Guardians

The most rest he got came from a sort of limbo he managed to achieve while watching the flame of a torch dance and produce different shadows against a stone brick wall. He counted the hours until dawn and got up when it came. The statues were on his mind despite the guardian they currently watched over. 'I'm sure they've got plaques or something that has a name.' His palm held a small fire as he peered down at the slab of rock at the foot of the massive statue. He exhaled, murmuring, "Of course it's in this Hylian. Whatever was I expecting?"

Determined to know the words in loopy font, he traveled back to the barracks, found Link sleeping across the room, slung his limp body over his shoulder, and carried him back. He sensed him shudder awake after feeling the cool morning breeze drift in once more.

"Wh-Where am I?"

Time felt the champion's hands on his back as he propped himself up.

"Who is…"

His ear was flicked, making him hiss. They were nearly there.

"Did you really snatch me out of my bed and bring me here?" Link rightfully sounded grumpy. He gestured to the guardian, "I saw your face when you noticed this thing. You clearly don't like them very much, so what are we doing here?"

He sat him down, rubbing his ear as he nodded to the statue, "I wanted you to read me a couple of the things on the statues."

"It's too dark to see in here!"

Time relit the flame in his hand.

"Okay fine, but I'm only doing three and you better choose my favorite one." The tone of his voice made it obvious that he was going to have to guess which it was.

He nodded to the one they stood in front of, lowering his hand to just beneath the plaque.

Link's eyebrow raised as he crossed his arms. It was a little hard to tell with the light focused on the words, but he seemed quite indifferent, almost aloof. "Likely one of the greatest spearmen in the entirety of Hyrule—yawn— Under his tremendous leadership, he led several trying battles to victory, thus earning his name in history forever."

Now he frowned, after glancing back, there had to have been way more words than that on the smooth stone, "Link, there's no way that you read the whole thing to me just now."

Somehow his arms crossed more, "But I di—"

"You didn't. I don't believe you. Also," His hand shifted to being between them, "What's with the face? Is he some terrible person?" 'Though, this statue does look pretty polished compared to the others. It must be newer.'

"Well he's undeserving of a statue to say the least. According to my dad, his time was around that of the end of the war. Let's just say that the commanders with higher roles were far more heroic than he was…but he was all that was left along with the lower ranking soldiers. Know what I mean?"

"Oohhh, so like the other guys were dying from doing something to help, but he probably told it like he was the one who did it all. Like that?" The Hero smiled at the thumbs-up that earned him.

"Precisely. Now choose one that isn't lame."

"Hmm…let's see," The fire in his hand grew as he used the extra light to catch their faces that loomed above. Directly to the right was a big burly guy with a two-handed sword. Next to him, was someone more limber, but dual-wielded two swords that made a V-shape. 'Oooooooh, two swords is badass.' "How about this guy down here?"

Link briefly buffered as he asked that question. His eyes had been intensely focused on the large flame, "R-Right—Oh yeah him. Yeah, er," He shook his head, "He's also from the war, except he's crazy old and dead now."

"Geez," They strolled over to it, "How long did that war last?"

"Oh, like at least fifty years. They were really dark times."

"Well wait, I'm sure Zelda's mom and grandmother were alive during those times. Would it have been related to a prophecy, you think?" Two stones in his head were trying to spark an idea for what could have happened, but he wasn't getting anywhere with it.

"That's a really good point." The knight shrugged, "I have no idea."

Time rolled his eyes as he lit the plaque.

"'He was certainly not the only soul who was brave enough to wield two swords in such a grueling part of Hyrule's long War. However, after easily besting a group of wizzrobes that were set to unleash an onslaught of evil magic on the Royal Regalia's main camp, it was there and then onward that he continued to prove his worth and earn his name in Hyrule's history.'" Link nudged the other, "Not a bad one."

"But not your favorite?"

"Mhm."

'Ugh.' Now he watched his descendant's annoyingly expressionless face as they had to step over the legs of the guardian to get to the other side. There were three to choose from, just like the other side. Becoming weary as the initial feeling of curiosity was starting to fade, Time closed his eyes, spun in a circle and randomly pointed to one of them.

The champion couldn't help his stupid grin after suddenly witnessing that. He was trying his best to stifle a chuckle that wanted to laugh, "Ahem, so that guy is actually just holding a sword for show. He's a farmer that originally was from where the Great Plateau is. Supposedly, without being cruel to his workers, he was not only able to feed the troops for a majority of the war, but also donated all of the earnings he made to the cause. His was the second statue they ever made, and the pose is based on his friend who'd become a commander."

"Aha…so this must be your favorite since you clearly know so much about it."

"Ha, nope! This one was just pounded into my head at the academy. I think they were trying to teach righteousness, but most everyone mainly got the message that this guy was dumb for putting in everything he had and not exactly getting anything in return." The knight became smug as his hands found their ever-familiar place on his hips, "Little do they know, all of his descendants now live in Castle Town without a care in the whole world. They'll never be wealthier than the castle, but holy Hylia, they're rich."

"Well well…" Time giggled at the sparkles in Link's eyes, "I'll be damned. I would have never guessed." His head leaned to one side as his weight shifted, "Though that's likely because I never cared to know those sorts of things. Also quit using big words. You're killing me." His mouth stood agape as he witnessed Link flipping around and slapping a hand over his mouth. 'Did he just snort? This bastard!'

His right forelock swung over his shoulder when he looked back, "Dear Hylia, don't tell me that we're gonna have to sit down and make you study harder words."

'Right now? While looking like this?' The Hero of Time sourly shook his head, taking a threatening step forward, "Ugh, whatever!" He hissed, "I feel like this was bound to happen anyways!"

