Author's Note: for older readers, this is part 2 of "I Accept"

"Patrolling"

Three hours later, they were finally back on their horses. The Hero of Time was exhausted from helping dig that grave. They could have been done earlier, but despite the knight wanting to bury his friend after getting about a few feet into the earth, it would have been far too shallow, and it would be far more disturbing to see his friend pay an unwieldy visit due to some rain. So, they spent longer digging to a proper depth.

As they reached the town gates, the other two looked so stiff that he almost felt bad for being unable to dwell on it as much as they were. One of the guards at the gate motioned to him as they went through.

"Son what's wrong with them? Especially Zelda. And whose horse do you have there?"

He was also tasked with leading the other knight's horse home as well. If anything, he felt more hurt looking into the poor creature's eyes than anything else. "You'll have to ask the Princess or the other guy for his name, but we were attacked by the Yiga and…" His bottom lip started to quiver, "We um…lost one." A weak laugh sputtered out as he watched the guard's expression change. He sniffed, "Wow, sorry. I guess this is a bit harder to talk about than I thought."

Young Link leaned down, speaking in a soft voice, "I killed them all. Don't worry." He felt number than before as he sat up, nodded his goodbye, and got with the others. Once back in his room, he took off his bloodied boots and crawled into bed, but instead of feeling worse, he scowled.

"What the hell…was that entire thing…?" He blinked. "Not to be mean, but damn, neither of them seemed to..well…stand a chance! Maybe this new decree doesn't help with deciding what to do since it's like 'Shit, what was allowed again?' but still…"

"Actually no," Young Link sat up, "I'm being negative." 'Dammit that's a lie.' "I'm being honest?" 'Yeah, that's better.' His stomach lurched for food, "Honestly, I don't know why I'm taking it like this. I watched soldiers die every other day back in the previous world. Infection, wounds from battle, magic…you name it, I probably saw it."

His stomach gurgling at him once more made him groan, "Fine, I'll listen to you." He got up, 'I need to stop murmuring to myself anyways.'

Something about the way the sun shined through the windows made his head hurt as he walked to the Dining Hall. The staring he was met with didn't help either, hell it made him nauseous. A hand went up to his head as he shook it, "Can we not do this right now guys? I just want to eat." A familiar voice shouted at him from further into the room.

"Of course you do you heartless bastard!"

His eyes narrowed as he turned his head to look, seeing the same dark-haired knight from before marching his way. He walked toward him as well, mainly to get away from the door, 'Oh geez, I already don't have a good feeling about this.' The young hero could clearly see that he was still in the process of grieving his friend, "What's this about?"

"This is all your fault! If you weren't busy getting held up by that other piece of shit, he'd still be alive!" Tears streamed down his cheeks.

He stared back as he calmly cocked his head. Young Link knew better than to emotionally fire something back. These were the empty words of a sad man wanting to feel better. He held up his hands, "Listen, I understand you're still going through the motions and you're looking for someone to blame everything o—"

A loud clap echoed across the hall.

In the following moments, the Hero of Time felt his left cheek start to sting as he blinked at what just happened. Then he felt his head slam against the table and a hand wrap around his neck. In fleeting flashes, the knight he once protected started to look more and more like the Yiga who swept him away. The wooden table began to feel like grass, and the ceiling had turned into the night sky.

Immediately taking advantage of remembering the situation, he clawed into the hands around his neck and pried them off, feeling the skin bunch under his nails. His ears were deaf to the screams that came from his enemy. Without a second thought, he felt a fork suddenly appear in his hands, which…was weird since they were outside the castle. Didn't matter. He lunged at the Yiga, roundhouse kicking him in the face and stabbing the fork into his chest.

His consciousness further picked up on the eating utensil as it made a metal clang against what should have been softer fabric or skin as the ninja fell to his back, "What the hell? A fork?" A smirk crept onto his face as fast as it left. He carelessly shrugged, "Wait, I've got a sword!"

His entire demeanor changed as his eyes dangerously clouded over. "Mortal draw." The words softly rolled off his tongue as he strolled toward his opponent, getting nearly there before he was tackled to his side.

"You're okay…" The familiar voice incessantly echoed around his head, "Take a breather."

In the blink of an eye, he sat up with a gasp. He immediately took in the familiar surroundings of the Dining Hall, panting as he turned to look at the Yiga who would have been on the floor. Instead, he saw the knight from before, only now he had a developing bruise on one side of his face with a fork stuck in his metal armor.

He couldn't keep his eyes from widening in concern, 'Dear Goddesses…so that's what it's like to get reminded of that kind of shit…oops.' His eyes met Link's, a form of guilt starting to set in, "Listen, he grabbed my neck and the next thing I know, I'm back outside that wall where I was getting nearly choked to death." He grabbed his hand, "I couldn't let that happen again, okay?" He immediately saw the faces of the other knight's start to illuminate at his explanation, relieving a bit of his stress. Before he could stop it, he was smushed into a hug, which then led to tears starting to burn as they puddled in the corners of his eyes before running down his cheeks.

"Dammit," he sniffed, wearily smiling, "I just came down here to eat! I'm starving from that long trip, on top of killing what? Six more Yiga? Oh, and then getting my shield shattered and it cutting me up, and then helping bury my groupmate six feet under!" His smile remained as he got up from his descendant's hug, looking to the man on the floor, "And you tried to bury him less than three feet the first time! Gods above, if we all weren't busy losing our minds from everything that happened, I'd have thought you were going to return when it rains to play cards with him!"

The entire room was shocked into silence.

His tone went from delirious to sour, "I can do a lot of things, but I will not be a god damn punching bag! What do you want? Want me to ride back out there and get the head of the one that killed him? Hm? Should be easy putting the skull on a stake if that's the grand idea. I got you a head start on that."

Now Link was on his feet, "Kid stop, that's enough."

"Link, I'm exhausted! You already know where I'm coming from too!" He heaved a sigh, wiping away whatever tears were left on his face, "You know what? Eating can wait, I'll just come back later. Also," His expression softened into one that was more remorseful, "I'm genuinely sorry if I did some damage to your face there." He chuckled, "You had me thinking I was getting ready to nearly die again. You looked like him and everything. That's my bad, though, and I'm glad you still had your chest plate on." The young hero held up a hand as he began to make a tactical retreat from the hall back to his room.

