Hazen looked at the mountains, the wide open fields, and the distinct lack of a castle, and groaned.

"Come on!"

Tessen shot the scenery a pissy look and sighed. "We might as well figure out where we are," he said. "And keep an eye out for that mask. If it followed us through last time, there's nothing to stop it from doing it again. We have to assume it'll hunt us this whole time."

"I thought Hazen killed it?" Saval asked, accepting Irene's hand.

Hazen shook his head. "I don't think I did. I may have gotten it off our backs for a while, but we don't know how long that'll last. And . . . well, something tells me it'll take a bit more to kill that thing."

"How do you even kill a mask?"

No one had an answer for that.

"All right," Tessen said. "First, we need to rest. We have to be sharp if we're going to keep ahead. And we need shelter. Again."

"What about food?" Saval asked. She pulled Irene along gently, concern crossing her face at the lost expression on Irene's. "We haven't eaten in hours."

"All right, but I don't want to be out in the open like this," Tessen insisted. Hazen nodded, keeping his sword unsheathed.

"And we need to keep an eye out for monsters," he added. "Just because the last Hyrule wasn't violent doesn't mean this one won't be."

Tessen sighed. "All right. Let's get moving, guys. It looks like we've got a lot of ground to cover."

Indeed. As far as Hazen could see, there were green fields. The sun was bright, beating down on them on a fresh summer day. And it was hot, unlike the last Hyrule. They set off at a brisk pace despite their exhaustion, climbing over old, overgrown paths and passing makeshift wooden signs. It looked like no one was around; they hardly ever saw anyone on the road, and it was the middle of the day.

"Strange," Hazen muttered. Saval glanced at him from where she supported Sahasrahla on one side. "What is?"

"There's no one here," Tessen said. He walked ahead with his sword out, a specially designed Eightfold Blade. Hazen idly swung his own sword in his hand, keeping his muscles loose. The sunlight made the metal look like swirling mercury and brightened the rubies in the hilt. Link had finally reached a sum of bribe money that Ravio would accept as recompense for the sword leaving his collection permanently--which he instituted as a museum in Lorule Queendom.

Hazen felt strange--he was feeling that a lot lately. He wasn't comfortable out here--he felt exposed, and there was just something about this place. It was cheerful enough, with the sun and the birds and verdant fields. But it all had a sort of somberness to it. Underneath the sounds of nature and life, there was silence. Stone blocks littered the ground, broken fences were overgrown at the sides of the road. He felt like he was walking through a ruin.

The feeling doubled as a structure rose in the near distance, something large and tall and decidedly abandoned. It was a pillar, crooked at the base. It crossed the sun, blotting it out as the group neared, and as they crested a small hill, an enormous field stretched out before them.

"I know where we are," Tessen said numbly, holding Saval's hand tightly.

Hazen couldn't speak, even to agree. This . . . this was a wasteland.

It was quiet. Exceedingly so. As if even nature dared not disturb the melancholy of this place. Ruins lay everywhere, once-great buildings and towns decimated to nothing more than groups of blocks set into the grass, overgrown and forgotten. The grass was tall, untrampled by travelers. And way across the field, on the other side of a broken wall, was the castle.

"Why . . ." Irene swallowed, trying to tear her eyes from the ruins. "Why don't you enlighten the rest of us, then?"

Hazen breathed in slowly. "The Era of the Wild."

"Are you sure?" Saval asked, watching Sahasrahla open a notebook and start sketching. "Could it be . . .?"

Tessen shook his head. "No . . . look, Nol is missing. It should be right in the middle of the field. And the ranch is gone, too."

"And the Domain," Hazen added, turning around. He missed the slight movement in the corner of his eye, heading towards their hill with faint mechanical whirs. "It should be at the edge of Hyrule, but there's no Waker Sea, either. It's just more fields."

"And more ruins," Saval murmured, her eyes tracking over them. Hazen shifted, endlessly uncomfortable with the blatant lack of human life anywhere. With the lingering death. He shook himself. "Well, we need to find people still. And--"

He blinked, string at Irene. She was oblivious to it, even as everyone else turned to look, even as a red . . . laser? . . . blinked at her head. It increased in speed until it was solid, and Hazen's eyes widened.