"Why don't you just ask Zelda's tutor to help you again?"

His eyes condescendingly went to the floor, "That's become a little complicated…due to particular circumstances. I'd rather not talk about it." He rolled his shoulders out as he looked in the direction of food, "Now then…think they've got breakfast ready at this time?"

"It wouldn't hurt to check."

He had to ask before they left, "Well wait, which one of these was your favorite?"

"Hm, I dunno."

"Dammit," Now he teasingly wiggled the other's ear up and down, though his tone was irritated, "You're just saying that because you don't actually have one, do you?"

Link stepped away and defensively cupped the sides of his head, "Well don't act so scary when you ask! Let me give you some hell for kidnapping me out of my bed!"

"You have a fair point, but I think I've made a bigger point that you should be a lighter sleeper. Also no one stopped me, weirdly enough."

Unfortunately, they found out that they were in fact not making breakfast that early. Plus, the person that's responsible for delivering the eggs was running late. The Princess's knight had to keep him from jumping at the opportunity of going and getting them himself. They instead settled on taking a walk around the citadel. It quickly turned into Link trying to teach him how to pronounce the region's name.

"I'm still saying it wrong!?" Time's head lifelessly hung toward his forearms. He was propped against the railing of the stone bridge just outside the citadel, 'This is hopeless!'

Meanwhile his descendant found the entire ordeal hilarious. His rare laughter caused those who were guarding nearby to curiously watch on, "It's okay! It's okay!" He caught his breath, "Alright, one more time. Akkala."

"Ah-kah-la." Now his face turned pink at the champion beginning to wipe his eyes as he gasped for air. The Hero raked his fingers through his swaying bangs, "Ha. Ha. Ha. Oh yes, it's so funny that my ancestor can't pronounce the word." The air between them was becoming tense from how unimpressed he was.

"Alright…phew okay. I'm sorry. I won't make you keep trying anymore."

"It's not as if I'm not used to weird names, but…dear Goddesses…that one is taking the cake. Can you at least see where I'm coming from?"

"Of course I can. I used to say it that way when I was little."

"Oh okay, so now I'm five again?" His eyes perused the half dug-up guardians he could see down below. Beside most of them were what looked to be like research camps. All the tents had the Sheikah symbols on either side of them.

"Pfft, no, though I am wondering about what happened to you last night. I'm not blind."

"You're not smooth either." His shoulder raised to block the swipe his comment resulted in.

Link lowered his voice, "Sure, but we both know that the only time your voice sounds like that is when you're in your actual form."

He started to smile, "Well, I will admit that maybe I was having a bit too much fun. I think trying to joke around like that had some consequences that I didn't think of."

The champion wasn't too keen on that response, "New topic then. Why don't you like the guardians? You've been staring at the ones down there nearly the whole time."

"I don't know honestly. At first it was because they were huge, and I was pretty damn small. Hell, I'm still small—we both are by comparison. Then, I just don't exactly like that they sort of have a mind of their own. Also, it seems to be just me, but I'm pretty—if not really—sure that they can shoot lasers from their eyes. I know the researchers haven't got them to do anything, but that's the feeling I get. They're walking mega-beamos."

A thinking frown took place, "I can see what you mean." His finger tapped his chin, "So you don't like how uncontrolled they are?"

"I'm starting to get the idea that I don't like it when you put my thoughts into words, but yes. It doesn't seem like anyone has any sort of control over them. And even if they did—how? I bet it's magic somehow." His hand came up to his forehead as he thought aloud, murmuring, "The Sheikah made these…" Speaking louder, "Yeah, no, it must be magic of some kind." He didn't know if he should be wary of his descendant's enlightened expression, "Well again. I don't know that for sure, but shooting lasers and being controlled by magic are my best guesses."

Moments later, both of their eyes curiously glanced toward the citadel, finding Zelda along with the Sheikah women from yesterday standing beside her on one of the upper levels. It would seem that they both had been observing their conversation from afar.

Link quizzically looked back to his ancestor, "Now that I'm thinking about it, the Sheikah clearly don't think you're associated with Ganon anymore, right?"

"Oh pshh, yeah, they don't. I killed enough of the Yiga before you all found out who I really was to convince them that we weren't some kind of old friends. Being a Hero only makes the original idea seem more stupid than it already was. However," He nodded toward the one next to the Princess, "She does not seem to like me very much. Which is fine, but I think it's because I carried Zelda to her room, and she didn't want any guy to know where she was staying."

"Yeah…sometimes they're strict about that whenever the Princess leaves the castle. I don't think any of the soldiers have ever been that desperate, but I bet there were instances like that back in the old war. Fifty years of fighting? Yikes…I don't think I want to try to imagine what that's like."

"Ha. Well if you look at a person like they're only a useful bag of flesh, you're about as good as Ganon." He blinked in response to watching the knight thoughtfully agree, 'Oh…was that wise or something?' Anyways, "Y'know, now that I'm thinking about it, why aren't you up there with the Princess? I know I kinda snatched you and made you read to me, but you could have left at any time."

He snorted at the idea, "Oho, oh really? That's certainly not how it felt! You were very adamant about knowing what those plaques said. Otherwise, I don't know why I'm not with her." His tone was plain, "She didn't tell me anything about her schedule today, but," his hands found his hips, "now that I see that she's up, I should go join her." Link cocked his head as he looked back to him, "Why are you smiling? I don't like that."

The Hero shrugged, "I dunno, I just caught sight of these wide railings here and thought a quick spar was in order." He patted the stone before hopping up onto it, "Well?" He watched his descendant make a gesture at pulling his shin back onto the bridge.

