Author's Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda, nor can I take credit for Linked Universe. Zelda belongs to Nintendo and LU was created by the amazing jojo56830 on Tumblr. I am earning no profit from this story other than the enjoyment of writing it and sharing it with others. I hope you all enjoy reading it! Feel free to let me know what you think by giving this chapter a review.
Unfortunately, Wild didn't stay asleep for long. Tonight, his nightmares were worse than usual. Seeing the Champions again made distant memories feel close enough to grasp that night. Not to mention thinking about the Great Calamity so much had stirred up his subconscious. Flickering images of running through the rain, his feet pounding against muddied ground, his hand grasping...grasping someone's hand, grasping Zelda's hand plagued him all night. All of them memories of that horrible night, all of them accompanied by an oppressive sense of terror and failure and shame. His grip on Wolfie tightened as the hours drug by, his mind keeping him trapped in an unconscious state, unable to escape the montage of scattered images.
He felt something wet running over his face and his thoughts matched it to him falling to the ground, water spraying across his face and mud ruining his cherished Champion's tunic. Something nuzzled his cheek, and in his mind's eye he saw Zelda clawing at his face as he lay there dying, without the energy to respond to her wails. Something soft pushed against his side and he felt pain shooting through all of his nerves, his numerous injuries from that night exploding as if they were fresh again.
He heard heavy footsteps approaching him and winced, watching a guardian stalker bear down on him, its laser aimed right at his chest. His fingers tightened their hold on the Master Sword's hilt, his shield arm already deadened by pain. Behind him, the princess shook his shoulders violently, but he ignored her, focusing his efforts on avoiding this laser.
A loud noise sounded, the guardian fired, but Wild was rooted to the spot. The steaming laser made contact with his shoulder, searing his skin into an unrecognizable burning mess. He let out a scream as the laser trailed down his entire torso, contorting his body into a scarred silhouette who barely resembled the handsome boy of only a few hours earlier. The Master Sword slipped from his fingers as he reached up to grasp his burning shoulder, his fingers meeting a bloodied, steaming mess that made him want to vomit.
"Wild!" the princess screamed at him. "Wild!"
W-Wild? That wasn't right. His name was...his name was…
Wild's eyes snapped open, his breaths labored and his fingers digging into his own shoulder, tiny trails of blood making their appearance as he withdrew his hand. He fought with himself for a moment, wanting to hang onto the memory he'd recovered, however terrible it may have been. But it slipped back into his subconscious, and within seconds he could scarcely remember what had been terrorizing him so deeply. He remembered...running...and pain...but that's about it.
"Wild, what's wrong with you?" Calamity was leaning over him.
Wild sighed heavily, resting his head against his pillow and trying not to be irritated. "I-I'm fine. Just a bad dream, that's all."
He felt Wolfie licking him again, but he pushed the wolf away from him.
"I don't think a scream like that is fine," Urbosa said. Gosh, had he woken everyone up?
"I have nightmares sometimes," Wild said defensively. "All of us do. It comes with being a hero." He pulled his blanket over his head, trying to hide his quivering fingers.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Mipha's voice asked quietly, her soft hands gently pulling the blanket down again.
"N-no," Wild mumbled. Wolfie whimpered softly, and Wild reached for him. The wolf's tail wagged, and he happily reseated himself in Wild's lap.
"Would you like us to get Twilight?" Calamity offered. "You two seemed pretty close."
Wolfie tensed.
"No, let's not bother him at this hour," Wild said hurriedly. "I'm sure he's sleeping."
Calamity nodded. "Well...is there anything we can get you? Do you want a glass of water or something?"
"I'll get it myself," Wild said firmly, sitting up and pulling his Slate off his bet. He summoned a bottle of water from it wordlessly, expecting the others to get up and leave now.
Calamity nodded awkwardly. "Very good. I'll, uh, see you in the morning." He turned and left. Urbosa smiled warmly at Wild before following after him. Which left Wild, Mipha, and Wolfie. The Zora Princess put her hands over Wild's. He pulled away, unwilling to let her feel how badly he was shaking.
"Are you certain you're okay?" she asked softly, putting her hands back in her lap.
Wild nodded numbly.
