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.
Wild worked alone until he heard his door clicking open again, time lost to him as he toiled away contentedly. His eyes didn't even leave his cooking pot as whoever was there let themselves in.
"It smells amazing in here, Wild," Calamity's voice said, similar to Wild's but still different. It was smoother, likely because his vocal cords had never been seared by guardians the way Wild's had. "I had assumed you'd use the castle's kitchen for a meal of this caliber, but you seem to have everything under control."
"I'm used to just a cooking pot," Wild replied, his focus still wholly on his craft.
"Well, don't let me distract you," Calamity said, noticing Wild's frozen gaze.
Wild didn't reply. He fell back into his own world, humming his song as he slowly forgot that Calamity was even there. He just went about his usual routine, stirring food, plating it, returning the completed dishes to the Slate to be handed out later. Calamity watched him eagerly, his expression like that of a child about to get a birthday present.
"Say, that's a nice song," Calamity noted after a while.
"Hmm?" Wild questioned, his spectator's words not registering.
"I said that's a nice song," Calamity repeated, chuckling at Wild's enraptured attention.
"Oh. Thanks," Wild shrugged.
"Mama's lullaby for us, right?" Calamity questioned, his eyes staring past Wild and into memories that the fallen hero simply didn't have.
...Was that what this song was? After all this time...it was a lullaby? A lullaby his own mother had sung to him? Wild's lips parted in surprise, his lullaby fading from his tongue as he considered the prospect. He didn't think that he had any memory of his mother. Even if this wasn't a proper memory, could it really be true?
"Ah, good times," Calamity sighed. "Just us, Mama, and Aryll all alone in Hateno. Before we drew the sword, before Calamity Ganon was prophesied to ruin everything." Calamity glanced at Wild, seeming oblivious of the latter's shaken expression. "Sometimes I wish I could go back, you know? Things were so much simpler back then."
"Uh, y-yeah," Wild agreed shakily. A-Aryll? That was...Wind's sister's name. Had he had a sister named Aryll too? Had he had a sister? A little sister...? Wild lowered his gaze, clenching his teeth. She was dead in his world. She had to be. Surely she would've recognized him if she had lived. No, she must be dead. And Wild had never grieved for her until now. He...he hadn't known he had a sister. And now that he did...it was too late. She was gone.
"...Are they dead in your timeline, Wild?" Calamity asked quietly, his voice that always seemed to be cheery and positive suddenly dipping into a somber tone.
Wild tightened his grip on his spoon. They were...without a doubt, they were. Wild had spoken to every person in every village, in every stable, along every road. If his parents or his sister were somehow, some way, still alive, he would've met them again. And he liked to believe that they would've recognized him. But nobody had spoken to him with familiarity save Purah, Impa, and the Zora. Nobody knew him for who he truly was but those he'd known before. His family was not among them. "Y-yes," Wild stuttered. "They are. I...I haven't seen them in a century."
Calamity sighed heavily. "I'm so sorry to hear that." He looked up, offering the cook a soft smile. "Well...you could. Mama's coming to the castle this week. Aryll will probably be with her. And Father of course works here alongside me. I could introduce you." Before Wild could even respond, Calamity went on. "Yes, I know just what we'll do. There's this wonderful restaurant in Castle Town. I'm sure you've heard of it, the one right down Nayru's Way?"
Wild shook his head.
"Ah, it was probably destroyed by the time you woke up," Calamity shrugged. "Anyway, it's got the best food I've ever had." He glanced in Wild's cooking pot. "Though it seems like you're going to be challenging that opinion this morning." Wild blushed. "Anyway, I can set up reservations for tonight. I'm sure Her Highness wouldn't mind me taking you out to dinner after a mission in the ruins this morning. We'll give our report immediately when we get back and then you and I can go to dinner! I'll have my parents and sister meet us there! How does that sound?"
Wild stared into his work, the spoon shaking in his hands. How to...how to say this…? He needed to tell Calamity about his memory. There'd be no avoiding the situation if he agreed to go to dinner tonight, and he really didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of his own parents, even if they were from a different timeline.
"Wild…?" Calamity asked after a moment of silence. "You would like to see them again, wouldn't you?"
