When the morning came, I walked outside to get some fresh air. I barely slept at all last night, and I could already tell it would take a toll on me throughout the day. The sun had just barely peeked over the horizon and there was a slight fog in the air. I rubbed my arms, trying to warm them up a little from the chilly air.

A few seconds later, I heard the sound of an ocarina coming from outside the village. Curious to see who it was, I headed towards the entrance. Peeking around the corner, I saw Father and Liam sitting on the stairs. Liam had a dark blue ocarina in his hand and was playing a simple melody. Not wanting to disturb them, I sat down quietly and listened to him play.

"You play rather well," I heard Father say. "I'm assuming you were previously taught?"

"Yes. Impa taught me a little. I've never played on the Ocarina of Time before though. It's always been on a different one."

"That's probably because it's a very powerful instrument."

"Yeah, I know. Even the lullaby Impa hums has some kind of impact when played on this."

"Indeed, it does."

"It makes me glad Impa brought it along with her yesterday."

It was quiet for a couple of seconds before Liam spoke again.

"What other songs do you know?"

"That's about it, actually. I only learned songs that were necessary in my quest."

"I see."

It was quiet again, until Father peeked his head around the corner and looked at me.

"By the way, you don't have to keep sitting there."

I frowned. "I can never do anything without you hearing me."

He chuckled. I stood up and sat on the other side of Father. Liam had a surprised look on his face.

"How did you know she was there?"

I looked at him with an annoyed look. "He has amazing hearing, and sometimes, it's quite annoying. I might have already told you how impossible it is to sneak up on him."

Father chuckled again while Liam remained silent. He shrugged and looked to the ground. It felt like there was something off about him today, but I couldn't place what it was.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, um, nothing."

I raised an eyebrow. He was obviously lying, but I decided to let it be. Though when I glanced at Father, I could easily see a worried expression worn across his face as he looked at Liam. I really wanted to ask again, though I thought it was better to just leave it alone.

"Let's take a walk," Father said calmly and stood up.

"A walk?" I asked.

"Yes. Let's walk near Zora's River."

"...Okay." I stood up along with Liam, who looked a little reluctant. We walked down the stairs to the edge of Hyrule Field, where the middle of Zora's River flowed.

"So…why the sudden idea to take a walk?"

"Because the both of you need a moment to just relax. Trust me, it will be good for you. I can tell the both of you are stressed about the whole situation."

"Why wouldn't we be?" Liam snapped. "We're basically told to just go take this guy out without so much as even an explanation on how!"

"That's because no one knows how," Father replied.

"But you did it once. Surely you know."

He shook his head. "That was in a different time. I didn't do that in this time. I only prevented what could have happened."

"Well, it's happening" I mentioned. "Castle Town has been destroyed and Kakariko had to take in refugees. If you ask me, that sounds like what happened with you."

"While that may be true, not everything has happened. According to Kildea, the sages are safe."

"Actually, that's no longer true."

We all turned around to see Kildea herself with a solemn look.

"When did you get here?" I asked.

"Just now, actually. I come bearing bad news. Both Ganondorf and Ghirahim have attacked the Temple of Time. The sages are fighting with them as we speak. I know you were probably going to get some things done before hand, but we need your help right now."

I felt my heart drop. I knew I would have to leave sometime, but I did not want to leave right now. I looked at Liam, who was slowly getting paler.

"Well, let's go get you two ready," Father muttered as he started walking back to the village.

I never really understood the gravity of the situation until now.

Even though I had thought about it earlier and realized what dangers awaited out there, it really hit me once I finished changing into the tunic that was made for me, and it also made me wonder if I was actually ready for this.

I looked into the mirror and studied myself. The dark purple tunic reached halfway down my thighs, where thick white tights covered the rest of my legs. I wore my typical boots that I had worn almost every day ever since I could fit them. Under my tunic was a white long sleeved shirt and chainmail. It felt heavy against my body, but I had a feeling I would get used to it. I tied my hair into a ponytail before taking a final look at my room and leaving.

Father, Impa, Kildea and Liam were waiting for me in the living room. After taking a glance at Liam, who looked almost scared, it seemed like the fitters had made him a tunic as well. His was a dark blue and had a similar style to mine. I noticed he had a bow and arrow set across his back and a sword in a sheath on his right side.

"Bow and arrow, huh?" I mentioned as an attempt to lighten up the dark mood. Liam just looked at me and shrugged.

"Well, don't you two looked all suited up?" Celer's voice spoke from the living and dining room doorway. No one responded to him, so he just gave a quick nod and went to the kitchen, where Impaz was.

"Are we ready?" Kildea asked in a rushed voice.