Wolfie nuzzled him. Wild choked out a laugh, rubbing the wolf between the ears.
Mipha smiled at the animal. "What a sweet wolf you have. Do you truly have no idea where he comes from?"
Wild shook his head. "Sky says he's an emissary of the goddess Hylia. But I think he's just a good friend."
Mipha giggled as Wolfie licked her. "Well, I'm inclined to agree. How did you sneak into the castle, little one?"
He winked at her, and she laughed, surprised by the wolf's admittedly human expression of emotion.
"Who knows?" Wild shrugged.
"Well, I'll leave you be now," Mipha said. "But I...if you ever want to talk about things like this...I'm here for you, Wild. I know Calamity can be kind of oblivious when it comes to other people's feelings, but he truly means well. I've been watching you. You don't want to be here."
It was not a judgmental observation, but Wild felt his cheeks redden all the same. "I-I'm sorry about that," he said quickly. "It's just that seeing everything so perfect when the world I know is all ruined...it's just hard…"
"I'm not going to pretend I understand," Mipha said gently. "But know that I extend my genuine condolences."
"Thank you, Mipha," Wild said softly. "I...I appreciate that. And it's so wonderful to talk to you again. To everyone. I missed you. I just...I didn't think it was possible and everything here feels so wrong and...well, yeah."
Mipha smiled. She pulled Wild in for a hug. Wolfie barked, wiggling his way into the embrace as well. Mipha giggled, loosening her hold so the wolf had space too. Wild laid his head against Mipha's neck, relishing in her warmth. He'd missed this so much. Memories of her rested just behind his reach, teasing him from their unseen horizon, but for once he didn't feel like chasing them. This was good enough.
For a moment, the trio remained in the group hug, Wild's shoulders shaking slightly as he tried not to cry. Wolfie licked any spare tears off his cheeks and Mipha just loosely wrapped her arms around him. But then Wild pulled away from her, putting his Slate back on his belt and turning to lie down again.
"I'm sorry I woke you up," he said quietly.
"You have nothing to apologize for," Mipha assured him. "Goodnight, Wild. Sleep well." She got up and left the room, closing it softly behind her.
"You too," Wild whispered to empty air, closing his eyes. Wolfie curled up next to him and Wild buried his face in the fur. He fell asleep quickly, his nightmare beyond his hazy memory now.
The next morning, Wild woke up alongside the sun. The sun had been his alarm clock during most of his lonely adventure. Without anyone around, and since he most often slept in the wilderness away from civilization, the rising and setting sun had provided all the knowledge of time he needed. It was only after he saved Zelda and began living a somewhat more scheduled life did he learn again to read a clock and time meals according to morning, noon, and evening. Even so, the sun still told him that it was time to wake up. Even if it was considered too early by everyone else, he liked getting to watch the sunrise. He liked the time alone it afforded him, since he truly was more used to operating by himself, and sometimes he just needed a moment or two on his own.
So this morning he opened his eyes as the dawn's light streaked through his window. Wolfie was lying in his arms still, and Wild didn't want to disturb his friend's rest. He gently removed his arms from around the wolf's torso, letting him onto the ground as carefully as possible. Wolfie stirred, his eyelids fluttering, but he didn't wake up. Wild sat up, quietly making his bedroll and returning it to his bag. He gazed out the window for a few minutes, watching with satisfaction as the sun rose above the distant horizon, casting its golden glow across Castle Town and painting the sky orange and pink. This was...the same sunrise he'd watched so many times from his own room in his castle. It was so familiar, and in the half-light of dawn, the differences between this world and his own were hard to notice. He smiled to himself. Perhaps today would be better.
And why not start the day off with Wild's favorite activity; cooking? He needed to make breakfast for so many people, so he ought to get started if he wanted to finish in a decent amount of time. With that decided, Wild grabbed his Sheikah Slate and scrolled through his available ingredients. He'd need to make something with a lot of rock salt for Daruk, and something with bananas for Kogha. Everyone else was pretty flexible, so those would be the only two special orders. He might as well make a dish with fish in it for Mipha while he was at it, even if she hadn't asked for that. And Urbosa would probably want something spicy, since he knew from experience that most Gerudo dishes were pretty spicy. And Calamity…? What would Calamity want? Wild had no idea. Wild considered making the General his own favorite dish-meaty rice balls, simply for how easily they could be eaten while walking or running-but ultimately decided against that. They were so different from each other that Wild couldn't imagine that their tastes in food would align. Let's see...he was a General, he lived in the castle. He'd probably want something fancy. Well, Wild could definitely do fancy.