Wild hesitated, drawing in a deep breath. "Calamity, I...I need to tell you something."
"Anything, Wild," Calamity said easily. "We're a team now. You, me, the other heroes. From what Warriors has told me, we'll be working together until we find the source of these infected monsters you all have been fighting. I hope you know you can trust me with your life."
Wild believed that. If Calamity was anything, Wild had come to think he was genuine. But still he hesitated, unsure how the General would react to knowing that all the memories he thought he shared with Wild just...weren't there for the fallen hero.
"Whatever it is, Wild," Calamity said softly, resting his hand on his comrade's shoulder, "you can tell me. I...honestly you've seemed standoffish since we've met. I'd assumed you and I would get along best, but we've hardly talked."
"We're so different," Wild said shakily. "Doesn't that confuse you?"
"Well...not really," Calamity admitted. "We might've once been the same, but since the timeline split our lives have diverged immeasurably. I saved my world with the help of all my best friends, Champions from the future, and a time-traveling guardian with a temper. You...you watched all those same people die. Of course I...and I truly do mean no offense...of course I'm going to be more easygoing than you."
Wild nodded. "But it's more than that, Calamity." He sucked in a deep breath. "We were the same person once upon a time. We...we should share memories from before Terrako's return in your world, right?"
"...Right," Calamity agreed, unsure where the cook was going with this.
"But we don't," Wild said firmly, his knuckles turning white from clutching the spoon so tightly. "We don't have any of the same memories. I know nothing of what happened to you after the timeline split, nor do you know anything about what happened when I woke up." He clenched his jaw tightly, Calamity staring at him with clear confusion written on his face. "Calamity...what I need to tell you...is that when I woke up in the Shrine of Resurrection, I couldn't even remember my own name. I didn't remember that I was named Link, or that I was the supposed Hero of Hyrule, or that I had died a hundred years ago. The Champions, Mother, Father...Aryll….I knew nothing about any of them. I spent a few weeks roaming the Great Plateau completely ignorant of destiny and darkness and swords." Wild choked on his spit, trying not to cry. He'd done too much of that lately. "And...goddesses...it was the best few months of my entire life that I can remember. L-like you said, once I found out I was supposed to be this big hero...my life just never slowed down. I spent months working to reclaim the Divine Beasts, recovering fractured memories of these people I knew I must've once been so close too...but I never got them all back. All the memories I have from before the Great Calamity are after I became a Champion."
"...After the timeline split," Calamity said softly, struggling to process this. "So...what do you remember?"
Wild shrugged heavily. "N-not anything important. Mipha healing me on Vah Ruta. Urbosa consoling Zelda about struggling with her power. Daruk and I talking about Calamity Ganon. Revali making fun of me. And...a few memories about m-my Zelda. But nothing substantial."
"So...you're telling me you don't remember our parents…?" Calamity breathed. "And that the Champions...are like strangers…"
Wild nodded shakily. "Y-yes. I...I'm so sorry to let you down. I didn't want to tell you, but if I just agreed to go with you tonight it would've come up and I didn't want to-"
"Hey, slow down," Calamity said. "If you were worried about me being mad...you shouldn't have been. It's not like this is your fault."
Wild forced himself to nod. Wasn't it though? If he had sealed Calamity Ganon the right way the first time around...none of this would've happened to him or anyone else. In a sick way, Wild thought his amnesia could be considered a blessing. He didn't really remember all the people that had died. It was easier not to miss them if he couldn't remember anything about them. He'd always known he had a mother and a father. But he'd never really thought about who'd they'd been or what he'd done with them. It...it hurt too much. To know that millions of precious moments with his own parents were beyond his mind was painful. And to know that they had died because of his failure, and now he couldn't even really mourn for them. How do you mourn for someone you don't know?
"Wild...you should've told me right from the start," Calamity said softly. "I had no idea…" he trailed off. "Gosh, all that carrying on yesterday about our shared training and all that. I didn't mean to hurt you! I wouldn't have mentioned it if you'd told me! I'm not cross o-or disappointed or whatever you thought my reaction would be! The only thing I really feel is bad for you!"
Wild sighed. "I'm sorry."