As he opened the doors, a bout of angry yelling erupted from where the dark-haired knight had laid. Seems he finally came to his senses, and he was pissed. "HOW DARE THAT LITTLE DEVIL COME AFTER ME!" The poor guy broke into another sob that jumbled his words up past the point of understanding them.

The young hero continued on, simply walking away. But then his eyebrows furrowed at the sound of footsteps getting louder and quicker. Right as he turned, the angry knight burst through the doors in a nasty fit of rage, "Where do you think you're going, brat?! You're going out the same way he did!"

Young Link took a few steps back. After all, he clearly remembered what it looked like as that scythe made quick work of the blonde's neck. 'Well I'll be damned…it's not worth engaging you again.'

And much to his satisfaction, Link had come up from behind the knight and tackled him to the floor, motioning with his head for him to go.

Nodding, he jogged off. Upon returning to his room, it made him feel better to flip into his bed and sink into the covers. He wasn't hungry anymore either, he had his groupmate to thank for that.

'Ah, I should check my arms and side.' He pulled off his tunic, wincing at feeling it snag on something. Of course, right as he found a shard he managed to miss, Link opened the door with a look of astonishment. The young hero sighed, 'Everything is a coincidence with this guy. Why am I even surprised?' "You uh, caught me at a bad moment. Thought I'd at least mention it."

He was quickly at his bedside, "Wait at least let me see."

"More like go be useful and get me something to catch the possible blood with. I think there's a small towel in the bathroom." He was surprised at how his descendant immediately got up and did as he asked. He expected a look or comment.

"You've got a good memory for being gone a few days," The knight said upon returning, "Here you go." He sat it in his lap.

The young hero pressed his lips together as he picked it up and held it near the shard, taking his other hand and pulling it out. "Damn, that didn't get any easier. Shit." He scanned his torso for any others, only finding several small cuts that still oozed a little. His pupils narrowed at a realization: 'Dear Goddesses I didn't even tell him thanks!'

He shook his head, softly laughing. He felt like an idiot, "Ugh, I'm so sorry Link. I snapped at you and here you are just trying to see if I'm okay and helping. I'm just—my mind is just everywhere and, who am I kidding, I'm still really hungry. Thank you, though."

His descendant had cautiously gotten on his knees to look at the other cuts, "You're fine. I could tell from all the sarcasm that you're not exactly at your best right now." Now he sat on the edge of the bed, removing the towel and both of them taking a look at it.

Young Link was pleasantly surprised, "Guess it was close enough to my neck to be considered necessary enough to immediately heal." He caught the other's eye, "Oh right, there's like an entire thing that goes into this. I don't really feel like explaining it though."

The knight blinked, understandably shaking his head, "That's okay. All things considered, that's not my business. Also," his face got more serious, "I just wanted to let you know that you're definitely not in trouble for what happened back there. As soon as you mentioned that thing that happened in the past, all the captains that were around understood what was going on."

He squinted his eyes, "I'm getting the sense that I'm being babied, but I'm glad they understood that it wasn't entirely my fault."

"I don't completely get what you mean by that first part, but I mean it, that's pretty serious. If anything, that other guy is lucky to be alive! Knowing that you saw him as a Yiga Clan member, I'm more surprised that you didn't immediately draw your sword and give him hell."

"I know right?! Especially because I just got done messing up more of them! But at the same time, despite it feeling like everything was how it was, there was still this one little voice in my head giving me the idea that I shouldn't hurt him too bad." He looked in the other direction, "But, I'll have you know, if he wasn't wearing this chest armor, we certainly would have lost another guy. If I hadn't um, gotten confused about the sound effects not lining up, y'know because skin doesn't sound like metal, I know what I would have done next…and I don't know how you would have gotten me to stop…"

Link clearly didn't want to know, patting him on the shoulder, "Well, let's just say that he's got the scars on the back of his hands to remind everyone that what he did was a pretty bad idea. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't stop after hearing the way he hollered at you doing that."

"Hm? I didn't hear anything except the fork clanging on his armor."

"Wait really? It was loud enough to even get the guards outside to peak in!"

He could only blink back, "Well yeah."

"Interesting." His descendant stood, "Well what can I get you to eat?"

A grin spread across his face, even as he shrugged, "Honestly, whatever you had. We eat the same things. Also, thanks."

"It's the least I can do, you deserve some rest. You've had, sooner than I thought was possible, a really long day yet again. I'll try to get whoever else that comes to mind to leave you alone for the rest of the day. Sound good?"

"Perfect even."

Watching Link disappear behind the closing door left the young hero wondering what all was going through his head. There was something that felt slightly standoff-ish about him despite the interaction they just had. 'Or I'm still out of my mind. That's a possibility,' He reminded himself as he changed into clothes to sleep in. A few minutes after, he found his eyes rolling at the sound of knocking on his door. He stifled a sigh as he responded, "Who is it?"

It was Zelda, "Young one? Can I come in?"

Young Link opened the door, "Is there something wrong?" He happened to see her dot away a tear.

It was clear she was trying to keep herself together. Her voice was hardly a whisper, "I'd like to talk to you."

"O-Of course, er, please come in." He stepped out of the way and watched as she sat on the chair to the vanity. His heart felt the pain that sat in the depths of her eyes, "Are you…are you feeling a bit better from earlier?" He shook his head before she could answer, "Okay sorry, that was a pointless question."

"No, it's okay," She wiped her nose with a handkerchief, "I just wanted to come say thank you for earlier. I…I realized how awful things would have been had you not been there, and—" Zelda drew in her lips, squinting as more tears came, "and I also feel like I should apologize."

"What? N—"

"I don't know why, but I feel awful! I watched you go to each one and…you know. And then the knights…" Her hair draped forward as her head fell into her hands, "I felt helpless! I couldn't believe my eyes!" At the end of the phrase her eyes darted to his arm, "By the Goddess, that's right! Your arm! Are you okay!?"