"Get down!" He roared, tackling Irene with a shocked scream. A blast of fire shot over their heads, and they scrambled to their feet in time to see a--

"What is that thing?" Irene snapped, her hat gone with the wind.

"Oh, goddesses almighty," Tessen groaned. "We're so f--"

"Get down!" a voice shouted. They wasted no time, as the legs reached them. The beeping was audible now, especially when it increased again, but then it suddenly died, and the mechanical thing toppled over onto its side. The group ducked as it went flailing down the side of the hill, legs tripping it up every time it tried to stand. Then a rider shot past, his horse a beautiful white color, and nocked an arrow to an extravagant bow.

Tessen whistled.

"If he misses, it's your fault," Hazen commented as they watched.

The rider chased the monster, aiming carefully, and fired.

Hazen didn't know what kind of arrow he'd used, but he wanted one. As soon as it made contact with the mecha monster, there was a flash of blinding blue light, and the whole thing vanished in a swirl of light.

The rider dismounted and knelt to the ground, apparently picking up glittering pieces, stuffed them in a bag, and mounted his horse and came back to find all five of them gaping at him. He cocked his head, his golden hair shining bright in the sun, and dismounted. "Are you five all right? I haven't seen you around here."

Tessen nudged Hazen, who tried not to grimace. Just because he was the highest ranking didn't mean he had to give 'the talk' every time. But the rider was waiting, so he sucked it up and said, "We're, uh, traveling. Um, historians. From . . . somewhere else."

Saval pinched him subtly, muttering into his ear. "Labrynna!" Hazen said quickly. "We're from Labrynna. D'you know where we might find some shelter?"

The rider observed the five of them closely, a brow raised. He reached down to his belt and pulled a sort of slate from it, sparing them a last skeptical glance before scanning the slate thing. It lit his face in blue light, and while he was distracted, Tessen seized Hazen's arm. "That's the Sheikah Slate! Holy gods, it was real--I have to touch it--"

"What?! No, stop," Hazen snapped, trying to keep his voice quiet. "He's already suspicious enough, if he finds out we're--"

"Brynna Plains?"

The two of them yelped, going for their swords. The rider was unfazed, gazing at them with a carefully blank look. But Hazen wasn't fooled, and neither was Tessen. They knew that look.

He didn't trust them. His gaze was sharp, taking in every detail about them. Their clothes, their wounds, their skittishness, their accents. And then he looked a little closer at Hazen.

His reaction was peculiar, to say the least. He looked gutted, like he'd just lost someone. Haunted.

"Could I have had . . .?" he murmured, reaching a hand to Hazen, before blinking. He returned his hand to his side, though his sun-kissed skin didn't quite lose its paleness. He cleared his throat.

"I asked you a question," he said, voice sharper. Saval pushed Irene behind her subtly. "Are you from Brynna Plain?"

Tessen and Hazen exchanged a quick look. "Um . . . yes."

Would he know? Could he tell they were lying? Probably, if they thought about it. They weren't really on a good streak at the moment. They shifted uncomfortably while the rider stared at them. When he spoke, Saval jumped a little.

"Come over here."

They did so, growing on edge. Hazen's hand drifted down to his sword. The rider mounted his horse, glanced at Sahasrahla, and dismounted again. He took the old man's hand gently, pulling him away from Saval, and lifted him with ease onto the horse. He hadn't said much the whole time, mainly blown away by the fact they'd just traveled through the Doors of Time and landed in a totally unfamiliar Hyrule with no one but the group who'd gotten his village burned down by a vigilante mask--

"Hey. You okay?" Irene asked, poking Hazen. He took a shaking breath as the rider led them down the hill, stopping to pick up a few glittering items where the mecha monster had blown up. He thought he heard him whisper, "Oh, a core! Robbie will love this."

He shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "I just . . . I'm sorry. I never meant to get you and Sahasrahla caught up in this."

Irene was silent for a long moment, her blue eyes tracking over the verdant fields, the bubbling river at the hill's feet. "I think," she said slowly. "That if we weren't supposed to be in this, we wouldn't be. I had those visions too, remember?"