"Hell no, you don't even have a sword. Get down from there."

"That's not very courageous of you."

The knight threw his hands into the air, "Hey, you can do something stupid in front of the entire citadel if you want to. I'm not stopping you."

They watched a flock of herons cross overhead before continuing their conversation. Time had to sidestep a chunk of bird shit so it landed on the stone beside him rather than on him. They chuckled, "Ew, damn. That was close."

"No kidding. Glad none of that splashed on me."

They laughed a bit harder, "Okay okay, anyways, you've got a point. Though, we both know that would have been a really cool fight."

Link offered him a hand, "True. However, I dunno about you, but dying because I fell off a bridge while fighting you is an embarrassing way to go."

"Ha! That's fa—!" The Hero of Time blinked in disbelief as he felt the toe of his boot slip out from under him.

He was free falling toward the gorge below.

Still blinking, his cheeks admittedly started to heat up as he watched the bridge get farther and farther away. 'Holy shit…I can't believe I...Ugh…' Like the other times, he threw his head back to get some rotation going so he could properly land. A commanding voice in his head made it clear he was going to be fine, though the voice that spoke for his pride simply couldn't believe he slipped on bird shit.

He hit the ground with a loud THOOM, creating a shockwave that sent waves of ripples through the grass. His embarrassment morphed into him being solely annoyed at himself. Young Link could see the knight's head poking out from over the edge, he caught sight of a couple of the guards too! "I'm fine!" He called, "Let me see if I can jump back up there!" Bending his knees, he prepared to launch himself upward, finding a tingling feeling starting to prick at his toes. 'Strange…I don't recall feeling that before.' Nevertheless, he pushed off the ground with all he could muster.

WHOOSSHHH!

He gasped at the stone bridge instantly entering and exiting his gaze as he soared past it into the morning sky. The grand bridge had become but a thin pale line as his upward speed came to a halt. His eyebrows furled, 'ACK. I've managed to make this ten times worse! Dammit!'

The passing time briefly came to a stop as he looked around, taking a moment to…well…at least appreciate the beauty of the land around him, 'I might be stupid, but it is pretty up here at this time of day.' His eyes scanned over the knight that'd become a blue and yellow speck below, 'Yeah…he's definitely gonna…Dear Goddesses, why am I like this?' Rather than backflipping, he front-flipped to move his position over the bridge. He was relieved to hear the bridge not crack under the weight of that landing, but the sound of trembling rocks was quickly replaced by his descendant's pulsing heart. The curious guards had shakily resumed their duties.

Time spoke as he rose, "Yeah…that was…maybe one of the stupidest things that has ever happened to me. I feel very very dumb right now."

Link fumbled over his speech as he tried to look for the words to say, "I—I just can't believe what I just saw! I think you just jumped more than twice the height you meant to!" And yet a giddy light sparkled in his eyes, "Can you take me up there? I can only imagine what the citadel looks like from above!"

'I can't believe that he's more concerned with sightseeing than the fact that I just did something completely supernatural. Not that it's his job to worry about the consequences I could face…I think I'm more worried that he sounds kinda like me dammit!' He hesitated, "Link…what the—n-no. I'm not gonna jump into the sky so you can see what the fort looks like." Yet, the deity put a hand on his hip, feeling abstruse. "Pick a better reason and then I'll consider it. Now go look after your princess."

His eyebrow rose at the knight searching his expression. Was there something off about the Hero? He appeared reassured a couple of moments later, nodding before jogging off.

'Weird, but I won't ask.' The Hero went on to eat breakfast. Once again, he was happy with how much meat was available with the hefty amount of eggs that were cooked. 'Which is funny because it's not as if there isn't any at the castle, I've just noticed that there's more likely to be bread or oatmeal.' He was three fourths of the way through mowing down his fair scoop of scrambled eggs when he felt the elbow of the guy next to him slam into his ribs. A stern, disapproving look quickly darkened his eyes as he turned to his right, "Excuse me?"

It turned out to be two younger soldiers that were busy squabbling with each other. Which in most cases would be fine, only they clearly lacked any care for those around them. "Oh shit, what happened?" He asked.

Time couldn't contain the incredulous way he felt from invading his tone, "What happened? You just elbowed me in the ribs."

The boy looked him up and down before his shoulder raised in a half shrug, "Oh okay." He went back to trying to throw his equally as careless friend from the bench to the stone floor.

"Oh okay." Electricity buzzed in the spaces between Time's fingers as he repeated the phrase in a far more menacing manner.

The older men that sat in front of him had been shaking their heads and showing the same amount of disapproval as they watched what had happened.

He grabbed the neck of the young soldier's chainmail, yanking him back to where he could see his face. The old tongue snapped at the air, "That's probably the worst apology I've ever heard."

Fear, but mostly surprise, filled the soldier's hazel eyes, "Wha-What?"

"I'm waiting for what you should have said in the first place." Those around him had grown silent as they watched on. What's more, his friend looked terrified.

"R-Right! Sorry, er…sir!"

"Ah, there we are." His threatening aura poisoned the air, "Try to be more mindful of those around you, hm?"

"Yeah, of—of course!"

Time didn't realize how sharp his smile had become thanks to the slightly-longer-than-average canines he had, hence the astonishment that followed at the two boys quickly getting up and running away after he let go. An older guy in his fifties with a graying beard chuckled in front of him.

"Well, they certainly won't be forgetting that anytime soon. I applaud you for making the rascal apologize."

"Yeah," Another chimed in. He was of a similar age as well, "Though, by the Goddess, I'd never seen someone your age look half as scary! Normally all the baby fat makes the youngin's mean faces look like a puppy trying to growl, but you're certainly a special case."