Young Link let her take his hand to inspect the healed limb. His breath felt bated as he watched her disbelief become more and more apparent. He nearly felt his gut flinch when she suddenly grabbed his other hand. 'Um, please, Hylia. I know you're not like my main Goddess or anything, but please. I'm actually begging that you don't let my hand do anything stupid. Please.' It felt like he had one eye on her gaze and another fixated on the triangles in question.

The Princess started to shake her head, "I'm sorry, but I'm quite sure I remember there being cuts along at least one of your arms. Did I miss something?"

His conscience felt guilty as he lied…partially, "No, believe me, I was lucky that blademaster didn't end up sending any shards into my eyes either. When me and the other guy were burying, y'know, his friend, he felt bad seeing me try to help with my arms all cut up and bleeding, so he offered me a sip of the weak potion he was allowed to take for the trip."

Young Link didn't need to be told that the idea, in general, wasn't a hefty lie and assumption to make. The chances of it being true are less to none, especially after having gone with Link and Impa and never seeing such a thing on their person. But, the logic was there. 'Who knows? It's obvious that those two knights' abilities combined don't amount to what Link nor Impa can do, so the increased chances of someone getting hurt could allow for that sort of thing.'

She looked disappointed in herself, "Oh, of course. I'd agree it was an emergency too." Despite her eyes still being red and puffy, Zelda appeared a bit more put together than before. "Either way, I'm glad to see that you're alright. I should head back to my chambers before someone comes looking for me."

He helped her up from the chair, "The other guy should hear this too, but he's a bit busy blaming me for everything at the moment." He pretended to not notice her disturbed expression, "It's okay to feel sad about what happened, and everyone deals with hard things differently." Young Link shrugged, "My point is that I know I'm young, and while I seem fine, I'm not a good example. I've…" His mind wandered to Termina, "seen my fair share of suffering and death throughout my life. As well as fates that are too certain to change. So, take your time."

Zelda shakily smiled as she gently pat his head, "I truly appreciate your kind words. Sleep well, young one."

When Link returned with the food, he already looked curious as to what Her Highness was doing there since he, without a doubt, saw her walking away from his room. He didn't ask of course, but the young hero briefly explained anyway. Then he asked how the trip was, which naturally led to Young Link openly complaining about Revali.

"While I'm at it, I'll tell you the best and worst thing that happened there. Believe me, it happened one after the other." A sly smile appeared as his lower eyelids raised, "Gracious Zelda let me explore around the outside of the village. Then, as I was checking out the area, I heard these dripping sounds and—"

Link leaned forward, "A wizzrobe!"

"Yes! An ice one! It popped out of nowhere, and I stupidly…well yeah it got me a little. The rod-thing it has blasts air that's so cold, it freezes you in place." He waved it off, "I've been frozen before, so no big deal. Didn't affect me whatsoever. BUT! This is the best part: I happened to dodge over to one of the torches outside the village, light an arrow on fire, and, as soon as it hit it, it completely disappeared! Just like that! Poof! Gone!"

The knight sat back with a sense of enlightenment, "Ha, so that's why my hands nearly went numb on me while you were gone."

"Weeellll, it also could have been that I went over and picked up the ice rod it left behind too. Did you know that they're made entirely out of ice? Only the handle was metal. Oh, and Revali—the worst part—he's acting like I'm gonna kill him just by holding the damn thing. I'm sort of trying to see what it does without swinging it, and he's yelling at me to drop it so he can take it, and then all of the sudden, it breaks. Right in my hands. All that was left was the handle."

Link cocked his head, he was clearly intrigued, "Weird."

"Honestly, as much as I wanted to test it out, I did not trust Revali taking it. Something he might not have thought about was the fact that, when you're frozen, if I, for example, came up to you and flicked your finger, it'd fly right off! You've lost an important part of your hand in a matter of seconds. So maybe I'm grateful for it."

Now his descendant squinted his eyes, "Wait, this was today? Before you came back?"

"That's right."

A curious frown developed, "The hand-thing happened last night…" Link looked a tad worried, "What happened?"

Young Link's gaze shifted to his empty plate, 'What a damn shame I finished everything already. I can't buy myself any time by eating.' "To be frank, it was just some weird statue stuff again. I went to go watch Zelda pray, and then…huh…" His brows lowered as a finger came to his bottom lip, "Well the next thing I remembered was that Zelda's crying and saying I looked possessed, but all it seemed like I did was turn to look behind me. Though, the last thing I was looking at was the statue's eyes." He shrugged, "I dunno, but I'm not a fan of this statue crap."

'I mean, do either of them really need to know I can talk to the Goddess statues? Maybe she won't do that again the next time I'm around one.'

"You didn't hear any voices or anything?"

"Believe me, I would definitely let you know if I can talk to your Hylia. Though, I doubt she'd really tell me anything. Gods are like that."

"You know that?"

'Dammit!' He corrected the knight, "That's an impression I get." He yawned, abruptly pausing midway at his mind flashing the image of the ornate stitching that traveled along the neckline of Zelda's undershirt. Young Link's head drooped into a sigh.

Link's tone was confused, "You okay there?"

"I just remembered," He slowly rose to look at his descendant, "A fun fact, if you will."

"Yes?"

"I thought it was bad enough that you cuddle me in your sleep, but the Princess does it too!" He hissed, facepalming, "I woke up this morning to her petting my stupid head, and then I turn over, and she's right there! Ugh! Then she's like 'Aw you're so cute when you wake up!' Which killed me even more!" The young hero rubbed his temples, "I just can't believe she did that. And then those damn knights being so gross…Why the hell does this stuff happen to me? The two of you are actually the same and it hurts, Link. It hurts."

His descendant's cheeks were ever so slightly pink, "Ahem, well that's certainly interesting. How did you end up sleeping with her in the first place?"

"I don't know! Sure, the statue thing happened, but I think it was honestly just because they gave her this super soft bed. Maybe she felt bad and then wanted to share it." Young Link's eyes stared ahead. His tone was frank, "It scared me, she was so excited. Once she drew the curtain to the door, I was trapped. And then yeah…that's about it."

