to stop… that ?” Time looked shell shocked. 

“Don’t worry, you’ll get a turn.” Mask smirked again. 

“That doesn’t help anything!”

“How are we supposed to get up there?” Tetra asked, “Unlike our friends over here, most of us can’t fly.” she gave a quick gesture to the Ritos and Spirit. 

“I have hover boots, but I don’t think they work that way.” Time suggested weakly. 

“Ezlo and I can float if there’s a strong enough breeze.” Mini said. 

“Last time I was able to get up there through magic, but the clock tower is back to the original position, so that’s not really possible right now.” Mask huffed, folding his arms. 

“I could simply go up and take care of it for us.” Revali said, “I’m sure one dancing person isn’t much of a threat. I can kill them easily.” 

“And if that person is Majora?” Mask glared at him. 

“Or Ganondorf?” Sheik added. 

“Or Vaati.” Ezlo huffed, “Any of them against one of us equals death and not in our favor!”

“I think I’m talented enough to dodge and come get help if that’s the case.” Revali sneered, “Not that it would be. I’m more capable than you. Then again, everyone is more capable than a simple hat so I guess it’s not saying much.” 

“Why you-”

“Revali!” Urbosa snapped, “We agreed to work as a team and so help me if you don’t start accepting help I will snap a lightning bolt straight through your eyes!”

Revali stiffened, falling silent. 

“I could scout up there, try to see who it is?” Spirit said quietly. “That’s part of the reason I stayed like this.” 

“That might be best.” Byrne agreed, “Unless they see you, in which case they could destroy you, even as a spirit. Cole let you live, that doesn’t mean any of our other enemies will.” 

She shrugged, “We have to figure out what’s going on though. I’ll come right back, promise.” 

She nodded, determined, before taking off, flying up to the top of the moon. Flute waved as she did so. 

“Provided she comes back without being seen, that still doesn’t tell us how to get up there.” Impa pointed out. 

“Midna, could you lift us with your magic?” Light asked. 

The imp shrugged, leaning back to relax against Beast’s shoulder, “I mean, technically. It wouldn’t be comfortable, and with this many people I would need to make at least two trips, but I think I could.” 

“We could carry some, if it would help.” Quill volunteered. 

“Well, they could. I could barely get myself up.” Medli whispered, embarrassed. Revali humphed at that. 

“Every little bit helps.” Light smiled at them, “Thank you for offering.”

“HELP!” 

The group jumped, looking up to see Spirit almost tumbling in the air, trying to rush and get back to them. 

“HELP!” she screamed again. 

Anyone who had a bow quickly drew it, knocking an arrow and desperately searching the sky for anything that was tailing her. Others readying a magical attack, Byrne holding his arm out and ready to loose the mechanical hand that second he saw anything. 

“Zelda-Spirit!” Flute called out, hurriedly correcting himself, “What is it?!”

“Man! Dancing man! Angry!” she yelled out, stopping just in time to avoid crashing into or through any of them, “He saw me! He’s coming and he saw me!”

She gestured in a panic to the moon, “He’s right behind me, he’s right….there….”

Her panicked voice trailed off as she looked up and saw a clear sky behind her, interrupted only by the moon hanging above them. 

“He-He was right there, I swear. I-”

“We believe you.” Beast assured her, “He must’ve decided not to follow when he heard you screaming for help.” 

“Does anyone else see-” Midna started to say something but got cut off.

“If there was only one person up there, chances are he doesn’t want to take on all of us.” Pipit pointed out. 

“What did he look like?” Irene asked the still shaken Spirit. 

“Tall and really pale. Almost pure white. He was doing this weird dance, teleporting all around the top of the moon. He was dressed in diamonds with this red cape.” 

Grace’s eyes widened, “That sounds like-”

“Ghirahim.” Sky finished, glaring up at the moon now. “I thought he died when we killed Demise.” 

“Maybe we should focus on-” Midna spoke up, but was interrupted when Sky’s sword flashed and Fi spun out, resting a few inches above the ground she was at even height with him, “This is incorrect Master. Demise was sealed away inside the Master Sword and is slowly being eradicated, but the Demon Lord Ghirahim was not sealed with him. There is a 97% chance that he either fell through time or was recruited by Ganondorf.” 

“He was literally just seen on top of the moon, obviously nowhere near his normal time period, how in the world is there a 3% chance that he wasn’t recruited?” Tatl huffed sarcastically. 

Fi ignored the fairy’s tone, “That 3% chance is allowing for the idea that Ghirahim volunteered for the assignment or that he completed his own time travel spell, allowing for his presence in this time period.” 

“Thank you Fi.” Sky said quickly, before Tatl could make another snippy remark, “Either way, he’s up to something here, so we need to get up there to stop him. Ghirahim with the power of a world destroying moon is not something that I want to see unleashed on any time period.”

“Agreed. Midna, could you start transporting us?” Light turned to her. 

Midna just shook her head, “Can’t. No point.” 

“What do you mean?”

In response, Midna just pointed up. The group followed the gesture, looking in confusion as the moon rose into the sky. It went higher and higher, at a much faster rate than Mask had ever seen it move. 

In a flash of red diamonds, a man appeared below it, looking exactly as Spirit had described, a blood-red cloak billowing around him. The man, Ghirahim, looked down at the group and smirked, licking his tongue around his lips. Spirit, floating next to Mask and Flute, shivered at the action. 

Ghirahim turned back to the moon, crossing his arms before immediately uncrossing them. As soon as he did so, the moon disappeared, only a few sparkling diamonds left in the air where it had been before, but they faded too after a moment. 

Ghirahim turned to sneer at them again, giving them a cocky salute before turning in the air and disappearing without a word. 

Sky hissed, “That’s not good.”

“Where did he take it?” Mini asked. 

Mask shrugged, “Beats me.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Revali turned on Midna. 

She rolled her eyes, “I did, Nest-For-Brains. You all kept interrupting me. Maybe next time we see an enemy, we could act first, talk later?”

“We did spend a lot of time talking and arguing once we got here.” Canvas admitted guiltily. 

“What’s done is done.” Light said, “What do we do now? Where did he take the moon?”

“I don’t know, but wherever it is, it won’t be good.” Sky said, “If Ghirahim didn’t fight us, that means he has a plan. He loves talking and taunting and gloating. The only reason he wouldn’t would be if he has to go to the next step of his plan and trust me, that’s not good. Ghirahim’s plans tend to be demented, deranged, frightening, and life-threatening.”

“I believe the situation is worse than you fear Master.” Fi spoke up, getting their attention again. 

“What do you mean?”

“I have been continuously dowsing since we came to Termina. One of the Triforce pieces was inside of the moon.”

Beast cursed. Midna raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“Don’t apologize little wolf, I love knowing I’ve been a bad influence on you.” 

“Our enemies have had a lot longer to plan their attack than we have.” Ravio said, “We’re at a complete disadvantage here.”

“We can’t stop trying.” Merge told them, “We’ll go to the other times and find where they took the moon. Fi, are there any other Triforce pieces here?”

“Negative.” 

“Then we should go.” Sheik said, “Without the moon or any Triforce pieces here, Termina is relatively safe. We should go to the other times and try to find the Triforce and our captive friends.”

“Once again, when we find a bad guy, attack first, talk later.” Midna grinned. 

Beast rolled his eyes, rolling his shoulder so that she fell off of it. Midna just flipped down to the ground and went into his shadow, still smiling playfully. 

“Let’s get to our Hyrule then.” Revali huffed, pushing his way past them and back into the clock tower. 

“About that...” Shad said nervously. Revali stopped and turned to glare at him. 

“Again, we understand wanting to go home, we all do, but…well…”

“Just spit it out already!” 

“I saw a Zelda, turned into a statue. Shouldn’t we rescue her first? We know where she is at least.”

“It sounds like my Hyrule.” Time said, “From what you and the others said at least.” 

“The only reason I agreed to come to Termina was because we thought a moon was falling on it! That isn’t happening, so off to my Hyrule we go!” Revali yelled. 

“But, the Zelda who’s a statue…that’s my Zelda. I was supposed to save her from Vaati.” Mini whispered, eyes wide. 

“Then that’s your failure to live with, not mine!”

‘SMACK!’

The group blinked in shock as Urbosa calmly put her hand back down. Revali didn’t move from his spot, blinking and staring at her in amazement.

“Not being able to save your friend because you were unwillingly pulled through time is not a failure, otherwise we are failures too Revali. So, you can either admit to being a failure or apologize.” 

The two of them held a long glaring match before Revali finally huffed, looking away from her. He didn’t turn to look at Mini, choosing instead to fold his arms and glare at the wall, “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.” he mumbled. 

“No, it’s not, but thank you.” Urbosa smiled at him before turning back to Revali, “Like I said before, I want to go back home just like you do. I want to know that my people, that my little bird, that everyone is safe despite us being gone, but no one is safe if time itself falls apart. So get yourself together Revali because we have a bigger task than just saving Hyrule in front of us.”

She marched past him without another word, reaching the door that would take them back to the Sacred Realm. Revali silently fumed as the rest of the group walked by him, following her. He followed last, closing the door tightly behind him. 

“Which door to your time?” Urbosa turned to Sheik, Time, and Navi. 

“I think it’s this one.” Navi mumbled, floating to one on the opposite side of the room. The group was still awkwardly silent as they followed the fairy. 

The door was made of stone, an emblem splaying across the top in the shape of a circle with lines bursting from it. In a way, it resembled a crest or maybe a sunrise.

“It’s the only one that looks even a little familiar, kind of like the Door of Time,” Navi said, “But I guess we’ll know as soon as we open it.”

“I’m going to start labeling them, just to be safe.” Shad suggested, already taking a spare page from his book and writing ‘Termina’ on it, sticking it back on the door they had come through. 

“That’s a good idea.”

“Here we go again.” Sheik muttered, reaching for the door knob.

Chapter Text

“What is this place?” Canvas whispered as they walked through the door. The entire room seemed sacred, like you weren’t allowed to speak above the hushed whisper she had used. 

“The Temple of Time. That’s where I pulled the Master Sword out.” Time answered, pointing to the pedestal in front of them. Next to him was Mask, rubbing his forehead. Apparently even just the small pass through the Sacred Realm to get from Termina to here was enough to cause a small headache. It didn’t look as bad as it had before though.

“It looks like we’re in my adult timeline,” Time continued. “Which means we should be prepared for Castle Town to be-”

“Overrun with Redeads?” Shad shuddered. “I remember.” 

“At least you’ve never seen the inside of one.” Spirit joined him in shuddering. 

“Where do we go first?” Mini asked. 

“Let’s go outside and let Fi dowse for a bit. Once we know how many things are in this time that we need, then we’ll decide.” Sky suggested. 

The rest of the group nodded and followed Time and Sheik as they led the way through the doors. 

Outside the Temple, the world seemed barren, depressing. 