He did. And he hadn't had much time to puzzle them out, but he was beginning to have an idea. He'd have to wait to share them, though. The rider had led them down the hill and across a dirt road to an . . . interestingly-shaped building at the edge of a river. It was made of wood and cloth, and the top rose into the shape of an enormous horse head. The rider walked up to the counter out front without hesitation. Hazen supposed he'd been here many times, and his suspicion was cemented by the familiarity with which the man at the counter greeted him. They clasped hands and smiled, and as the group came closer, they heard the man at the counter exclaim, "All of them?"

The rider nodded. "I picked up some lost travelers on the way from Eldin. We need to get to Hateno quickly. A Blood Moon is approaching. I don't want to take any chances."

The stablehand nodded sagely. He cast an anxious glance at the sky. "Indeed. Monsters have been on the rise even without those cursed moons."

The rider nodded, and the stablehand seemed to relent. "If you're sure, Link. Will you be leaving immediately?"

"No. I want to find out what those four are doing here." He cast a glance behind him, finding 'those four' a solid ten feet closer than they'd been a minute ago. He faced back to the stablehand. "And I'm hungry."

The stablehand laughed heartily. He punched Link's arm. "Saving the world works up an appetite, don't it?"

Link chuckled. "Thanks, Ember. We'll take six meals."

"That'll be 120 rupees."

Link handed over the rupees and turned to the group. He cleared his throat, and the girl nudged the boys. They straightened with a jump, breaking up the huddle. The one with blond hair and striking blue eyes stepped forward. "What are you doing with us?"

Link raised a brow. "I just want to talk. You're not prisoners."

Something in Hazen seriously doubted that. He knew Link wouldn't just let them go. And they couldn't leave without knowing where the hell they were going. They'd run into that problem in the last Hyrule. With the mask likely on their tail, they couldn't afford to go in blind anymore.

So Hazen joined who he assumed to be the Hero of this time to the table inside the stable, gesturing his group to do the same. They sat at the table, huddling close under the Hero's sharp supervision. He watched them get comfortable, observing the way the boys' hands strayed to their sword hilts, the way the girl in the hat looked around her with the blank gaze of one in shock, the way the white-haired girl met his gaze head on, unflinching.

Link shut down a tiny smile. He didn't think they would be threats. He knew they weren't from Brynna Plain. That area was deep in the wild, uninhabited by anything more than foxes and a few Lizalfos. So they were lying--but was it to protect themselves from him, or to get him to trust them?

The boys would protect the girls. He could see it in their eyes, especially the blond one.

Link couldn't decide how he felt about that one. His hair was long, almost to his shoulders. He was anxious, that much was obvious, but there was a jitteriness to his movements that shouldn't be there just from a Guardian attack. Sure, they were scary, but they were fairly common, especially in the fields. So there was something else they were afraid of.

Hazen and Tessen, on the other hand, were positive the Hero suspected them. He did nothing but watch them, his unflinching blue eyes so eerily close to Hazen's that he was trying his best to avoid them. And the way he'd raised his hand earlier, as if he'd recognized him . . .

Hazen shook his head slightly. If this was the Era of the Wild, then they were in the last era before the first monster eradication. Which, if their theory was correct, then it was the closest they were getting to their own time. If the Hylian Alliance had a Hero, then that was one era closer. And according to the rough theory Hazen and Tessen had worked out, the portal only dropped them off in the times throughout Hyrule that had seen a Hero. Unfortunately, they still had no idea how it worked, or if they could influence where it dropped them.

He sighed through his nose, lost in thought enough that he didn't notice the Hero staring at him. Tessen glanced between them as the food arrived, nudging Hazen's arm as the Hero thanked Ember. "You all right?" he murmured.

Hazen opened his mouth, but didn't speak. Link's eyes were on him again. Why did he stare at him and none of the others? It was uncomfortable.

It wasn't as if he hadn't noticed the resemblance between them, either. Now that was uncomfortable. Was it normal to have an identical clone from more than a millennium earlier in time?

When the Hero spoke, Hazen twitched. "I know you're not from Brynna Plain."

Tessen didn't react outside of his eyes flicking to Hazen. But he was frozen, and Saval noticed it.

"We figured that was more believable than the truth," she said smoothly.

The hero didn't say anything other than, "Eat."