Link was at a loss for words as he sighed, "Just the way you're describing this to me. Her excitement scared you? Trapped?" He couldn't help but laugh. "Dear Hylia, you realize anyone else would have killed the King to be you, right?"

"Yes. I. Do! It's the fact that I knew, at the time, that those knights were going to turn around and tell everyone when we got back that made it personally weird to me! Zelda didn't seem to have a care in the world. She was just happy to sleep."

'Speaking of which,' The young hero looked out the window, "Y'know, it's getting late. What is it? Ten forty-seven?" He held up a finger, "Ah, now it's ten forty-eight. We should get to bed. You can tell me what you've been up to tomorrow and also make sure that the other guy doesn't start spreading nasty rumors."

Link nodded, standing, "One last question, if that's alright."

"If it's about the Princess: no."

He chuckled as he picked up the plates, "Hey, I'm not like that either, don't worry. I was going to ask if you could meet me by that one tree behind the castle. The one where I pierced your ears."

His eyebrows raised in curiosity, "Oh, yeah sure. Any reason why?" He was met with a cheeky smile for an answer as Link closed the door.

...

If the entire day hadn't been so exhausting in the first place, Young Link might have been restless at such a vague response coming from the incarnate knight. Even then, he was thankful for the dreamless sleep.

The first thing he did was check the cuts on his side. He frowned at the little progress they made overnight, 'I guess they'll need another day.' His tired gaze trudged to his bathroom door, 'Now that I think about it, it's been a while since I've had to dress my own wounds, but I know for sure that sweating all night—magic healing or not—should call for a quick wash.' He certainly didn't feel the need to match the consistency the hospital had, considering they weren't gaping wounds. Though, much to his displeasure, a resounding dull pain flared up enough to make his first step more like a hobble.

The young hero mildly groaned as the washcloth brushed over the sores, 'Aaahhh, my Gods. I'm starting to wish I didn't end up picking a fight with that guy.' His face tightened at the sensation of the water dripping down his side, 'That totally made it worse…' He realized as he got dressed that Link never specified a time to meet him.

Young Link eyed his sword, 'I suppose it's worth waiting for him. He might already be there.'

And he was.

'What's that look for?' He cocked his head upon seeing him at the tree.

"You're wearing your sword over one shoulder and you're holding your side," Link stated.

"It would seem that some things take longer than others," He replied, slowly taking a seat beside him, "I say I'll be fine by tomorrow and just take it easy today." Now he searched for the reason why they were there, "I assume you're not going to give me another piercing?"

"Close your eyes."

Young Link closed them, "Uh, that wasn't a no." Before his mind could wander, he heard the sound of grass shuffling and then felt the weight of an object get sat in his lap. A few moments passed with no extra movement, "…Can I open my eyes now?"

"Sure."

A delighted smile appeared as he picked it up, "Da na na na!~ A boomerang!" He examined the craftsmanship of the wooden tool. On either end was a simple band of blue paint.

"Take it as a gift," Link's complexion was warm, "It was your birthday not too long ago. I figured you'd want something useful, and I remembered you talking about how you've used one of these before."

The tips of his ears grew red at the gesture. The last time he'd been given a gift for his birthday was back when he was growing up in the Kokiri Forest, and even then, it was things like acorns and flower crowns, the latter namely from Saria. "O-Oh. Link you didn't have t—"

His descendant stopped him, "I did. I wanted to give it to you yesterday, but then…yeah. Either way, I was also thinking of how the Yiga are clearly not giving up on attacking you, so with this, maybe you could knock one of them out rather than focus on all of them at once."

Young Link could already imagine how he'd incorporate it into his fighting style. His eyes wandered to one end of the boomerang, 'I have an idea…' A deadly glint momentarily made itself known before he looked back to Link, "I can't thank you enough. I'd—well I'd hug you, but currently I might just die."

Link made a face, "Wait so did I hurt you yesterday?"

"To be fair, between the hours of horseback riding afterward, and then everything else that happened, I think I was still too out of it to notice. So no." He stood, readying the tool, "Though, I'm willing to bet that I'm in a good enough state to give this a throw or two." Before the knight could object, he slung the boomerang in the direction of another tree in the distance. The action felt familiar. It felt good. As it started to round back and head his way, he could nearly imagine the token of a gold skulltula flying off the boomerang and into his hand. He caught it with ease. "Huh? Why do you look so surprised?"

He'd gotten to his feet shortly after it was thrown, "Well, it's not every day that I see someone throw that as hard as you did and then catch it on the first try. You really weren't kidding."

"Ha, thanks to you, the Yiga certainly don't know what's to come. That's really all I can say." The young hero noticed his hand start to creep back to cradling his side, "Also, before I go sleep the rest of today away, what was so terribly important about you coming back?" He sat down again, ignoring the other's rising level of concern.

"Turns out that's classified, sorry," Link shrugged.

"Link, I don't know what that means."

The knight was slightly taken aback, "You're right, my bad. It means it's a secret. Though, it's not a big one, I guess?"

He blinked back at him, 'Somehow, I don't get the sense that this is about the Master Sword. Which is odd. If it were, he'd definitely be nervous about it to some extent.' "Hm, interesting. Is this the kind of secret that will come up later or will I never know?"

Link chuckled, "Wouldn't that ruin the surprise? Where's the fun in that?"

"Pfft. Whatever. You're starting to sound a lot more like me." The young hero reached a hand out to him to get assistance back to his feet, "Well, if I'll find out later, I suppose I'll head back now. You don't seem beaten up or tired, so, whatever it is, at least they aren't working you to death." A hand landed on his shoulder after he took the first step.

"Hold on, before you go, I thought I'd let you know that the day after tomorrow, I cleared it with the higher-ups to let me take you patrolling with me," He winked.

"Oh really?" Now Young Link grinned, "I like the sound of that! Any other details, captain? I'll for sure be in top shape by then."

"You'll see." The knight pat his shoulder, "Get some good rest and heal up, okay? I'll see you then at the west gates."