Byrne raised an eyebrow at the sight of the broken town in front of them, filled with shuffling Redeads. “And here I thought the Dark Realm was depressing.” 

“It used to be worse. Awakening the Sages has helped throughout Hyrule, but Castle Town is still…broken.” Sheik sighed. 

“Over there is where I saw them take the statue of Zelda.” Shad said, pointing ahead of them, just past the town where they could see the top of a dark castle above a cliff. 

“That’s Hyrule Castle, now Ganondorf’s castle. If she’s in there, it’ll be a tough fight.” Mask said, crossing his arms. 

“You heard the Goddess of Time though! The more people who fell through time that we save, the more we help her!” Ciela trilled. 

“And I’m not saying that we won’t, I’m saying we should be prepared.” he huffed at her. 

“Dowsing complete Master.” Fi’s voice interrupted them, cutting off Ciela’s reply. 

The group turned to look at Sky’s sword which glowed again as Fi spun out. 

“There are currently two Triforce Pieces located in this time period, a Triforce of Courage and a Triforce of Wisdom.” 

“That makes me feel better after what happened in Termina.” Merge said, “Where are they?”

Fi turned, pointing towards the volcano in the distance, “One is in this direction, seemingly at the base of the volcano. The other is in this direction.” She turned almost a complete 180, her flowing arm held out straight in front of her. 

“That sounds like Kakariko for the first one.” Sheik said, “As for the other-”

“It could be Lon Lon Ranch, the desert, the Spirit Temple, anything in between.” Time finished, lips pressed together tightly, “I can warp us to both Temples, save some time?”

“What about my Zelda?” Mini spoke up, looking at him with wide eyes, “She’s right there! Why can’t we save her first?!”

“Thank you Fi.” Sky told his friend. She nodded and went back into his sword before Sky knelt down in front of Mini, “Hey, I know all about wanting to save Zelda, ok? And we will, I promise. We won’t stop until we get her back.” 

“I should hope so.” Ezlo huffed, sitting up on Mini’s head, “She’s been a statue long enough!”

“Maybe we split up?” Tael suggested. “Send our best fighters to rescue Zelda and the others to get a Triforce Piece?”

“If you think I’m letting you wander off without me again then-”

“Sis! Calm down! I wasn’t suggesting that you and I split up!” Tael groaned, “Why do you have to be so paranoid?!”

“I think I have a right to be considering-”

“Both of you shut up!” Ciela snapped at them, “We don’t have time to bicker anymore! We already lost one Triforce Piece, and the freaking moon, we can’t lose anymore!”

“She’s right.” Light joined in, glaring at the two fairies, “We don’t know much longer we have until time collapses from Ganondorf’s attacks. We need to move now. Splitting up makes the most sense.”

“I agree.” Grace said, “As much as we may not like it, it’s the best plan.”

“So who goes where?” Pipit asked, “Only a few of us know where everything is in this time.” 

“I have to go with whatever group goes after the Triforce piece.” Sky stood back up, facing them, “Fi has to dowse for it and I refuse to let go of her again.” 

“At least one person from this time should go with you.” Sheik said.

“I can do it.” Time volunteered, “I know Hyrule really well, but not the castle. Mask is the one that actually explored it. He’d be the best to guide you through.” 

“I thought we agreed to stick together for the sake of avoiding my migraines?” Mask raised an eyebrow at his younger self.

Time shrugged, “Your memories fill in with mine as we go, provided neither of us hop timelines again. That should be good enough, right?”

He snorted, “Fine, just don’t go dying on me, ok? You die, I die.”

“Same goes for you. I don’t want to hear about my death in the future and then willingly walk towards it when the time comes. It would be a really weird suicide.”

“Is it considered suicide if I was killed by someone else and you just knew about it before hand?”

“Well, I’m not sure I can be an accessory to my own murder…”

“Maybe it would just be considered a self-inflicted homicide?” Shad put in helpfully. 

“How is that any different from suicide?” Mask asked. 

Shad shrugged, “Suicide is death by your own hand. Homicide is death by someone else’s hand.” 

“Could we not discuss language right now?” Canvas sighed, but was smirking slightly, “Not that it isn’t fascinating, but there is another version of me that needs rescuing so…”

“Right, back on track! Yeah, I’ll lead the group through the castle.” Mask raised his hand. 

“I’ll go with you.” Sheik said. 

Navi bobbed in the air before flying to Time’s side, “I’ll stay with Time! I won’t be much help in a fight, but I can help navigate across Hyrule!” 

Wind raised a hand, “I’ll go with the group to the castle.”

“I’ll join you.” Tetra said, both of them going to stand with Mask and Sheik. 

After that everyone began sorting themselves into the two groups, trying to keep it even. 

In the end it ended up with Sky, Time, Navi, Fi, Pipit, Medli, Quill, Ravio, Sheerow, Irene, Flute, Spirit, and Light going to find the Triforce Piece. 

Mask, Sheik, Wind, Tetra, Grace, Impa, Merge, Canvas, Ciela, Leaf, Neri, Tatl, Tael, Byrne, Beast, Mini, Ezlo, Midna, Shad, Revali, and Urbosa were headed for the castle. 

“That’s settled then.” Light looked at the two groups proudly. The one going to the castle was larger, yes, but they knew for a fact that there was going to be a fight there. The Triforce Pieces may just be guarded by puzzles instead of enemies. They wouldn’t know until they got there. 

“Which Triforce Piece will you be going after first?” Midna asked her. Light turned to Time curiously. 

“Probably the one in Kakariko. It’s closer.” he answered. “After that we can meet up with you either at the castle or outside the town and everyone can make our way to the last piece together.” 

“Sounds like a good plan to me!” Grace smiled brightly. 

“How are we getting past the Redeads?” Shad looked back at the town with dread. He’d hated having to sneak through that the first time. 

Time laughed, “That’s the easy part. Come on!”

He waved them after him, heading towards the edge of town. Mask ran after him, obviously knowing what was going to happen. 

When they got to the edge of town, Time pulled out his ocarina, putting it to his lips and playing a quick song. 

A few of the others’ eyes widened when they recognized the melody. 

The last notes of the Sun’s Song echoed around them before the Redeads froze, paralyzed in the middle of their movements. 

“The Sun’s Song can stop them?!” Wind burst out, jaw hanging open. 

“Yep! Learned that when I found the song and played it for the first time!” 

“Made things really easy a couple times too.” Mask said. 

Wind turned from gaping to glaring at the nearest Redead, “I’m so mad I didn’t know that. Do you know how many times I could’ve used that knowledge?!”

“The entire Earth Temple would’ve been a lot easier.” Medli agreed. “You would’ve never almost gotten killed!”

Sheik laughed, “Well now you know at least.”

“Could you teach me that song?” Flute asked. 

Time grinned, “Easily.” 

“Come on!” Mask yelled out, turning to the right, “All those bound for a terrifying fight in a castle above a pit of lava, this way!”

“Way to make it sound inviting.” Tetra muttered sarcastically. 

“Good luck!” Medli called out to them before rushing to catch up with her group, trying to wave behind her. 

“They’ll be fine.” Quill whispered reassuringly. 

“I know, but I’m still worried.” She admitted. 

Ahead of them, Time led them out of Castle Town, helping them cross the broken down drawbridge before they were finally in Hyrule Field. 

Pulling out his ocarina again, he said, “I’m gonna use a song to warp us to Kakariko. Can Fi lead us from there?”

Sky nodded, confident in Fi’s abilities. 

Time put the instrument to his lips again and began to play.

“Hard to believe that so little time has passed since the Goddess grabbed me from here.” Sky muttered to himself, looking around the small town, “It feels like so much has happened.” 

“Benefits of paused time.” Pipit joked next to him. 

Sky rolled his eyes at his friend, following Fi and Time as they led them out of the graveyard they had warped to. 

“Did you really fight a giant bug here?” Pipit asked. 

He nodded, “It flew all over the town and had these giant horns.”

“It almost sounds like Stagnox.” Spirit said. Sky turned in surprise, not realizing that the spectral girl was right behind them. “We fought him at the Forest Temple in our time.” 

“Was he covered in this weird purple smoke when you did?”

She nodded. 

“That would be him then I guess.”

“I wonder why they pulled him out of time to send him here.” she wondered. 

Sky shrugged, not having a good answer for her. 

“Right here Master.” Fi’s voice grabbed their attention and they looked up, seeing her hover above the well in the center of town. The townspeople looked at them curiously, but none came forward to stop them. 

“The Triforce is located at the bottom of this well.” 

Time hissed, “Not good.”

“Why is that not good?” Light asked. 

“Remember the Shadow Temple in my story?” When they nodded, he continued, “The bottom of the well is like that. It’s where I found the Lens of Truth. And, even worse, half of us won’t be able to fit down there.”

“What do you mean?”

“The hole at the bottom is only so big.”

“Well I can go down there!” Flute volunteered. “Other than Mask and Mini, I’m the smallest Link.” 

“We can’t send you down alone though, it’s too dangerous.” 

“You did it on your own and I basically did all of my temples by myself. No offense.” he directed the last part to Spirit. 

“Just give me credit for everything in the Tower of Spirits.” 

“Will do, but my point stands. Yes, I’m young, but I’m both big enough and old enough to drive a train. If I can do that, I can go down a well.” he crossed his arms, glaring at Time.

“It has nothing to do with your age.” he sighed, “Mentally, I’m ten, remember? Mini is eight!”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that we don’t know what’s guarding it. It could be a lot more dangerous than it was when Time went down there.” Light told him diplomatically. 

“Well how small is this hole? Is there any way that the rest of us could fit?” Irene asked. 

“Let me double check!” Navi said, flying down to the bottom of the well. A minute later she came zooming back up, “I’d say Ravio is maybe the tallest person here who could get through…if he took the bunny hood off.” 

“I don’t suppose I’d need it down there anyway.” he frowned. Sheerow chirped at him, but Ravio waved his comment off. “Would I have to go? I’m more…magic support, not fighting.”

Sheerow chirped again and Ravio glared at him, “I am not too scared to go down there!”

“I could come.” Medli offered quietly, “I’m still learning my powers as a Sage but-”

“Every little bit helps.” Light assured her. 

“Is this really our best plan?” Quill looked at them, “Splitting up again?”

“Our other choice is to wait until Mask is done at the castle so that he can join them.” Time said, “He’s me, so he knows the well too, but we don’t have that kind of time.”

“I’ll go with them!” Navi exclaimed, “I remember the layout from when we explored it!”

“You hated the well!”

“I hate time collapsing even more!”

“We shouldn’t waste anymore time.” Flute huffed, going to the well and slinging one leg over the side, “I’m going down.”

“Me too!” Spirit flew down to the bottom. 

“We don’t really have a choice.” Light told Quill, patting his arm consolingly. He still watched sadly as Medli began climbing down. “I’d rather be going too, believe me.” 

