Wild woke up at the sounds of hushed voices. His consciousness came to the surface like he was breaching a bog. His sluggish mind supplied that he might have fallen asleep at some point, and the heroes let him rest out of concern and consideration. He is the lightest sleeper out of them and, at the same time, sleeps the least hours among them.

The Champion is aware it is not healthy - it has been a subject of Twilight's lectures a few times - but he could not help it. He had been out to the wilds far too long to let his guard down. Every fiber of his being is hardwired for survival, and his options are often narrowed to two - live or die. There is no in-between - Mother Nature is not an all-forgiving entity.

The Champion shifted to his side with a groan. His body felt sore like a Lynel ran him over. He reached out, expecting to feel the familiar softness of Wolfie's fur, only to grab a fistful of fabric. A part of him told him it was his bedroll, but the texture felt different. It is wrong. His eyes shot open, and instead of lush wildlife, he was greeted by the cozy interior of a house.

Wild sat up in alarm. His head whipped around as he took in and searched the place. Just below the edge of the railing, small lanterns hanging by a wooden grid illuminated most of the house. He was situated on a loft overlooking the lower floor of the building. From where he is, he could see mounts on the wall displaying weapons, bows, and shields, a small kitchen, and a dining table for two. The place looked familiar - Where had he seen it before? The remaining haze in his mind made it difficult for him to pick up a definite answer. Is he in an inn? Did they stumble upon civilization while he was out? His eyes perked up at the sound of creaking wood as a lithe figure climbed up to where he was…

"Ah..."

The Champion felt like time stopped as his eyes locked at those bright green eyes - the color reminded him of the lush forests of his era. The panic building inside him dissolved almost immediately at the sight of the princess. His body, however, stiffened at the slow realization that Zelda was here. Everything that is him suddenly felt numb. For a moment, he felt detached from his borrowed body, like he had left his soul in the previous era he came from.

It was Zelda who made the first move. The clatter of plates and utensils reached the Champion's ears first before he could register the warm body pressed against him. A pair of lean arms circled him as a face buried itself on the crook of his neck. The princess' smaller body fit easily into his like a jigsaw puzzle as she held onto him for dear life.

"Oh, Hylia! Link! Thank goodness! You're finally awake. I thought…I thought I lost you again." Zelda pulled away and cupped his face. The Champion noticed the tears glistening at the corners of her eyes. "Don't do that again! You got me worried. You got all of us worried! I don't think I can bear if…."

The princess trailed off and shut her eyes. She pressed her forehead against his. "Please don't leave me again like that, Link. Please…"

Wild took a shaky breath as he scrambled to form words. A lot of questions were floating in his head right now. What is happening? Why is Zelda here? Is he back in his era? He wanted to ask, but it felt wrong doing so. Everything felt wrong.

"Link...?"

The princess' voice jarred him back to the present. Wild felt her now-open eyes staring at him, and he averted his face. He did not know what to say to her. What should he say to someone he had abandoned for months? The Champion could not even move his arms to return her touch. He did not think he had the right to do so. He made her cry. She has been worried for him since he left without a word, and all he did was make her cry. Even a sincere apology would not cut it. Nothing would.

"Link, please. Please look at me."

Wild's heart ached at the pleading tone in Zelda's voice. She should never beg him. She is a princess, for Hylia's sake! The only living member of the Hyrulean royal family! Zelda should lift her chin high and order him instead of imploring him like this. If she does, he will….

He will do what? Wild knows that Zelda is not like that. She does not want to be like that anymore. She is currently in the process of reconciling with her past self and walking forward to the path she has wanted to take for so long. It is unfair of him to have these kinds of thoughts and devalue her like this.

"Princess…? Is everything alright?"

Wild's eyes flicked ahead as a familiar girl joined them on the loft. The Champion recognized the thick braid of Gerudo red and the golden ornaments that signified the status of a Gerudo chief. Riju, the current leader of the Gerudo tribe and the pilot of Divine Beast Vah Naboris, made her presence known on the top of the stairs. It had nearly been a year since Wild last saw her - she had grown a fair taller than he remembered her to be. The young Gerudo chief brightened up at the sight of the conscious hero.

"Link! You're finally awake."

Zelda pried herself off Wild and wiped her tears before turning to Riju with a thin smile. If the Hylian Champion did not know the princess well enough, he might mistake it as genuine. Even after restraining Calamity Ganon for a century, Zelda still retained her uncanny ability to hide her true feelings behind a royal mask. Only those who truly know the princess would be able to discern what is hidden behind that smile.

"I apologize. I made a mess. I'll just clean this up -" Zelda climbed off the bed and knelt to pick up the plates and utensils she dropped, but Riju stopped her.

"Don't worry about this, Princess. I've got it." The Gerudo chief inclined her head to the hero. A look of understanding gleamed in her eyes. "You need to attend to a more important matter. I'll ask Buliara to clean this up and bring a new meal here."

"Oh no!" Zelda waved her hands frantically. "I can't make you do that! You're our guests. It's impolite for me to make you do this."

Riju shook her head. "It's okay. You have been a gracious host to Buliara and me. Something like this is just a trivial matter." She picked up the wooden tray and stacked the dishes on it. "Besides, we're about to leave. I have urgent matters to attend to with my people regarding our...wayward friends."

"Ah..." Zelda's ears drooped slightly. "Right...I-I see."

Riju smiled reassuringly at her. It had not gone amiss to Wild how matured the Gerudo chief is now acting. Did something happen while he was gone? "Come visit us in Gerudo Town when you have the chance. We can catch up by then." She then peered over the princess' shoulder. "I'm glad you're awake, Link. I'm sure it's already a given, but get well soon. I'm still looking forward to that sand seal race that you promised me."