The young hero thanked him one last time for the gift before departing back to his bedroom. His eyes felt heavier and heavier as he climbed up the steps and dragged his feet down the hall. Once the door shut behind him, it was as if his soul drove his body to the mattress and made it collapse deep into the sheets. 'Is it me or is this more comfortable than before?' His thoughts convoluted further as he half folded himself under the covers, leaving random places and limbs exposed.

He passed out.

At one point in his slumber, his headspace melted from nothingness into a deep, lush forest. He gathered his surroundings, 'This feels familiar…' but it wasn't Lost Woods from his own world nor Termina's. It wasn't the forest he originally came into this world from either. The trees were tall, but not that tall. His internal compass steered him as he carefully walked through the brush.

...

After what felt like several minutes later, he was suddenly stopped by a green fairy. The sparkling trail she left shimmered more as she looked overjoyed to see him, "Link! Oh my lands, Link! It's you!" The fairy flew in circles around his head before landing on his nose. Realization illuminated her eyes as she gasped, "Saria's going to want to see you!"

"S-Saria?"

Now she picked up one of his fingers and pulled him in her direction, "C'mon c'mon! Follow me!"

From his recollection, fairies hardly pulled tricks—granted the exception was Tatl and Tael. However, when they did, they at least weren't the kind that would have been as serious as this. Determined, he ran behind her, hopping over brambles and bushes when necessary. 'I know this is a dream but…what are the chances? I have to see where this goes.' As he came to that conclusion, Saria's fairy finally slowed down.

She waved to him, now talking in a hushed tone, "Psst! This way! She's just over here!"

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Young Link visibly shuddered, 'What the?' He shook his head, 'I'll see what it is in a second.' Placing his hand on the tree beside him, he took a step. He could see the fairy excitedly bouncing up and down.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Now a tremble in the ground shook the forest. It sent a ringing through his ears. 'Ugh! I said I'll see what it is in a second!' He wanted to be subtle as to not potentially scare her, but clearly whatever was going on wasn't making it an option. The young hero rushed into the clearing to see his friend, catching a glimpse of the back of her dark green hair before blinking and the wooden floor now coming into focus.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

A woman's voice was on the other side of the door. "I already said to unlock this door and let me in three times , young man! I was trying to be respectful of your privacy, but it seems I'll have to come in anyways!"

Before he could wrangle himself out of his blankets, the doorknob jiggled and in came one of the maids, another stood outside in the hallway. Her face went from irritated to surprised.

"Sorry about that," He sighed. Young Link found himself with his upper half on the floor and his lower half still in his bed. He peeled his cheek from the floor and made himself sit up, his eyes narrowing in shock at seeing it was morning. "What!?"

The maid from the doorway was a bit older with dark brown hair. Her tone was curt, "We can't understand what you're saying."

He facepalmed, "It's nine twenty-one, right?"

The one in his room briefly looked for a clock, "Well I'm not sure how you're so specific, but that should be about right."

Young Link was taken aback as he stepped away from his bed, "Dear Goddesses, I really slept all day then…" He made a face as he watched the other two share a look of realization, "What? Did something happen?"

The woman in the doorway nodded to the other. She plainly spoke, "Well, word between us staff was that you'd simply locked yourself in your room over what happened to the knight who died."

The brunette had a curious look in her eye, "Also you weren't asleep all day. As far as we know, it's been two days. You okay, kid?"

A stupefied expression had already sprouted before he could think to mask it, 'TWO DAYS!? AGAIN!?' "Okay, well I suppose to be clear, this doesn't have anything to do with the knight," He explained, "his time came far too soon, but I really can't be one to talk if I too was out there killing people. Meanwhile…seriously!? I guess that trip wore me out more than I thought." He blinked, "And I guess I'm glad you both woke me." He mentally shrugged off their faint looks as his eyes went to what she was holding. A brief smile crossed his face, "Thanks in advance for changing the sheets. Though, I'll miss the green color. In the meantime, I have a knight waiting for me."

He listened to them through the bathroom door as he checked his wounds, pulling the collar of his tunic away from him and peering down the hole. 'Just as I thought, however they better be this healed after making me sleep for so long.' Only the slightly bigger ones had left a scabbed over scratch, but after rubbing his side, it felt nice to say that he was otherwise completely fine.

His gaze flicked to his reflection in the mirror, 'To be fair, even if they were still bad, I'd probably just bite my tongue and go spar with Link anyways. It's worth it. That, and I know there's no way I'd get another chance.' He hadn't heard any suspicious sounds come from his room yet. Simply the toiling that is replacing blankets and pillowcases. Sparing a few more moments in the mirror, Young Link took in his features with a sigh, 'Ah geez…still not a day over ten. Maybe eleven on a good day.' He rolled his eyes at the idea, the corners of his lips rising.

'Let's go see Link.'

There was pep in his step as he went from place to place before saddling up Grace and trotting to the west gates. He could tell he put her in a good mood by how responsive she was along the way there. The young hero leaned forward in the saddle to get near her ears, "Are you excited for me, Grace?" He asked, getting an attentive nicker, "Me too. But! Spoiler alert: I think I'm going to win." His smile widened at her brown eyes looking back at him. He praised her, "Glad to know you agree."

Twilight nosing in his direction made Link turn back in the saddle. He was jokingly unimpressed, "I'll be frank, I'm feeling utterly betrayed by my own horse right now. Do you see this?" The knight gestured to the two mares touching noses, "Twi, just what has he done to you?"

Young Link playfully turned his head in the other direction, crossing his arms, "I believe I'm sensing a breakup in the future."

Link clutched his imaginary pearls before countering, "Oh yeah? Well at least I don't ask my horse for tips before a fight. Just what were you telling her?"

"Mind you, kicking someone in the face is an amazing tip." He jabbed a finger in his direction, "Also that's none of your business!"

They momentarily shared a laugh before Link caught the eye of another knight. His voice was semi-serious, "Okay, let's not look like we're having too much fun. It won't look like a patrol if we joke before we go. Also," He reached on the other side of Twilight and revealed a shield that the guards often carried. While it was primarily made of wood, the rim was lined with metal and the exterior was painted with blue designs. "I realized as you left that you didn't have a shield. It's not metal, but it should do for today."