Time, Light, Quill, Pipit, and Sky stood at the top, making sure that everyone got to the bottom without an issue. Flute went into the tunnel first, crawling along his belly. Irene followed him. 

Quill let out a long breath. “The Chieftain is going to kill me if anything happens to her down there.”

Chapter Text

Spirit shivered as she waited for the rest of her friends to finish crawling through the hole behind her. She’d thought she’d seen a lot of creepy things in her travels with Link, but the bottom of this well really took the cake. 

It was dark and dank with spider webs in every corner, bugs crawling along the walls. There was a quiet squeak from somewhere in the darkness ahead of them and she jumped back, shoulders shaking. 

“Hey, you ok?” Flute whispered. 

She nodded, not sure she could get the words out. 

“You don’t have to come with you know. There’s plenty of us here if you want to wait with the others up top.” 

“N-No, I can do this.” she said, setting her face firmly. 

“Want to hide in my pocket?” he offered. 

She took a deep breath, then nodded again. Spirit morphed back into a ball, shrinking herself down and in his pocket like she had so often during their adventures, just as Ravio finally squeezed himself through the hole, brushing dirt off of his robe when he stood up. 

“Why is this at the bottom of a well?” Medli wondered. 

“This was all built to seal Bongo-Bongo away.” Navi told them. “But be really careful, there are a lot of false floors and walls in here. I remember where most of them are, but still, be careful!”

“Bongo Bongo?”  Irene glanced up at the fairy, “The boss from the Shadow Temple that Time and Mask talked about? He was sealed here?”

The fairy bobbed in the air, giving the impression of a nod. Flute started leading the way down the hall, sword drawn, while Navi answered. 

“No one knows for sure who he was before he died, but after he did, his soul became dangerous and powerful. He was sealed in the well in order to save Kakariko. Later he got out and took over the Shadow Temple. Time was able to kill him there, but it was really hard.”

“How do you kill something that’s already dead?” Medli whispered, stepping gingerly around a dark puddle. 

“It’s…hard to explain. His soul had lived on, but it wasn’t human anymore.” Navi sighed, “It was twisted, deformed. That was what Time killed.”

“Why did Hyrule even have a Shadow Temple to take over though?” Ravio asked. The group turned a corner, Flute giving a strange picture on the wall a wide berth. 

“Hyrule, this Hyrule at least, has a really dark history. There was a really bloody civil war and the royal family had to make a lot of hard decisions.” Navi drooped in the air as she thought about it, “Sheik would be a better one to tell you, but no one really likes to talk about it.”

“I can understand that.” Ravio muttered, “Lorule has had some dark times too.”

“Lorule is going through a dark time right now.” Irene muttered, glaring at the floor in front of her. 

Ravio winced, “I’m really sorry about all of that.” 

“Wasn’t your fault. Just know that if we end up back home, I’m kicking Hilda and Yuga all the way into another timeline.”

“Fair enough…I guess,” he said hesitantly. 

“Watch out for that floor!” Navi called out as Flute was about to turn a corner. 

He stumbled to a stop, almost losing his balance, “Thank you!”

“This place seems pretty deserted, even though it’s really creepy.” Irene glanced around. It seemed like they had been walking in a circle for a little while now. “Are we sure it’s down here?”

“Fi said it was.” Flute reminded her, “We have no reason to think it isn’t.” 

Sheerow chirped. Ravio rolled his eyes, “I left my hood with the others, I can’t understand you!”

“I can!” Navi said, “He’s asking if there are any other places down here to look and he’s right, there are! There’s other floors and other rooms!”

“Where would you suggest?”

“Well the room that Time found the Lens of Truth in is in that direction. There was a Dead Hand there last time though. Plus there’s an entire floor filled with Redeads and acid water.”

“How exciting.” Ravio said dryly. 

“Let’s try the room up here first.” Medli suggested. Navi bobbed again, flying ahead of them to lead the way. 

After a moment she stopped at a door. Flute took a deep breath, readying his sword, before they opened it. 

The room was empty. Flute’s shoulders sank in disappointment. 

“That was anticlimactic.” Irene frowned.

“I don’t sense anything in there.” Medli whispered.

“Sense?”

She nodded, “I don’t know how to use all my Sage powers yet, but if I try really hard, I can sense when things are nearby. It’s easier when they’re touching the ground though. It’s hard to explain, but I think it’s because I’m the Sage of Earth?”

“That makes sense.” Navi agreed, “So, downstairs now?”

“Downstairs.” 

Navi flew down the hall again, leading them around the traps and false walls and floors. Eventually they got to a ladder, leading through a darkened pit to the floor below. Most of the path was dark, but there was a soft light at the bottom, illuminating the bottom rungs of the ladder. 

“So…Redeads and acid water?”

“Yep.” 

“Lucky us.” 

Irene rolled her eyes, reaching for the ladder, “Cowards!” 

The witch climbed down at a brisk pace. Flute rolled his eyes playfully before following her. 

She stopped when she got to the bottom, staring around at everything. 

It was just like Navi had described. Acid water, a sickly green color, covered the floor with planks stretched across it to create a labyrinth of bridges to get across it. All around the room were Redeads, moaning eerily. 

But, right in the center of the planks, creating the soft glow they had seen from the ladder, was a chunk of gold. It looked like a puzzle piece, with one side perfectly straight, and was floating a foot above the ground. 

“There it is!” Irene said in an excited whisper. 

“Yeah, surrounded by Redeads.” Ravio whispered back, looking nervously at the nearest one. They were all huddled at the bottom of the ladder so they hadn’t been seen yet. 

“I wish I’d made Time teach me that song!” Flute groaned, regretting it. 

“Does anyone remember how it goes? Maybe we could try to recreate it?” Medli suggested. 

“And risk getting it wrong?” Irene said, “That would just make us a beacon for all the Redeads here!”

“I know the notes to the song, but only for the ocarina. I don’t know about harps or flutes.” Navi said sadly. 

“Can we fight them all?”

Ravio shook his head. “I gave my flame rod to Mr. Hero, otherwise it would be really easy.” 

“You can kill them with a sword, but if they scream and paralyze you…” Navi’s voice trailed off and the rest of them shuddered at the thought. 

“What about-Irene?!” Flute burst out as loudly as he dared. 

The group spun, watching as the witch carefully navigated her way around another Redead, making sure to stay out of its line of sight. She smiled at them over her shoulder before moving down the next plank. 

“This is a really stupid idea!” Navi hissed. 

Irene shrugged. ‘You were taking too long.’ she mouthed at them. 

They watched with bated breath as she paused, figuring out how to get around the next one. A moment later, she hopped over to a nearby plank, arms out as she wavered to catch her balance. 

Ravio let out a sigh of relief when she did, inching closer and closer towards the Triforce piece. 

Irene’s hand closed around the small golden object and suddenly the room burst with a golden light, blinding them for a second, before it condensed into the small piece in the witch’s hand, no longer glowing. 

She smiled, holding it up for them to see. 

Then it all fell apart. 

The Redeads let out a piercing scream all at once, freezing them where they stood. At the same time, large white hands burst out from the ground all around the room, reaching and scrambling for anything near. 

“Oh no!” Navi cried, “The Dead Hand!”

None of them could see what she meant, still immobilized by the scream. That didn’t stop her though. 

“Irene, move, it’s coming right towards you! Irene!”

The witch gritted her teeth, fighting against the effects as quickly as she could. 

Navi and Sheerow flew around in the air frantically. Spirit leapt out of Flute’s pocket, watching with worry. A strange creature, shaped like a pale lump of clay, was slowly making its way over to Irene. The water didn’t seem to affect it, moving slowly through the liquid like it wasn’t there. The head bent forward at an unnatural angle, the jaw opening. 

“Guys, she needs help, hurry!” Spirit turned to look at her friends, but they were still frozen. 

“Link-Flute, hurry up!” Momentarily forgetting what she was, Spirit darted forward, accidently passing through Flute instead of shaking his shoulder like she had planned. 

It was like a bucket of water had been tossed over him, shocking him out of the stupor the scream had put him in. Flute shook his head, taking in the sight in front of him in shock. 

“Irene! Move!”

Spirit smiled and turned to the others, passing through them as quickly as she could to get them back to normal. 

Irene couldn’t see that. All she knew was that she was still frozen to the spot, the eerie scream still racing down her spine and holding her in one place. 

“Hey!” someone called out, “Leave her alone!” 

There was a pained grunt from somewhere behind her and the next thing she knew, Irene was being lifted into the air. Something sharp had hold of her shoulders, digging painfully into her skin. 

The pain brought her back to the present and she jerked around. 

“H-Hold still!” Medli panted above her, “I can’t h-hold on very w-well!” 

The Rito girl had latched onto Irene’s shoulders, flapping her wings furiously to fly them back to the ladder. Flute stood there, aiming an arrow towards whatever was behind them. A quick glance showed it was some sort of zombie creature, an arrow already sticking out of one shoulder. 

“Hurry!” Ravio called out. 

“Start getting up the ladder, now!” Navi told him, bouncing against his head to try to force him up there. “The Redeads are coming too! We need to get out of here!”

“I’ll hold them off, get up there!” Flute yelled, letting loose another arrow. 

Medli made it to their group, collapsing, out of breath. The girl was shaking, both from a mix of the effort it took to fly them both and from the adrenaline. 

“Thanks, but we’ve got to hurry!” Irene said to her, grabbing her arm and hauling them towards the ladder. Ravio was already halfway up, glancing down at them with every step. 

“Flute!”

“I’m coming, go!”

Irene pushed Medli towards the ladder, hurrying up after her. Spirit hovered near, watching with concern as Flute continued to fire arrow after arrow. 

“Hurry up!” Irene yelled down as they neared the top. 

“Just go, I’ve got a plan!”

Ravio made it to the top, leaning down to help Medli up. A moment later he reached down, grabbing Irene’s hand and dragging her up. 

“Flute!” 

He turned, racing up the ladder. Halfway there, he reached into his bag, pulling out a blue orb. Redeads were swarming the bottom of the ladder, mouths open and ready to let out another scream. 

Flute dropped the item he was holding, racing even faster up the ladder. 

“Run!” he cried. 

There was a flash in the horde of monsters as he made it to the top.

He grabbed Medli and Ravio, pulling them behind him as he ran down the hall. Irene followed, heart pounding in her chest. 

Not a second later there was a loud ‘BANG!’ 

The ground shook under their feet, smoke billowing from behind them. 

“Did you just blow up the well?!”

“Maybe?!”

“The well we are currently in?!”

“I was trying to stop the dozens of zombies from following us!”

“That was a horrible plan!”

“Do you see any of them following us?!”

As if to spite him, another arm burst forth from the ground ahead of them, flailing around to try to grab them. 

“Horrible plan!” Navi repeated. 

“We don’t have time to argue about it right now!” Ravio yelled, barely dodging the arm. 