Hazen forced himself to pick up a spoon and eat the soup. It was hot, and delicious, and warmed his belly, but the rest of him was still frozen. Telling a harmless old man in a small village was one thing. But a Hero? He didn't think it was the best idea, but there was no stopping Saval now.

"How did you realize we're not from here?" she asked, taking a bite of soup. Irene glanced at her, concerned, but the Twili girl was unfazed.

The hero seemed to appreciate her honesty. "Brynna Plain isn't a different land. It's a plain in the far east of Hyrule. Uninhabited."

Saval hummed. "It would help if we ever had a map," she mumbled, not expecting the Hero to answer. But he did.

"I have one, if you need to scout a path. But first," he added, as Tessen looked up, "I want to know who you are. And I want the truth."

The group looked at one another uncertainly. "The truth may not be what you expect," Hazen warned quietly. "Or even what you believe."

"I'll take my chances," the Hero said.

"Can we at least have a name?" Irene asked testily, a sign of her nerves. The hero smiled.

"You can call me Link."

Irene balked, opening her mouth, but Hazen cut her off quickly. "My name is Hazen, that's Tessen, Saval, Sahasrahla, and Irene. We're not from this Hyrule . . . or even this world."

"We come from Hyrule, but it's . . . what, a thousand years?" Tessen mumbled at Hazen, and the other boy shrugged.

"Give or take a few decades."

"Right. So--a thousand years or so in the future. Hyrule is the heart of the Hylian Empire, and this is its crown prince," Tessen said, gesturing at Hazen. The blond boy offered an awkward smile, trying his best not to cringe at the way Link was staring at them.

"There are many lands in the empire, and one of them is Twilight. That's where Princess Saval is from. She's the heir to the queendom of Twilight," Tessen said. "I'm the Empress's Advisor's son. We decided to go riding three days past, but we were chased through Kokiri Woods by a creepy mask. It chased us into the ancient Sacred Grove, where we found the Doors of Time. We went through them when the mask attacked again, and ended up in her Hyrule."

He jerked a thumb at Irene, who hadn't moved. She was staring between Hazen and Link. The hero spared her a glance before taking everything in with remarkable calmness. "And then?"

Tessen and Hazen glanced between each other, unsure. "Um . . . and then we wound up in Sahasrahla's house in Kakariko Village," Hazen said, "where we found out that the mask is some kind of evil force known in Hyrule. We just . . . don't know which one yet."

"Since apparently we're getting dumped in every one in the timeline," Tessen muttered.

Link raised a brow.

"Anyway, the mask followed us through, somehow, and we ended up jumping through the Doors again, and now we're here," Hazen finished quickly.

Link took a deep breath, taking it all in with extreme calm. "You mentioned timelines. And different Hyrules. You two strike me as historians. Mind explaining what you meant?"

"Well," Hazen said hesitantly, sharing a glance with Tessen, "we figured that the Doors dropped us off in different places within Hyrule's timeline as a country. We started off at the very end--where we are from, the Hylian Empire. That's our present, but your future. And then we ended up somewhere in the definitive past. No one has heard of an empire, but Hyrule was still a nation. And now that we know what era this is, we know it's in this Hyrule's past, too."

"How can you tell?" Link asked curiously.

"In our empire, we have a definitive history of Hyrule," Tessen explained. Saval yawned. He shot her a glare, and continued. "It's been documented and compiled into seven long," he took a breath, "long books, with accounts and texts from every era. And with all of it in order, we're able to label parts of history as specific eras, usually defined by whether or not they had a hero. This era is known as the Era of the Wild."

The hero flinched, ever so slightly, and Tessen bit his lip. "Right . . . sorry. Anyway, the last era we didn't know what it was called, but we knew it had a hero, because Irene was helping him. And there was a villain too, as far as we could tell. But anyway, based on that timeline compiled in the documentaries and the Hyrule we end up in, we're able to tell, roughly, where we are in the timeline."

"Fascinating," Link murmured. "And you said--a mask?"

The four of them visibly flinched. One of the girls--Saval began scanning the stable for signs of it while Hazen explained. "It's a heart-shaped mask with spikes along the edges and huge, yellow eyes. It's hunting us--I don't know why. It attacked us and injured me when it chased us through the woods the first time."

"The first time?" Link asked sharply. He was on the alert now, his hand drifting to the eightfold blade on his back.

