Chapter Text
The summer breeze was calm as it stroked over the leaves of the trees that surrounded the small clearing. The quiet chittering of crickets mixed together with the rustling of the moving branches.
‘’This is a good place to stay for the night,’’ said Time, leader of the Chain and turned to the other eight heroes. ‘’I’ll have first watch. Any volunteers for second and third?’’
Legend sat down on a patch of dried mud and rolled out his bedroll. ‘’I’ll take second.’’
‘’Me third.’’ Four put down his bag and rummaged inside to grab his book.
‘’Who wants to help me find firewood?’’ Wild asked.
Wind put his hand in the air. ‘’I’ll come! Bet I can carry more than you.’’
Wild rolled his eyes as he created a small flame in his hand that worked as a torch to light up the path as the sun was sinking further down to the horizon. ‘’Yeah, sure, 'cause you have both hands to use. I can only use one.’’ He gestured with his left hand at the flame that burned steady above his right palm.
From his conversation with Time, Twilight shot his protégé a quick glance. ‘’Well, hurry up and come back fast, the sun will be setting soon and we’re all hungry I think.’’
Soft mumbles of agreement came from the Chain.
‘’We won’t be long,’’ Wild promised before he and Wind disappeared in the thicket, their chatting slowly fading.
Twilight turned his attention to his mentor. ‘’Are you sure about the mission?’’ he asked, worry edging his voice.
Time nodded. ‘’Couldn’t be more sure. The Shadow is rising.’’
‘’But we’re mere amateurs in our bending!’’ Twilight whispered, not wanting the others to hear. ‘’I’m not saying we’re weak, but past failures and mistakes that involves our bending won’t make it easier for us to fight the Shadow.’’
Time let out a sigh. ‘’I know, I’m also struggling, but we must act fast. We still have time to train along the way, but this fight was a mere warning for what will be coming in the next seasons to come.’’
Twilight looked away, a frown on his face. ‘’The new hero, Wild, he really doesn’t have control over his bending yet, does he? I’ve noticed it in fights.’’
‘’And that is why you are his mentor.’’
Twilight let out a sigh. ‘’Fire and water aren’t the best elements to mix. You know that Time.’’ He chuckled slightly. ‘’I still find it a miracle that we’re even getting along so well.’’
‘’Fire and water may be opposite, but there will never be harmony if one element doesn’t have the other,’’ Time softly corrected. ‘’You as a Waterbender are one of the few who can keep him calm sometimes, though he keeps you alive with his fire.’’
Nodding slowly, Twilight began to understand what Time was trying to say. His gaze quickly darkened however when he looked back up at his mentor. ‘’But then what about the Shadow? How can we stop it?’’
Time shrugged. ‘’I don’t know yet, but this is what Hylia has shown me.’’ He briefly rested his hand on Twilight’s shoulder, squeezing it softly with reassurance. ‘’I’ll tell the others about the mission once Wild and Wind are back. You should try and get some rest until dinner.’’ He walked past Twilight and joined Warriors, beginning to take off his armor.
The bushes rustled and Wind stumbled into clearing, his hands full with sticks and leaves covering his hair. He dumped his load in the middle of the clearing and brushed his shirt clean before turning to Wild who wasn’t far behind him. The cook dimmed the fire in his right hand to embers and dropped his load of sticks to the side, meaning to use them later on.
Wind was busy making a nice heap of the wood with a big smile on his face. ‘’Told you I’d win,’’ he said to the Firebender.’’
‘’Yeah, couldn't see that coming,’’ Legend said, his voice holding the familiar sarcastic tone. He created a small circle of earth around the sticks when Wind was done to prevent the fire from spreading.
Twilight joined the group and sat silently beside Sky. The Airbender was mindlessly making small birds out of the wind, letting the figures fly through the clearing. He smiled as greeting when Twilight sat next to him.
‘’You look like you’ve seen a ghost,’’ the Skyloftian said softly. ‘’What did Time say?’’
‘’He’ll share it in a moment,’’ Twilight said and shot his eyes at Wild who summoned some ingredients from his Slate.
‘’Okay, guys,’’ the young Firebender began cheerfully, ‘’fish and mushroom skewer tonight. And if you don’t like fish or mushroom or both, I have apples for days!’’ He shot a small beam of fire toward the unlit campfire to light the wood, but instead, an uncontrolled wave of fire followed, almost scorching Warriors’ scarf.
Twilight and Hyrule both reacted quickly and splashed water from their bottles onto the wild flames. The orange heat died down with a hiss, leaving a small puddle of ashen water next to the campfire that was starting to warm up, Time shooting a more controlled beam of fire to help the flames live up that were half-drowned by the water.
‘’Wild! Watch what you’re doing!’’ Warriors yelled as he pulled his scarf closer to himself. ‘’Artemis would’ve never forgiven me if I burn this!’’
Shooting his eyes down, Wild slowly began working on dinner. His mood completely changed. He mumbled a quiet apology to the Earthbender, keeping his gaze away from Warriors.
Twilight felt for the young bender. He shared a glance with his mentor, a silent ask what to do about Wild. But Time only signed slightly in a quick eye-movement for Twilight to sit beside the newest member.