In the end, Wild decided to do a different dish for almost every person who would be eating. He wanted to make everyone happy, and there were just too many clashing preferences for him to make a single thing that would satisfy everyone. For Daruk, he made...well, he just called it rock hard food. He just took some gems and rock salt and threw it into a cooking pot until it was decently warm. He topped it off with the leaf of an apple simply because it looked visually appealing. For Urbosa he made meat curry, using the highest quality meat he had on him. For Revali, salmon meuniere, since Wild remembered how fond one of Kass's kids had been of the dish, and they were both Rito. For Mipha, seafood paella, because that recipe relied heavily on seafood. For Impa and Purah he made a meat-stuffed pumpkin, remembering Kakariko's traditional Fortified Pumpkins. For Kogha, what could possibly be better than a fried banana? He made Zelda a fruitcake, recalling her favorite dessert from the castle's recipe book. A book that had hopefully been written before the timeline split. And for Calamity, Wild eventually decided on making him Creamy Heart Soup. That recipe was the fanciest one he knew; it tasted delicious, it was visually appealing, it really was difficult to prepare properly. Surely the esteemed General would be impressed by it.
As for the other Links, Wild already knew what they liked. He made Twilight pumpkin stew, Warriors clam chowder, and Wind seafood fried rice. Whatever Wild knew the others' favorites to be, he prepared it for them. He got to work as soon as he had his entire meal planned, pulling a cooking pot from his Slate and lighting a fire underneath it carefully with flint. Wolfie woke up as soon as Wild threw meat into the pot, the animal's nose quivering as he breathed in the scent of meat getting cooked.
"Good morning," Wild greeted, stirring his precious ingredients carefully.
Wolfie approached the pot, staring into it with eyes glittering in anticipation.
Wild giggled. "It'll be ready in a while. I've got a lot of work to do."
Wolfie nodded, backing away and sitting down. He closed his eyes, squares of shadow rolling off his skin for a few moments. Wild smiled when the darkness cleared, revealing Twilight standing on all fours. The other hero picked himself up off the floor, stretching his muscles and yawning loudly. "Smells good in here, cub."
"I thought I'd get started now," Wild admitted. He glanced at the list he'd written into his Slate. "I've got a lot of things to make."
Twilight glanced at him. "Are you making a separate dish for everyone?"
Wild nodded. "Well, everyone but Purah and Impa."
Twilight sighed heavily. "You didn't have to do that, Wild."
"Well, Daruk wants rocks and Revali doesn't," Wild said quickly. "Kogha wants bananas and I know that Legend thinks bananas are too sweet. So I already needed to make a few different things and then I got looking and I realized I had all the ingredients for you guys's favorites and I wanted to make the Champions and Calamity happy too so I-"
Twilight laughed. "Hey, if you're happy, cub, I won't argue, okay?"
Wild sighed. "O-okay. Yeah. I am happy. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get busy."
Twilight nodded. "I've got to go pretend I got into bed last night. See you later, yeah? Please don't overwork yourself. We still have to go to the ruins."
"I won't," Wild promised. "I really do like cooking."
"I'll leave you to it then," Twilight decided, leaving Wild's room and entering his own.
Wild hummed to himself as he worked alone now, absentmindedly putting all the dishes together while his thoughts wandered. He could probably make several of these things with his eyes closed, since he'd made them so many times. His strange melody was the only sound he knew of for a long time, the same song he always hummed when cooking. He wasn't sure why it was always this song or where he had learned it, but based on how instinctively familiar he was with it he assumed it had once been important to him. He fell into a familiar rhythm of preparing food alongside his special song. It was comforting to him, knowing that he was providing a much-needed breakfast for so many people. If there was one thing Wild could do well, it was cook. And he truly did enjoy doing it.