Flute groaned, swiping his sword at it near the ground. 

It separated from whatever body was underneath that they couldn’t see, dropping lifelessly to their feet. 

“This way!” Navi flew ahead of them. 

They sprang back into action, stumbling down the uneven stone hallway. More arms shot out from the floor, from the walls, from the ceiling. 

There wasn’t enough time to fight all of them, the group dodging and ducking as quickly as they could. 

One hand grabbed Medli’s hair, yanking her backwards, but Flute swung his sword again and the arm flopped to the ground. 

“There!” Spirit cried, pointing to the hole in the wall they had crawled through. 

Irene reached it first, practically sliding on the ground as she dove for it. She crawled through the tight space as quickly as she could, Medli right behind her. 

“Flute!” Spirit called out again. 

He spun around, seeing the Dead Hand moving towards them. Its red eyes shown, zeroed in on him. 

“I think your bomb just made him mad!” Ravio yelled, voice filled with panic. 

Flute almost rolled his eyes, instead pushing him to the hole, “I’ll deal with him, just get out!” 

Ravio looked between the hole and the Dead Hand before nodding and rushing for it. 

“Link…” Spirit whispered next to him. 

“It’s fine.” he whispered back, holding his sword out. He had to wait for Ravio to get clear before he could leave. “Go ahead.” 

“I’m not leaving you!”

The Dead Hand was closer now, jaw opening. He knew that once it attacked, it would be blindingly quick. 

Flute waited until the last moment, then dove to the side as the Dead Hand snapped its jaw forward, biting down on the empty air where he had been standing. He rolled, absorbing the impact and bringing himself back to his feet. Quickly he lurched forward, stabbing his sword towards its body. Normally the ribs would’ve been right there, but he felt no resistance. 

Flute moved, yanking his sword out and slashing over and over again, trying to do as much damage as he could. 

The Dead Hand screamed, neck stretched towards the ceiling. Flute slashed at it, decapitating it. The room shook again. 

He didn’t wait to see if it was actually dead or just regenerating. Flute threw himself into the hole in the wall, scrambling with his elbows, knees, hands, anything he could to move him forward as quickly as he could.

A pair of hands reached in and he stretched, just barely grabbing him. 

Someone yanked and then he was sliding out, falling into someone’s arms as they rolled onto the floor. The ground shook again, the small tunnel collapsing just a few seconds after he cleared it. 

Flute panted, looking up to see Sky holding him. Spirit hovered above them, a relieved smile on her face. 

The entire group was down there at the bottom of the well, more than half of them covered in dirt and grime. 

“You guys ok?” Pipit asked, looking at all of them, concerned. 

Irene nodded, grinning proudly as she held out the Triforce piece, “Yeah, but I vote that you guys have to get the next piece.”

Chapter Text

“Somehow, I thought you were exaggerating.” Leaf muttered, staring down into the pit of lava in front of them. 

“Why would he exaggerate?” Neri asked. 

Leaf bobbed in the air as if shrugging, “I just didn’t think he was serious about a castle literally floating over a pool of lava.” 

“Trust me, nothing about this Ganondorf is an exaggeration.” Mask huffed. 

“Are we really sure that this is the smartest thing we could do right now?” Shad piped up from the back of the group, “I mean, this is the guy who has literally broken time, should we be marching straight up to his castle?”

“This was your idea, remember? You can’t change your mind now!” Revali huffed at him. 

“I see your point,” Sheik said diplomatically, “But we do have to save our friends who are trapped in there. We know of at least one Zelda who’s in there and the Goddess of Time mentioned that there are other friends that have been captured as well. We’ll do what we can to save them now, but if we need to, I’ll use Farore’s Wind and warp us out of there.”

“Wait, leave them behind?!” Mini looked up at her in shock. 

“I don’t want to, we’ll try our hardest to save them, but we may not have a choice until we have the power of the Triforce on our side.” 

“Zelda is a statue right now, remember that. That means they have no reason to harm her.” Ezlo told his friend comfortingly. 

Mini sighed, looking at the ground dejectedly. 

“We’re still going to do everything we can.” Beast promised, smiling at the younger Link.

“What can we expect in there?” Merge asked, directed the question to Mask. 

“Last time he had all of these barriers set up, one for each of the Sages that I saved. Then he was in the highest part of the tower, guarded by a bunch of monsters. What he has set up this time, I don’t know.”

“This castle was in pieces when Time and I fell through the rips in time.” Sheik stared darkly at the intact building.

Mask groaned, “Not good.”

“Well, we won’t learn anything by standing around,” Urbosa smirked at them, “Let’s get going.”

The group approached the castle gingerly, every one of them on their guard. 

The first room was completely empty. So was the hallway beyond that. 

Mask frowned when they got to the main room. 

“This looks exactly the same, down to the doors to the Sages’s barriers.” he muttered, “If he was going to rebuild this place, wouldn’t he have changed it a little?” 

Sheik looked around. He was right, the place was perfectly untouched. If she didn’t know any better, she would say that they had never fought Ganondorf before. The barriers weren’t up, instead it was like Time had just finished clearing them. The way up to Ganondorf’s tower was unlocked, the door swinging open almost invitingly. 

“I don’t trust this.” Impa muttered, clenching one of her knives tightly out of nervousness. 

“Neither do I.” Byrne agreed, scanning the room. 

“Should we check those doors?” Canvas pointed down below them, but Mask shook his head.

“If he really rebuilt this place after the fight, my money is on him being at the top again. Let’s head there.”

He marched ahead, sword drawn as he started leading them up the stairs. 

Again, every room they entered was completely empty. Their footsteps echoed on the stairs. Mask frowned. This wasn’t right. Last time, this place had been a gauntlet, both on the way up and down. Why would Ganondorf rebuild this place, just to leave it undefended? Especially if he was holding a Zelda there?

Beast pushed open the final door that led to Ganondorf’s throne room. Mask could remember entering it the first time, Ganondorf playing the organ and Zelda trapped in the crystal above it. 

This time it was empty, like the rest of the castle. 

“Well, this was exciting.” Midna said dryly. 

“This isn’t right.” Mask muttered. 

“Yeah, you’ve said that.” she rolled her eyes at him.

“Is it possible that they took her to another time once they got here?” Grace asked. 

Ciela fluttered over to her, “It’s possible. The entire castle is filled with remnants of time magic.”

“That’s probably how he rebuilt the place so quickly.” Sheik huffed. 

“Well there’s nothing to be gained by standing around here.” Impa said, stowing her knives away, “We should search the rest of the castle. If she isn’t here, then we should go meet up with the others.”

“Sounds good to me.” Tetra said, stretching her arms above her head before moving to the door.

It slammed shut before she got there, locking itself into place. 

“Hee hee hee Kotake, look who it is!” a voice laughed.

Everyone spun around, trying to locate it, but the room stayed empty. 

“I see Koume, I see!” another voice answered back, “Silly, stupid people who fell for a silly stupid trap!”

Mask groaned, “Not you two again.”

Two witches spun into existence, hovering on their brooms above the group.

“Well well well, if it isn’t the little pest who killed us!”

“You’re lucky that our king was able to revive us!”

“Or not so lucky!” 

The witches cackled at the joke and Mask grit his teeth, “Hey, I killed you once, I can do it again!”

“I think not!” Koume yelled down at him, starting to fly around the room.

Kotake followed so that both of them were circling the group. “We don’t plan on ever letting you kill us again, pest!”

“Especially since you’re so much tinier now!”

“Well he’s got backup this time!” Beast growled, falling into a fight stance. 

“Hmmm...they do have a point there sister, there are many of them this time.”

“How right you are, yet none are the ones we want!”

“How disappointing! They can’t even fall into a trap correctly!”

“Oh whatever shall we do?” Koume’s tone was sarcastic and both witches began laughing again. 

“We don’t have time for this!” Revali yelled, loosening an arrow at the nearest one. 

Kotake dodged it, letting it bury itself harmlessly in the wall behind her. Clicking her tongue, she shook her head at him, “Well now, that wasn’t very polite!”

“We should teach them a lesson for their rudeness!”

“I agree!”

Mask’s eyes went wide in realization. “Oh no…guys, run!”

He bolted for the edge of the room, grabbing the hand of whoever was nearest to him and pulling them behind him. Grace yelped at the sudden movement. 

The others listened to his warning, running as fast as they could. There was a bright flash right where they had been standing. 

When the flash faded, the witches were gone. Standing in the center of the room now were a myriad of monsters. 

Dark Knuts, Stalfos, Wizzrobes, and looming above them all was a giant spider, baring her pinchers threateningly. 

“Seriously?!” Mask groaned. “Gohma?! That’s crossing the line, even for you two hags!”

“Why are you yelling?! They’re gone!”

“I don’t care! They brought back the thing that killed my father! I am going to kill them!” he yelled, drawing his sword, “Very, very painfully this time! So dead that they’ll never be able to be brought back!” 

That was all he said before he ran forward, launching himself at the first of the monsters. 

“That kid has some serious anger issues.” Midna watched him, shaking her head before turning to Beast with a smirk, “I like him.”

He rolled his eyes, “Of course you do. Come on!” He raced after Mask, sword hacking and slashing as he met one of the Stalfos in the middle. 

“Watch out!” Neri cried as one of the Dark Knuts swung at Wind. He jumped back, raising his shield in time to block another strike. 

“Leaf!”

“Right here!” the red fairy flashed for a moment and suddenly Wind’s sword was cloaked in flames. The hero went on the attack, pushing back against his enemy. 

Merge jumped backwards, sliding into the wall as a Stalfos stabbed at him. Its attack bounced harmlessly off the stone and he popped back out, slashing at its spine before it knew what was happening. 

Impa and Tetra spun through the group of enemies, hacking and slashing, leaving a trail of wounds behind them. 

Urbosa was doing something very similar on the other side of the room, dancing between two Dark Knuts before snapping her fingers, grinning. A lightning bolt flew through the air, linking the two enemies by their metal armor. They jerked from the force of it, then slumped to the ground before exploding into dust. 

Revali was chasing the Wizzrobes through the air, dodging their magical attacks and launching arrows at them as quickly as he could. He took down three of them, but not before they had summoned more monsters, falling to the ground and joining the chaos. 

Byrne was blocking attacks with his arm and launching his hand to grab his opponent and fling them into the nearby wall. Behind him, Canvas and Grace huddled close to the wall, watching the fight fearfully. 

“You two gonna jump in at all?!” he growled at them, throwing another Stalfos to the far side of the room. It landed in front of Beast who jumped and plunged his sword through their chest, finishing them off. 

“And do what?! We don’t have a weapon, we can’t fight!” 

“You’ve got magic, don’t you?! Use it!”

“I’m still learning how to use it! I highly doubt any of my spells would be useful here!” Grace yelled, leaping out of the way of a stray arrow. 