"Thanks! Also, fair enough." He equipped it. 'Speaking of shields…' another request popped up in his head to ask later.

Link's gaze was straight ahead, "Seems like that's everything, let's go."

They left town, not straying from the dirt road. However, instead of turning in either direction the path offered at the crossroads, Link instead went straight south. He pointed to the left at the small forest they were riding toward, "I figured this was close enough without riding for hours and risking getting seen," He called back.

"Fine by me!" 'Even if it's a little small. I'd call that a patch of trees.' As he began to slow Grace to a walk, the air started to feel electric. While outwardly remaining calm, his heart seemed to rattle against his ribcage for space to beat. He walked toward a small clearing within the trees, a challenging smile set for his opponent to see.

Link didn't seem affected by this, though his blue eyes were no stranger to glancing down at the younger one's left hand, "So how's this going to work?"

"Very simple. If you put me in a position where I would surely die, the match is over, and you win. The same goes for me to you." He put a hand on his hip, "Some rules to keep in mind are: you cannot use items that aren't your sword or shield, and—for your sake—no using your surroundings to gain an advantage. For example, you can't kick dust in my face, and I can't pelt you with acorns. Stuff like that."

An inquisitive demeanor was present, "Not to be picky, but what of the triforce on your hand? Does that not play a role in this?"

Now the other hand took a place on his hip as the young hero leaned forward with a joking sneer, "What? Do you want me to take it off and put it in my saddle bag?" He giggled, "Don't worry. It doesn't work like that. It does weird things, sure, but it doesn't make me a better fighter. Any other questions?"

He shook his head.

The Hero of Time drew his sword and pointed it at his descendant. His gaze now pierced into the other's. "Link! Do you take me for your opponent and accept the rules I've stated here?"

Link's eyes shot back a wildly fierce look of courage as he now drew his sword and pointed it, "I accept."

"Take your positions!" His grin grew wider with his shield now in hand. He watched the knight do the same.

"Ready...Set!...FIGHT!"

Link raced forward with an onslaught of slashes in a heartbeat. They hit exceptionally hard despite how fast they were.

Young Link easily blocked them before dodge rolling behind him and backflipping away, "Wh-whoa there!" The new weight of his shield made him step back to regain his stability. Keeping his shield up, the next thing he saw was a boot colliding with the toughened wood, and then feeling the earth sliding beneath his feet as he was sent backwards. His demeanor changed to be slightly disheartened.

'Ahh, deception.' A twisted smirk internally unfurled, 'With such a high energy start, naturally I'll let him think he has the upper hand.'

The young hero continued to block the blows with his blade. However, now he started to let them have more give upon each clash, intentionally giving the impression of his struggle. He rolled away from a spin attack, briefly catching his opponent's eyes. There appeared to be a flicker of worry far beneath the otherwise overwhelming amount of vigor.

The incarnate knight now backflipped away from a horizontal slash. With his focus intensely honed on his predecessor, he aggressively zoomed forward with a flurry of slashes.

Young Link could feel through his feigned emotions that he should really incorporate his shield into helping him deflect the attacks, but his pride sensed the jump attack that followed, the both of them kicking up grass and dust as they now stood in a deadlock. He stared at his descendant through the crossed swords as he began to pant. 'Yesss! There it is!' A sliver of remorse had begun to reflect back into the young hero's own gaze, 'Just a little more…try my hand at offense, perhaps even get tossed around by the following defense.'

He let Link start to push him back, and while it was part of the plan, there was no denying that the bigger knight certainly beat him in terms of strength. There was only so much he could do with the current circumstances. As his sword started to slide out of the lock, a growl slipped out. In the blink of an eye, he ran Link's sword into the ground, doing a series of aerials away, "Is that all you've got?! I know you're still holding back!" He yelled, allowing a bit of fatigue to hang on his words.

Link used the distance the other created to get a running start into his next attack, leaping into the air and performing a diagonal spin attack before coming down into an ending blow. What the young hero failed to foresee was the ground kick that came swinging at his legs, it managing to trip him onto his ass.

It felt like he watched the knight in slow motion as he proceeded in his final attack to end the match, "Wow! That was really impressive!" He easily rolled away and parried the expected counter slash.

"Huh?" The word came out no louder than a whisper.

Young Link's entire demeanor changed back to its typical confident yet fiery front. His gaze grew sharper as it took in the knight's clear surprise. A nasty grin spread from ear to ear, 'Fun fact: forests are my forte. And this entire time, you've been pushing me back toward the trees!' With little thought, he did a back handspring and immediately felt his feet slam against the lumber. He launched himself into a somersault toward his descendant, rapidly flipping and slashing his sword into the ground. In the next second, he followed it up with a lethal spin attack, creating more space between the two of them.

Out of the corner of his eye, the Hero of Time caught the knight preparing to run toward him. As soon as Link was just out of his sword's reach, he leaped into the air, performing a helm splitter that could have taken off the tip of his ear. Refusing any second to go to waste, he continued to pursue the attack with a series of tricky slices partnered with sporadic timing. Link attempted to deflect them with his shield, but unfortunately, he had yet to learn that the entire point of Young Link's pattern was to force any sort of defense wide open and punish the action.

He watched a bead of sweat start to form above the knight's eyebrow, it beginning to drip down as the tip of his sword collided with the inner edge of Link's shield, yet again throwing it away from his body. The edge of his blade ever so slightly grazed his descendant. He eagerly watched his eyes grow wide, it only fired up his desire to push harder even more. Before long, he had Link blocking for his life and limbs.

The blunt forward attacks had quickly started to bore him, so he opted to come at him in every other direction to ramp things up. As much as he enjoyed shield bashes, he certainly didn't want to employ that into this particular match. 'After all,' He thought as he bounced off another tree trunk and flew toward the knight's legs, 'It's for the best that we don't come back all bruised.' As soon as his feet touched the ground, he spiraled up into another spin attack. The clanging of his sword against Link's shield was music to his ears, 'Plus, I'm not sure if I could bring myself to actually hit him with my shield! The Goddesses know I sure don't want to get hit in return!'