The image that put in his head made him exhale in amusement, "Gosh, I hope I don't have any baby fat after being eighteen. But yes, if you're going to accidentally elbow someone, you might as well say sorry. Not check if they're fine and go on about your day. That's ridiculous."

That got a laugh out of them, "Say, I don't recognize you from the academy. Also, my old eyes just realized that you're not exactly wearing the uniform. Who are you?"

"Oh right, I guess word doesn't travel too fast around here. I'm the Hero of Time. More importantly, I did not choose what I'm wearing, just ignore it. I'm with the Princess and her knight while they're here." He chuckled at their eyes widening before they both nodded a bow.

The eldest spoke first, "Dear Hylia! It is an honor to meet you! I would have never guessed!"

"Same!" They looked between each other, "That only makes those boys' attitudes worse! If this gets around to one of the captains…"

"Or the commander…"

Time put a hand up, "There's no need. Like you said, they won't be forgetting that anytime soon." Just as his sentence ended, his head turned in time with the appearance of Purah and Robbie.

"See, told you he'd see us coming," Purah smiled to her partner before returning her gaze to him, "Anyways, hey! Can we steal you for a second?"

He sighed, "Let me guess, you had no idea who I was until I told these two? Eavesdrop much?"

"Way-heeeey dude!" Came Robbie, "Maybe!"

The Hero nodded a goodbye to the two men before taking Purah's outstretched hand. They teleported to one of the higher levels of the citadel, "So, how can I think about helping you?"

She enthusiastically sighed, falling forward at the hips, "Dear Hyliaaaaaaa," she stood, "You are such a handful when you don't have to be! I miss the quiet kid that stood in the corner with the knight!"

"Hey, I'll have you know that I'm in a decent mood, and I can feel it leaving." Young Link was being playful. Apparently it didn't come across that way.

Robbie clasped the Hero's hands, "Waaahhh! Please don't talk like that!" He started to sing, "Just hear us out~"

Time yanked them back, "Alright! Alright! Please get to the point already!" 'Dear Goddesses these two are weirder than I thought…'

Purah took the lead, "Okay, well Lyla said she saw you do this amazingly high jump into the air—"

The other pushed his face next to hers, "After surviving falling off the bridg—"

She shooed it away, "Don't interrupt me! Anyways! Could you pretty pretty, please please please please—"

"Run some tests for you?" He crossed his arms, "No. I bet Link wouldn't mind if you bribed him with some food, though."

They both shared a beat of aggressively enlightened faces. Robbie furiously wrote that down, "Amazing!~ Thank you, kind Hero!"

Again, Purah held out her hand, "Well, since that was a no…do you mind? It's just one last time."

He put his hand in hers once more. Now they stood in the middle of the camps that were trying to dig up the few guardians they found. His brows were unimpressed to be around the ancient machinery again.

She gestured to them, "Staying on the topic of research, did any of the Sheikah from your time construct any of these things? We know they were built more than 10,000 years ago, but without your legend in our possession…well," Her spirit dampened, "You can imagine that it's hard to pinpoint where you might possibly come in, aha ha…"

"Precisely!" Robbie agreed, "Under the guise of science, it's obvious that not everything is as coincidental as it seems!" He paused before gesturing forward with a finger, "Sometimes!"

"Nope, otherwise I would recognize them, and I super don't. We didn't have stuff like this back in my time," He explained, crossing his arms. "Is that all?"

Purah started to look like she regretted taking him here at all, "Well it's a shame that you weren't much help. We truly are a bit clueless in a few ways."

"Really? How did you guys get them to turn on then?"

"Oh, sometimes after getting all the rubble off them they just—WAM-BAAAM!—turn on! Very mysterious! So fascinating!" Robbie replied.

'I feel like I can hear guitars every time he speaks…fitting.' "Yeah very." He caught sight of Zelda and Link trying to help push the ancient tech more onto the surrounding flat land. Of course, the next thing he knew, he was helping them.

"Phew!" Zelda wiped the glistening moisture from her forehead, "Thank you so much for helping! Clearly we needed you haha!" Her hands went to her hips as an accomplished smile stood bright and center, "Simply wonderful, isn't it? What a joy to help uncover these ancient relics!" Her happiness was infectious, it made the same toothy smile from before reappear on the Hero.

"Good job Princess!" Purah praised as her partner sketched down the image of it, "I wonder if we'll get to see it turn on."

"That's precisely what I hope will happen! I've been so jealous of the other researchers who were there to witness it!"

They eagerly watched it for a few minutes, and right as they were coming on a fourth, the head of the guardian clicked up, revealing blue innards that glowed as the rest of it came to life. The color then immediately changed to orange as the light continued to the rest of its body, illuminating several interesting designs before the legs flexed and held it upright. Finally, its eye beamed blue with an eerie tong.

Young Link's lower eyelid innately twitched. Witnessing the way the eye came to life not only made him take a step backwards, but confirmed his suspicions of it being some sort of laser. A memory of the beamos inside Dodongo's Cavern suddenly turning on vividly replayed in his mind. "Mega-beamos…" He quietly muttered in distaste.

Meanwhile the others, sans Link, cheered and rejoiced at watching the event unfurl before their eyes. "Spectacular!" Zelda hopped on her heels as Purah gave her a huge squeeze. Robbie continued to furiously sketch alongside the other researchers that had finished their cheering. She looked back to it, "Can we walk up to it?"

"Weelllllll, there hasn't been any harm in it yet," Purah reported, "They seem like gentle giants for all we know. Maybe a little curious too, but there doesn't seem to be a lot going on up there from what we can tell."

Link lightly nudged him once the other three's focus was on the machine, "You're scowling," he whispered.