“I know how to make magical shields. If you transfer your power to me, we can make them stronger!” Canvas suggested. 

“Then do it already! If you can stop even one surprise attack then it’s worth it!” Byrne yelled. 

The two girls nodded, determined. Grace grabbed Canvas’s shoulders, transferring her powers over to her as Canvas closed her eyes, concentrating. After a moment, their allies began to have a slight shimmer behind them. A translucent shield blocking any unseen attacks. 

“It’s not very strong, but it should stop the worst of attacks.” Canvas whispered, eyebrows furrowed from the effort of keeping the shields up. 

“Every little bit helps.” Grace smiled at her, lending her more magic. 

Mini was helping Mask, the two of them targeting Gohma. Mask had his bow out, zeroed in on the spider’s eye. 

Mini darted between their legs, listening as Ezlo shouted out warnings. The size difference didn’t bother him in the slightest and he attacked every one of Gohma’s legs that he could, making her screech in pain. 

Gohma roared, rearing back. Mask let his arrow go, hitting the center of the spider’s eye. 

She screamed even louder, falling to the ground. Mini rolled forward, barely avoiding being crushed by the flailing limbs. 

Mask launched himself forward again, attacking Gohma’s body viciously. Mini joined his side, stabbing and slashing as fiercely as he could. 

“Just die and stay dead already!” Mask was yelling. 

A Wizzrobe flew above them, hearing the cry. With a small wave, they summoned a dozen Stalfos behind the two heroes. 

Revali glared at the Wizzrobe, knocking an ice arrow and shooting it towards them. 

The arrow hit their shoulder, freezing their body instantly. They fell to the ground, shattering. Revali smirked, that was the final Wizzrobe. 

Urbosa ran forward, blocking one of the Stalfos as they tried to stab Mini from behind. Mask turned at the sound, raising his shield in time to block another Stalfos. 

Gohma, her attackers finally halted, roared and stood up again, shaking her head and raising her legs, ready to slam them down. 

Byrne saw this, frowning, and aimed for Mini. His hand flew, grabbing the tiny boy and yanking him out of the way seconds before Gohma’s leg came crashing down where he’d been standing. 

“We’ve got to get rid of these things!” Midna yelled, “Then we can focus on her!”

“Open to suggestions!” Beast yelled back, blocking another strike from the Dark Knut in front of him before finally burying his sword in its neck. It crumbled to the ground, exploding. 

“I’m so glad you asked!” Midna smirked, spinning in the air above him. 

Beast’s shoulders fell as he realized what she had in mind. 

The familiar tingle swept through his body and he felt himself morph. His teeth elongated, fur appeared over his body, and a tail swished through the air behind him. 

Midna landed on his back, looking very satisfied with herself. “Let’s go little wolf!”

Beast didn’t even try to argue with her, not that he could as a wolf, but also because he knew better at this point. He ran forward, watching as Midna’s energy field surrounded them, locking onto the different Stalfos. 

He jumped forward, feeling his speed and strength increase from Midna’s magic. 

The Stalfos didn’t stand a chance. He tore through their chests, one after another, in mere seconds. They exploded into dust and smoke before he made it to the next enemy. 

“Handy trick!” Tetra grinned fiercely. 

Midna returned the expression, “The trick was getting him tamed.”

Beast growled, turning and attempting to nip at Midna’s leg. He missed, Midna yanking it out of the way at the last moment, making him go in a circle. “I’ll admit, I’m still working on the taming part.”

Tetra was about to respond when they both got distracted by a loud yell. 

Turning, they saw as Mask ran ahead, his path now clear. He jumped, burying his sword in Gohma’s neck. 

Gohma screeched, reeling back from the attack. Mask swung around wildly, holding onto his sword for dear life. 

With one final lurch, she finally shook him free and he flew through the air. Revali narrowed his eyes and dove, catching him right before he hit the wall, spreading his wings out to slow them down as they landed on the floor. 

“Thanks,” he muttered. 

Revali scoffed as an acknowledgement, turning back to the boss in front of them. 

Merge had pulled out his Ice Rod, aiming it above Gohma’s head. The spider didn’t notice, attention focused on the people running around near her feet. They dodged every stomp, distracting her. 

Finally happy with his aim, Merge activated his Ice Rod. Four chunks of ice appeared in the air over her before they fell, cracking down one by one. 

Gohma groaned, collapsing to the floor. 

“Now or never folks!” he called out. 

They didn’t have to be told twice. Everyone ran forward, attacking with all their might. Swords, arrows, magic, they leveled it all on the giant spider. 

She thrashed, trying to run away, but it wasn’t enough. With one final shudder, she exploded beneath their onslaught. 

Impa panted from the effort of the fight, shoulders slumping. “Everyone alright?”

“Minor cuts and scrapes.” Wind answered, “Nothing major.”

“I think the shields stopped the worst of the damage.” Light said, “Thank you both for that.”

“Glad to help.” Canvas smiled. 

“I think we can all agree, traps suck.” Tetra huffed.

“Do you think Zelda was ever here?” Mini asked, looking up at his hat. 

Ezlo shook his head sadly, “Maybe when Shad first saw her, but they must’ve moved her, probably to another time.”

“This whole trip was a waste.” Revali snapped, collecting a few of his arrows that hadn’t been damaged, stuffing them back into his quiver. 

“Not exactly. Remember what the witches said earlier? None of us were the ‘ones they wanted’. This wasn’t a trap for us.” Light pointed out. 

“So, they’re targeting someone in the other group?” Canvas wondered. 

Light nodded, “Multiple someones from the sound of it. Whatever they have planned, it can’t be good.”

“Let’s hope that our friends had better luck than us then.”

“Come on, the sooner we get back to them, the better. I don’t want them caught off guard in case there’s another trap.” Beast said, human again and rolling his shoulder as he headed for the door.

“Could this day possibly get any worse?” Revali groaned. 

Predictably, no one had an answer.

Chapter Text

“Guys, look!” Irene yelled at them, holding the Triforce piece up. 

Sky smiled goodnaturedly at her excitement. 

Merge and Canvas ran forward, eager to see their friend. 

“You got it! Where was it?”

“Bottom of the well.” Time said, “They had to go down alone, fight the Dead Hand, and-”

“And almost blew up.” Spirit smirked. 

“I said I was sorry!” Flute protested. 

Pipit chuckled, “What about all of you? I don’t see another Zelda, so…”

“Wasn’t there.” Mini said, depressed, “It ended up being a trap.”

He hissed, “Not good.”

“Very not good.” Grace agreed before launching into the full story. 

Their friends’ eyes grew wide as they listened. 

“Gohma, really?!” Time burst out. 

“That’s what I said!” Mask looked at his younger self proudly, obviously feeling vindicated. 

“Not really the point though. The trap was set for one of you!” Tetra reminded them. 

“From now on, we shouldn’t split up. If all of us are together, there is less chance of any of their traps working” Impa decided, crossing her arms. 

“I agree.” Light nodded, “It’ll be slower, but safer in the long run.”

“Unless they bring back enough bosses and enemies to outnumber us 10 to 1.” Byrne muttered. 

Spirit playfully swatted his shoulder. Her hand passed through him, but it still caused him to raise an eyebrow at her. 

“We’re thinking positive here!”

“Positivity doesn’t change reality.” 

“But it makes dying so much better.” Tatl muttered sarcastically. 

“Whatever.” 

“And killing Gohma probably helped the timeline, right? She was already dead, but got brought back, so yes, something else to be positive about!” Spirit insisted. 

“That part is true.” Ciela admitted. 

“2 out of 3, not bad for our first time out.” Spirit crossed her arms, looking pleased. 

“Technically it was the second time.” Mask pointed out with a smirk, “Termina, remember?”

“Ok, so 2 out of 4, still not horrible.”

“What do you say we make it 3 out of 5 by getting the next Triforce piece?” Urbosa spoke up, chuckling softly.

“Fi?” Sky asked. 

The sword flashed, but she didn’t come out this time, voice ringing through the air, “The location of the second Triforce piece in this time has not moved Master.” 

“Can you tell if it’s in more that direction or that way?” Time asked, pointing in two different directions. One was almost directly opposite of the castle while the other was more to the right. “One of them is Lon Lon Ranch, the other is the desert.”

His sword flashed again, “Your right hand is closer to the approximate direction of the Triforce piece. Scans also indicate that it is much farther away than the ranch appears to be.”

“Desert it is.” Mask sighed, pulling out his ocarina. “I say we warp to the Spirit Temple first. Knowing our luck, it’s there.” 

“Thinking positive!” Spirit reminded him. 

He ignored her, raising the instrument to his lips.

“Well, at least it feels like home.” Urbosa said as soon as they arrived. 

“Speak for yourself, I’m boiling.” Revali groaned. 

“As much as I hate to agree with him, he’s right.” Quill muttered. 

Urbosa smirked, “You lot are covered in feathers, of course you’re overheating.”

“Shut up.” 

She grinned, turning away from her friend to Sky. “Well, does Miss Sword have an update?”

Fi flashed as she appeared in front of them, “Affirmative, but I must ask, Miss Sword?” she cocked her head to the side, looking very curious. 

Urbosa shrugged, “Why should the Links and the Zeldas be the only ones with nicknames? No friend should be left out.” 

Some of the others chuckled as Fi silently processed this. Finally, she nodded, “Very well, I accept your friendship, diva queen.”

“D-Diva queen?!” Urbosa spluttered. Revali roared with laughter behind her. 

“You are more extravagantly dressed than most others and you are a chief, the equivalent of a queen, to your tribe. Is this not an appropriate nickname?” Fi asked, looking incredibly sincere. 

“Th-That’s not, why would you-” Urbosa didn’t seem to know exactly how to respond. 

“You stated that ‘no friend should be left out’ when it came to nicknames. Does that not include you?” 

Urbosa blinked, finally letting out a breathy laugh, “Fair enough.”

“Friendship accepted.” Fi repeated with a definitive nod. Sky smiled, watching the scene. 

“I’m only calling you that from now on.” Revali chortled. 

“Hey, only my friends call me that, Feathers!”

“Wait, you can nickname me, but I can’t nickname you?!”

“Yours is derogatory. Learn to insult properly.”

“I can insult properly you-”

“Boring!” Midna yawned, cutting him off, “Where are we headed?” 

Fi turned, looking at the giant Spirit Temple in front of them. The front was carved as a statue, the woman’s gaze staring out into the desert. 

“The Triforce piece is located within this structure.” 

Mask shook his head, “Should’ve put money on this.”

“No one doubted you.” Shad felt the need to point out. 

“Doesn’t matter, I should've put money on it.” he said, “Hey, anyone want to take the bet on if those hags are in there? This was their home!”

“That seems too easy.” Quill frowned. 

Tetra just shrugged, “I’m game. 20 rupees?”

“You’re on.” Mask grinned, the two of them shaking on it. 