Wild opened and closed his mouth as jumbled words piled on the tip of his tongue but never came out. He could not answer and just sat there dejected as he watched Riju disappear downstairs. Zelda turned to him with a concerned look on her face, but all the Champion could do was turn away.

There are so many emotions welling inside of him, and he could not pick which one he would latch on to. His head was a mess, too - When did they return to his era? How did he end up in his house? Where are the others? He was sure he was with the eight Heroes of Courage in an unknown Hyrule. He remembered talking to Wind and Twilight and following Legend at one point. He even had a one-sided argument with the Veteran, and after the red-clad hero left him, he…he...

"Want to know a dirty little secret? You have the Hero's Spirit."

"C-Cub...go...you must…you must live!"

"...So, make your decision, hero."

Wild's hands flew to his mouth as tears prickled on his eyes. No…No…No no no! That cannot be…That did not happen…Time is not - He is not - He blindly reached out to grip the edge of the bedside drawer and tumbled off the bed. The Champion hit the floor on his knees and hands, uncaring whether he broke a bone or two in the process. He heard Zelda's alarmed cry, but it sounded far away as he shakily hauled himself up to his feet, only to stumble forward.

"T-Time…Time!" Wild rasped. "T-Time…!"

Someone knelt before him and grasped him by the biceps, but Wild could not see who it was behind the tears on his eyes. He gasped and panted as every part of him screamed in pain and terror. The memories of the Hero of Time getting stabbed and lying down on the pool of his own blood as Dark Link smiled gleefully at their agony flooded his mind's eye.

"No…N-No! Please no! I-I…Please don't! Time…! T-Time!"

"Link! Please look at me! LINK!" Zelda called out desperately as she held on to the hysterical hero. "Who is Time? Who are they, Link? Tell me, please!"

The questions, however, had gone unheard by the Champion letting out a heartbreaking wail. His hands gripped and pulled at his hair in clumps, threatening to rip them from his scalp. Footsteps thumped hurriedly on the floor as more people climbed the loft and helped the princess as the hero struggled to escape from an offender he could only see. Three different voices called for him as hands desperately tried to wrestle and keep the Hylian Champion from hurting himself.

"Link!" The princess pleaded. "Look at me. It's me! It's me - Zelda. Please remember. Link, please!"

Wild sobbed pitifully as he thrashed against the firm grip. "D-Don't hurt… don't hurt them! T-Time…Legend! They…they…ah…ah - AAGHH!"

A scream akin to the damned tore from his throat. His ears rang painfully as eight voices pounded his head. His hands left his hair and reached for his neck as if to pry something that was choking him. His chest hurts like he was stabbed with a rusty blade and was left bleeding to his death. It hurts! It hurts so much that he could do nothing but scream as the darkening world folded itself on him and…

…He was running. Wild found himself running on a courtyard of a castle. The sky was bloodred as a mass of twisting darkness swirled upwards from beneath their feet. Columns of smoke towered and curled above them as houses and corpses burned around them. Metallic legs clanked as Guardian Stalkers scuttled and whirred, firing white-hot lasers to any living thing that moved. More and more of them come to life in pulsating magenta instead of Sheikah orange. The familiar hum of the Master Sword vibrated in his right hand while the other gripped tightly on the princess' hand as he nearly dragged her behind him. All around them, people screamed and ran for their lives, only to be cut short amidst the chaos.

A laser shot towards them, and he yanked his charge away in time. Heat seared the left side of his face, and he had to bite his tongue from screaming from pain. A coppery taste bloomed on his tongue, yet he reminded himself who he was supposed to be and what he was supposed to do.

Pain is weakness. Pain is not his duty. He must never show his pain.

Protect the princess! Run, run, and never look back!

They never stopped running, and Wild felt the hand he was holding on slip from his grasp. He turned around in alarm and found the princess was gone. No no no! Where is she? Where is the princess? He whirled around in a panic, only to discover that he was standing in Korok Forest. The Master Sword that he was gripping tightly a moment ago now rests on the stone pedestal. Its blade was dull and corroded by Malice - the steady hum from it had diminished into an eerie silence. A strange entity in the form of a woman of blue and purple lay curled at the triangular base of the inner pedestal - her body shattered and eroded like the divine sword.

A tug in his soul told Wild to step forward and reach the girl, but pale hands latched on his arms and legs. He glanced behind him, and his heartbeat picked up at the darkness that had swallowed half of the forest. It writhed and slithered, devouring every blade of grass with its insatiable hunger.

From it, familiar faces emerged - their eye sockets devoid of their organs and dripping with blood. He saw Hyrule caked in mud and covered in thorny vines and Four convulsing in an array of colors as his body cracked like ice. Sky had a hand-sized bruise on his neck while Warriors' face was nearly unrecognizable due to the cuts on his face. The darkness almost engulfed Legend and Twilight - their faces only the visible part - and blood gushed out not just from Wind's eyes but his mouth as well. All were severely beaten up and matted in blood, with six of them wearing chains around their neck and wrists. They clawed and pulled at the Champion as they cried in a cacophony of disembodied voices.

"H-Help…us! Save…us! It hurts! IT HURTS!"

Wild struggled desperately against their bruising hold as the darkness crept underneath the soles of his boots. The terrified scream that threatened to rip out of the Champion's throat was choked out by a large and calloused hand that shot out and wrapped around his neck. A pale face with blue and red markings inched close to his and stared at him with lifeless eyes. Time's mouth moved and gurgled blood as the hero spoke in a tone that was not his.

"Come, Hero of the Wild. Come and save them…if you dare."

Then, the darkness lurched forward and devoured him whole as the eight desperate voices devolved into the Shadow's wicked laughter.