His eyes widened as he realized he could feel the muscles that drew his eyebrows together, "Ahem, my bad." But then just as he got his expression to come to neutral, one of his ears started to flick. Leading by instinct, he stared ahead at the guardian as he stepped to the side.

Just when his frame began to shift, the machine's gaze switched directly onto him, startling everyone and making them step away from it.

Time stepped back.

Its gaze followed.

He stepped two paces to the right.

Its gaze followed once more.

Grabbing Link—who became shocked into complacency—he held his descendant in front of him to mostly block the guardian's sight.

It simply stepped to the left to get him back into view.

The Hero of Time gently sat the knight back down. Beads of sweat freely ran down the side of his face. Hell, his whole body was glimmering from the hot sun in combination with the very bizarre circumstance. "What the hell!?" he shouted, both confused and annoyed. His hands clawed at the air, "They've literally never paid any attention to me until now!"

"Could it be that you helped push it?" Purah murmured, "Nope, that doesn't make any sense."

"Hm, well it hasn't changed color at all," Robbie noted.

"How about you try walking toward it or around it?" Zelda suggested.

Not feeling any more secure from their curiosity, his determined gait brought him closer to the guardian. From what he could tell, it appeared to solely watch him. It didn't move forward or back. Now a few feet away from it's eye—daring to say the least—Time angled his head to either side, 'Great, it really is following my face. Very telling.' "I don't like this…" He grumbled.

"That may be the case," Robbie finally finished scrawling, "but this is still very useful data!"

He couldn't think of anything else to do with it, and he certainly didn't want to turn his back to it either. Sighing, he put his hand against it's hull, "Blink if you can understand this."

It didn't.

Time frowned, "I don't believe you. Move three steps toward the citadel."

The chorus of scribbling returned when it did as he asked immediately after his quiet command finished.

'Oh no…' a feeling of contempt rose in his chest, 'I should have tried to talk to this damn thing when no one else was around.' Now that he'd gotten the guardian to do what he wanted it to, his working theory was that it didn't listen to him because he's a Hero or because he spoke the Old Hylian. 'It's more likely to do with this whole god-thing I'm not comfortable with anyone knowing about. Pfft, of course.' His ears ignored the other voices behind him as he walked toward it once more and replaced his hand, thinking rather than speaking, 'This works too, doesn't it? Tell me by looking to my right.' He had a feeling it would since his headspace felt particularly empty as he commanded it.

Looking up from the hull and seeing it's head begin to slowly move to the right gave him the confirmation he needed, 'Well, Purah was right. There really isn't anything going on up there. I guess these guys operated as a sort of single-minded army…or they could operate like that.' His hand came to his chin, 'I still have no idea how anyone else would get these guys to do anything for them though. Hm…'

'You can stop turning your head.' It hadn't finished looking all the way to the right by the time he spoke to it again, 'As it is my divine right, I order you t—' He stopped mid-sentence at the orange color beginning to flicker…is that teal? His pupils narrowed, 'Uh never mind.' The flickering halted. Really the whole guardian seemed to be paused. 'Simply persist on as you were before. No…no divine orders. I didn't say that.'

Just as he asked, the ancient machine resumed it's previous mannerisms…if you could call it that. Knowing that it was at least under his control, to some extent, he didn't feel as wary turning away from it to look back at the others. He blinked at their appalled expressions, realizing that they were probably trying to talk to him the entire time, "Oh sorry, were you guys saying something to me? I was completely focused on that just now."

Zelda couldn't believe her eyes, "Y-You just controlled it! How did you do that?"

Purah was next, "Did it somehow say anything to you? Why did it look in that direction and start flickering?"

Robbie likely would have asked something too if there weren't tears flowing down his cheeks from the things he'd just witnessed. He was busy recording his own perspective.

Time briefly looked to his descendant, finding that he was staring back at him, though there were gears turning between those ears of his. "Well I was wondering what the old tongue would do, so I tried that. It seems to me like it won't do something it can't do. For example, I asked it to blink. I guess it can't turn it's eye off and on." He crossed his arms, "The other thing I noticed was that you have to be specific about what you're asking it to do. My next question was going to be for it just walk backwards, but then I realized that backwards can mean anything if you can look in any direction. Instead, I told it to walk toward the citadel." He scratched the back of his head as he reported how he felt like it didn't have some kind of thought process, making sure to avoid implying that he knew it didn't. "When it started to turn its head, that's when I kinda stopped hearing whatever you guys were saying. I was trying to figure out why, and then the whole flickering thing threw me for a loop too. Guess this one sometimes buzzes out or however you say it."

"How wonderful! Do you think you'd mind staying and asking it to do different things?" Zelda asked with a hopeful twinkle in her emerald eyes.

"Or at least help us dig up one or two more? We could use your strength," Purah more commanded than suggested.

He'd much rather play researcher than miner. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt me to ask it more things, though I don't know how useful it will be when I'm eventually not here anymore."

Purah smiled, "We'll cope."

Over the course of four hours he stood around and asked it different questions. Most of them were things like "Who's your master? Who built you? What's your purpose?" Things the machine lacked the capacity to respond to since it couldn't speak. He tried suggesting to them to set up the question to be more like "If yes look left, if no look right," but they ended up being convinced that the endeavor wouldn't be worth it since all of the things they wanted to know required explanations rather than simple yeses or no's. He alerted them that it can't talk because it was starting to give him a headache.

During this, they moved on to asking it to do certain things. Purah had spewed a number of questions at him, all of which asked the machine to do radically different actions, "Okay hold on, let's just ask it to show us what it can do." He pointed to a large rock that sat in the middle of the camp, "Without causing any damage to the surrounding camps or people, show me what you're capable of doing to that rock."