Wind groaned, “Great, just what you need, a new gambling buddy.”

“Hey, no comments about my gambling unless you want me to start poking fun at your figurine collection, that’s the deal!”

Wind grumbled under his breath, but didn’t say anything else. 

Merge raised an eyebrow at him, “Figurine collection?”

“It’s not what you think!”

“Then what is it?”

“I-It’s-Shut up!” He turned away, cheeks red although not from the hot sun beating down on them, “Don’t we have a job to do?!”

Tetra laughed, following him as he started marching off the pedestal to the Temple, “What, are you embarrassed?”

“No poking fun, remember?! Otherwise I’ll tell everyone about the time that you bet Gonzo that-”

“Shut up!” 

“You started it!”

“This is going to be a long temple.” Beast sighed, shaking his head. 

The inside of the Temple was luckily much cooler than outside, shaded from the sun. Time went first, shield up to block the two flying pots as soon as they entered.

“The Triforce is located above us.” Fi told them. 

“This way then.” Time said, leading them in. 

“So the last piece was guarded by a Dead Hand. What do you think is guarding this one?” Irene asked. 

Ravio, the nearest one to her, shrugged, “I don’t know. Could be anything at this point.”

“Hopefully something we can take care of easily. I don’t want another boss fight.” Canvas shuddered. 

“Don’t jinx it.” Merge grinned at her. 

They entered room after room, Time and Mask taking turns leading them through the temple, following Fi’s instructions whenever they started heading a different direction than the Triforce piece. 

“Hey, through here is where we got the mirror shield!” Time called out, opening the door to a large room with giant pillars.

“Careful,” Mask called out, “Remember the Iron Knuckle through there!”

“Exactly how many of those have we killed at this point?” Time raised an eyebrow at him, “I think we can handle it.”

“What did we just say about jinxing things?!”

“The room looks empty to me.” Beast said, wandering inside and looking around, “Are we sure it’s in here?”

“It has to be. That door leads to the statue’s hands outside and we would’ve seen the Triforce piece from out there.” Time said. 

“Fi, can you double check?” Grace asked. 

“Affirmative, rescanning.” the blue woman said, falling silent for a minute before speaking up again, “The Triforce piece is at the end of the room, located above the chair.”

They turned to the chair which stood facing them, notably empty. 

“Not to doubt your friend or anything, but nothing’s there.” Tael muttered. 

“Something’s there, Fi’s never wrong.” Sky said, drawing his sword and slowly approaching the chair. “What was here last time?”

“An Iron Knuckle, like we said. It was the only enemy in here. Once we killed it, that door opened up and led us to the hand outside.” Time repeated. 

Sky frowned, holding his sword out in front of him towards the chair. The sword point 'tink' ed against something right above the chair, stopping in midair. Sky blinked in confusion and reached forward again. All this did was provide another ‘tink’ noise. 

“What the-hey!” he yelled, cut off as he suddenly flew through the air. He slammed into the wall, chest suddenly covered in blood from the massive scrape that seemed to appear from nowhere. 

“What just happened?!” Grace cried, running to his side.

He winced, attempting to sit up, “I don’t know. Something hit me.”

“There was nothing there!” 

“Obviously something is there!” he protested. “Din, this hurts! Anyone have a potion?!”

Ravio raced over there, reaching into his bag. His arm disappeared up to his elbow despite the bag being so small and he rummaged around in it.

“How are you…” Grace looked at him in confusion. 

“I’m really good at enchantment magic.” he said by way of explanation. 

“Woah, hey, put me down!” Mask yelled, grabbing their attention. 

He was dangling in the air, scrambling to grab something behind him where they could all see the back of his tunic being held up in a grip behind him. 

Whatever was holding him suddenly pulled him back before throwing him across the room. Pipit, nearest to the door, leapt up, trying to catch him. 

Mask hit the knight head on, both of them bashing into the wall behind them and sliding to the floor, groaning in pain. 

Ravio finally wrapped his hand around a bottle and pulled it loose. “Ha, here we go! Drink up!” he shoved the bottle in Sky’s hands before running towards the other two. 

“Can anyone see anything?!” Sheik yelled, standing back to back with Light. Light had summoned her sword and was swinging it wildly in front of her. 

Medli got dragged forward by her ponytail, screaming and scrambling to get away. 

“I’ll take that as a no.” Sheik hissed under her breath. 

Quill and Wind, by some unspoken agreement, both launched themselves at the air in front of Medli. Quill wrapped himself around what felt like their shoulders. Wind ended up wrapped around one of their feet, tripping whatever the creature was. All three fell to the ground, Quill and Wind seemingly floating as they held the invisible creature down. Medli, finally free from their grip, ran to the back of the room, eyes wide with panic. 

“Hold him down!” Time cried, reaching into his pack. 

“Really, cause I thought we should let him dance around before stabbing us!” Wind snapped. 

Time ignored him, pulling out his Lens of Truth. Holding it up to his eye, he winced. 

They were holding down an Iron Knuckle. 

An invisible Iron Knuckle. 

As if the enemy weren’t deadly enough. 

“Can you see anything?!” Irene asked as Beast and Urbosa joined in, holding it down.

“Yeah, it’s not good!” he cried, “It’s an Iron Knuckle!”

“I thought you said that we could handle one of those?!”

“Well I’ve never fought an invisible one before!” he huffed, turning away to yell at the tiny witch. 

He chose the wrong moment to do so. As soon as he turned his back, the Iron Knuckle finally shook the others off, standing up in a rage. Quill and Beast were able to catch themselves, Quill spreading his wings and Beast flipping backwards and landing on his feet. Wind ended up sliding down the floor, all the way to Mask, but Urbosa was the unluckiest one. 

The Iron Knuckle had grabbed her, pinning her to one of the pillars. The Gerudo Chief gasped for breath, trying to pry off fingers that she couldn’t even see. 

“Time!” Navi yelled, bouncing against his head, “The Lens, use the Lens!”

“Right!” He held it up again, watching as the Iron Knuckle brandished its battle ax, raising it above its head and getting ready to bring it down. 

“There, right in front of her, attack already!” he cried, pointing. 

Beast reacted first, launching his sword forward and catching it in the side. The Iron Knuckle roared in pain, dropping Urbosa to the ground. Byrne was right behind him, slashing his metal arm across the monster’s back. 

Growling, he held his ax out again. Time realized what he was going to do and gasped, “Guys, duck, now!”

They did and not a second too late. The Iron Knuckle spun, his ax flying through the air. If they had been standing, they would’ve been cut in half. 

Beast felt the weapon whistle past his head and let out a sigh of relief. He turned, running to the side of the room, “Midna!”

She popped out of his shadow, flying alongside him as he ran. “Wolf, now!”

“Are you sure?” She looked at him skeptically. 

“I can see spirits as a wolf, remember?”

“Yeah, but this guy isn’t dead, it might not work.”

“Help!” Time cried, running to the opposite end of the room. The Iron Knuckle had obviously figured out who could see him. 

“We don’t really have a choice right now.” Beast said, turning back to her. 

She shrugged, “Fair enough.”

A moment later she landed on his back and he shook his head, quickly adapting to his wolf senses.

“In case it wasn’t clear, he’s right behind me!” Time yelled. 

“It’s not exactly easy to fight something that we can’t see!” Revali yelled back. 

Beast turned to the other Link, narrowing his eyes at the space behind him. There! He could see it! It was fuzzy and transparent, but it was there!

He barked in satisfaction, bounding forward and latching onto the Knuckle’s leg. It was hard to sink his teeth through the armor, but he got a decent enough grip to slow him down.

“See him now?” Midna asked in a mocking tone. 

“Shut up.” Revali glared at her. 

She rolled her eyes, looking bored. 

Merge and Mini ran forward, swinging their swords at the space above Beast, trying to hit the Knuckle’s torso. 

The Knuckle kicked Beast away, finally dislodging him. 

“Duck!” Time yelled again. The ax barely missed them, swinging through the air just inches above their heads. 

Mini jabbed his sword forward, hoping to get lucky, and feeling proud when his sword met resistance. 

Sky, potion finally having healed him, ran over to Time. 

“Hey, can you give me as close to his exact location as possible?”

“I’ll do you one better.” He pushed the Lens of Truth towards him. 

“Perfect,” he grinned, digging into his own bag. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Our best hope is to hold him in one place and then let everyone go to town on him.”

“Like they all did with Gohma?”

“Exactly.” he grinned, pulling out his whip, “Let’s just hope it works.”

He waited, watching as Beast buried his teeth in the Knuckle’s leg again. With the Knuckle distracted, Sky snapped his whip forward, wrapping it around the Knuckle’s torso and tying its arms to its sides.

The Knuckle pulled, stretching the whip. Sky felt his feet sliding forward on the stone floor. 

“A little help here!”

Wind, seeing what he was doing, dug into his own bag. He pulled out two grappling hooks, the benefits of having had multiple adventures. “Medli!”

She turned just barely in time to catch the one that he tossed her. 

“You still remember how to use it, right? Follow Sky’s lead!” Wind whipped his grappling hook around in the air to build up momentum, launching it at the Knuckle. 

Medli gulped, nervous, but did the same. 

Both of them watched as the ropes encircled their enemy. They may not have been able to see him, so it looked like an invisible pillar was being tied up, but it worked. 

Irene and Canvas ran forward, each grabbing one of the grappling hooks to help try to hold it in place. 

Revali, grinned, happy that he finally had a target, and began launching arrow after arrow at him. 

The Iron Knuckle screamed, more out of frustration than pain. Time ran forward, plunging his sword in between the ropes and into the Knuckle. Impa, Urbosa, and Flute followed suit and soon he was surrounded, multiple knives and swords stabbing him over and over. 

He let out one final scream, falling to his knees. The ropes went slack as he exploded.

Time panted from the effort, watching as the smoke expanded before quickly returning to the chair and the end of the room as if it were all being sucked up to that one point. 

In a quick flash, the smoke solidified, turning into a soft golden piece, hovering in the air. 

“Finally.” Sky sighed in relief, wrapping his whip back up and stowing it in his bag. 

Sheik stepped forward, grabbing the Triforce piece. “Two in one day, that’s not bad.”

“Not bad at all.” Light agreed with a smile. 

“You want to know what’s even better though?” Tetra asked smugly.

“What?”

She turned to Mask with her own smile, “They weren’t here, pay up.”

He groaned, reaching for his wallet.

Chapter Text

The group trudged through the door, back into the Goddess of Time’s sanctuary. 

“I vote for sleep.” Merge muttered, leaning against the wall as Shad marked the door, pinning a sign to it. 

“Can we sleep in paused time?” Neri wondered. 

“You can rest here all you want and heal your injuries. Please do so. You cannot save reality if you do not care for your bodies.” the Goddess answered. 

“Hey, you already sound better!” Ciela said cheerfully, flying to the ribbon of light. 