Making his way over to Wild, Twilight sat on his heels beside the young hero and helped him put the mushrooms on the skewers, using a small sheet of water around his fingertips to immediately wash the vegetable, too. ‘’Don’t fret too much about it,’’ he softly said.
‘’Hmm,’’ was the only response of the Firebender. He carefully put a fish in the frying pan, the flesh sizzling against the metal.
The two worked in silence until all the skewers were done. Twilight carefully put them on a plate and went by all the Links, letting them each get their share before he sat back down with his own food.
It was Time who broke the silence after a few moments. ‘’You all fought well today,’’ he said.
‘’Uh, thanks I guess?’’ Legend mumbled and looked up in confusion. ‘’Why do you feel the need to say that?’’
‘’Because you will need to learn to fight even better as a team now,’’ Time continued. He met each of the Link’s eyes. ‘’This wasn’t just an ordinary fight. It was a warning for what is about to come.’’
Hyrule and Four shared a quick glance with each other, worry flashing in their eyes.
‘’What do you mean? A warning of what?’’ Warriors sat more straight, shoulders tense with suspicion and his voice sharp like winter’s wind.
‘’The Shadow will rise.’’
The Chain fell completely silent at Time’s statement, not even Wind, who was usually so cheerful, dared to speak.
Taking it as a sign, Time continued: ‘’I know we are all different benders. Hyrule and Twilight, you are Waterbenders, Sky and Wind you’re Airbenders, Warriors, Legend and Four, you bend Earth and now, with Wild new in our group, I am not the only Firebender anymore, but share it with him.’’
‘’But what has our bending to do with the Shadow... rising... thing?’’ Wind interrupted.
‘’We must learn to fight together as a team and balance our elements with each other. The Shadow seeks for imbalance, and if we don’t manage to trust each other’s bending and work together, we and all of Hyrule will be doomed.’’
Wild tilted his head. ‘’How do you know this?’’ he asked. There wasn’t a challenge in his voice, just a pure curiosity that most likely tickled in everyone’s heart at this point.
‘’I saw it in the ashes after the fight.’’
Wild pulled up his eyebrows. ‘’Wow, okay…’’ he mumbled before taking a piece of firewood and placing it on the dying campfire to keep it going. ‘’So what are we going to do about it?’’
‘’I say we start training tomorrow and follow the evil until we reach the Shadow’s core,’’ Warriors suggested. ‘’And once we’re there, we’re going to push that fucker back to the depths where it came from.’’ He crushed a stone in frustration.
Legend chuckled. ‘’You know, pretty boy, for once… I agree with your statement.’’ He stood up and made his way to his bedroll. ‘’Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going to sleep. See you tomorrow.’’ He laid down so that his back was facing to the fire and within a few heartbeats, his breathing had evened out.
Time nodded slowly. ‘’Legend is right. You should all get some rest. Tomorrow we’ll decide who will train with who.’’
The Links dipped their heads in agreement and each went over to their own bedroll. Twilight was the last to move as he waited for Wild to sleep before he quietly moved over to sit beside Time. But before he could speak, Time beat him to it with a chuckle.
‘’You want to train with Wild tomorrow, I think?’’
Twilight nodded. ‘’If that’s a possibility. You assigned me to be his mentor after all. Wouldn’t it be fair that way?’’
Time shrugged. ‘’Perhaps,’’ he said, but his gaze quickly shifted to something more serious. ‘’But you must understand that you, too, must learn how Firebending works. I’m not saying you must learn to Firebend, but try to understand the emotions and harmony of the element if you want to teach Wild yours. Don’t expect him to be calm like water, because I know out of everyone here, fire works in a whole different way.’’
‘’I understand,’’ Twilight said, still trying to process the information his mentor had given him. He hesitated for a second when he still asked another question: ‘’but… you taught me the way of fire and you learned the calmness of Waterbending from me all those seasons ago, right? So why are you saying it like it will be a whole other story to help Wild understand Waterbending and him helping me Firebending?’’
‘’My fire and his are completely opposite, Pup,’’ Time said with a sigh. ‘’Mine is a steady burning torch, a beacon of light if you want to call it that. The Cub’s fire is more… wild.’’ He smiled briefly. ‘’No pun intended. So you must be really careful at how he will react to your guidance.’’
Twilight nodded. ‘’Okay. Thanks.’’ He stood up and made his way to his own bedroll, ready to call it a day. He laid down and quickly fell asleep, his muscles still sore of the fight that morning.
This left Time alone awake. He let his gaze trail over the Heroes, his eye lingering a second longer at Wild. The boy had his bedroll not far away from Time’s, his face overshadowed by the light of the flames.
But that was not the only thing Time noticed. All of the elements, fire, water, air and earth lay in a small group together that encircled the campfire. Warriors, Legend and Four sleeping at the West, Twilight and Hyrule sleeping at the South side, Wind and Sky facing North and finally him and Wild sitting at the East side of the clearing. Closing his eye, he let out a defeated sigh.
This is going to be harder than I thought… If we don’t learn to work together even if we don’t fight, this Mission will be our downfall… he thought and opened his eye again to look up at the half moon that was slowly beginning to rise to the highest point of the sky. He had rarely done this, actually never, but now that he sat here. Alone. He softly whispered to the stars: ‘’Malon, please give me strength.’’