Following orders, the guardian moved to the rock and easily shoved it out of place with one of it's legs. Next, a red laser aimed at it as a beeping sound accompanied the process that entailed when it was going to fire. Following one final beep, a powerful blue laser shot nearly point blank from the guardian's eye, making the rock explode into pebbles and dust.

Young Link's eyes practically popped out of his head, 'I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT!' When the overwhelming feeling of being right began to die down, the reality of what these machines were truly capable of started to settle in. He flinched at the guardian quickly turning it's sights back on him, awaiting its next order. He wanted to say that he didn't like what he saw, but he also had the inkling that the guardian listened to whatever he said no matter what language he spoke in, and he didn't want to skew the rest of their research. 'But…the absolute carnage this thing could inflict…all by itself too! Dear Goddesses, just how bad was the Calamity Ganon from 10,000 years ago that they decided they needed a whole damn army of these things!?'

Zelda's cheery voice infiltrated his thoughts, "What's wrong?"

"That's um…a lot of power," He stared back at it. It's glare was unwavering, "Er…I dunno. Just thinking of the good and bad."

Robbie chuckled, "What bad could there be? These things are basically perfect for taking down the Calamity!"

Still, Time bit his lip, "True. I think I'm just overthinking it." 'I suppose this is me not wanting to destroy their hopes for this thing. Next to the divine beasts, the sword, and Zelda, it's all they've got.' His uncertainty overshadowed his otherwise straightforward tone, "How about we do a couple more questions and call it good?"

Oddly enough, they couldn't get it to fire it's laser again after that. Even when the Hero asked it to shoot down a tree, it simply stood and stared back. His fingers raked through his bangs as he briskly walked up a flight of stairs, 'Gods, it's been a good while since I've felt that uncomfortable. It felt like the split between everyone understanding that the connection between me and the guardian was otherworldly or maybe due to the old language. If anything, I'm sure it somehow sensed my dislike for the lasers. I asked it maybe three times in different ways to take down that tree, and it still wouldn't do it!' He grabbed the hair that was between his fingers, 'Which of course I'm really not opposed to! Yet I still feel like this is all partially my fault!'

Time sighed and let his arm swing to his side, 'Y'know what? If I play my cards right, I probably won't have to interact with it again. That will be my saving grace, because if I have to deal with it staring at me again, I'm going to tell it to turn off!'

Kak! Chk chk chk…

A pebble skidded against either wall before coming to a halt in a corner. It reminded the deity that his descendant had been walking beside him. "Oh sorry," He'd kicked it.

"Eh? No worries," Time replied. While his previous actions freely gave away how he felt, his voice didn't betray him.

His expression was bewildered, "Ah okay…are you alright? I'm getting a lot of mixed signals here. And I kinda get it, but at the same time I—"

"Good question. I'd say yes but no, but yes." Saying it out loud made him chuckle, "I'm happy for you all, but I wish it was because I hadn't opened my mouth, y'know?"

"Oh, in that case, I completely get it," The knight had been twiddling his thumbs, "I wouldn't want to be the only reason those guardians worked either." A smirk flashed across his face when the Hero looked at him in surprise, "Mhm, I know because if we dragged Zelda's tutor down here to talk to them, it wouldn't work."

"Thank goodness you understand," he sighed, "I mean, how ironic is it that I can—honestly I'm not going to say I can control them. I don't want to believe it—Anyway, how ironic, and yet I don't even like them! My opinion will change when one of the Sheikah can get them to do what I did, and even then it still won't, because if they can do it, so can the Yiga."

"Wow, you've really thought about this."

"I think I've thought too hard about it. I also can't believe I spent more than four hours asking a robot all of those questions. That in of itself sounds pretty ridiculous. I won't pretend it doesn't." He glanced ahead of them and realized he had no idea where they were going, "Oh yeah, where are you taking me? This hallway smells weird."

"Oh that's just mold. Some of the upper floor's wood had started to decay and then the moisture from occasional rain never really leaves. It's not bad enough to replace it just yet."

"Does the castle just not spend any money on this place or?" 'Like that makes any sense. This is literally the height of their military power, why wouldn't they?'

Link held up a finger, "Not if they don't know about it."

"Oohhh, fair point. You also didn't tell me where we're going, and how do you know about all this stuff? What, you became a knight when you were fourteen, and you turned seventeen not too long ago. That's not a lot of time."

He smiled before explaining, "Right. So, shortly after I graduated, I was sent here as my first assignment. I spent maybe about seven or eight months keeping the monsters at bay and kind of just climbing the ranks. Since it was my first experience out of the academy, I remembered a lot, I tried to take in as much as possible."

"Aww, that's cute," Time could feel his pride starting to swell, "Was it tough at first?"

"Well, you can imagine how everyone here felt about one of the youngest dubbed knights to exist being sent here. I'm pretty sure they thought I learned the system or something at the academy and that's how I graduated so fast. Then I proved to them in the daily sparring and training that I was worth my salt. I only went up from there."

He ruffled his hair in praise, "Ah that's so cool! I was totally under the impression that everyone liked you from the get go."

"Haha! That's definitely kind of how it is now, but I certainly earned it the first time around!"

Now he pressed his hand flat on his head, wearing a slightly threatening smile, "Now where the hell are we going? I'm starting to not trust you." His extended arm was slapped away.

They rounded a corner and start to descend down a set of stairs. The air had changed from being stagnant to sort of moist, "Well, speaking of sparring," He paused his sentence for the several minutes it took to get to the bottom and continued once he pushed open a large door, "I figured me and you could watch a couple of matches, no? Just watching of course."