Once his feet hit the ground, he could tell that he'd significantly worn the other down. He remained standing in a crouched position with his sword reared back behind him, a peculiar feeling started to ebb at his sword hand and permeate into his forearm. For once he was letting his true feelings be displayed during the match, 'Why is this familiar? This feels like something I've done in the past…' He didn't want to give Link the chance to run up if he looked away, but a glance told him that he looked a tad confused as well, though he had his guard up just in case. Right as the feeling solidified in his arm, he realized what it was, 'Shit! A charged version of the spin attack! Dammit, I nearly forgot this was a thing I could do!' To him, he'd just held the position he landed in.

Like most magic infused moves, it only improves the effectiveness of said move. With where they both were currently standing, if the young hero went ahead and swung forward, the extended reach of the attack would certainly cause unintended damage. 'But this might work out rather well,' Young Link reasoned as his confusion seamlessly melted back into an apathetic expression, 'I'll flub this into the air on purpose, he'll perceive it as an opening, and then I'll let him have his way.' He did as he planned, forcing his arm to swing upward at the canopies of the trees and quickly moving to the knight.

There was understandably some hesitation from Link, yet it instantly disappeared after said hesitation was met with a cruel stab that flew just beside his waist. Even with the sweat off his forehead starting to make the tips of his bangs clump together, he forcibly went back on the offense.

Young Link pretending to act tired had gotten easier thanks to the fact that the magic attack sapped some of his energy. A part of him hoped that the knight hadn't caught on to the move, 'But we'll see.' Through dodging various air-born attacks, it seemed as though his opponent had picked up a little of his fighting style, 'This could just be me, but he's still nowhere near as aggressive as I am.'

After unleashing another round of feisty slashes, Link kicked his sword hand, knocked his shield out of its defensive position, and plunged his sword forward, managing to slice a small cut into his cheek.

They both panted as they held their ground, the knight more than the Hero of Time simply due to the armor he wore. Ten seconds later, the descendant pulled back and sheathed his sword, offering a hand to the young hero.

He did the same, hiding his slight surprise at getting pulled forward upon taking the knight's hand. It was clear he was looking at the mark he left, "Good job!" Young Link cheerfully congratulated before the other could open his mouth, "In my eyes, there are some things you could improve on, but that's a matter of opinion, isn't it?" He further grabbed the hand that tried to touch the cut, "Link it's fine. If you're trying to watch it heal, why do you keep putting your hand in front of it?" His question was met with a sigh and a watchful pair of eyes. A few moments later, he could just hardly see the last of it close up. "As I was saying, congrats! You won the match." His smile was genuine.

Link cocked his head, "Hm, I did. Sorry about the little cut at the end the—"

"I already said it was fine! Dear Goddesses!" The young hero chuckled, "It's going to take a lot more than you hardly scratching my face to make me mad at you, silly."

Still, the knight seemed unconvinced, "Well what can I improve on?"

"These are picky things, plus, again, they're only my opinion. You don't hesitate often, but try not to…ever, okay? Y'know, thinking on your feet, blah blah. Feel free to get creative too, especially outside of the ruleset I used today. Otherwise, that kick toward the beginning was great! You got me for sure!" Now he was the one tilting his head in one direction, "Liiiiiink, you're supposed to feel pretty good about winning. It's not like you kicked me down and then beat me up! What's with the face?"

A finger went up to his bottom lip, "If I'm honest, I'm getting the slight feeling that you let me win. Tough fight for sure, but…" He shook his head, "You surprised me when you turned the tables. Here I was thinking I'd seen about everything you could do, mainly because of the Yiga, but then…" Link paused, the corners of his lips curving upward, "You're so aggressive and fast! I feel like I got lucky!" His hand went to the small cut in the fabric that laid over his armor before moving toward the ear he could have lost to the helm splitter, "I'll admit, I nearly thought you cut my ear with that front flip you did right over me!"

"Ha! Well if they stuck out nearly as much as mine do, I'd have cut it in half!" His small bout of giggling turned into a content sigh, though it came out as more of a swoon, 'My one desire has finally been fulfilled!' His cheeks were rosy at witnessing his descendant's skills for himself, 'Not to mention, I know I'm a lot to handle, but the fact that he otherwise was able to fend me off the majority of the time makes me proud!'

Link's laughter caught his attention, "You're just going to sigh like you're in love and not say anything? Just how important was this to you?" He teased.

"Ew! The hell?!" Young Link playfully shoved him, starting to walk back to Grace, "It wasn't that important, I just wanted to know how things would turn out, and now I know that you'd win."

He caught up to his side, "I suppose I've never seen someone as young as you look so happy to lose. You sure there's not some kind of resentment building up that you're going to unleash on me later?"

"Pfft! Yeah right! Believe me when I say that it's an accomplishment to last that long in a fight with me. You'll see!" He felt the surprise in Link's gaze.

"Wait what?"

Young Link stepped into the stirrups and slung his leg over to the other side, "Oh yeah, I have a request to make if you don't mind."

The knight's eyebrows raised.

"It should be maybe three hours there and back to the castle, buuuuut, I have something of mine I need to retrieve from the plains past the exchange fort near the Breach of Demise. I'd ride out and get it myself in my own time, but I'd get scolded to hell and back before they let me do that. Plus, I'm a walking piece of bait."

"So six hours of riding? I suppose we could come up with a reason for being gone so long, but otherwise, what did you possibly leave out there?"

"Could we get there first?"

"Su—wait, no!" Link could hardly hide the astonished expression he made at himself, "Just tell me what you're getting."

He puffed a sigh as he shifted in the saddle, "I know this sounds weird, but I wanted to get the shards of my shield. You'll have to wait to see why, but I think it'll be a pretty cool idea."

The knight bit his lip, it was clear that he was thinking of the possible consequences, especially with them having to pass a fort on the way there. He briefly looked at the sky, "Alright, we've got time, so let's make this quick."

"You won't regret this, promise."

"We'll see about that."

They raced toward the Breach of Demise, taking the northern path past the Ancient Tech Lab. The air between them tensed as they neared the Marrita Exchange. A Sheikah in their typical garb motioned for them to slow down from one of the two watchtowers. It was an older looking guy with a goatee, "Halt! Might I ask you to state your business?"