“You’ve recovered two pieces of the Triforce and killed many monsters that were unfortunately brought back to life. This gives me enough strength to speak properly.” 

“That’s great!”

“We forgot to mention it, but Ghirahim stole the moon from Termina.” Mask sighed, looking up at the Goddess. 

“I sensed when this happened. I cannot yet tell where they have taken it. They are shielding it and my power is not yet strong enough to break through.” 

“We’ll find it.” Sky said reassuringly, “But Merge is right, we need to get some sleep.” 

He turned to point to the other Link, but said Link was already curled up on the ground, snoring softly. 

He laughed quietly to himself, “I guess some of us have had a longer day than others.” 

“Very true.” Light smiled, “All of our personal timelines were out of sync before we came here.” 

“I was asleep when I fell through time.” Impa said, shrugging when some of the others looked at her curiously. “Bad way to wake up, I wouldn’t recommend it.” 

“Noted.”

“Come on, let’s get some sleep.” Navi said, flying over to Time. He lifted his hat obligingly, letting her get comfortable inside before finding a place to rest himself. The others followed suit soon after.

Medli yawned as she woke up, stretching and looking around the room. It looked like she was one of the last ones to wake up, Wind next to her being shaken by Tetra. 

His eyes bounced around, unfocused for a few minutes. She almost giggled. Wind was the worst morning person in the world. He might’ve loved mornings, but he loved sleep more. 

“So, where to next?” Pipit asked, drawing everyone’s attention as he sat up, leaning against the wall. 

“Anyone recognize anything on the doors? Might be a good place to start.” Shad suggested. 

“This one looks like the door to my house.” Merge said helpfully, knocking gently against the door nearest to him. 

“I think this leads to my grandma’s place.” Wind muttered, pointing dizzyingly towards a wooden door near him, “Hey, next time, can you not shake me awake?”

“Nope.” Tetra said bluntly, not even looking at him and instead using her dagger to clean under her nails. 

Sky’s sword flashed, “Master, I believe the door next to Termina’s will lead to our world.” 

He glanced over his shoulder at his sword hilt in surprise, “It will?” 

“It has similar markings and aura to the Goddess Statue that is now located on the Surface.” 

Shad was tearing pages out of his book, writing furiously and pinning the pages to the doors. 

Urbosa jerked her head to another door, “This one is ours. It’s covered in the same symbols as our Shrines and Sheikah Slate.” 

Sheik sighed, looking around at all of the doors, “There’s so many of them, this will take us forever.”

“It doesn’t help that Ganondorf obviously has a plan in mind.” Light agreed, crossing her arms with a frown.

“A plan in mind?” the Goddess asked, flashing at her words. 

Light nodded and explained what had happened. 

“This is worse than I feared.”

“Do you know what they’re planning?” Pipit asked. 

The ribbon flashed again, “I can’t say I do. I can only assume that what it entails will involve destruction like we have yet to see before in any time.” 

“That’s really saying something.” Midna huffed. “Ok, I think it’s pretty obvious that everyone wants to go and check in on their own world, but we really have to narrow this down.”

“We know they are looking for part of our group and that their plan involves Ghirahim moving Termina’s moon.” Quill said thoughtfully, “We know the moon isn’t in this Hyrule.” He pointed to the door that Shad had helpfully labeled as ‘Time’s Adult Hyrule’. “So out of all of the ones left, which one would they move the moon to?”

“I don’t think it’s ours.” Wind put in, “Either the Great Sea or the Ocean King’s Realm. The moon would destroy a couple islands, but otherwise just sink into the ocean, so unless he really wants to destroy an abandoned underwater kingdom-”

“Not very likely.” Tetra agreed with a huff, “Did this Ghirahim guy ever mention anything in particular that he hated and wanted gone?”

Grace and Sky shook their heads. Fi spun out of the sword again, “Ghirahim always worked toward reviving his master and completing his master’s goals, which was the destruction of all reality. Including this in the rest of our calculations, there is no way to narrow down a specific location that Ghirahim himself would like to see destroyed. The highest percentage leads to the Goddess Statue currently on the Surface, but he would target this out of vengeance and spite as it was the weapon used to kill his master.”

“Can you calculate our best lead then?” Sky asked her. 

She nodded and fell silent, working through the numbers in her head. After a moment, she said, “Based on all of the information shared regarding each of your timelines and worlds, each world holds a current equal chance of having Triforce pieces and there is not enough information in order to plan for the enemy’s attack plan. I then suggest we focus on the Triforce pieces and allow me to enter each time long enough to dowse for the Triforce and then focus on the one that has the most pieces located in that current time.”

“That’s disturbingly logical.” Revali muttered. 

“I think it’s the best plan we have.” Sky huffed, glaring at him. The Rito just shrugged, ignoring the gaze. 

“It also lets us confirm which door leads to which world.” Shad pointed out brightly. 

“Let’s do it then. The more pieces of the Triforce we find before getting in another battle with anyone working with Ganondorf, the better.” Sheik said, moving to the closest door. 

It was right next to the one leading to Time’s Hyrule, made of polished wood like it belonged in a mansion. Pulling it open, everyone was greeted to the sight of a courtyard, multiple cats frozen mid-step right in front of them. Rain drops were obviously pouring to the ground, but in the moment of paused time, hung in the air. 

“Hey, I know this place.” Beast said, stretching a hand out and poking one of the rain drops. The water clung to his finger, then fell to the floor when he retracted his hand, “This our world, that’s Jovani’s courtyard.”

“Jovani? He’s one of the richest men in Hyrule, but very elusive. No one’s seen him in years.” Light said. 

“That’s cause he’s one of the most cursed.” Midna chuckled, “He got turned into pure gold.”

“Wait, what?” She blinked at the imp. 

Beast just nodded, “Yep. We met him when we snuck into the castle, his house is connected to the waterway. I’ve been collecting poe souls for him and he can move around now, but he’s still made of gold. There is so much gold in his house, you can’t even open the door, it’s completely blocked. I have to dig in as a wolf, over in that corner.”

He pointed outside the door a little. “I have to say, it’s really weird seeing the cats, or even the rain, not move at all.”

“Paused time, remember?” Mask shrugged, “Just cause we didn’t see the effects in Termina or my Hyrule, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”

“Dowsing complete.” Fi said, grabbing everyone’s attention. 

“Don’t you have to go out there?” Irene asked. 

Fi shook her head, “Negative, simply opening the door allowed me to dowse in that time period. Beast’s Hyrule currently holds two Triforce pieces.”

Shad nodded, making notes and pining it to the door. Now, in addition to stating which time it went to, there was also a note of how many pieces were there. 

“Next up, my house,” Merge said, pulling open the next door in line. It opened up to see a crowded one room home, with tables and shelves moved to the edges of the room. 

“That’s where I was when I fell through time.” Light mumbled.

Merge sighed, looking at Ravio, “What, you couldn’t clean up?”

He shrugged, “I was in a hurry.”

“Yeah, in a hurry to take all my savings.” 

“Hey, those weapons are enchanted! You never run out of ammo! Is that or is that not worth the price?!”

Merge rolled his eyes, but smiled slightly at his friend. 

“Dowsing incomplete.” Fi spoke up, tilting her head and looking puzzled at the door. 

“Dowsing incomplete?” Sky asked, looking even more confused than her, “You’ve never had an incomplete dowsing before.” 

“The results are changing.” Fi mumbled. 

“Changing?”

She nodded, “There is at least one definite Triforce piece located in this time, but scans indicate another. However, the second keeps disappearing, then appearing in a new location.”

“How is that even possible?”

“Reason unknown at this time.” Fi sounded very frustrated by this. 

“Could it be Lorule?” Canvas asked softly. 

“Lorule?”

“Our Hyrule and Lorule are connected, there are cracks in between the two worlds, allowing us to travel between them.” Ravio explained. 

“Exactly!” Canvas grinned excitedly, “Could you be sensing the Triforce through the portals to Lorule?”

“This is a plausible explanation.” Fi agreed, “But we will not be able to confirm it until Lorule has been scanned.” 

“Maybe this door then?” Merge went to the door right next to his. This one was exactly identical to the door leading to his house, only made of a darker wood. Opening it up they saw a rundown vacant house, dust and cobwebs covering it. 

“Yep.” Ravio sighed, “That’s the empty house in Lorule. It’s in the same spot as your house.”

“Found a bottle there.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s come in handy.”

“Dowsing complete. Results are consistent with the scans from the connected Hyrule. It seems your theory is correct.” Fi turned to Canvas, nodding when the princess smiled again. “One piece is located in Lorule.” 

“Let’s keep going then.” 

One by one, they opened all the doors, letting Fi dowse through them while Shad finished labeling all of them. 

“All scans complete.” She finally said, “Two worlds hold three Triforce pieces each.” 

“Ours and yours.” Grace said, nodding to Revali and Urbosa. 

“Finally.” Revali huffed, moving towards the door to his time, Urbosa close behind him. 

“Actually, I was thinking that maybe we should do our time first.” Sky suggested gently, wincing a little at the furious look that Revali shot him. 

“Excuse me?! You all have said that we could get to our time as soon as we could!” He burst out, “We went to Termina, we tried to rescue Mini’s Zelda, it’s time for us to go home! We were in the middle of fighting the Calamity, they need us!”

“Except Ghirahim took the moon, remember?” Sky pointed out, “Yes, the chance is low that he’ll be there with the moon, but what if he is? That’s his time too. For all we know, he’s trying to destroy the Goddess Statue so that they can try to bring the Imprisoned back like they did with all of our other enemies. If that’s true, we need to stop them there first.”

“That’s a lot of ‘if’s.” Revali narrowed his eyes even more, feathers ruffling up in anger around his neck, “I can’t ignore my home based on ‘if’s.”

“Trust us, if they are releasing the Imprisoned, everything will be far worse.” Impa said firmly, “If they release the Imprisoned, then they can use Mini’s Zelda to fully release Demise. She and Grace are just reincarnated versions of the same soul. Any Zelda could be used to release him.”

“I got lucky killing him the first time, when he was alone. I don’t think we’ll get that lucky again.” Sky sighed, shoulders slumping, “I’m sorry, I know you’re worried about your home, but we can’t risk Demise coming back. Whatever you think your enemies are like, Demise is far, far worse.”

“Demise’s curse is what created all of your enemies.” Fi reminded them, “He has the power to destroy reality without having to break time to do so. If Demise is released, our chance of success drops to 7%, increased to 9% if we have the power of the Triforce to reinforce us.”

“They are correct, I am sorry to say. Without my power, I cannot stop Demise from destroying everything.” the Goddess said sadly. 

Revali clenched his beak shut, still furious. 

“Let us check out our time first, yours will be next, I promise.” Grace said softly, laying a hand on his arm. 

He tore it away from her, refusing to meet her eyes. 