Hazen nodded. "It followed us through the Doors into the other Hyrule--her Hyrule." He nodded his head at Irene. "And she healed me from its attack."

"Has it followed you through here?" Link asked.

"We don't know," Saval said quickly. "We haven't seen it yet."

"Hazen fought it when we came through the Doors to come here, but we don't know how long that'll last. It might come back, or it might not," Irene added.

"How did it injure you?" Link demanded.

The group exchanged a glance, and Link realized he'd stood. He closed his eyes and settled himself. He shot Ember a glance, raising a hand, and Ember nodded, going back to his business. Link forced himself to sit and calm down. He'd just killed Calamity Ganon less than six months ago. If he had to fight a mask too, Zelda would . . .

Link just barely avoided a groan. She wouldn't be surprised, but she definitely wouldn't like it. They had so much to do already . . .

"I'm sorry. I just . . . have a lot on my plate right now," he conceded, and his honesty was rewarded with sighs of relief.

"It's okay," the prince said, smiling. "We're sorry to drop this on you. We just . . . we really don't know what to do."

Link considered them. They looked disheveled, lost, and scared. Some had slight burns--probably from the fight they'd described.

Something in him deflated. They were just kids. They had no idea what they'd gotten themselves into. And they hadn't had anyone to prepare them, either.

At least he'd had a chance to lose his mind about his enemy. Before the Calamity had struck, Zelda had told him exactly what he'd be fighting. What she had to seal. He bit the inside of his cheek. No wonder she'd been so frantic, so heartsick at the apparent lack of her powers.

But that was a century ago. They'd known what they were fighting. They'd had a chance to prepare. These kids . . . they were far out of their element. They'd gone out for an easy horse ride and wound up in the fight of their lives.

And he could see the results of the mask's attacks. They flinched at every little sound, searching the stable's shadows. Irene and Saval held each other's hands tightly, and though Saval seemed to be the stronger of the two, the warrior, she held the white-haired boy's hand, her knuckles white with fear. Hazen . . .

. . . was staring at Link.

The hero met his gaze head-on, and other than a slight shift in his seat, the prince didn't move.

Link tried to build up the indifferent mask he'd mastered before the Calamity, the one Zelda had hated so much, and failed. They needed him. And, well, if he'd had to fight the single greatest calamity of his time, he supposed he could manage a mask too.

"Come on, eat up," he finally said. "We've got a lot of ground to cover. We'll set out when you're done."

"You're traveling at night?" Saval said sharply, before catching herself and flushing. Link observed her reaction, the way her fingers grazed a burn on her hand.

"We'll stay here and leave in the morning, then," he decided, and she visibly calmed. Tessen pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she began to eat, and shot a grateful smile at Link. He nodded in answer and pulled out the Sheikah Slate as the group began eating. He didn't miss the way Tessen's eyes flicked to it for a second. He remembered the boy's words from earlier, and pushed down a smirk.

As he scanned his inventory, Link spared a glance at Sahasrahla. The old man was scanning the outside of the stable like the others had done, but it was without a shred of fear. Instead, his gaze was filled with wonder, and confusion, yes, but . . . he wasn't scared.

Link vowed to ask him about that before going back to his Slate. Hylian Set, Zora Set, Ancient Set--that had cost a fortune--Dark Link set, Korok Mask--

"Aha," Link muttered, and selected the item. It materialized in a swirl of blue lines so typical of the Sheikah, and solidified in Link's hands. He observed it, tsking. It was definitely creepy. He turned it. "Was it this one?"

As soon as the group looked up, they lost it. The boys rocketed to their feet, Saval screamed, Hazen shoved Irene behind him. They backed up, swords drawn, and Link cursed and hurriedly put the mask away.

Ember came running. "Link! What happened?"

"Ember it's okay!" Link yelled. "Hey, I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure I had the right one--"

"Why do you have that?" Hazen snarled, approaching. Link smoothly drew his own blade and clanged it gently against Hazen's.

"Sit down," Link said softly, using the voice he usually used on spooked horses. He stared into Hazen's eyes, once again unnerved by their resemblance. His hair was even the same length when it was down. His eyes were the exact same shade of blue. Link shifted and pushed down slightly on Hazen's sword.

