"Link..."

Link looked around for the source of the voice, suspended in pitch black darkness.

"Master Link," the voice repeated, louder. A blinding purple flash appeared before him, and he tensed, reaching for his sword on instinct, but his hand caught nothing but air.

The figure in the violet light stared blankly at him, as if caught off guard. She was beautiful, ethereal, woven together out of blues and amethysts, with metallic eyes that seemed...familiar, somehow. "I sensed a flicker in our connection. Your aura has changed, and bears a 95% similarity to what it was previously." She looked him over. "You are different."

Link frowned. "What do you mean? Do I know you?" he signed.

The woman tilted her head ever so slightly. "You do," she replied. "I calculate a 100% probability that your memory has been compromised."

He gave her a deadpan look. "You don't say."

A roar beneath his feet snapped him from his sass, forcing him to look down into the blackened maw of a monster he didn't recognize. As it snapped its jaws, he could feel himself start to fall. and he reached for the slate, ready to throw a bomb-

He awoke suddenly to the feeling of tiny claws in his hair and let out a shriek, scrambling to fight off whatever it was. A three-tailed squirrel fled the nest it was trying to make out of his head, gliding away on the current and tittering angrily. Link fought to catch his breath, glancing after it, then froze.

All around him, in every direction he looked, was nothing but endless sky.

His head spun, and he clung to the grass beneath his hands. Okay. He closed his eyes, fighting to keep his thoughts steady. This is fine. I'm fine. I'm not falling, I have my paraglider, there's no threats. Deep breath in, deep breath out. New puzzle. New day. He opened his eyes. Time to problem solve. How did I get here?

He examined his surroundings more closely as he pushed himself to his feet. He was on a flat island with nothing but flowers and grass on it. Strange, but he didn't know enough about the world he'd been left by Calamity to dispute that. The sky above was clear, so that was good; he didn't have to worry about being struck by lightning or having to change clothes.

Off in the distance, he could see other islands; bigger ones, with odd shapes. That didn't answer his question, but it brought up another one; Where AM I? The grass here didn't have any defining plantlife, and the clouds beneath him concealed everything he might have been able to use as a landmark.

Well...it was an easy enough fix, right? He pulled out his slate and brought up the map. A simple teleport, and-

NO SIGNAL

Link gave a frustrated sigh. Of course, this had to be too far from a tower to get signal. And he didn't want to risk paragliding down into nothingness and winding up in the middle of the ocean or right over Death Mountain. With his luck, that's probably where he'd wind up.

The islands in the distance caught his attention again, the only visible objects in a sea of clouds. They seemed bigger, at least; maybe they had food, or flora he could recognize. He opened up the scope rune and zoomed in on it, eyes going wide.

Windmills. Houses. Statues, walls, tents! There were people up here! Link breathed a sigh of relief, then started pacing. Getting over there without anything to magnetize or stasis-lock would be an issue. He looked through his runes; he could try dumping his canteen out, then using cryonis to launch himself...No, too risky, and if he failed, he'd be out of water.

Bombs. He had two kinds. Could he use those?

He sat on the edge of the isle, pulled up the notes rune, and started to draw out his plan. It was dangerous and tricky, but if he managed to pull it off, he'd get more than enough air to reach the sky city.

Step one: Leave the teleport medallion on the isle in case he failed.

Step two: Jump off and toss two bombs behind him.

Step three: Blow up one bomb, pushing the other one into his back.

Step four: Paraglider.

Step five: Profit.

He'd definitely wind up singed and sore, and he needed to time everything perfectly, but...He shook his head. If he thought about it too much, he'd psych himself out of it.

Groose flew through the sky surrounding Skyloft, gripping his Loftwing's collar tightly. He was on his daily patrol, looking for any sign of Zelda or her bird, and at this point, it was getting...bad. She'd been gone for - what, two weeks now? Three? Long enough that Pipit was actually applauding him for being diligent in his duties as a student knight.

He grit his teeth. He didn't need Pipit's hollow praise, he needed to find Zelda. She needed him now, not some wanna-be knight with his flashy red bird and-

BOOM!

The redhead yelped in alarm as his own bird bucked in panic. "Hey, hey, easy!" He clung to its neck and smoothed its feathers down. "It's okay, buddy, you're fine, everything's-" He trailed off as he looked in the direction of the noise. "...Fine."

Blue sparks of energy scattered from one of the Picnic Isles, dissipating as a speck fell from them. He pulled out his binoculars and squinted through the lenses.

Someone was falling.

Without a moment's hesitation, Groose spurred his Loftwing into flight, racing towards the person as they plummeted towards the cloud barrier. He wasn't going to make it, they were too far-!

