Revali moved quickly as soon as he'd heard Zelda and Mipha scream. He listened hard for any trace of them as he circled the area in an attempt to spot the two princesses, chiding himself for not paying more attention to which way they had gone and hoping nothing had happened to them. Zelda could be bossy and Mipha seemed way too into Link for his tastes, but Revali had grown fond of the two of them, and he certainly didn't want to see anything happen to them, and when the blood curdling scream of Mipha caught his ears he was more scared for someone other than himself than he'd been in a long time.

Scanning the horizon to his east, he finally caught a glimpse of some movement a couple hundred yards away. Two people colored red and blue, yep that was them. He adjusted himself into a swift dive and quickly made up the space between himself and the two girls. The scene he landed into confused him at first. Zelda and Mipha were both sobbing with the Hylian embracing the Zora who was crouched with her head down in front of her. He carefully made his way around the two and saw something he didn't quite comprehend. The annoying Hylian knight lay there dead. The Zora princess was sobbing into his chest, and his arm was completely gone. But how!? This doesn't make any sense!

Revali carefully reached down to try to…console the girls? Move the body away? He wasn't sure. His head was a muddy mess of confusion at that point, because he was having trouble believing what he saw. Not just because one of his comrades was inexplicably dead, but also because of the logistics of him being dead.

"Stay away from him!" Mipha screamed at the startled Rito. He looked to Zelda's tear streaked face and she shook her head at him. Of the two, Zelda was clearly the most rational at the moment. Revali needed them to hear what he had seen earlier as to why the situation didn't make sense.

"Your highness…err, Zelda," he said softly. She looked to him again as he beckoned her to step away from the scene so they could talk. She whispered something to Mipha gently and then got up and went to her concerned comrade.

"W-what happened here?" Revali asked. He first needed to ascertain how the Hylian knight found himself here, let alone died.

"We were walking back to the camp when the wind started to swirl around us. A hole…appeared in the middle of the air and it spat him out onto the ground. He was already gravely injured and only had a moment to whisper something to Mipha before he died."

Revali pondered this for a moment before he responded, "See, Princess, this isn't making a lot of sense to me. We're a couple hundred yards to the east of the campsite here. But when I was flying back with the firewood, I saw Link with Daruk and Urbosa about a half mile to the west of the camp."

Zelda looked at him as if she'd never seen him before as the information sunk in. "So, w-what does that mean?"

Revali shook his head, "I don't know, but by now the others should be about to arrive at the campsite."

"Fly to them. If they are indeed there, bring them here as quickly as you can. If they are not, retrace your flight path to see if you see signs of a struggle."

Revali nodded and began to turn, but then had a thought. He reached into his satchel and pulled out a small knife and handed it to Zelda. "It's not much, but just in case you should also have a weapon. I'm not sure she's going to be any help in a fight," he nodded toward Mipha. "I'll be back as soon as possible."

Revali covered the near quarter of a mile faster than he thought he ever had before and was greeted with a sight that he never thought would make him feel relief.

"Hey, Birdo," the large Goron gleefully greeted his Rito companion until he suddenly realized how distressed Revali was. "What's wrong, buddy?"

"About three hundred yards that way," he pointed toward the 'incident.' "You all are going to want to see this…. especially you," he said, looking directly at Link.

Urbosa wasn't sure what to expect when they got to the scene of Revali's concern, but what she witnessed did something to her that was tough to do; it left her speechless. The next thing she noticed was Zelda, who quickly stood up from her embrace with their Zora comrade, and turned toward she, Daruk, and Link. Zelda's expression quickly turned utter surprise turn to relief and she immediately bent down to Mipha and began whispering in her ear and shaking her gently. The young Zora princess was inconsolable, Urbosa quickly realized, and Zelda was having issues getting her to do anything than continue to weep into what Urbosa now saw was a body on the ground. The Gerudo finally got close enough to the scene to see what was underneath Mipha, and nearly gave herself whiplash as she turned from the body on the ground to her companion on her right.

Her friend Link was often times stoic and unreadable. He kept quiet often, and she could tell he took his job and his devotion to Hyrule very seriously. He took more on to his own shoulders than he should quite often. But even through all that, she almost never saw his demeanor crack. But the surprise on his face at that moment was undeniable.