"Please," he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Just sit down, and let me explain."

They were slow, unwilling, but after a moment, Hazen turned his head, and the rest of them returned to their seats. Irene lowered her face into her hands, her shoulders shaking. Even Sahasrahla had spooked a little.

Link might have allowed a smile under different circumstances. Hazen was definitely a royal. It was clear the group was led by majority rule, but when push came to shove, they followed the prince's lead. Link sheathed his sword and retook his seat as well. Hazen spoke as soon as he was down.

"How do you have that?"

Link stirred his soup before answering. "If this Hyrule is the latest one in the timeline, then it is safe to assume whatever era the mask came from is before this era."

"How do you know the mask even came from a Hyrule?" Hazen demanded, though his face had lost some color.

"This Slate has the power to materialize anything in my inventory," Link explained, holding up the Slate. "With each item comes a description. In the mask's case, it says it was passed down from ancient times. I don't know anything else about it."

"Nothing?" Tessen pressed. Link shrugged, recalling some strange comments he'd received when wearing it. "I get the feeling it's got something to do with the moon? Whenever I wear it, people mention the moon for some reason."

Inexplicably, Hazen and Irene shared a shocked glance. Some sort of understanding passed between them, and Iren turned to Link. "What exactly do they say?" she pressed.

Link observed them closely as he answered. "That it seems like the moon is falling."

Saval's lips parted. Without warning she whirled and dragged Sahasrahla away, beginning an animated conversation. At one point, they dragged a stool away and opened a book on it.

Link had just about had enough. "What in the Goddess's name is going on?" he demanded.

"We've already told you," Hazen tried, but Link wasn't having it.

"No, there's something you're not telling me," he pressed. "And if I'm going to help you, I want to know what. So spill it."

Hazen and Irene fidgeted. Link made an educated guess that whatever it was, it had to do with them specifically. Tessen glanced at Hazen in question, but the prince shook his head. He looked at Link square in the eye.

"When the mask injured me, it did something other than burn me," he said, voice hard. "Within three days, it had progressed from minor burns to severe, and within the ten minutes it took to get to Irene's grandmother, who healed me, I was near death. When she healed me, I saw visions. I saw the mask, a clock tower, something made of sticks, and the moon. It had a face carved into its surface, and it was way closer than it should have been. It looked like it was falling," he concluded.

"And there was more," Irene added. "There was a man. He had a huge sword--like, ridiculously huge."

"We have no idea who the man is, or much else beyond this: the mask is somehow responsible for the moon beginning to fall," Hazen said. "And we know enough about general science to know that if the moon falls, the world will literally die. We have to find out when this is happening, and how to stop it. Depending on where it happens in the timeline, it could negatively affect all of us."

Link's head was spinning. "Wait, hold on," he said. "How do you know what's going to happen? Why will the timeline be disrupted?"

"Not disrupted," Tessen said suddenly. "Destroyed."

Helloooo! I want to want you guys, I think I made a mistake in posting this sooner than I wanted. I've noticed a handful of things that didn't go the way I planned/messed with the original point/diverged from the story/forgot to add in, and I'm considering, maybe, putting this on a hiatus??? Maybe. I'm just not satisfied with certain things and I'll try to fix them all of course, so I don't have to put this on a break, but. We'll see.

Anyway. Review replies!

To thelinkmaster001: mmhmhmhm, nope! Try to guess where they end up next!

I would love to do an actual LinkedUniverse, and I was so tempted to turn this into one, but unfortunately it doesn't quite fit with the plot haha. But if you're looking for an amazing LU story, please, I beg of you, read Dimensional Links by ChangelingRin. She is fucking hilarious and her story is all I live for anymore.

ALSOOOO Jojo said her next LU update is a big one! I can't wait!!

To StJames1: YES SHE IS HIS WAIFU HAHA. I adore her so much and I was like "is Hazen going to have an S/O? And then I remembered her and I was like yes. Also hahahahaha, just have to wait ;)

Gramps? Like Gramps Gramps or any old link? Because, like, I can do that. I can totally do that. But will I tell you if I do? Absolutely not.

I hate you for getting that song stuck in my head. You know how hard it is to countersink metal while hearing "iM fReE fALlInG" on a 72 hour loop???? You suck