"Are you going to tell the Champions?"
"N-no!" Wild said, his eyes snapping up. "They...I don't want them to know...that I barely know them…"
"...You sure?"
Wild nodded vehemently.
"...Okay," Calamity agreed. "I won't tell them. It's your choice."
"...Thanks," Wild said quietly.
Calamity just nodded.
Wild went back to cooking silently, the task seeming a lot more heavy now. His fingers shook as he stirred the pot or cut other ingredients. He prayed Calamity didn't notice.
"How did you know that lullaby, then?" Calamity asked after a while. "If you don't remember Mama at all...How could you hum her lullaby so perfectly?"
Wild sighed heavily. "I...I didn't know it was a lullaby. It was a song I always hummed when I'm cooking. Maybe because that's the only time I'm truly relaxed. But I didn't know what it meant to me."
Calamity nodded. "Well...that's what it is. Mama sang it to us every night before we went to bed when we were young. She sang it to us the night before we left to go to the castle to become a soldier, even though we were 15 years old. And I...and we...cried that night."
Wild lowered his gaze to the ground. All these memories...he wanted them badly now…
Calamity shook his head. "You know...we could still have dinner with our parents tonight. I'd explain the situation. They would...understand. Do you want that, Wild? You can say no."
"I...I want that," Wild said quietly. Even if it was in another timeline, he wanted to see his parents again. To...to have something he remembered about them. Perhaps seeing them again would reinvigorate all of his previous memories of them. But if not, at the very least he'd know what they looked like.
"It's settled then," Calamity said firmly. "I'll talk to Zelda about getting us reservations at that restaurant before we leave for the ruins. Now then, I'll leave you to cook by yourself." He turned to leave, but paused for a moment. "I'm glad we talked, Wild. I really do hope you trust me."
Wild nodded numbly, watching Calamity leave. He returned his attention to the cooking pot before him and allowed the familiar routine of preparing food for others to drag his heavy thoughts away from his mind.
Only a little while after Calamity left, someone else knocked on the door. "Come in!" Wild called, breaking off his lullaby to answer the door.
Time stepped in, the eldest hero glancing at all the ingredients Wild had placed around his cooking pot and shaking his head slowly with a fond smile on his face. "I do hope you aren't working yourself too hard."
"I'm not," Wild promised. He was almost done now. He just needed to finish Calamity's dish. Everything else was completed and stored safely in the Sheikah Slate for delivery.
"Very good. I came because I wanted to see if you were almost done," Time said. "Urbosa wants to get going as soon as possible. And Calamity informed us that you two have dinner plans tonight."
Wild nodded. "He's taking me to meet my parents again."
"That's kind of him."
Wild nodded.
"Are you excited?"
Wild hesitated. "Y-yeah...But I'm also nervous. Is that...weird?"
"Not at all," Time assured him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "When you haven't seen someone in a long time, especially when you thought you might never see them again, suddenly being given the chance to meet again can be unnerving."
Wild smiled. "Thanks, Time."
"I didn't do anything."
Wild shrugged.
"Now then. Can I help you at all?"
"That's nice of you. But I've really got it all under control."
"How long until you're done? I simply wish to inform everyone else."
"Uh, five minutes."
Time nodded. "See you downstairs at the dining hall in five minutes then."
Wild grinned. "See you then."
Time left the room, and Wild heard him talking just outside the door. Wild hoped he wasn't taking too long to make breakfast. Perhaps a different thing for everybody had been too ambitious...oh well. He couldn't exactly change his mind now. And he really was almost done. He put the final ingredient of Calamity's soup into the pot and stirred it all together, waiting to pour it into a bowl until it was perfectly colored and smelled just right. Once the final dish was prepared, Wild returned all of his cooking tools to the Slate and cleaned up the minor mess he'd made on the floor.
Then he clipped the Sheikah Slate to his belt, brushed his hair as best he could, and headed downstairs. He grinned to himself at the thought of meeting his parents tonight, no matter what might happen. Nerves stirred in his stomach, but he quickly quelled them. This was a good thing. Maybe the best thing that would happen to him here. He couldn't wait. Even if he did have those ruins to explore first, he couldn't wait.