Suddenly, they vanished into cerulean fragments. Groose pulled back, slowing his Loftwing to a hover. "What in the skies-?!" He was cut off by another explosion above him, and he had to scramble to keep his bird from throwing him off. "Hey, Nightwing, no, it's okay-!" He pet its feathers frantically. "Shh, shh, you're okay-"

The person fell past him again, a singed mess, frantically tapping on some kind of glowing rock. Then, before Groose's very eyes, the weirdo froze midair, looked at him, gave a wave, then vanished back into bluish wisps.

Groose stared blankly, then rubbed his temples. "Goddess above...I need sleep," he muttered. "That's gotta be it..."

BOOM!

This time, Groose's reaction time was off, and Nightwing bolted, throwing its rider off into the blue expanse. He flailed, a stream of curses leaving his lips before he spun and blew a sharp whistle. Come on, buddy, don't leave me hanging, he begged silently.

For all the stress the poor bird was under, its training was still top notch, and it dove obediently to catch him. As fast as he could, Groose grabbed the Loftwing's collar and swung himself onto its back, locking its neck into a tight hug. "Hey! Nighty, relax, calm down!" He slowly brought his tone down as he did his best to comfort the poor thing. "Calm down. Easy. Easy..." He tapped his heels against Nightwing's thighs, spurring it forward before another explosion could scare his bird into fleeing and leaving him behind.

Nightwing squawked at him, tail curled in tension. Groose sighed. "Yeah, I know. Not the smartest idea to go closer to the loud noises." He pet the Loftwing's neck gently. "I just thought someone needed help." He glanced back at the island, unsettled. He HAD seen a person, right? Someone HAD to be making those explosions. But people don't turn into...blue fireflies, or whatever they are.

Just then, a shadow passed over his head. He looked up.

And there was the hooded weirdo, zooming birdless through the air, hanging onto a sailcloth suspended on sticks. Groose gaped. The wind wasn't going THAT hard, how could he be going that fast?! He watched in awe as the guy sailed towards Skyloft like a skytail on pumpkin ale, before his gut kicked in and he noticed that the strange man was losing height.

Eyes narrowing, wanting to stop the explosions and give this whackjob a piece of his mind and totally not because he cared about some loser that spooked his best friend into nearly killing him falling to his death, he urged Nightwing onward towards Skyloft.

Link held on tight to the paraglider as he raced towards the sky city, even as his sore arms screamed in protest. If he could just make it to the side of the island, he could grab onto the rock and force himself off. His head couldn't take much more explosion, either; his ears rung, and he could swear he'd gotten a concussion from the blast somehow.

He neared the isle, reaching out desperately for something to hang onto, when-

Crack!

He looked up, eyes wide, as the frame of his paraglider began to spliter. No no no no no-!

Suddenly, he was snatched out of the air and yanked into someone's arms with an undignified squeak. The isle rushed towards him, and his mysterious rescuer jumped from his mount, landing on the wooden dock and promptly dropping him onto the ground. Link winced, rubbing his sore behind. Ow.

"What's your problem?!" The man demanded. Link barely had time to look up before he was yanked up by his collar and faced with piercing golden eyes. "Your dumb stunt out there almost got us both killed! You know how hard it was to calm my Loftwing down?! I oughta have the rescue patrol knock some sense into you-" He stopped abruptly, then squinted at him. "...Who in the goddess' name are you supposed to be?"

Link blinked, then slowly signed his name out. That's right, the horned statue had sent him back so that he could fix things...did this person know him?

Groose stared blankly, then shoved him back. "What the guay, Link?! Are you crazy?!" He pointed at the horizon. "Just use your bird! You almost got me thrown out of the sky!" He grabbed Link's shoulders and shook him. "You get Zelda lost, you disappear for half a month, and then you show up dressed like a street performer and launching yourself through the air with- with bomb flowers?! And what's with the weird sailcloth?! Did you already lose Zelda's?!" His glare hardened. "You messed it up, didn't you?" he spat bitterly. "I bet you fell asleep and dropped it into a chuchu or something dumb like that. That sounds like the kind of- of half-baked excuse you'd come up with."

Link shoved him back and held up his hand, covering his mouth and closing his eyes, stomach churning and head feeling like it was about to explode. Groose glared, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for an explanation.

The lost Hylian took a second to catch his breath, then looked up and signed six words carefully.

"I don't know who you are."

Groose's eyes widened, his heart dropping to the pit of his stomach.

Without another word, he grabbed Link's arm and dragged him towards the Knight's Academy.

He didn't know what was going on, but this guy needed a doctor.