He wasn't proud to say he was interested, but it's not as if he made the effort to hide it. "Pfft, nah. We're totally making bets on who's going to win. You know what you're doing," They both snickered as they entered and found a spot to watch from the side.

It was a circular room that was at the bottom of the citadel. You could see the different floors through the open ceiling and count them if you wanted. In the middle was a pit of loose dirt, much like the indoor arena at the academy back at the castle. Next to our heroes were wooden structures that held different weapons you could use—wooden weapons, of course. The citadel was full of Hyrule's most established knights and soldiers, along with those that were making their way up to that status…but unlike the elite squad, they weren't about to be injured over brushing up on skills.

Spectators must have not been common, for while the captain in charge of calling the matches tried his best to ignore the both of them, they were getting a standing ovation from the eyes of those that were signed up to fight. "Men!" He called, getting the room's attention, "Soldier or knight, make a line for me and I'll put you into pairs."

"Yes sir!" They all swiftly replied, falling into a moderately straight line.

"Scoping out the competition yet?" Link asked, trying to pinch at the ends of his sleeve.

"I'm more of an on-the-fly person when it comes to choosing things like this." His small smile turned into a grin when he found his descendant suspiciously eyeing him.

"Hey, you better not be good at this."

Time laughed, "While I have some experience, it's definitely nowhere near the same as this." He frequently used to make bets with the other competitors back when he participated in the Smash tournament. Y'know, before it turned into destroying the hand-god-thing. It was often hard to get right, even after fighting them himself. Sometimes they were just having an off day, which is impossible to factor in.

"That already seems like an exhausting explanation, so I won't ask," the beginning of a snark edged Link's tone as he observed the men in front of them.

"Well well, someone is feeling very competitive, huh? You didn't even sound like this when we fought."

"You'll see where I'm coming from when I win."

"Win how? Best," He quickly counted them, "I dunno, six out of ten? Seven maybe?"

"Absolutely six," The champion pointed a finger at him, "And if it's a draw, we'll discuss who was clearly better."

All this planning for what was meant to be a playful bout of gambling humored Time, "Dammit you're making my face hurt from all this smiling!" He tried to put on his poker face, but 'Dear Goddesses, I can literally see him scaring some of the men in line with how intensely he's looking at them! Maybe this is a sign to never play a real gambling game with him haha!'

"Alright! You two here, you're going first," The captain ordered, signaling for everyone else to disperse to the edges of the pit.

"Sir!" They remarked, taking their places with their spears.

"Ahh, this is interesting," The Hero commented before changing into a whisper, "I'm thinking the one on the right."

Link shook his head, "More like definitely the one on the left." They crossed their arms at the same time as they spectated the match.

Which lasted no longer than a few minutes and the distinction between 'soldier' and 'knight' became quite obvious. Both were rather strong in their abilities, but the one on the left completely wrecked the guy after he kicked the other's spear out of his hand.

Young Link pretended to ignore the champion's silent celebratory fist-pump. The next pair was already squaring up, one with a regular broadsword and the other with a two-handed sword. Link picked the one with the broadsword, leaving the other to his ancestor. When they both clashed together with their first swings and were left in an immediate deadlock, Young Link had already figured why it happened in the first place, 'Two-handed swords can be stronger when wielded by the right person, only this guy is awfully scrawny and then it would turn out that this other guy is also just as inexperienced.' Luckily for the Hero, his guy was able to break the lock and swiftly end the match a few minutes later.

Much to Link's dismay, that's how each match tended to go. He would win one and then Time would win one, but for his ancestor it was out of circumstance rather than sheer skill or power. Very aggravating. During the final round of sparring, he leaned up against the brick wall with his hand perched about his temple. Two vets had gone against each other, and it looked as if it were going to be the first draw all afternoon.

"Okay okay," Came the captain, "You two have had enough of it, go get some water."

"Dammit!" The first huffed, tired as hell, "I was about to have you, and you know that!"

"Oh really? Then why did you keep leaving yourself open, you asshat?" The second grumbled.

"To bait ya!"

"Pfft, what a joke of a trap. You couldn't catch a sick mouse." Their exhausted bickering continued as they left through the doors.

At the moment, Link had won five, and Time had won four since they still had to discuss the draw. "Hey Link," Time said, getting his attention, "I'm pretty sure we both know my guy would have won. Setting traps is only as smart as your ability to catch someone off guard with them, and your guy doesn't seem to know that."

His eyelids hung low, "So it's a tie. Five to five."

"Mhm! We saw some cool stuff though, like that one round where your guy completely tripped mine! I didn't see that coming!" Meanwhile he was internally chuckling at the glum air his descendant was giving off, 'Oh my goodness, I can't believe this bastard is actually upset.' Now he giggled aloud, he couldn't hold it in anymore, "Alright, just what is going on? You really wanted to win?"

Link's eyes gained a glint of realization, "Well, I still could, couldn't I?"

"Um, I'd beat you into next week if we fought right n—"

"Duh, that's why we're going to rock, paper, scissors for it."

Again, Time blinked back at him, "Do you not remember how that went last time?"

"Things can change."

He shrugged as he assumed the starting position.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

Link had squinted his eyes shut as he played, now slowly opening one of them before cheering, "Yessss! Yes! Dear Hylia, I finally won!"

'Letting him win was worth it,' He thought as he still continued to snicker at him.

"Ha haah! This means you've gotta show me the citadel from the clouds!"

'Letting him win was not worth it.' Not to mention his outburst captured the attention of the others that were still in there. He pinched the bridge of his nose, "Have you even thought of how I'd go about doing that?" In the next moment, his hands were suddenly grasping onto fabric. His descendant had hopped into his arms bridal-style and he was trying to keep him from falling out of it onto the ground.