Urbosa shook her head to clear away her confusion so that she could deal with the issue at hand reasonably and rationally. The first thing she heard was Zelda continuing to try to get Mipha to calm down. "Mipha you have to look behind you! Link is alive!"

Little by little the red head of the Zora Princess began to lift off the body. Her face was gaunt and her eyes were bloodshot as it was evident she'd been crying heavily for quite a while. And it took several moments to register in her expression what she was seeing as she gazed into the face of Link. Grief turned to surprise which turned to more crying as she lept to her feet and embraced the surprised soldier, knocking him to the ground as she seemed to want to wrap her entire body around his and never let him go. She didn't say anything but just sobbed into Link's shoulder, who whispered at her gently as he pat her back and stroked her head.

The group stood quietly for several minutes as Zelda and Mipha collected themselves. Zelda also embraced Link as he stood up and expressed vehemently how happy she was to see him safe. Urbosa noticed Link's calm and collected demeanor had mostly returned as the group turned their attention to the body on the ground. Daruk was the first to speak.

"What on earth happened?"

Since Mipha was clearly still recovering, clinging tightly to Link's hand, Zelda began to relay what had happened to the others. Urbosa listened closely and thoughtfully as she tried to make sense of the mystery in front of them. Who was this man on the ground? Why did he look identical to Link. Where had his wounds come from? It began to drive her nuts, because from what Zelda told them, they had nothing in terms of answers for any of those questions.

The group was quiet again as they all took in the information and the scene in front of them. Link attempted to kneel next to the body but found himself held up by his Zora friend. He looked her in the eye comfortingly and patted her hand before removing it and turning back to the body. He carefully turned the body over and pulled the shirt up gently revealing an array of scars. Many Link did not recognize, but there was one prominent one that went across the small of the back that he did. He stood up again silently and pulled up his own shirt and Urbosa saw that the scar on Link matched the scar on the body on the ground.

"They're the same," she said softly.

"So what does that mean?" Revali asked, the typical snide tinge in his voice noticeably absent.

"I don't know exactly, but it would seem to suggest that this person and Link are…the same?"

"There are a lot of different scars on his back," Link said softly as Mipha grabbed his hand again, "but that one is the same I've had since I was a child."

"So, uhh, I hate to bring this up, but what should we do with this guy?" Daruk asked cautiously after several more moments of silence.

Urbosa glanced over at Link. She wasn't sure how he was handling seeing what was seemingly his own body in the state it was in, and wanted to approach everything they would do from that moment forward carefully. But at that point there was no questioning what they had to do next.

"We have to take it back to the castle so Purah can tell us if he actually is another Link and why he showed up here."

"But we're more than halfway to Mt. Lanayru," Revali said. "Aren't we in a hurry to get to the Spring of Wisdom?"

As eager as Zelda was to get to the final spring, she knew Urbosa was right. The sudden appearance and death of someone who looked just like Link might very well have something to do with the coming Calamity. Furthermore, neither she nor Mipha were in a state to focus on continuing their journey to the spring anyway. "Urbosa is right," she finally said. "This might very well have something to do with Ganon. We need to reset in Hyrule Castle."

"I-if I may," Mipha's small voice cut through the group, "he said something to me before he…"

Her voice gave out briefly as she choked back another wave of tears. She felt Link squeeze her hand reassuringly and was able to continue, "He told me that Ganon knows what our plan is. He said the Divine Beasts have monsters inside of them."

The group grew quiet again. Urbosa tapped her chin as she thought. If that was true, then their entire approach to Ganon would have to change. And if the person laying dead before them was who she thought it was, then plans were going to have to change drastically.

"Let's start back," she said. "We can make it by midday tomorrow if we start now. We can stay overnight at the Wetland Stables."

The stables had finally quieted down after visitors were unceremoniously kicked out of their rooms to make space for the champions and the package they were carrying. Daruk wasn't a fan of throwing his weight around as a champion in order to garner special favors, but this situation called for more extreme measures than he and his compatriots employed. When they had arrived, they were swarmed by the half dozen or so people staying there. The celebrity that came along with being a Champion was sometimes more of an impediment, but luckily the management cooperated with Urbosa's request to clear the place out.