She sighed, shrugging at Urbosa’s apologetic glance. 

“Come on, let’s go.” Sky muttered, pulling open the door to his time. Beyond it they could see the inside of the Goddess Statue, the empty pedestal that had held the Goddess Sword just ahead of them. 

Grace and Impa led the way, Grace sending another sad smile to Urbosa and Revali. 

They waited as everyone else filed through the door. Urbosa was about to follow them, but Revali grabbed her elbow, closing the door instead. 

“Come on,” he said, dragging her to the door to their time. 

“Revali, what are you doing?” she groaned, “We have to stay with them.”

“Look, at this rate, we’ll never go home.” he huffed, spinning around to face her, “They promised that we could go home after Termina, then after we tried to rescue Zelda.”

“You’re exaggerating.” 

“No, I’m not. This promise to go to our time after finishing in that one is another lie. They’ll find some other excuse to put off going to our home and you know it.”

“They have valid reasons, this is bigger than Calamity Ganon.”

“Calamity Ganon didn’t fall through time, we did!” Revali hissed, “We fell through while he was attacking our Hyrule. We have no clue how that battle ended! We have no clue if anyone survived!”

Urbosa rolled her eyes, “You don’t care if anyone survived, you just want to return as a hero.”

His eyes grew wide at her words before he finally scoffed, “That’s what you think?”

“That’s what I know! All you care about is being the greatest champion, the greatest hero. You hate our Link for drawing the Master Sword and knowing that he has been reborn and been Hyrule’s hero so many times kills you!”

“I care about more than that.” he muttered, turning away. “And I’m going, whether you come or not.”

“Please do not leave, please stay. Help.” the Goddess whispered as he placed a hand on the door.

“The group is so large, they won’t notice that I’m gone.” he whispered back, “In fact, they’ll probably celebrate. Besides, Ganondorf’s not after me. Those witches said so, the ones they needed were part of the other group.” 

“Revali.” Urbosa grabbed his shoulder, “Please, don’t do this.”

He turned to her, his mask gone for once, showing the hurt that filled his eyes, “Come with me, please.”

Urbosa was taken aback. In the years that they had spent together training as Champions and traveling across Hyrule looking for signs of Calamity Ganon, she’d never once heard him say please. At least, not sincerely. Sarcastically, yes, but never pleadingly like he was now. 

She let out a breath, “You fly us to Zelda and Link, to King Rhoam. We tell them what’s going on, we find out what happened with the Calamity, then we come back, deal?”

“Deal.”

“Wait, please-”

It was too late. Revali opened the door, the Sheikah symbol flashing before it slid open and they walked through.

Chapter Text

“So, this is where you got the Master Sword?” Flute asked, looking at the pedestal in front of them with curiosity. 

“I mean, Fi wasn’t the Master Sword yet, but yeah, this is where it all began.” Sky answered with a small shrug, “We’re inside the Goddess Statue right now.”

“So when you say began, you mean like, began began. ” Mask said, smirking a little. 

Sky rolled his eyes, “Shouldn’t you have a migraine right about now?”

“It’s getting easier with each time period.” his small smirk turned into a full blown one. 

“Argue later, shall we?” Tatl huffed, flying over to the door.

“She’s right, we have three pieces to locate in this time period.” Sheik said. 

Ciela shuddered slightly as they talked, like she had gotten a slight chill. 

Wind looked up at her curiously, “Are you alright?”

“...yeah, just a weird feeling.” she muttered, “Like someone was trying to talk to me, maybe? I’m not really sure.”

“Maybe it's because we’re back near the Gate of Time.” Neri said. 

“Maybe.” Ciela seemed doubtful. 

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out!” Leaf said helpfully. 

“Are they always this cheerful?” Tetra whispered, leaning in towards Wind. 

“Mostly just Leaf.” 

They turned back to the group, where Fi was filling everyone in on where each Triforce piece was located. 

“The closest piece is here in Faron Woods, seemingly in the direction of Faron herself.”

“Wonderful.” Sky muttered sarcastically, “She’ll probably make us do some stupid challenge to prove we’re worthy of it.”

“Based on your stories, that’s exactly what will happen.” Ezlo said. 

“What about the other pieces?” Sky asked with a sigh. 

“One is located in the sky while the last is in the direction of the desert.”

“Thanks Fi.” Grace said before turning towards the others, “We should check in with Impa and Groose, if they’re still here, then head to Faron.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“When the time comes, do you have a plan for getting us all to the sky?” Pipit asked. 

“We actually get to go to Skyloft?!” Shad said excitedly, clutching his notebook tightly to his chest. “Do you think I could meet with one of your history professors while we’re there?! Does anyone there happen to know of the Oocca? What about-”

“One thing at a time.” Grace chuckled before leading the way through the door and into the forest. “Let’s figure out the Surface stuff first.” 

Shad pouted a little at that, but followed her anyway.

The group gaped for a moment at the sheer size of the statue and the trees, particularly the giant one they could see towering over the tops of the others, before catching up to Grace, Sky, and Impa who were already walking towards the dilapidated temple in front of them. 

They didn’t get very far, the doors bursting open and a tall man with shockingly red hair running out. 

“ZELDA!”

“Groose, slow down!” 

“Wait, just wait!”

“Groose, stop!”

Their pleas might as well have gone unheard as Groose launched himself at Grace, sweeping her into a tight bone crushing hug.

“You’re back! You’re finally back! Granny was worried sick, I was worried sick! We thought the worst happened, that the sparkling maniac kidnapped you again and-”

“You know, we were missing too.” Sky said dryly, pointing to himself and Pipit. 

Groose ignored him. 

“Then we found this doppelganger of you and the wimp-”

“Still right here.” Sky said. 

“-and a bunch of fairies, but then they all disappeared and-”

“That was us!” Ravio said, waving helpfully.

“-and now Granny’s collapsed with this massive headache a minute ago-”

“What?!” Impa burst out worriedly. Instead of waiting for Groose’s response, although he probably didn’t have one for her at this point, Impa marched ahead and into the Temple, leaving the rest of the group behind.

“-but then you showed back up and-”

“GROOSE!” Grace yelled, finally getting his attention, “Let me go, I can barely breathe!”

He blushed, embarrassed, “Sorry.” 

“It’s good to see you too.” she muttered, “But what’s wrong with Granny?”

“That’s future Impa, right?” Mask asked, popping up from behind Sky. Groose jumped back, staring back and forth between him and Sky. “Then she’s probably getting our Impa’s memories from our time traveling, like me and Time did.”

Ciela bobbed in the air, agreeing with him. 

“She’ll be ok though?” Medli asked.

Mask shrugged, “She should be.”

“Wait, who are all of you?!” Groose finally burst out, seeming to just notice the rest of the group. “Why are there so many versions of the wimp?”

“I’m not a wimp. Never been a wimp.” Sky grumbled.

“Remember how we talked about time breaking the last time we were here?” Sheik asked him. 

“That was you?”

Sheik took a deep breath, obviously trying not to lose her patience, “Yes, that was me. We figured out that time was broken and now we are here trying to fix it.” 

He nodded, then his face broke into a wide grin, “And you need my help. That’s why you’re here.” 

“What? No-that’s not-”

“Groose!” Grace snapped, placing her hands on her hips, “When we need your help, we will ask for it! Right now I need you to take care of Granny or so help me I will never talk to you again!”

“Bu-But Zelda!” he sputtered a weak protest. 

“That’s it Groose, take it or leave it!”

He groaned, shoulders slumping to the ground, “Ok, I’ll look after Granny.” Suddenly he popped back up, glaring at Sky, “But if you let her get kidnapped again-”

“I won’t!” 

“If you do-”

“She isn’t getting kidnapped, alright?! Everyone here will make sure of it!” Sky yelled. 

“Good, cause I can’t leave Granny to come keep rescuing her, got it?! Zelda gave me this job and it’s important and so I can’t leave when you mess up!”

“I’m not going to-”

“We’re leaving!” Grace turned and began pushing Sky away from Groose, “We’ll say goodbye before we leave this time again! Don’t let anything happen to Granny!”

Impa walked back outside at that moment, “My future self is laying down now. She’s up to date on everything that’s occurred. Other than a migraine, she’ll be fine.”

“Good, then let’s go!” Grace yelled out, marching away. Groose frowned, watching with a pout as the group left him behind.

“Is he always this much of a headache?” Beast whispered. 

“Yes.” Pipit said bluntly. “You should’ve seen the fit he threw about having an upperclassman mentor his first day at the Academy.” 

“Was it you?”

“...I don’t want to talk about it.” 

“And here I thought Beth was annoying.” Midna snickered. 

“She’s not annoying.” Beast said, rolling his eyes, “She just has a…strong personality.” 

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.” 

He shook his head, choosing not to respond any further. 

“Hey, can everyone swim?” Sky called out from the front of the group.

“Grew up on an island!” Wind said, raising his hand high. 

“I can swim!” 

“Me too!”

“Got my Zora mask!”

“I…can’t.” Flute admitted, looking a little ashamed of that fact. 

“I thought you said you went underwater for one of your temples?” Mask raised an eyebrow at the other Link. 

He shrugged, “Enchanted train tracks. I didn’t have to swim there and I got through the temple without having to go through the water.” 

Sky sighed, “Alright, what about everyone else? Can everyone swim?”

“Technically.” Quill said, grabbing their attention and pointing to himself and Medli, “Rito learn how to swim, but we can’t do it for very long. Our feathers get too waterlogged and then we end up sinking.” 

Sky hummed thoughtfully for a moment. “Well, you guys could fly over and meet us on the other side then. Could you carry Flute with you?”

“Easily.”

“I’m not so good with long distance flying.” Medli whispered. 

“You have to fly over those mountains. I’m sure there’s places you could stop to catch your breath.” he smiled at her, pointing ahead of them towards the mountains in question. 

“Could I come with you?” Irene asked. “I can swim, but I have my broom and it’s easier to fly on the thing than try to swim with it.”

“I thought witches could do it all though?” Merge smirked at her. 

She glared and lightly hit his shoulder, “Watch it Greenie or as soon as I learn how, you’re turning into a frog!”

“I’m terrified.” 

“You should be.”

“Is everyone covered then?” Grace asked, trying to get them back on track. 

“I think so. It’s a really long swim though, so if you have something that lets you breathe underwater, you should use it.”

“What if we don’t have that?” Mini asked. 

“I can give you a quick enchantment that lets you breathe underwater, but it’s only temporary.” Sheik volunteered. 

“Wait, you can do that?” Time looked at her, surprised. 

She shrugged, “It’s nowhere near as powerful as the Zora Tunic you have, so I might have to reapply the enchantment, but we should be able to get there in one piece at least. It’s more like a water repellent charm than anything.”

Merge nudged Ravio, “Why have you never done that then?”

“Hey, I enchant items, not people!” he held up his hands defensively, “Totally different spells there.”