So, just to clarify, I did not watch Dragon Ball Z growing up. Nothing against it, I just didn't. However... the number of views on this story is OVER 9,000!

... I can't believe I just made that joke. (NOTE: 10-17-14 - I've been informed (Thanks, OrangeLover10 :D) that it's 8,000 not 9,000. My apologies!)

Anywho, shout out to f22velociraptor, tadanomarz, ValkyrieNights, and pokemonwhite2 for favoriting and following!

Keilise: I know the feeling :)

I'm as likely to own LoZ as Groose is to reconsider his hairstyle.

Wind

I couldn't really wrap my mind around what Zelda had said. Wiping out the Hero? From history? ALL history? Whaaaaaaat?

World laughed nervously. "Surely you don't mean all of history... Right? ...I mean, we're time travelers and that means we're paradoxes and therefore should be fine."

Zelda shook her head. "While you are paradoxes, if the Ancient Hero is killed you will have never existed in the first place. So no, you will not be fine."

Time silently stood, rubbing his chin. I could hear the gears turning, trying to find a way out of getting un-existed.

Sky just slid his hand down his face.

"I will not allow this to happen," Midna muttered dangerously. "Not after everything we've been through."

Twi looked at Midna and nodded. "Then our next move is obvious. We go after the creep and stop him from killing Ancient."

One by one, we nodded in agreement.

"I'm coming too," Zelda piped up. "You guys will probably need as much help as you can get. And it's possible I may be able to help locate Ancient."

Twi and Time exchanged glances, then nodded.

Time grasped Zelda's shoulder. "We would be honored to have you."

He, Twi, and Zelda walked to the weird gear thing - the Gate of Time, I guess - with the rest of us trailing behind.

"So how does this thing work?" I asked.

Zelda shrugged. "It's rather easy, actually. You think of when you want to go, touch the surface, and step through."

She stepped forwards and activated the Gate. When the shifting gear path had appeared, she ran through it. We quickly followed her. A few seconds later, we ran out into the temple from the other side of the Gate.

I looked around. "You sure we're there? It looks the same, just it's nighttime now."

"That's not night," Zelda stated flatly. "Demise has covered the entire battlefield with shadows and storm clouds in an attempt to lower the Hylians' and surface dwellers' morale and effectiveness."

My eyes widened. "Oh," was all I could manage to say.

Zelda walked towards the doors of the temple. "No time to lose. We have to reach Ancient before Ghirahim does."

When Zelda opened the doors, I couldn't believe my eyes. The pretty forest we'd seen before was gone. The entire landscape was nothing but bare, broken rock and small, dim red fires as far as the eye could see. Shouts could be heard echoing across the emptiness, occasional bursts of light illuminating Gorons and Hylians and some sort of weird digging creatures battling twisted, evil shapes. Every once in a while, an explosion would rock the earth itself.

It was a nightmare. It reminded me of a word I'd come across once in a book in Hyrule Castle.

Desolation.

The other Heroes and even Zelda seemed dismayed.

"I'd seen this battlefield in Hylia's memories, but this..." Zelda trailed off.

Sky pulled her to him and gave her a one-armed hug. "Stay strong," he murmured, "We just need to stop Ghirahim and then we're out of here."

Zelda hugged him for a moment more, then nodded and stepped forwards. "This way," she said.

We followed her around the battlefield, engaging in as few battles as possible. A few times I slipped in the mud that covered the spaces in between the jagged rocks. Suddenly, a thought hit me. "Why is it all muddy? I don't think it's been raining."

Time glanced at me. "It's mud alright. But it wasn't water that made it."

I didn't get it for a second. I looked at the mud stuck to my hand. A sudden flash of magic illuminated my vision enough to see it more clearly. The mud was red, not brown. Horrified, I tried to get it off as fast as possible by any means necessary.

Time quickly grabbed my hands. "Kid, kid! Knock it off!" he said as I writhed, still trying to get the mud off, "You're going to hurt yourself!"

I thrashed a few more times, then stopped, just staring at my mud-spattered hands.

Time kept one hand restraining my wrists and grasped my shoulder with the other. "It'll be okay," he said quietly, "We'll leave as soon as we're done here. Okay?"

After a moment, I nodded shakily.

We trekked on through the horror that was the battle around us. We were nearing the top of a rise when a bright light, brighter than all of the flashes we'd seen so far, lit up the battlefield. It was coming from the sky. I shielded my eyes and squinted at its source. My eyes widened. With my free hand, I pointed up. "Look!"

The light seemed to be coming from a break in the clouds. At the gap, three dragons circled around a Loftwing that looked a lot like Sky's. On the bird's back was a green speck which seemed to be holding one of World's sword lasers.

"It's him!" Zelda exclaimed. "The three dragons are blessing the Master Sword, giving it power enough to create Skyloft!"

As we watched, the dragons stopped their circling. The Loftwing dove for the ground. Its rider jumped off and with a swirl of his red cape walked a few steps away, holding a glowing Master Sword. The Ancient Hero braced himself, raised the Master Sword above his head, and drove it into the earth. A huge pillar of power encircled him and the rocks nearby began to shake, then took off into the sky. Even the rocks the Master Sword had been thrust into levitated. Ancient backed away from the flying rocks. Soon he was left standing alone next to some enormous craters.

We moved as fast as we could towards him. We have to be on time. We have to.

As we approached, Ancient suddenly cried out and collapsed against a rock. We moved forwards even faster. When we reached him, he was mumbling something about praying for happiness with all his heart.

He seemed to notice us suddenly. "Who are you? Why did you not go with the other refugees?"

"We're not refugees," said Twi. "We're here to protect you."

Ancient lifted an eyebrow and gave a coughing laugh. "Protect me from what? I am dying. It won't matter soon."

"It matters to us!" I yelled. "There's a creeper-sword-demon thing coming to kill you before you can die!"

Ancient grunted. "Death is still death. I'll take whichever method comes first."

"But don't you want to see Hylia one last time?" Zelda asked quietly.

Ancient remained silent. For a second, I thought he'd died. Then he answered, "I guess there is a reason to hang on a little longer. Thank you for your protection."

We nodded and turned our backs to him, forming a defensive perimeter with the rock and Ancient in the center. We waited. Suddenly, a weird and strangely familiar noise pierced the air.

"So much for protection," a familiar voice jibed.

I whipped around to see the creeper demon in the middle of our circle. And then he plunged his blade into Ancient's chest.

"NOOO!" I yelled at the same time that the others did.

Ancient struggled to breathe, coughing up blood as he did. All of a sudden, he loudly exhaled. And didn't inhale again.

We all stared, shocked and horrified.

Ghirahim smirked. "Checkmate."