Mipha had fallen asleep almost immediately, and Zelda not long after. It didn't surprise the large Goron elder, as they had both been through an emotional roller coaster. Daruk and Urbosa had both noticed how Mipha hadn't left Link's side since the event and seemed to still be suffering from the shock of the event up until she fell asleep. Urbosa sat up with Zelda until she finally fell asleep and then made her way over to the table where Daruk was enjoying a drink.

"Some day, eh?"

She nodded and rubbed her eyes, "I knew we might be in for some surprises in this gig, but dead bodies of living people standing right next to you suddenly appearing in the middle of nowhere? Not exactly what I was expecting."

"How is Link?"

"As hard to read as ever," she said gesturing toward the young man who had his back turned as he slept on his side. "I think this shook him a little though. I can't imagine seeing someone who looks just like me dead. It must be surreal."

"And the girls took it really hard. Especially little Mipha."

Urbosa nodded, "So here's something interesting. Before she nodded off, the Princess told me that Link and Mipha are childhood friends."

"Well that explains it," Daruk said while he scratched his beard.

Urbosa nodded as she took a swig of the drink the waiter had just set in front of her, "Between you and me, she's a little upset Mipha and Link didn't tell her. I don't think Zelda would have asked her along if she'd known."

"It doesn't seem right to leave any of us out of this thing, though," Daruk said, "Wasn't the whole point of this little journey so we'd bond as a team? It's not like anyone else could pilot Vah Ruta."

"That's what I told her, but I think she's worried about what happens to the rest of the team if Link does go down somehow and Mipha suddenly can't function," Urbosa shrugged and downed the rest of her beer, "this whole thing isn't an exact science, that's for sure."

Daruk turned to the sheet covered lump on the floor next to Urbosa's bed. Luckily for them, the body hadn't begun to smell at that point, but he knew they were running on borrowed time in that department, and that they needed to get back to the castle ASAP to have as complete a specimen as possible for Purah. Ugh, Daruk knocked his own head with the palm of his hand when he thought of….Link's body as a specimen.

"So you really think it's the Little Guy's body?"

Urbosa nodded, "Yeah. Mipha thinks it's him too, though she doesn't know how to explain it. But I have an idea what might be going on."

Daruk raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"

"My running theory right now is that he's from the future. And from the looks of it, things didn't go so well. Add to that the fact that he told Mipha that our plan failed and I think it's a pretty good bet."

"The future, eh? How would he get back here?"

"There are some stories among the old legends of some time traveling heroes. It's entirely possible either he found a way back, or the future Zelda sent him. Honestly I'm hoping it's the latter, because that would mean her search for answers to her latent powers isn't a complete waste of time after all."

Daruk nodded and noticed how tired Urbosa had begun to look, "It might be time for you to get some sleep."

Urbosa yawned and stood up, "I think you're right. Good night, Big Guy."

Daruk nodded as he took the last sip of his own beer and retreated into his own thoughts. Things that morning had been so simple, but now everything he thought about with regard to their mission just made his head hurt. He had finally begun to learn how to pilot Vah Rudania, but now he realized it was a real possibility that they wouldn't even be able to use the Divine Beasts at all.

He stood, popped his back, and found himself glancing back at the dead body draped in sheets next to Urbosa's bed. He felt an intense sorrow as he realized that Urbosa was probably correct regarding the identity of the body. It seemed so wrong to be lugging the body of his dear friend across Hyrule field. Then he glanced at 'his' Link, asleep in the bed across the room. Daruk vowed to himself he would not let that happen to him. Not this time.

Feeling better and with less of a headache, Daruk headed to his corner of the inn and closed his eyes. Sleep quickly found him.

Note: Hey everyone hope you're enjoying the story so far. The first few chapters actually went a little faster than I'd wanted, but the tone and pace I was going for dictated their length. I'm hoping to slow down a bit coming up. We'll see.

Thanks for the follows and reviews so far. Keep it up. Let me know what you think!