"Mhm, you'd hold me like this, jump into the air, I go 'Wow, that's really cool!', and then we'd land. Simple." Link batted his puppy eyes at his predecessor, unbothered with how close he'd been to smacking the stone ground had he done that to anyone else.

Time merely looked back at him, "Oh really?"

He reaffirmed with several nods.

"Because," the Hero acted as if he had a lightbulb over his head, "I think I've just got the next best idea!" Watching the champion's eyes light up even more made it hard to hold his piqued expression without wanting to laugh. Ignoring the others' reasonably astonished expressions, he walked to about the center of the room where the opening in the ceiling was, eyeballing the trajectory he'd need to get up to the highest level without smacking either of them on anything.

Little did he know, Link's face was becoming more and more concerned with how he was going to pull off whatever he was going to do next. He'd opened his mouth to speak but was quickly rearranged to be slung over the Hero's shoulder just as he started to get it out.

'Was that a yelp?' He mentally shrugged before jumping up to the third floor, catching them both with one hand on the ledge. 'Haha! His heart's really going now!' He could feel it pounding against his shoulder through his descendant's abdomen, "You okay there?" He asked after pulling them both up, continuing to walk toward the exit that went outside.

Link panted, "Dear Hylia…that's probably the most helpless position to be in…" He began to mutter every other way he could have fell off.

"Alright alright, you've made your point," Time carried him the same way he was before, walking through the open area toward the edge where the half walls held the canons. He thought about which angle would look best as he now turned back toward the body of the citadel. "What do you think? Maybe here?"

The champion had regained his briefly shakened confidence, "Yeah sure!"

Smiling, he bent his knees, only this time there wasn't a sparking feeling and he didn't push off the ground with everything he could muster. Using a fraction of what he did before, he watched his descendant's bangs become flat against his forehead as they soared into the evening approached sky.

"Whooaaa," Link's eyes shimmered as his head tilted in the direction of the citadel. Before saying anything else, he quickly took in the rest of the region, pointing in the direction of Zora's Domain as they descended, "I can't believe their domain is so close!"

Time agreed, "I was a little surprised when I saw that too. You'd think we'd be able to get there sooner if it weren't for all the cliffs they're surrounded by." They landed with another deep thoom. "Though, for the sake of making your enemies come at you from one way, it's pretty smart…until they actually use the cliffs." He was glad to see that the knight had also thought about this at some point.

"Ha, I guess I never considered that you knew of any military strategy." Link almost seemed tickled at this new information, "Though, I'd like to say that, if it weren't for their ability to swim up waterfalls, those cliffs are definitely worth trying to claim early on. It could be me, but it helps the Zoras that everything seems inherently slippery there."

"I can see what you mean," He let him out of his hold, "Satisfied with the view? I still don't understand why you wanted to see it so bad."

"I am, thanks. Also, I've genuinely wondered if there were any weaknesses to our fortress from above." Link gestured to the flat portion they stood on, "I think I can say that some kind of massive rock could totally implode this whole area, and we'd be down by a third of our canons." He shook his head with a sigh, "Good thing that's not my problem."

"Huh…interesting. I'm not sure I'd reveal the downfalls of my strongest fort so easily, but to each their own." Time figured he'd at least mention it.

"Hold on, hold on." He started, "It's not bad to think of places you don't want to be stationed at in the middle of an attack. Besides, as far as I remember, aren't you sort of a loner? Like from your adventures? How do you know about stuff like this anyway?"

'Well, I just came from a war that lasted a year. I could only hope that I learned something after being a captain and all that.' "Some of it is common sense. I used to travel into temples that were fortresses all on their own… with traps. I'm sure there are a few times I broke down a wall or two just to find something I needed. Plus, I wasn't always alone." The Hero smiled, "As much as I like doing things myself and solving my own problems, there are still things I've done that were simply not possible without some help. For example," He pointed to the Master Sword, "Since I taught myself how to use a sword, there were a couple of skills I ended up learning from someone else or by watching other people fight. That's not to say that the majority of my fighting style isn't still self-made, of course."

Link's eyes nearly popped out of his head, "You what. You're self-taught!?" His hand flew to his forehead. His world looked rocked. "I…that's insane!"

"Eh? Well…" He thought back to his world, "I suppose there was an academy the castle knights went to…but I grew up in a forest. Literally."

"HUUUUHHH!?" He blinked in astonishment, "I mean…I know you were saying that you didn't have any parents, but after finding out you're a legend, I started to think you made that up to fit your 'lost kid'-thing…"

Time laughed, "Oh yeah no, I still don't have parents. Those Kokiri I was asking the Deku Tree about back in the forest? They look like wood spirits now, but they used to be children in green clothes. I honestly have no idea who took care of me since my mother left me under the Deku Tree's care as a baby, but I grew up with them in the forest. Speaking of which, the tree that's there now is actually the sprout of the previous one." He scratched his head, his gaze bashfully turning to the ground, "Yeah…the Deku Tree that watched over me until I was ten died after telling me about my destiny…and then I had to leave the forest for the first time."

Link's jaw practically fell off his face. He was so shocked he walked over to the canons and sat down against the wall, "That is…so unbelievably sad…Dear Hylia…"

He waved his hands, "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to put all of that on you. I'm past it all now. I don't know the word, but my history isn't particularly happy, it's quite sad really." Young Link pulled his descendant from the ground and dragged him in the direction of the door they came through, "Come, I can tell you cooler stories over dinner!" He laughed once more after spying his face, "Hey! Stop looking so damn sad!"