Link answered, "Oh you'll see us pass by once more. This one says he left something in the plains just over there. This is casual business."

His serious façade became kinder, "Ah, that's fine. I was under the impression it was something serious since you're the one accompanying him. You're free to continue. I won't stop you again."

Young Link looked past the both of them at the fort. 'Maybe that one's ran primarily by the Sheikah since the Tech Lab is so close…then again, shouldn't there be at least guards at the gates?' It didn't appear to be a busy facility either. 'It could be a slow day too, who knows?' He happened to catch the Sheikah's eye as they spurred their horses back into a canter, finding a note of suspicion in his pupils.

Before he could think of why, the smell of death smacked his senses before the bloody sight did. "Oh yeah, forgot to tell you," He said as he hopped down, "This…was not pretty. I wouldn—"

Link already frowned at the decaying behemoth that was the filleted blademaster, "Dear Hylia…you did this?"

"Well…yeah," He slowly nodded, "He was the only one with enough strength to break my shield and send the shards of it into me. I'd do it all again too if it means the princess and her horse don't get cut in half. Though, I'll admit I was lucky that it only got my right arm. I probably could have done this better if I was working with more than one and a half arms. Anyways," The young hero surveyed the corpses from where they stood, "It was obvious who did all the work here." He found a shiny piece of metal poking out of the grass where he'd started to remove them. 'Ha, still has my blood on it too. Go figure.' He watched the knight's shadow crouch beside him.

"They went in that deep?" His tone was concerned, "Tell me what happened again."

"Blademaster ran at Zelda, I blocked the hit with my shield which breaks it, jumped onto the back of him, killed him, and picked them all out," He stated, "Oh speaking of which, when I left you yesterday to go sleep for a while, the next time I woke up was today. Interesting, isn't it?"

"Do not just tell me that we did all that back there and you still haven't healed from those cuts!" Link hissed.

The young hero laughed, picking up more pieces, "Don't worry, I'm fine. Really. I am. Though, I still would have fought you either way."

He sighed as he got back to his feet.

'Yikes…I know which body he's getting ready to see next.' He held up a hand to cover his face as he turned the other way, 'It's only a matter of—'

"Kid! What the—are you serious!? Get over here!"

Young Link strangled the air in exasperation before wearing a somewhat annoyed expression and strolling over to his descendant. His brow lifted at seeing the corpse, "Good, I thought the birds would have gone for the eyes by now." He waved off the other's petrified look, "What? I already told you it wasn't pretty! Besides, this is the one who chopped the other guy's head off and then laughed about it!"

Link stood with a hand over his mouth and another on his hip. His entire being was astonished in that way where you can't believe your eyes but are disappointed that you can. A moment passed before he nonchalantly spoke, "At least I understand what you meant when you said it'd be easy to put on a stake."

He pat the knight's shoulder, "Do yourself a favor and don't think about what it looked like from my point of view."

"Dammit, why'd you have to go and say that!"

"Haha! Well don't worry, I'm almost done looking." Young Link opened his palm and counted what he had as he walked back, 'Oooh wait, there was the one in my wrist!' He'd only bothered to collect the ones that were a reasonable size. After a minute of scoping the grass where his horse had been last time, he plucked it out of the tall blades and held it up, "Last one! We can go back now."

His descendant joined him back at the horses. He wouldn't say it, but it was obvious that he'd rather not stay any longer, "Let's hope we don't get too many questions by the time we get back. C'mon."

The ride back was quiet as they passed through the plains and came upon the breach. The young hero was watchful of the knight. 'Why do I feel…weird? Like "something is going to happen" kind of weird?' Just as he finished the thought, he looked to the sky and saw a perfect v-line of Rito flying overhead. He had to squint to see, but it looked as though Revali was at the head of it. "Do you see that?"

"Yep, I'm wondering the same thing too. I can't imagine what Revali would want with the castle," Link commented.

After they passed through the village that came after the bridge, it became far clearer that there had to be some sort of event going on, for the Gorons and Gerudo were there as well! The groups were all in the process of trying to get through the front gate.

"Let's go in through the west gate like before. There's no way we're going to get through that."

Young Link could only respond with his head as he went bug-eyed at seeing the Gorons for the first time, 'Oh my Gods they're HUGE! I know Darunia was tall, but these guys are tall! ' Their roundness paired with their exquisite muscle physique did not go unnoticed either.

The guards let them in with no problem. However, they slowed their horses to a mere walk after witnessing right through the gates how Castle Town was bustling with plenty of new people. All of the other four races inhabited the town space. There were Gerudo women in the process of setting up shop to sell uncommon goods from the desert, Zoras eyeing the main fountain, Ritos that either circled above or roosted on top of the watch towers, and Gorons who carefully maneuvered around the tiny Hylians.

"Wooow!" He couldn't help but smile at the scene, especially since it had grown late. They carefully continued through town toward the castle gates, where they then were questioned.

"You came back at the perfect time to see all this chaos unfold," The guard on the left said. He was both interested yet in a way irritated.

"You happen to know what this is all about?" The one to the right asked.

They both shook their head, the young hero cracking a joke, "Well don't tell me that we all forgot the King's birthday or something!" They all briefly laughed.

"Good one, kid." The right guard looked to Link, "So how come you're both back so late?"

The knight was to the point, "The added crowd didn't help, however I'm also to blame since the young one managed to get me to let him look around while I followed behind. We didn't see any Yiga or monsters pop out."

"Fair enough," The left guard looked convinced as the other started to open the gate.

Once inside the castle grounds, they began up the path before being stopped again at the First Gatehouse by several older looking and well-adorned knights. One of which was the Head of Command. They both dismounted and bowed as he spoke with a gruff voice:

"Link, respected knight of the proud and ever valiant Hyrulian Regalia, it is with great pleasure and fortitude that I, sent in regard by the King himself, inform you of this tremendously important opportunity. Tomorrow, it is to be that you depart with Princess Zelda and the chosen Champions to attempt to pull the sword that seals the darkness in Korok Forest."