"Not quite." Father handed me a sword in a sheath. "I was making this while you were away. I hope it holds up for you."

"It should. It was made by you, after all." I gave a half-hearted smile. I took the sword and situated it so that it was placed on my back and my hand could reach it without a struggle.

"It's a good fit," he commented before he let out a painful sounding cough. He quickly covered his mouth.

Impaz peeked her head out from the kitchen. "What was that? It did not sound good at all."

"No, it's fine," Father managed to say. "I'm fine. I think I swallowed something wrong."

"That didn't sound like swallowing something wrong," she said suspiciously. "Anyway, here." She handed both Liam and I a satchel. "I'm not letting you leave without a bit of food. There's also a red potion for each of you. Hopefully, you won't need to use it."

"Thanks, Impaz." I gave her a hug before tying the satchel to the belt around my waist.

"I don't really want to cut this short because we really should be leaving now." Kildea seemed to be in an extremely nervous mood. "I have enough magic power at the moment to warp all three of us out of here and to the Sages', so we should get going."

"She's right," Father muttered. "You should be going."

I quickly gave Father a hug before going over to Kildea, who was getting more anxious by the second. A tiny urge in my mind wanted to go say goodbye to Rico before I left, but I decided against it. Then the next thing I knew, I was outside the Temple of Time.

*Link's P.O.V.*

Impaz sniffled softly and retreated to her room. Before I could even make a coherent thought, Impa grabbed me by the wrist and practically dragged me outside. Once she closed the main door, she looked at me straight in the eye.

"Now I think we both know that the cough you let out earlier was not what you said it was."

"I said I'm fine," I said a little too quickly. "There's nothing to worry about." The last thing I wanted was for people to worry about me instead of Sapphire and Liam.

"You are not fine. It's not just the cough that's saying that either. I've known you long enough to know that you would not have just let your daughter go that easily. You hardly ever let Zelda out of your sight once you were allowed to be near her, and you expect me to believe that you were that willing for Sapphire to go off and face danger that could easily kill her?"

"I never said I was willing, but she knows how to take care of herself. She is trained in the art of swordplay and knows enough from my own journey to understand what it is she has to do."

"Even so, I know for a fact that you would have made more of an attempt to go with her, yet it seems you were reluctant, and everyone who knew you knows you are never reluctant when it comes to helping others in need, even if it means risking your life. So go ahead and try to tell me again that everything is fine."

I swallowed. 'Impa knows me just about as well as Zelda did.'

"You're sick, aren't you? And I don't mean just any old cold. I mean you might not get out of this kind of sick."

I shook my head. "No, I'm not sick." When Impa gave me a glare, I shook my head again with a little bit more force. "I'm being serious."

"Then explain this." She grabbed my wrist again and pointed at the very noticeable splotches of blood on my hand.

I sighed. "I guess since you won't leave me alone about it…" After taking in a breath, I explained.

"When Ganondorf came here a while ago, I got hit pretty hard. He had sent me flying. I've experienced that before, so I wasn't worried about it. Though after I was woken up from being unconscious, I realized that had never happened to me before in the middle of a fight. After a while, I started noticing a growing bruise around the middle of my torso, and even though it's stopped growing…it's not exactly a normal sized bruise. And it doesn't have a normal color either. Not to mention it hasn't stopped hurting at all. I'm not sure what he hit exactly, but whatever it is, he hit it hard."

"So hard that you're coughing up blood? Please tell me you had the senses to take a blue potion, and recently at that."

"I've taken two so far. One at the beginning of the week, and one a few days ago. I don't think it's healing it. The pain might have gone down a little, but I've been coughing up blood all week. What I think the potion is doing is slowing it down."

"Slowing what down?" Impaz raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you actually think…"

"Two blue potions so far and nothing has changed," I mentioned again.

She seemed to take a minute before speaking again. "So that's why you aren't being your usual self. You can't be yourself physically."

"At least not for long periods of time. Honestly, it's not long at all. If I do too much, I start hurting within a few minutes."

"You need to tell Impaz. She might be able to do something. After all, she helped Sapphire with her asthma."

"You knew about that?"

Impa nodded. "Sapphire told me about it. Speaking of her…"

I crossed my arms. "Don't tell her or Liam. Both of them already have a load on them, and the absolute last thing I want is for them to worry about me. I will be fine."

"For now, anyway. She's going to come back sometime, and if you're not doing any better, you won't be able to hide it. If she's anything like you, she's going to blame herself."

"I know, which is why I'm not going to tell her unless it gets to the point where I'm barely able to move."

"Then I pray to the Goddesses that you get better before she finds out."